Ultimate Website Design Guide
Building a new website is a big task, but like anything when building something, there are challenges that will often come into play. Experiencing both the good and the not-so-good of web design, below is a short list of points I put together based on my experience.
Here is the ultimate web design checklist:
Website Design Checklists: What to Consider
Mapping a solid plan before building the website is essential.
Learning from past mistakes — if this is not done you can find yourself feeling all over the place and overwhelmed with extra work. A key ingredient here is creating a site map and a mockup of the site that will be built out. This will definitely come in handy during the site build. A user flow is another key ingredient here, as it will give you an idea of the user experience.
Missing website completion deadlines really sucks and leaves the team feeling rushed and overwhelmed.
Let’s say you let the client know that the website would be finished in a month and you miss the deadline. That situation poses a lot of challenges and headaches to your team. If the deadline is missed you risk losing the client or making them upset. Building a core relationship with your client and then letting them down is never a good thing.
Also, missing a deadline is also bad because it will push other work back causing an avalanche of work to eventually come full swing leaving you and your team buried with work. Which leads to the ultimate burnout phase. You know, that phase where you feel like you can’t even get your mind to think because you’re so tired from all the rushing of projects and work.
Developing an effective web design checklist is another important part of the process.
If you think the website is finished and you launch it without a proper checklist, odds are you will run into trouble later on, especially when it comes to SEO reasons. It’s important to scan the website and test it multiple times before launching.
Some of the important things to have on a website checklist are,
- Content & SEO optimization, i.e. title tags, meta, deep links, formatting, calls-to-action, images (alt tags, title tags),
- Design Checklist, i.e. check image sizes, (compressed for web), font styles (review mockup, make sure it’s right),
- Analytics i.e. make sure google analytics is installed, enable site search,
- Website Browser Testing i.e. check all forms on site and make sure they are working properly, cross-browser testing, make sure all social accounts are working, plan a phase 2.
Once the website is complete the next big challenge is getting your website found (if this is a new domain).
For instance, Is the website optimized with the proper keywords? Is the website using the proper title tags and H1 tags? Does the website have the proper visuals? These are standards for proper SEO features.
Navigation through a website is also very important.
If people can’t scroll the site properly you will end up with a high bounce rate. Navigations are meant to give the user an enhanced experience and flow through the site at ease. The website should be easier for anybody who comes across the site, whether it be mobile, pc, or mac.
Driving traffic to your site is another challenge that we face when developing a new website.
Websites that tend to focus on a user experience will do well. If the site does not have a good user flow you could see a higher bounce rate.
What’s listed on your ultimate website design checklist?
Building a new website means answering all the big questions before you start, and mapping a plan to get through it. Start working with Oyova — a St. Petersburg website design, content marketing, social media management, and eCommerce web development agency.