Article

Jebby R
Jebby R 29 May 2020
Categories Technology

The Six Stages of Creating a New Website

Despite the impression of simplicity that can be seen on a screen, creating a good website shares the same requirements as building a skyscraper. Both projects need good architecture to be successful.

Like any physical structure that needs to be built from scratch, creating a website also needs a blueprint. And that plan or scheme consists of six stages. Here, we focus on explaining the six stages of creating a new website.

Stage 1: gathering and learning

The first stage in creating a website is to gather as much information as possible to find out what you want (and what you don't want) for your site. You can collect this information by looking at the sites you currently use, the sites of your competitors, and the comments of your friends and colleagues.

Like many companies, you can choose to hire the services of an expert web designer to create your site. Be prepared to answer the case questions, as these are necessary for the creation of a "creative report". 

The "creative report" will function as a guide or reference for the creation of the site. Regardless of whether or not you hire a design firm, you should know the answers to the following questions:

  • Determine the purpose of your website
  • Set your website goals
  • Objectives

What do I want my visitors to do when viewing the site?

  • Know the audience of your website
  • Target audiences

Who am I trying to reach? What are the demographics of my audience?

  • Create content for your website
  • Contents

What type of information is my target audience looking for? Looking for specific information, a particular product, or buy online?

Stage 2: planning

 The following tasks should now be carried out:

  • Plan your website strategy
  • Creation of the site map. Make a list of all the thematic areas of the site, as well as the subtopics, to develop a homogeneous and easy to understand navigation system.
  • The decision on the required technologies. Determine what you will need for your interactive forms, flash applications, or content management systems (CMS).
  • Determination of the compatible resolutions. Considering the increased mobile adaptation rate of websites, it is worth considering implementing a responsive web design. This approach allows sites to fit seamlessly onto any screen, such as a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
  • Creation of sketches. Arrange the pages of your site in a wireframe. This will allow you to visualize the design and provide the structure of your website.
  • Plan the content. Knowing what you want to communicate, and how much content you have, provides a guide to the design process.

Stage 3: design

If you have already defined all the topics seen in stages 1 and 2, the design of the home page and the subsequent subpages will be simple. 

For example, establishing whether your target audience is single, middle-class, 18-24-year-old, college-educated women or married, upper-class, 65-80-year-old retired men greatly influences the elements of design and applications to be used.

Seeing the page layout with real content and photos, your logo and the chosen color scheme will bring your vision to the site to life. Take advantage of this stage to make the necessary changes! 

If you are working with expert designers, they will give you sketches or prototypes at different stages of the process for you to comment on. Making changes later is costly and difficult to implement, so you should intelligently take advantage of this stage.

Stage 4: development

Once the design is finalised and approved it is possible to create the website. Interactive elements such as contact forms, flash animations, and shopping carts will also be implemented at this stage. At this time it is possible to make minor changes and fixes.

Stage 5: testing, delivery, and launch

Your web developer will test the website, verifying from its correct operation to possible compatibility problems. Also, the developer will verify that all the code on your website is valid, complying with current web standards. 

Once definitively approved, the website files will be uploaded to their servers and the site will be launched.

Stage 6: Maintenance

Now that the site is finally built, it's just as important to maintain it. At the planning stage of this process, you decided if you wanted to be in charge of maintaining the site or would rather hire a third party (such as your web designer) to do it. 

If you preferred that everything be under your control, the designer generally opts for a design with CMS to allow you to edit the content of your site and add new pages.

Your website development doesn't end on launch day. Just like in a building, certain steps need to be taken to ensure that the site operates safely in the best possible way.

Please login or register to add a comment.

Contribute Now!

Loving our articles? Do you have an insightful post that you want to shout about? Well, you've come to the right place! We are always looking for fresh Doughnuts to be a part of our community.

Popular Articles

See all
How to Review a Website — A Guide for Beginners

How to Review a Website — A Guide for Beginners

A company website is crucial for any business's digital marketing strategy. To keep up with the changing trends and customer buying behaviors, it's important to review and make necessary changes regularly...

Digital Doughnut Contributor
Digital Doughnut Contributor 25 March 2024
Read more
The World Is Shrinking: 6 Degrees of Separation Is Now 2!

The World Is Shrinking: 6 Degrees of Separation Is Now 2!

Six degrees of separation is not just a party game, it's a reality. Everyone is the world is interconnected, and thanks to social media, that connectedness gets tighter and richer each day. See the research...

Scott Christley
Scott Christley 9 August 2017
Read more
The Impact of New Technology on Marketing

The Impact of New Technology on Marketing

Technology has impacted every part of our lives. From household chores to business disciplines and etiquette, there's a gadget or app for it. Marketing has changed dramatically over the years, but what is the...

Alex Lysak
Alex Lysak 3 April 2024
Read more
What Marketing Content Do Different Age Groups like to Consume?

What Marketing Content Do Different Age Groups like to Consume?

Today marketers have a wide choice of different content types to create; from video to blogs, from memes to whitepapers. But which types of content are most suitable for different age groups?

Lisa Curry
Lisa Curry 21 October 2016
Read more
10 Factors that Influence Customer Buying Behaviour Online

10 Factors that Influence Customer Buying Behaviour Online

Now is an era where customers take the center stags influencing business strategies across industries. No business can afford to overlook factors that could either break the customer experience or even pose a risk of...

Edward Roesch
Edward Roesch 4 June 2018
Read more