10 important steps involved in the website planning process

If you are planning to build a new website or redesign an existing one there are a lot of things that you will have to keep in mind while assigning the project to a web design company. We are here with the ten most important website planning process points that will surely reward you with a delightful website user experience.

1. Personalize the website

Usually while planning to build a new website design, business owners aim to create a site based on their own wants and needs while neglecting the website from a user point of view. When a website is personalized according to the target audience the response received from such a kind of website is invaluable. This will help you see things through the customer’s point of view and address their needs. You can seek a free or a nominally charged web development consulting service from a web design company in India.

2. Competitor Analysis

Competitors are the best source of inspiration for any business. You should timely keep a check on what your competitors are up to, they are the main sources from where you can determine potential gaps. Check their site often and see what they have done differently and what things they should have done differently than the usual. Check the user flow and how they navigate the website. Is the content accessible easily? Which navigation or screens are turn-offs? Don’t be misguided with flashy websites and think that they are the best. In this case, it is better to take advice from a custom website design services company to take things forward.

3. Create a website Structure

Post competitor analysis; determine your needs and what your business offers, based on that define how many pages will be there on your website. Finalize the category of pages e.g. home page, about us, mission & vision, products & services, categories, etc.

4. Create a Mock-up

A website mock-up also known as the wireframe, it is the outline of your website. A mock-up is usually created in PSD where you use placeholder text to fill pages. It gives a first look at how your website will look like even before the development stage. At this stage, you can suggest design changes and this will eliminate the pain of changing things at a later stage.

5. Plan the SEO RoadMap

There is no second thought about how important SEO is for a website! Having said that without a website being build deciding SEO strategy is not worth it. But one can always take the help of SEO and create the website based on their algorithms. Usually, a Web Design Agency that builds a website enables the targeted sitemap and content according to a brief given by the SEO specialist. The SEO point of view should monitor even the smallest of a feature or new navigation and the site should be made Google friendly.

6. Compelling Content

If you are restructuring your existing website, then make sure you check all the pages and get all the required changes done. Make sure you access and refine content will is still relevant and whatever needs rewriting and which content needs to be discarded. Make sure the content of your website gives a clear message about your product and targets your audience. The content of a website with hundreds of pages will be hard to manage however numerous online tools will help you screen all the pages and extract content on a CSV file format, hence, making your task easy.

7. Manage Resources

While planning a new website design, you will require a team with various expertise works with you. There will be a designer, front-end team, backend team, content writer, QA, etc. to work on your website. You should be smart enough to plan your work in such a way that none of your website processes get hampered.  Make sure the content of all your pages are ready and have been proofread to avoid any embarrassing situation of typos. Make sure no task gets on hold because one process not completed.

8. Freeze the Sitemap

Once you have done the competitive analysis, prepared content inventory, and created a dynamic design, the critical thing left is to accumulate all the resources and freeze your sitemap. This gives a clear picture of the flow of your website. You can categorize various pages on the site. You can also consider a user testing procedure to make sure that the functionality and flow of the web pages are proper.

9. Call to Action Positioning

A call to action, i.e. the CTA is an integral part of any website. Basically, it drives the user to perform a specific task on your site, e.g. it can be to fill up an inquiry form, to call, to buy, to register for a newsletter and more. Once you have decided which CTA should be on which page of your website, make sure the placement is prominent and visible that the user cannot resist but click on it and perform the following tasks.

10. Choose a CMS

A content management system usually is the backend of your website. Choosing an ideal CMS for your website solely depends on the type of your business. Normally a leading website development company or a web design agency is the best to seek guidance for this. Make sure you go with an individual CMS where you can make the changes as and when you require.

Key Takeaways:

Now since you know how to go about with new website development services. Make sure to keep the customer at the forefront and think from their perspective before inculcating anything new to your website that might distract them. If you wish to further discuss or outsource your website development project feel free to reach our representatives. You can also drop us a line in the comment section.