One of the most important aspects of building a small business website is, of course, the design. While there’s so much more that goes into a website build, the design is what the end user will judge a business, first and foremost. This first impression really counts.
That’s why we’ve developed a very comprehensive design process for our websites, over the past 20+ years. Having this process ensures every website we build is unique. Here’s how it comes together:
1. Understanding the business
First, we need to get a very thorough understanding of our client, their target audience, and competitors. We also gather our client’s preferences, branding information, style guides, and other marketing material design samples. This helps us form a solid understanding of what our client’s business is all about. When it comes to small business web design, this is absolutely vital.
2. Industry research
Next, we research the industry to identify any common styles or design principles, and our team discusses ways we can do something within user expectations but different to the competition. This means that we want a website to be a little familiar, but with our client’s unique branding and flavour. Knowing what competitors are doing means we can steer clear of those designs.
3. Planning
From our client’s information and research, we then internally log our ideas and any reference websites in our system. Our design and development team then has a meeting to sketch out the wireframe design (bare bones layout) of the website, to help establish what will be required on the home page, and where it will be positioned.
4. Design
Our User Experience (UX) designer takes the internal notes, the wireframe sketch, and the client’s content/branding materials, and incorporates their own information/ideas. They produce the wireframe which we refine in house until our team is happy with it.
5. Design feedback
Our clients review the design and provide their feedback. We implement that feedback until it’s approved by the client. We may also create more wireframes or full design mockups for one or more types of devices, depending on what’s included in the project.
6. Final feedback
Lastly, once the design(s) have been approved, we incorporate them into the actual website we’re building. Often once someone sees their design in action on the actual website, they have some further changes, so we work through the feedback process again until the design is approved.
As you can see, we take great pride in creating effective, unique, on-brand designs for every website we create. This helps to give our clients the edge and ensures they’re 100% happy with the end product.
If you’re in the market for a small business website, our design team is ready to work with you on your project!
