One thing I'm obsessed with is the idea of systems. When I started my business 11 years ago I devoured books like the E-Myth and Work the System, trying to learn everything I could about how to systemize my business. Today, I'll watch various 'How It's Made' videos with my kids to see how other businesses run their systems.
 
What I thought may be helpful for you would be to share our Web Design Process that we have developed over the years. This is the exact same process we use with all of our clients when completing a web design project. And while this isn't the only process that can be used, it's something that has worked for us over the years with consistent results.

 Website Kickoff Meeting

Our project begins with a website kickoff meeting. During this meeting, we will establish your goals for the project, identify the unique users coming to the site and establish the current and desired traffic sources driving visitors to the website. We will then go over our entire design and development process and assign next-step homework assignments for everyone.

 Content Phase

Sitemap
We will work with you to structure the content architecture of the site which is commonly referred to as the sitemap. We will first identify who the major visitor types are and make sure that all content is intuitively available for all visitor user types. We will also dive into your current Analytics data to see how current visitors are interacting with your content.
 
Content
It is the client's responsibility to actually provide us with the text content. If this is something you need help with we can refer you to some highly trusted writers who can help you with your content writing needs. We do help organize the content by pulling it from your current website and adding them to a series of shared Google Docs.
 
Imagery
There are a few options when it comes to imagery. If you have existing images for us to work with, we are happy to use them. Or we can help source and curate imagery for your approval. If we use stock imagery we can purchase the images on your behalf and then bill you back for them on the final invoice. (for the Free Mockup Offer we use watermarked placeholder imagery which is free)
 
Design Phase
  Homepage
The first step to the design of a new website is locking in the design for the homepage. The Free Mockup Offer is a mockup of the homepage of the website. Once we start working together there will be plenty of opportunities to go back and forth with revisions to get the design of the homepage just the way you want it. Once you have signed off on the homepage design we will move forward with the mockups for the inner pages.
 
Inner Pages
Once the homepage mockup is signed off on we will mockup all the unique inner page templates. The page templates are all mocked up together at once and the revisions for these pages are all done together in batches. Once we have gone back and forth with revisions for the inner page templates the design process has been completed and we're ready to start the development of the site.
 
Development Phase
Website Development
We will develop your site on a live test server. The site will be developed to be fully mobile responsive and display properly across the latest version of all major web browsers.
 
Content Population
Once the site is developed we will populate the new site with all of its content and imagery.
 
Search Engine Optimization
We will identify the keywords you need to be ranking for and tag and structure your site to be optimized to rank for those keywords. 

Mobile Responsive Development
The mobile responsive design will take place during the development phase so that the website adapts to the iPhone, iPad, and all other mobile devices.
 
Internal Quality Assurance
We will test your site across all the major devices and browsers to make sure that everything is functioning and displaying properly and looks just like the design we agreed to.
 
Client Quality Assurance
Once the website is ready for your review you will have ample opportunity to provide your feedback on the development. We will work together to resolve any bugs or issues with the developed website.
 
Training
We will provide you with detailed tutorials on how to update and edit all aspects of the site without having to know code. We are also happy to provide over the phone or skype tutorials for your team.
 
Launch
Once you have seen the final version of the test site and given your final approval the site is ready to launch. The launch process typically happens within 24hr hours.
 
Conclusion
So there you have it. That is our web design process. And the key thing I've found is that to consistently deliver results, you need to follow a proven process. So whether you choose us or not for your next web design project, be sure that the person you work with has a proven process for success.
 
Talk soon.