If you’re building a website from scratch, it’s helpful to understand what the process is like. Once you meet with a web design agency and work through the discovery process, you’re handing the reins over to them so they can create you a beautiful, functional website. But how does it all work? Creating a brand-new website is a lot like building a house, and here’s why.
The Very First Steps
Before your website can start to look like a website, there are some key things that need to be done. You have to:
● Choose hosting (which is a lot like choosing a piece of land)
● Pick the name of your website (which is just getting an address)
● Decide on your CMS (which is the foundation of it all)
After that, you get to designing.
The Designers
Most of the time, when you work with a web design agency, they’ll have developers and designers there to help. Once you’ve completed the initial steps like hosting and choosing a domain name, the designers will work with you to create a concept for your website, a “blueprint” of sorts.
The Builders
Just like you’ll want to choose a solid team of builders to build your house, you’ll want to choose a solid web design agency. These are the people who will help you with every step from start to finish, including your CMS all the way down to maintenance and security.
After you’ve decided on the layout and design for your website, the builders will work on getting it up and running. We usually recommend thinking about “furniture” and “decór”, AKA your content, images, and graphics, before building the site because content-first websites usually lead to a quicker process and better outcomes.
The “Furniture” and “Decór”
You’ll need to go out shopping for the right furnishings and decorations for your home, and you’ll also need to do the same for your website. You’ll want to consider the basics like copywriting and images, but you can also include videos, GIFs, and other media elements to your site. Sometimes a web design agency can help you with these things, but other times you might need to find a copywriter or graphic designer outside of the agency.
Maintenance
As much as it can be a pain, home maintenance is important. If you don’t stay on top of small things as they happen, you’ll have to deal with major issues later. Beyond that, your home won’t meet your needs. In the same way, if you don’t stay on top of website issues or make updates as needed, it will cause you issues like poor SEO or loss of functionality. Web developers can help you keep your website running smoothly without falling apart.
Security
We all want to feel safe at home, and in the same way, we want our little piece of real estate on the internet to feel safe and secure. If you don’t keep your site secure, you can end up hacked or wind up with private information compromised. It’s important to keep in mind that any web developer you work with should be able to keep your information secure.
If you have any other questions about what the process of getting a brand new website built is like, feel free to contact us at hello@digitlbridge.com.au or give us a ring at +613 8658 2434.