Here are the key milestones. Building a website is a complex process that requires a lot of knowledge and skills. Professional management of this process ensures that the website is of high quality and reliable. If you do it yourself or leave it to amateurs, you run the risk of having a website that is not designed properly, that has various defects, that negatively affects the user experience or the company's reputation.
It is important to understand the components and requirements of the website development process. So when you entrust your website to experts, you can be sure of the functionality and user-friendliness of the web. A professionally designed website structure will increase your sales by generating more enquiries and thus reducing your advertising costs.
So we'd like to take you through the basic steps of the website development process.
Clarifying the business need
This is the first and most important step - it will determine the next steps in the website development process.
It is very important to set a specific goal and the unknowns surrounding it - why you need this website, who your target audience is, what you want to convey to them, and what challenges you want to address. Maybe it's your company's representative website, an online shop to promote sales, or a news portal. This is how, with the help of specialists, the need is clarified and the web development work is strategically assisted.
Competitor analysis
Before starting the technical stages of building a website, you should familiarise yourself with the websites of others in your field.
Inspiration comes from discovering moments that are likeable or relevant, as well as when functionalities are highlighted to show whether they are convenient and meaningful. Competitor analysis will help you avoid unnecessary mistakes and prepare your website to stay one step ahead.
Designing the structure and architecture of your website
Once the information has been refined and prepared, a visual layout of the website structure is created, i.e. how and where the data you want will be presented and what pages will be on the website. This creates a site tree, which helps you to keep your information organized and structured. This stage also includes the user's possible path from visiting the site to completing a specific task, selecting the fastest and most user-friendly functionalities.
Design selection phase
The visual appearance of your website can be one of the key elements that differentiate your virtual home from your competitors. It's a representative "aspect" of your company, the services you provide or the goods you sell.
This stage involves creating the visual content, from the choice of colour scheme and fonts to the presentation of logos and photos. The design process, carried out by an experienced professional, will go smoothly and avoid misunderstandings such as: mismatched shades, incorrectly sized texts or excessive and inappropriate use of visuals. This will maintain the user's attention and concentration.
Content preparation and upload
The main purpose of a website is to inform, advertise or represent, so it must be filled with high quality, varied content. Engaging, descriptive texts, visuals - photos, charts, animations, videos - must engage the user and encourage them to become your regular visitor and customer.
Programming and testing work
The professionalism of the programmer determines the quality of the website's features, its longevity and its protection against malware. It is therefore very important to have a good understanding of web development technologies and to use effective tools.
To make sure there are no broken or broken features, the testing includes a site-wide test of the site.Various scenarios of the user journey are tested - all links, texts, contact information, forms on the site, etc. This ensures the smooth running of the website.
Start-up and maintenance
Once all these steps have been completed, all that's left to do is to upload your company's professionally prepared website to the server and activate it. It is important to remember that the web needs constant maintenance and updates, taking into account user experience, changing needs and current issues.
Building a website is a multi-layered, complex process that requires a good understanding of, or a willingness to devote effective material resources to, the quality of the work.
It is very important to understand that the website is the virtual home of the company, serving for many years and directly representing your organisation in the virtual world.