A website development is normal a procedure in a document segment, such kind of predictable set of steps that should be follow that are there to be required to follow successfully held there to fully complete a website development project or web application specifically. This is the process that helps the development alignment resources,the prominent stakeholders, and so the team members that are being present to ensure all aspects of the project being addressed and to be they are delivered on time.
Furthermore, to be different slightly based on the project apparently, meanwhile the website development process typically includes the following 8 steps:
Step 1: To Discover
Step 2: Core structure of the Information Architecture
Step 3: Main Wireframes
Step 4: Design frames
Step 5: Web Content
Step 6: Development Procedure
Step 7: QA Test
Step 8: Launch of the website
Step 1: Discovery
Discovery has been held as the main core research element to build the first phase of the web development life cycle and that further more includes the initial deep research, information knowledge, and also collaboration that are here to confirm scope, the feature requirements, proper stakeholders, more proficient processes, and expectations. Thats all the planning strategy that will inform us about the initial projects details and also about the first steps upon the development strategy and so on.
Meanwhile the sales and assessment processes are there being held, that mostly likely being there to identify the necessary features that are being required to build a successful website solution and so on.
To Discover the meeting that is usually one of the longer meetings that in the entire project as long continue to proceed that it is our first major touchpoint to get everyone on the same page and kick-off the project with respect to selection.
Step 2: Information Architecture
Meanwhile the main core of the website domain is Information Architecture and this is the start of the hierarchy of how the information on the users website is being highly organized and working properly. That is so helpful to visualize from the starting map and to give you a sense of how and where the content strategy is lying and the information will live on the users website or web app respectively.
Apart from this, In order to determine what is essential to be built, what we need to understand the structure of the website drastically. Oftenly, by the passage of time a website’s structure is being there to be held which has been built over the time and that has typically been listed frankensteined into its apparent current state specifically. That can also lead to a disjointed user experience significantly and so to decrease in engagement and so the conversions.
To be evaluate and potentially restructure the Information Architecture, that we fully ensure a website that is strongly structured for both the users and specific search engines, and to ultimately develop a viral roadmap that is for how to build and structure the site moving forward and so on.
Here is a scenario focusing on the example of what an Information Architecture might look like:
Suppose we have a team that utilizes data and start collaboration with your team to design and develop an approved appropriate Information Architecture for the new website.
Once complete that is properly completed, so our team will be able to utilize, to use this valid information that rather helps to identify the necessary page templates which are highly essentially needed for your website.
Components of an Information Architecture
An Information Architecture highlights the stages that are content broken down into such categories that the way that you might view it in a navigation platform apparently. That also helps to visualize the content strategy in the context of your selective website or specific mobile app.
That will also typically includes a key to help in better understanding to create , the structure and also its category of the content, that are especially being mentioned if the color coding or the formatting options that are being used to better show
Here the handful list of tools mention below that are being used to create Information Architecture:
- Coggle
- Mindmeister
- Whimsical
There are such tools that all of these will help to guide you through the structure of an Information Architecture by which you are capable to understand the best structure for your website specifically.
How the Information Architecture Relate to UX?
Information architecture is yield to organize the information of the websites that have logical sections
From a UX perspective, this is now becoming more integral to determine how the information will layout on a page perspective and how the users will best engage with the site specifically.
Step 3: Wireframes
The page is there that has been added to identify those that are essentially need to be built, after that we would like to move the wireframes. The Wireframes are the things there “that are back of the napkin” sketches of how a page template will be constructed rapidly.
The information is essentially needed on each page and specially the structural layout will be solidified. The functionality is being verified of the specific page elements that are there and the responsiveness will begin in that stage as well.
The Importance of UX in Wireframing
Wireframes are being held as the first visualization of how the users will interact and digest with the information on your website. That is highly important to incorporate UX as an integral part of this processes to ensure fully you are capable to creat experiences that will delight to and inspire the users to engage and take an appropriate action.
Tools for Wireframing
The Wireframing can be accomplished in many different ways and it is certainly doesn’t have to be fancy, not at all. That can be as basic, quite simple as drawing on a whiteboard or on a piece of paper, to create a simple layouts in PowerPoint.
List of some of the most common tools are mentioned below, but ultimately the usage of the tool that’s best for your requirement and your team is capable to use the right tool.
Wireframe Tools are:
- Adobe XD
- Balsamiq
- InVision
- Sketch
- UXPin
Whether if use a tool or to sketch your wireframes that are free-hand, take your time with the wireframing process specifically.
Step 4: Web Design
To start designing in the web development procedure that further creates web-friendly designs for the clients website or suitable application through which there will be usage of colors, fonts, styling, images, callouts, size changing, and layouts to start, a style guide that is also constructed to present the users with a general prominent look and a little bit feel of the style of the new site respectively.
However in the design process, the team may be asked to provide a proper feedback. That is also to ensure the new designs, format which are almost meeting the actual expectations and requirements of your team and specially closely following for any sort of brand or the designing standards that are being outlined and labeled at the outset of the project respectively.
Tools for Web Design
There are a described number of different sort of the tools that are capable of creating web designs. Some of the designers are likely to choose for utilizing multiple tools that are being there enough to showcase designs, but most typically to use some combination of the following tools:
- Photoshop
- InVision
- Sketch
Photoshop is here a great way to overlay new designs onto wireframes that gives users the fabulous ability to export files in a number of different ways.
Step 5: Content Strategy
Content Plan
When the wireframes and the designs that are being created, the content for the new site that needs to be properly organized and being ready to be loaded. That can be a very time consuming a little bit long procedure depends on the pages that are being consolidated, created, edited or being removed. That is an important to note that any changes to the current content specially about on your site that should be coordinated with an appropriate SEO resource to fully ensure that you are not accidentally creats issues with proper rankings or traffic after site launch that is being launched.
Content Guide
However to best structure content for the new site, a specific kind of content guide is typically created that helps to visualize how and to where the content will be placed on the new site.
Even Though there are many versions of a content guide available, but ultimately it will provide a mapping of how content strategy that will essentially need to be formatted on the new site based upon the updated layouts.
Step 6: Website Development
After the design that has been completed, then comes the web development. In this stage, the web design team now will hand over all the sort of creative assets to the website development team that will be turned into a full fidelity, a fully interactive version of the site specifically.
Afterwards the development team will now utilize the various programming languages to translate the designs and different functionality to something that can be fully displayed to users in a web browser. That includes the following:
- HTML
- CSS
- Javascript
- SAAS
- C#
Furthermore, all of these designs will be translated by backend developers to a content management system (CMS) for website managers to understand better experience and editors are there to manage web content that moves forward. Some of the examples of CMSs include:
- Umbraco
- WordPress
- Drupal
- Sitecore
- Joomla
Meanwhile the site is being built page by page and also component by component in phases, or sprints, to ensure that all of the aspects that are being needed to create a fully functional version of the site that are completed.
The Importance Aspect of an SEO Migration
At this point, specifically it’s important to understand how essential an SEO migration process is to create a new website that is being launch. Furthermore, when you have developed a new website, that is more likely to change the way the website is being structured, the content on the site is much prominent and appropriate, apart from this or some to check if not all of the page layouts are being significant.
However once all of the factors are changed, that can change the way of the search engines view and also about index of your website. However after the completion a comprehensive SEO migration, you are capable to see and showcase Google a path to the new website, let them know that you are the same organization with the same information, albeit on a new, exciting platform respectively.
Moreover an SEO migration is typically done by an experienced SEO team member to make certain that all pages are accounted relevant for and redirected to an appropriate resource on the new site.
Don’t Forget About Analytics
A well maintained thought out and execution of the Google Analytics strategy can also provide your team with the information that are needed to:
- Prove and seek out the value of your new site
- Adjustment of your marketing strategies
- Improvement in the the user experience
- Much Better drive users to conversion
In Google Analytics, you are capable to track the following:
- User actions such as goals and recent events
- How the marketing channels that are interacted with one another to produce conversions
- The smooth effectiveness of the checkout process or lead form(s)
- Your reach out the top performing content and resources
- More depth information about your users such as their specific device browser type
You will want to engaged with an experienced analytics team ahead of launch to create a migration and also an implementation plan throughout the development process specifically. That will also help you to solidify all of your tracking on the new site and also to coordinate with launch efforts.
Step 7: Testing & Quality Assurance
Meanwhile in the full web development process and shortly after development is being held completed, the development team will be focused specifically on the Quality Assurance. Quality Assurance is an important because it is the core that solidifies the experience for users accessing all your website in different ways and that anticipates any challenges they might encounter and so on, such as the bugs that are being found or some incorrect device layouts.
Some of these checklist items include are as follows:
- Cross device testing
- Cross browser testing
- Bug/functionality testing
- Process testing (form fills, checkout processes, if/then functionality, etc.)
- Content formatting
The audit will surely help to catch and to flag with any sort of issues with things like incompatible browsers, the broken widgets, some faulty integrations, and also the formatting errors.
Step 8: Launch of the Website
However what has likely felt like an eternity, you’re now finally ready for launch of the website. Once QA has been completed properly and both the teams are there comfortable enough with launch of the site, the team will now come up with a website launch strategy.
There are a handful of the tasks that will then need to be completed properly post-launch to validate that everything went smoothly.
- The development team will typically to go through a technical checklist to make sure the site is technically sound on.
- The SEO team will be go through a checklist to make sure the migration strategy is properly working as it should be, the site is being indexed appropriately, and there are no identified issues apparently.
- The Analytics team will now validate the integrity of the data specifications and to track on your new site, to also ensure about all goals that are firing appropriately and the necessary settings are in place.
The moment when a site launches, all the team will need to keep an eye on the site for weeks, if not months and to come. It is essentially important to make sure the new site is matched according to the expectations of your users, being found easily by Google, and to being tracked and measured properly accurately for data-driven decision-making strategy.
Conclusion
Meanwhile the process may vary, although all principles will remains the same. To Stick a tried and the true process for website development that will give you a sense of what is needed essentially in the short-term period and long-term period, and to keep the project moving forward.
To know and to understand an ideal website development process properly that will make all the certain of your team capable to better execute a website development project from start to finish.
Using a skilled strategy, proven website development agency like Marcel Digital will also fully ensure you that are utilizing a team that has gone through this process many times before. With the website development projects and specific migrations, that are being there to utilize a professional team which may also help to relieve the burden of trying to manage this process on your own.
