One of the things we constantly try to convey as Power Digital’s web development team is that we differ from other development and design firms. How do we do that? Well since our cave is smack dab in the middle of 7 other marketing based teams, we integrate completely into their processes and campaigns, giving us a leg up in design and development to make sure we’re setting up the current client for success.
The following post outlines our development process and how marketing plays into each step. We hope this shows you how different our outcomes are due to our marketing intelligence and ability to be flexible when planning for the future.
Step 1: Planning And Discovery
A normal design firm may ask the client for simply one thing: what do you want it to look like? That’s great, you should. But that’s only one of the 100s of questions we have lined up. Who are you targeting with a new website? How do you want to improve your online presence? What are you doing after the website is launched? Do you have SEO lined up? Paid ads? If so, what pages have to be implemented and optimized? We take into account all of these matters and look to establish a plan that clearly outlines the brand and our design efforts, but also the efforts of our colleagues and client’s aspirations.
Step 2: Sitemap
Enter the SEO team. We work hand in hand with our search experts to make sure our new client websites are up to par with our analytics insights. Every page, pathway and menu item is specifically chosen for a purpose, and that’s to succeed through Google.
There are two things that come into play in this step: whether we’re doing the right structure for search and crawling activity, and whether the user flow is logical. This balance only comes from collaboration from the two teams, ensuring that our success isn’t hindered by one or the other. Thanks SEO!
Step 3: Wireframes
Once the sitemap is approved, we move into the wireframing stage. This is a hugely important step as we develop a UI/UX strategy for our clients. However, a big contributor to our strategy is the content team.
Related: UX vs UI: Understanding the Differences Between User Experience & User Interface
We work with our content team in many capacities. Section by section, full page, pop ups, emails, almost everything you can think of on a site. They make sure we’re using the right language, messaging, and demeanor throughout the site. In addition, they also check the past SEO work and ensure our pages’ content is optimized to only further that success. The content team is great at discovering sections we need, which then leads to even better design.
Step 4: Design
Let’s face it, design is OUR specialty. We have the skills you need to create an award winning experience. When it comes to design, we try to keep our client’s business goals in mind. It’s important to reflect the brand and do your best to make a masterpiece, but the functional use of a website is often of the biggest importance.
Related: Landing Page Design: An Art
A design is the alignment of your brand offline and online. Sure, social and other components play to that, but it starts with creating a pattern library through the site. This library can then be executed throughout social.
Step 5: Development
The bulk of the work! The development of a website is how we look at our client’s process, and do everything we can to expedite it with autonomy through the site. Our websites usually are built to solve a problem, most of all any problems our client’s may face. Internally, or externally.
We use sophisticated, modern code to make sure our campaigns (especially email) can function through our websites forms (or checkout process if it’s ecommerce). It’s important to build something that can help centralize all of your channels and run like a fully oiled, revved up, V8 machine.
Step 6: Launch
At last! We reach our final step to get your business up and running. We have a wholehearted reunion with the SEO team and begin looking at the SEO migration of the site. This means transferring all old URLs to the new ones using 301 redirects, bolstering up our security package, and ensuring Google sees a high page speed.
The launch can be the make or break moment, and we pride ourselves in being the best in the business. No downtime, no screw ups, and no lost value.
Wrapping Up
I hope this post shows you how different developing a website can be with marketing in mind. We strive to build the best and launch you into a better future.