1. Start with the goal
Before choosing colours or technology, establish what the website needs to achieve. It might be to generate enquiries, explain services, sell products, publish information, manage members or provide an online tool.
2. Plan the pages and content
Work out the core pages, navigation, calls to action, images, documents and information visitors will need. Planning early helps prevent important content being buried later.
3. Design the visitor experience
Design should make the website easy to understand. Responsive layouts should work across phones, tablets and desktops, with consistent typography, spacing, buttons and navigation.
4. Build the functionality
Depending on the project, development can include forms, PHP, MySQL, member accounts, search, dashboards, APIs, e-commerce features and custom scripts.
5. Test before launch
Check links, forms, layouts, mobile behaviour, error handling and the important visitor journeys. Technical checks should sit alongside a simple question: can a visitor easily do what they came to do?
6. Launch carefully
Before going live, check the domain, DNS, SSL, redirects, forms, backups and analytics. A controlled launch makes it easier to identify anything that needs attention.
7. Improve over time
A website can be expanded as the business changes. New pages, content, integrations, databases and features can be added when there is a clear reason for them.