What is involved in having a website created?

The ultimate checklist before you have a website created

We are often asked what is involved in creating a new website. Hence this article to tell you what to expect and what to consider.

The process of having a new website built can be both exciting and challenging. However, it requires considerable time and investment to carefully consider all the elements and arrive at a successful whole. A well-developed website is meant to be enjoyed and profitable for a long time.

Ensuring Return on Investment (ROI)

A website is often seen only as an expense, when in fact it can be an investment that drives the growth of your business. This growth doesn’t just have to be in the number of clients or staff, it can also be in attracting other or better clients and talent. A Web site is a powerful tool to help your business flourish, – provided it matches your goals, is easy to manage, grows with your business and lasts a long time. After 10 years of experience, the necessary research online and client questions, I’ve created this ultimate checklist to get you started. Are you a CMO, owner or marketer? Then be sure to read on.

Getting goals and positioning website clear

Before you can decide what direction a website should go, it’s important to get clear on the goals you want to achieve with your website. I challenge you to think beyond ‘the website is outdated’ or ‘we can’t login anymore’. A lot of independent research shows that without positioning and strategy, a new website is a waste of your money.

The best websites come from a clear purpose. Think carefully about this internally and share it with the parties you will be talking to. Some strong, clear goals we regularly hear about are:

• “We want to develop a website that can actively help reach new potentials in our target market.”
• “Our website really needs to convince when our potential clients go to do due diligence.”
• “We would like to increase sales through the website by x percentage.”
• “The website needs to become a more active part of our marketing mix, now the website doesn’t really have a function.”
• “We want to become better known internationally, and our website should reflect that ambition.”

If you find the goals difficult, it is wise to start with the positioning of your company. This determines your distinctiveness from your competitors and what your customers want.

Creating a sitemap

This step is optional and you can also undertake it with a web agency. But preparing a sitemap can be useful for getting the headings together internally. This is because it is useful to know in advance which pages should be in your website. So this is not an XML file, but a logical layout for your website. Something that much independent research has shown eliminates many future problems. This gives an overview and is a good starting point to determine the further content per page. It is also useful to specify per page which elements you would like to see on the page. The easiest way is to make a sitemap visual so everyone can understand it. Requesting proposals and quotes is also easier if you have a sitemap ready.

CMS choice

Most of you reading this will have worked on a Web site at one time or another, creating a preference for a CMS. For the uninitiated, a CMS is a Content Management System. You can build a website on such a system so that the content can be easily managed afterwards, but choosing the right CMS can be a tricky one. I wrote a separate article on the pros and cons of different CMS options. WordPress is by far the most common option, 43% of the Internet runs on WordPress.

Regardless of that choice, it’s a good idea to inquire with the parties with whom you are engaging. They may be able to show you what the backend looks like. This will give you a good idea of the CMS and the setup you will have to deal with after going live.

Builder’s choice

WordPress is a CMS that works well with an extra layer, namely the builder. Some parties create their own builder, but most use one of the popular builders. Consider: Gutenburg, Elementor or ACF. The advice we give here: ask to see how that party’s builder works (if you are logged in). This is also a component you buy and it is nice to see what you are going to work with in the future. We ourselves work with Elementor, the most popular builder because of its convenience for builder and user.

How much can you do with your website after completion

This is a complicated issue. How much you can do with a website after delivery is closely related to the above points (CMS and choice of builder).

Some Web site builders choose to set up the Web site so that you can’t work outside the box. That means you can update a text, but can’t move it around if you want to. The advantage is that you basically can’t make mistakes in the page setup and things will appear wrong, the disadvantage is that you can’t add anything new in terms of pages, setup or layout.

Other Web site builders go a different route. They build in a builder, which is “open” after completion. Here, the reverse applies: you can more easily throw out a block from the page, making sure that the whole setup is no longer correct. The advantage is that you can change everything to your liking in the future and quickly create a new landing page, for example.

So check carefully what the options and possibilities are for each party. One last thing to check carefully is whether you will have full control over your website after delivery (including admin rights).

How to update your content

You obviously want to have a good understanding of how to update content after going live. You don’t want to discover this only when everything is built, because then you won’t be able to influence it. You don’t want to discover this once everything is built, because then you won’t be able to influence it. Ask in an introduction if you can get a small demo of the ‘back-end’ of a website and how you can easily update content. That way you won’t have any surprises afterwards.

Future-proofing

Be wary of parties who deliver websites quickly and move on to the next job. This involves taking shortcuts that seriously damage the future-proofing of your website. It is very difficult to verify whether this is done properly, but ask what the parties are doing to ensure the future-proofing of the website. Are things laid out in the technology so that updating and expanding the Web site can be done easily? If so, ask if they can provide some examples. This will quickly reveal whether a party has an understanding of this or not.

Hosting, security and updates

It is important to check what to expect in terms of hosting and security updates after going live. The two are often closely linked; both your website installation and hosting need to be kept up to date. Try to get clear on what the costs are for maintenance/hosting and what you can expect in terms of updates and security patching.

Arrange hosting package

In case you’re wondering what exactly is hosting? This is the foundation (or digital building ground) on which your Web site will be developed. To get a website up and running it is important that this is also taken care of. This does not have to be done immediately, but can also be done later when your website is built in a separate development environment. Should you need advice on this, we are here for you.

Redeeming and registering a domain name

This is the name by which you want your Web site to be found. The so-called url, or Internet address. It is important to appropriate it as soon as possible, because busy is busy. You can also choose to purchase multiple domain names and eventually link them to the same Web site. You can register variations of your brand name as well as a number of top level domains such as .nl, .com and .eu.

Accessibility

Accessibility is becoming an increasingly important part of websites and this is something that is also pursued from the EU. Especially if you have a (semi) government website or have one made, it is important that the latest standards such as WCAG are taken into account. Ask your potential partners what they are doing with this and to what extent this is properly guaranteed.

Branding

This one is perhaps a bit obvious, but still good to touch on. You obviously want your brand identity to be presented in the best possible way in the new Web site. An enhanced user experience with branding leads to better conversion. A party’s portfolio will give a clear indication of whether they succeed in this. Furthermore, the process you go through with the party will be a decisive factor in whether this happens successfully. So go over what the process and steps are that you can expect and take a good look at the portfolios.

Creating Moodboard(s)

In case you already have a fully developed brandbible, Chapeau! If not, it’s good to have thought beforehand about what you like and dislike. Explore the wonderful world of websites (the sky is the limit), dive into Pinterest and create your own mood board. Moodboards can really contain anything: colors, fonts, images, screenshots of web pages, etc. Let your creativity run wild, because nothing is wrong.

Process and steps you will go through

What is the process you will go through with your new web design firm? This is a very important question, You don’t want to face all kinds of surprises during the process. We always say: a logical process for a website is a matter of defining a number of choices for each step. That way, you can work from a concept to a complete website in a few weeks. With your potential partner, see if you see a logical process that makes sense. Below is our process based on 10 years of experience successfully delivering projects.

Step 0: The preliminary process

Before you can have a website created, you need to choose from several providers. There are many options and each agency takes a different approach and technology. To make an informed decision, we recommend submitting the same briefing to each party. That way you can see how each agency assesses your needs and translates them into a method and proposal.

There are two starting points:

The first option: You need a (new) website, but you don’t yet know what it should contain and what it should look like. In that case, you need a preliminary process in which you clearly map out your business goals and target groups. At the end of this process you will receive a number of deliverables, such as a sitemap with content per page, an overview of the technical specifications, two mood boards, and an overview of the marketing goals for the website.

The second option: You already have an idea of what you want and can immediately request quotes with a briefing and the above deliverables.

We conduct one or two interviews as part of our preliminary process to properly identify all of your needs and desires. We then also determine the starting point and make a (customized) proposal. If you agree with our proposal, we can get started!

Step 1: Let’s get started

The beginning of the website process marks the first kick-off, during which our teams get to know each other better. During this meeting, we also discuss the details of the preliminary process and go deeper into the sitemap and content per page. We also cover important marketing issues, such as the purpose of the website, the target audience, and how to convert visitors with effective “call to actions. We understand that this may not be entirely clear yet, which is why we take extensive time to go over these questions with you. We record all the points discussed in a digital environment, which we send to you afterwards. This way you always have access to all the information and you can add to it if necessary. Moreover, we also add the planning of the website process, so that everything remains clear.

Now that we’ve covered the fundamental marketing issues, it’s time to focus on the visual aspects! Have you already thought about what you like? Maybe you even already have a fully developed corporate identity, or are considering having it developed by us before we start working on the website. If you already have a brand bible, feel free to send it to us. If you don’t already, you can create a mood board with websites or elements that appeal to you, or just things you think are terrible. We’d love to receive this from you before our second meeting, so we can preview and come up with an appropriate design direction. The visual aspect is essential for an attractive and professional website, and we would like to meet your preferences.

Following the sitemap, we will design wireframes, or the framework of your website. As the name suggests, this is a colorless block box that provides insight into the page layout. With this, we determine where different elements will end up on the page, such as images, text blocks and more. At this stage, the marketing foundation comes together with the visual elements. This step is very important, and we will of course guide you through it. The wireframe is like the blueprint of the website and ensures that all aspects come together seamlessly for an optimal user experience.

Step 2: Wireframes aka: the colorless cube box

After the two meetings in step one, we get to work on the wireframes for all the unique templates that will later be designed and built. Our wireframes are designed from a combination of marketing and web design expertise, while also considering their technical feasibility. We present these pages to you, asking for feedback. It is very important that you look from your business perspective to see if everything makes sense and makes sense.

During this meeting we will also present a small preview of the visual design, based on the input from the earlier mood board. We’ll go through it together to see if it’s the right direction for your website. Then we’ll send everything to you so you can take a look and give feedback. We have a simple online method for this, which eliminates the need to exchange Word or Excel files. After we have processed your feedback, we officially complete this phase, finalizing the structure and basis of the website and pages.

This is also the starting point to start developing the website content. If you wish, we can optionally take care of this. We have an experienced content marketer who is happy to support you in creating appealing and relevant content for your website.

Step 3: The design phase

The design phase really begins after you approve the wireframes and the design preliminary. That’s when the framework finally gets color, fonts and images and the whole thing comes to life! We create a unique design for each template that is customized for your website. Since we build the website custom within WordPress, it is important that you can see exactly what you will end up with.

During the presentation of the designs, we will give detailed explanations of the choices made. We will talk to you to gather your feedback. After processing this feedback, you can review and approve the design. Once you agree, we move on to the building phase of the website. It is essential that the design is completely to your liking before we continue with the construction, so that the end result fits exactly with your vision and goals.

Step 4: Time to build!

To build the website, we need some time, depending on the size of the site. On average, this process takes two to three weeks. We choose to build the web design by hand in WordPress because this is a form of digital craft that we consciously choose. This ensures that the written code is of high quality and continues to function well.

Once we have built the entire website, we meet to present the demo version of the website. This is an exciting time, because it’s when you will see the website really come to life. It provides an opportunity to make any final adjustments before we move to the finalization phase. We strive to deliver a seamlessly working and user-friendly website that perfectly matches your needs and desires.

Isn’t there something else missing?

True, content is an essential component that still needs to be added to the website. This involves catchy texts, quotes and the right tone of voice that perfectly suit your target audience.

The idea is for you to provide all content as you go along, since you, the client, will be providing the texts for the website. The sooner you can provide the content, the smoother the construction process will go. Once we have received the texts, we will put them into the design, after which we can present a first version of the website.

During this phase, you will see the website actually come to life, with moving elements and the ability to click around. This provides the perfect time to provide feedback on interactive elements and the responsiveness of the website.

Go get em!

After these adjustments you will receive your own login details and we will deliver the website. At that time, a WordPress workshop will also take place, where we will show you how to manage your website. Moreover, our WordPress websites contain a handy Brendly dashboard, where you can find our WordPress manual in case you forgot something after the workshop.

With this guidance, you will be prepared to work independently within your website environment within a short period of time. You will be able to edit content and images yourself and further perfect your website. Of course, we will not leave you to your own devices. Even during the completion of the website you can come to us if you get stuck somewhere. This approach allows you to work with the website before it goes live. As soon as you’re ready, you can tell us when exactly it should go live. We are ready to support you and make sure the transition to an active website goes smoothly.

Step 5: Ready to conquer the world!

Once everything is ready, we take care of the final technical checks and install and configure the necessary marketing tools. At the moment of going live, we are ready to support you with the SEO migration. If you need help setting up the hosting, we can of course assist you with that.

After your website is live, we run additional tests to make sure everything is working properly. Once these final steps are complete, you’re ready to start marketing! We understand that sometimes it can be difficult to determine exactly where to start marketing. That’s why we offer a conversation with one of our marketers as a conclusion to this process. In this hour, you can spar together about smart online marketing strategies you can apply to your new website.

With our guidance and expertise, we want to ensure that your website gets off to a flying start and performs optimally in the online world. Our team is here to support you from the moment you go live to improving your online visibility and attracting more visitors and customers.

Writing content and shooting/collecting photos

This is an important task that may fall to the agency or you. Writing copy, having photos taken and perhaps developing videos. With the more professional agencies you can outsource this, but it is also often done in-house. Make clear agreements about this and realize that it takes a lot of time, no matter who does it. Writing content easily takes about 4 hours per page. Keep this lead time in mind.

Preparing for avg, cookie bar, measurement tools

A good website cannot exist without some important peripheral issues regarding digital marketing. The website must be set up to comply with AVG legislation with cookie notification and any measurement tools.

Should you already have an existing website, an SEO migration is also always useful to do. Even if the SEO value is not of great importance, this way you ensure that website visitors are redirected to existing pages. Otherwise, you get the problem that visitors may land on a “dead” page. This is obviously not nice for the customer experience.

Click with the agency

Last but definitely not least, see if you have a click with the people at the web design agency. You are entering into an intense period of cooperation when you have a new website created, and nothing is more annoying than a partner you would rather part with.

A fun process

Having a website developed should be a fun and inspiring process. This can only succeed with a good partner. I hope this article will help you to start talking to some nice parties, like us 😉

Summed up the “checklist” to keep on hand when engaging with an agency:

• Getting goals website clear
• CMS choice
• Builder’s choice
• How much can I do with my website after completion
• How to update your content
• Future-proofing
• Hosting, security and wp updates
• Accessibility
• Branding
• Process and steps you will go through
• Writing content and shooting/collecting photos
• Preparing for avg, cookie bar, measurement tools
• Click with the agency