Often times during our pre-project consultation and discovery calls we get asked about our website redesign process (and for good reason too because of course clients want to know what to expect next). Our proven process is very detailed and helps us to ensure that we always deliver top quality work, that all client projects run smoothly, and that we meet our deadlines on time.

For website redesign projects we follow the PDD method – Planning, Design, and Development (highlighted in bold). Below is an explanation of how everything works from start to finish.

Pre-project

The steps here are kind of self-explanatory. It’s the important stuff we need to do before we start working together.

1. Initial consultation. We meet with you to discuss the project, what you’re looking for and determine if we’re a good fit for your project needs.

2. Proposal. We create and send you a proposal outlining our proposed plan of action for the project.

3. Statement of Work. We create a statement of work outlining the exact details for the project including tasks, deliverables and timelines for those deliverables. This could also be included in the proposal.

4. Sign contact. We create and share the contract with you. You sign and send it back.

5. Submit deposit. You submit a deposit to book the project in our calendar and get things started.

Onboarding

6. Client onboarding starts. We have a kick-off meeting with you where we discuss the project, expectations, etc. We also sometimes do this through email – depending on what you prefer.

7. Setup up project in Asana. We set up everything in our project management platform Asana and assign tasks. From this point on most of our communication will happen here. We also set up a project folder on Google Drive for sharing files and schedule our check-in meetings (done through virtual meetings, videos, or emails) so we make sure that you’re kept updated as we chug along through the project.

Planning

This is where we gather information from you as a client and iron out all the planning details before we start working on the design. This is a very important step to ensure we’re setting the right foundation for the project for us to be successful. Planning can involve a series of tasks including choosing hosting, ironing out a redirection strategy, choosing plugins (free and paid), etc. We also work on strategy and iron out the details of how we will approach building your new website to make sure that we’re building with a plan and intention and not just deciding on important things at random.

The following steps happen in the planning phase:

8. Project questionnaire. We send you a project questionnaire to get answers to some key questions for information we will need to get started.

9. Deep dive. We do a deep dive exploration by going deeper into the requirements – your hopes and goals, major CTA’s, etc. This is done in alignment with the SOW.

10. Create strategy. We put together a website strategy and share it with you to gather feedback and adjust as needed.

11. Work on content. Content is super important! In this step we will work together to do an inventory of all the content, sort it all out and assemble new content as needed. Clients are usually responsible for leading the creation and gathering of content but we can offer consultation support as needed if you need help finessing and optimizing the content to align with SEO best practices.

12. Info architecture planning. We work on-site navigation and the information architecture (content structure) for the website to make sure that we are working to create a good user experience for your website visitors. Creating sitemaps is also sometimes included in this step.

Design

After we get through the planning phase, we start on the design where we work on a mock-up and wireframes for the pages. This is where visually things start to come together and you will start to see what the new website will look like.

The following step is what happens as we go through the design phase:

13. Design mockups. We create some design mockups and wireframes of key pages to show you what the new website will look like. You will have an opportunity to review these mockups and approve (or ask us to make changes) as needed. 3 rounds of revisions are normally included at this point.

Development

Once the design is confirmed the building of the website will start where we take the mock-ups/wireframes and build out the actual website from it.

The following steps are what to expect as we move into the development phase of the project:

14. Building starts. This is where we start to build and turn those mockups we created into reality. This is usually done in a backend environment (often referred to as staging or dev).

15. Share key pages. We build out a few key pages first and share a dev link with you to see what the website looks like up to that point.

16. We continue building. We then continue to build out pages for the rest of the website.

17. Final link is shared. Once complete the link is provided to you to review and test. If any changes are needed then we can make those changes and share again with you. Three rounds of revisions are also normally included here.

Launch

18. Launch your new website. Finally the time arrives where your new website will be seen by the world. Usually we launch new websites later in the night. We also continue to monitor the website after launch to work out any possible kinks (how long we do this depends on the agreement for your project).

Offboarding & Maintenance

19. We train you! Don’t worry we’re not just going to launch your website and then throw you into figuring out how to update it by yourself. This is where we train your web team on how to maintain and update the website moving forward.

20. Maintenance is king…or queen! You implement your maintenance plan or start on a website maintenance and care plan with us.