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As a website designer, it is your main responsibility to make sure that your client can have a great website. Of course, a website is a digital tool that represents a specific business. No business organization these days can succeed without prioritizing online marketing. It means a particular business owner has to prioritize having a website that will showcase products or services on the market. This is the reason why business experts suggest that you have to incorporate a web design process in the overall business strategy. Without a website design process, your client’s business will not be able to hit dramatic growth and success.
Your task as a web designer is crucial. You are in fact considered as an asset to the business organization that you are serving. You are an asset because your skill sets are badly needed. The organizational goals and objectives of the business and brand you are serving can be achieved when you can create a great and engaging website. The question now is: How can you create that website for your client? Of course, you have to follow a certain process in web designing for the purpose of bringing your client’s business to the next level.
In this blog post, there are 5 aspects that you should learn regarding the web design process. To reiterate, this process is vital as long as hitting competitive advantage is concerned. You cannot really produce the needed converting website without following the right process. As a result, the client cannot have the right website which will represent their business online.
Online marketing has fierce competition. The implication is quite simple. Your client has to gain a competitive advantage if they want their business to stand out from the rest of the crowd.
Web design process: Its aspects
There are certain stages that you have to abide by if you want to create a relevant website for the client who is hiring you as their website designer and developer. Let’s start the ball rolling!
Determine the project scope.
Generally, you have to create a website for your client. This website must be engaging and converting. The bottom line is, such a site has to contain engaging visual elements. It has to be relevant to the needs of the target users. However, you cannot easily grasp this specific goal without understanding the nature of your client’s business. So, in step 1, you need to determine the project scope. According to web design Melbourne, doing this can allow you to understand clearly the nature of the business of your client. It is somehow akin to goal identification wherein you will be tasked to determine and identify the preliminary facts which are important in web designing.
You have to identify the reasons why your client’s website must exist. Of course, your client wants nothing but success. The truth of the matter is that your client wants to engage a profitable business. But it is not a walk in the park. There is a need to lure and attract the users of the Internet which can only be realized when there is a fit and relevant business website. Your client hires you for the purpose of making their business investment profitable. The entire project should therefore be analyzed in terms of its scope. That is why knowing the nature of your client’s business is significant. This is to ensure that the website to be created will meet the needs of the customers.
When it comes to determining the scope of your website project, you need to prioritize several aspects such as project goals, target audiences, brand message, business goals and project summary. All these things should be determined clearly to make sure that you can create and design a perfect website for your client. Remember that they are investing money because they want to earn more in a sustainable manner. Do not forget that it is a clever technique to prioritize the scope of your web project. This way, you can render the client’s needed services.
Conduct user research.
The next thing which must be given with utmost attention is user research. What is it and why is it a part of the entire website design process? Well, clearly speaking, you cannot please the audience without user research. Does it mean you should possess UX design skill sets even if you are a website designer? As much as possible, it is advised to possess user experience design skills when coming up with a pro-user business website. No business can thrive on the digital market without prioritizing the welfare and betterment of the audience. Their experience should really be the top priority among all other things.
This is a part of the entire web design process because your goal is to create a website that the users can benefit from. Without user-focused research, your client’s website is nothing. The website may have the needed aesthetic elements but may lack other user-friendly aspects. Keep in mind that the content and overall design of your client’s website should be geared towards the provision of a great experience. Without a wonderful user experience, your client’s business will not be able to compete with other competitors.
Create and present a website mockup.
The next thing to be done is to create a website mockup which will test the target audiences and stakeholders. A website mockup is a presentation and demonstration model. Instead of creating the actual business website of your client, all you need to do is to design a mockup. Use it to showcase the features and elements of the planned biz site. Let the stakeholders provide their feedback and remarks. You have to gather all related data and information which you can eventually use in polishing and finalizing the website.
In creating a powerful site mockup, all you need are tools for mockups. You can use the initial thoughts and concepts that will emanate from your consultation and brainstorming with the client. Take note that your client may already have the initial concepts which have to be tested through a mockup. Then, of course, you also have your own thoughts and concepts which should be blended and mixed together with the client’s own ideas. By using a certain mockup design tool, you will be able to come up with a great business website mockup.
After having the needed mockup, the next step is to present it in a specified schedule. You have to invite all stakeholders including your client’s potential business partners. All stakeholders must be involved so that they can provide feedback, comments, and remarks. All ideas which can be gathered during the presentation and demonstration should be synthesized. The synthesized results must be utilized in coming up with the eventual website design.
For sure, the end-result will meet the demands and needs of the target customers. This is the reason why web design and development needs to use mockup designs in order to get the intended business website.
Content is king so prioritize it.
Content must be one of the top priorities when creating a website. Why is it so? Well, you have to understand the fact that without content, your client’s website is nothing. The bottom line is, every potential customer is looking for great and valuable content. Website content should never be compromised. Otherwise, a website will not be able to attract the target customers. When your client’s website does not have high-quality content, it will compromise the site’s capability to lure the interest of the potential customers.
Remember that the primary purpose of every website user is to look for helpful and useful information. Such information is embedded in the content pages. Every keyword or phrase they will input in Google search bar will result in website pages which have relevant content and information. Having said that, it is important to include this in the overall website design process. Part of the website designing steps is to make sure that the content pages of your client’s website have power and authority. It means the potential customers (website users) should be satisfied and happy with the content of your client’s site.
The ranking of your client’s website will really matter for success. Did you know that content quality is one of the parameters of Google ranking? The implication is that you have to make sure that the content is powerful and relevant. Why so? It will affect the ranking of your client’s website pages with respect to the corresponding user’s phrases or keywords during search. It is your intention to bring your website client to the top page of the SERPs. Hence, you really have to ensure that your client’s site can have great and helpful content.
Content marketing is part of digital marketing these days. What is it? It is actually a process whereby you will be able to engage your client’s potential customers through high-quality and relevant content. The potential users of the site are looking for effective solutions. Those solutions can come in the form of content. That is why you really have to prioritize the quality, engagement and relevance of the content pages of your client’s business website. When the content of your client’s website has low quality, it will result in unwanted setbacks.
Polish the visual design.
This is the last piece of the puzzle here. When it comes to the steps to design a website, visual design plays a major role. Of course, your client’s website cannot stand out online when there are no visuals. Visuals are like magnets that can attract more potential customers. Luring more users to visit and use your client’s website is possible when the visual elements are engaging and attractive. That said, it is really important to prioritize visual design.
Be aware that in the absence of relevant and high-quality visuals, you will not be able to create a highly-converting client’s website. Why so? Because visual components are important as far as attracting more potential leads is concerned. You cannot attract as many people as possible when there are no proper and great visual designs. Your client’s website deserves to rank high on the search engine results pages. But it cannot be attained when people will not engage themselves with your client’s website. Thus, it is a must to prioritize visuals.
The quality of your client’s website relies on the quality of visuals. By the way, visuals are part of the content which should be prioritized when creating an ecommerce website or blog website. But they are given a separate explanation and context here because they play a major role for success. Your client’s website will fail to attract as many leads as possible in the absence of great visuals. There can be an increase in the number of people to be attracted and converted into regular sales and revenues when there is a great visual appeal. What does it mean? The website of your client should be appealing and enticing based on visual components.
Visualization is a surefire way to increase leads and conversions. Did you know that most people will love high-quality and presentable visuals. At the same time, they are looking for relevant visual elements. Once you can provide all those things in your client’s business website, there is a great chance that your client can have a competitive edge. Not all data and information can be explained through texts and numbers. There is another way to explain the importance of a particular brand. And this is through the utilization of great and engaging visual designs.
Wrapping up
Doing business online is a present trend. What is the implication? Every business organization has to recognize the importance of a website in promoting and advertising a business. This is the reason why you have to present a web design process to your client for them to understand how you will be able to make their business profitable. They are investing money expecting that they can get more money in return. It is easier said than done, so to speak. Hence, you have to abide by the most effective stages and phases to create a perfect, relevant business website.
Your client’s chance to go to the next level as a business organization is high when there is a relevant website to represent their brand on the Internet. Thus, you have to utilize your skill sets, expertise and tools to design an engaging biz site.