Understanding Bigfin’s Web Design Process

For new and established businesses alike, a captivating website is a key to effectively establish a brand’s online presence. Your business only has a short 15-second window on desktop and brief 3-second window on mobile to grab the attention of online visitors. At Bigfin, we are industry web design experts who know how to implement the performance, design, and voice of your brand into your custom website. We design websites that are mobile friendly, perform at optimal capacity, and feature a fresh and unique website to engage customers. Is it time to revamp your online presence? Explore Bigfin’s simplified 5 step web design process to ensure your website is in good hands.

Onboarding and Kickoff

Welcome! The first step to the web design process is the kick-off phase. We start by introducing you to a designated point of contact, the web designer, and the development team. Your point of contact will then gather technical information and ask further questions regarding the system of your website, DNS login, website FTP and CMS login, etc. that will vary based on how your website has been set up. Then, we will need your business’s logo and will move onto the design questions:

1. What are the industry expectations for your business?
2. Who is your target audience? Can you provide analytics to your site?
3. Who are your competitors?
4. What websites do you like?

Other general questions include:

1. What do you currently dislike about your current website?
2. If you had to summarize your business in one sentence, what would it be?
3. What needs to stay?
4. Core message of your business?
5. What is the goal of the website?

Feel free to suggest a phone or in-person meeting if you need to explain specifics. Once we get your answers, we can move on to the exciting next step: the design phase.

Phase 1 – Design

At the first phase of the web design process, we will begin designing your custom website. No need to stress! We understand that not everyone has the expert knowledge on how to design their website. That is why we are here. We can help you pick the best colors, layout, and images to present your brand the best way possible. Do you already have your own color scheme and vision? Perfect. Our team will work with your preferences to implement on the website design.

Phase 2 – Static Homepage and Interior Pages

The first page we will design is the homepage. Your point of contact will reach out to you with a static homepage design link that will include a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation explaining all of the design elements. At this stage, static pages in the site are reorganized using clear main and sub navigation links that enable visitors to quickly access any page or section without having to follow text links in the content. We want to emphasize this only includes the design, not the wording or content of your website. We welcome and encourage feedback!

Once the homepage is approved, we will begin designing the rest of the interior pages. We will send over design preview links for every page. Note: all pages at this point will be STATIC. Meaning, the pages are neither interactive nor clickable. You can expect an interactive website after we implement content changes.

Phase 3 – Content

Now it is time to get into content editing. At this phase of the web design process, we will need you and your team to provide any text or verbiage changes on the website. Let us know if we need to pull information from the old site. Do not forget that we are here to help! We can help you formulate the best language and voice that matches the tone and industry of your business. Plus, we will make sure the grammar is perfect.

Phase 4 – Interactive prototype

After we implement the content, your point of contact will finally send you an interactive prototype link of your website. You can finally preview and interact with your website. Now, you can click on links, check drop-down menus, and preview the final product of the website on all pages. In this period, we will review the finished site, log and fix bugs, and make revisions, such as typography and color adjustments. We want to highly emphasize that this is the most important time to notify us if there are any last minute changes or suggestions.

Phase 5 – CMS Integration

Once the final interactive prototype is approved, we will move on to the Content Management System (CMS) integration. The development team will set up and configure the website using WordPress. We utilize WordPress as our preferred open-source Content Management System (CMS) because it is easy to use, has a high degree of flexibility, modularity, customization, and involves an active community of leaders. Best of all, any simple changes you need to do after launching (such as adding a new image, updating text, removing/adding subpages, etc.) can be easily done by you.

Overall, we will make sure the new website will feature a clear and concise call to action, sign up box, client login, site map, site-wide search box, and prominent links to high important tools or areas of interest. Roles will be assigned, such as website administrator or staff, etc. to grant specific permissions to the website. We can always add and update user roles when necessary.

Launch

Finally, it is time to launch. Congratulations on your new website! We want all of our prospective clients to know that Bigfin will always be available to help. Our services after launch will include daily backups and server technical support if anything needs to be fixed. We will also enable Google Analytics to allow you to monitor the site’s visitors and traffic. Our goal is to not only make you a lifelong client, but a happy and satisfied client as well. Enjoy your website! Thank you for choosing Bigfin.

Local Web Design & Web Development in Redmond, WA | Bigfin

Bigfin is a digital agency that specializes in local web design and web development in Redmond, WA. Our team designs and builds professional and beautiful custom websites in-house. We pride ourselves on working with you throughout each phase of the process. Our consistent ability to exceed our client expectations is just one of the many reasons why most of our clients come from referrals. Contact us online or give us a call at (425) 822-8200 to get started on your new website today!