The Web Design Process

A Guide for Potion Digital Customers

Your customers are online:

The volume and value of sales now being performed online globally continues to grow at a rapid rate, with no indication of slowing down. Your customers shop online more than ever before, and they are spending big dollars. Global borders are becoming less of a restriction, so the market for your products and services online has never been so accessible to businesses of all sizes. A professionally designed website allows you to participate and compete in this global market, so jump in.

Keep your customers informed:

Your website provides customers with information about your services, products, contact information and any other relevant information that may help them in their buying cycle. If your website is useful and informative for your customers it is likely they will trust you, buy from you or recommend your website to their friends. You control the information on your website that you want your customers to see, so put your best foot forward and convert your website traffic into customers.

The world never sleeps:

Today’s online world is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you don’t have a website you are missing out on selling to those customers who are searching for your product or service online. A professionally designed website allows you the peace of mind knowing your customers can find your business online at all hours of the day, even when you’re sleeping.

Phase 1 — Scoping and information gathering (sitemap)

Designing a website starts with the end goal in mind. During the scoping phase we work with you to understand your business goals and your target customers. Knowing this information helps us determine if your site is an information only website, or if it will be an ecommerce or membership style website. Once we know who you’re targeting and why you need a website it is time to establish a sitemap for your website. A sitemap is simply a list of the different web pages required to make up your website (i.e. Home, About, Services, Contact, etc).

There are some basic rules and best practice guidelines that we use to ensure your website content and sitemap are optimised to convert your website visitors into customers. We then use the sitemap in the next phase to create a set of website wireframes.

Phase 2 — Wireframing your website

You can think of website wireframes like a set of architectural plans for building a house. They are basic outlines of every web page (like each room in a house) that show placeholders and descriptions of every element and function that is present on each page (like doorways, benchtops, etc in a house). The idea behind website wireframes, and why they are so important to the web design process, is that they form the basis for the remaining phases of the process, the design and development phases.

By creating website wireframes we are able to show you the outline of your website, which gives you a chance to see if it includes all the sections and functionality that you are expecting. This prevents unexpected surprises down the track, and avoids delays from late changes in the process.

It is important in this phase that we put ourselves in the shoes of your customers, focusing on creating a great user experience for them. This is where you may have heard terms like UX or customer centric design. This is our speciality, as we love to create websites that not only look beautiful, but that actually make website visitors have the best experience as well.

Phase 3 — Designing your website

This is the phase where your website really comes to life. During the design phase our designers add their creative flare by creating design PDF mockups of each page for your review. To keep with the house building metaphor — the UI design (user interface) phase is similar to the interior decorating phase of building a house. Selecting colours, style, images, fonts and all the little touches that make a site stunning and relevant to your brand and customers. If you have an existing logo and branding we ensure that it matches seamlessly, keeping your site consistent with your other marketing collateral. If you need something fresh and new, we can help with that too!

Step 4 — Development and Handover

Once the website designs are approved we can then commence the final stage of the web design process — development. Our developers take all the information from the previous phases and incorporate it into a WordPress website. During this phase all the technical aspects of coding your website take place.

This is also the time for you to sign up to a web hosting platform (like WPengine) and to ensure you have purchased your domain name from a domain host (like GoDaddy). We will guide you on what you will need, so don’t worry.

Once your site has been developed, tested and approved we then transfer it over to your server. This completes the web design process at Potion Digital.

Being a boutique Gold Coast digital design agency that services both local and international entrepreneurs and businesses, Potion Digital’s web and app design teams understand the importance of acting locally, but thinking globally. We specialise in web design, app design and branding services.

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