How to create a new website: A guide from start to finish
Launching a new website is often imagined as a straightforward task, but many business owners and marketers quickly find it takes longer—and is more complex—than they initially thought. A high-quality website launch is not a one-size-fits-all project; it’s unique to each business involving a number of different stages, from strategy to design, development, testing, and finally, launch. For businesses working with a marketing consultant, the process can become even more effective but may still require more time than initially expected.
Creating a project brief
The process of launching a website begins with creating a project brief. The brief is the basis for the entire website project. A comprehensive project brief does more than outline your desired website’s aesthetics; it also defines business objectives, target audience, key features, and expected outcomes.
Why it takes time:
Identifying clear goals: To make sure the website achieves its purpose, you need to understand what you want to accomplish. Is it brand awareness, lead generation, e-commerce, or all of the above?
Researching competitors: A good brief requires understanding competitors’ sites—what they’re doing well, where they’re lacking, and how your website can stand out.
Determining functionality and features: Defining essential features, such as e-commerce, user accounts, or live chat, can be time-consuming but crucial for accurate project planning.
Detailing content and visual direction: A thorough brief should provide a rough idea of content needs and visual direction, which requires significant thought.
Finding and choosing the right agency
With a clear brief in hand, the next challenge is finding the right team to execute your vision. Whether you’re hiring an agency, freelance designers, or working through a marketing consultant’s recommendations, this stage is crucial for the project’s success.
Why it takes time:
Agency research and outreach: You’ll likely reach out to multiple agencies, review their case studies, and assess their expertise in relevant fields. This research can be time-intensive, as you don’t want to settle for an agency that doesn’t align with your vision.
Consultations and proposals: Shortlisted agencies often require detailed consultations to understand your project before presenting proposals. If a marketing consultant is helping with this process, they can save you time by vetting agencies on your behalf.
Finalising terms and budget: Once you choose a team, agreeing terms, timelines, budgets, and communication expectations can take additional days or weeks, depending on project complexity.
Kick-off and project planning
The kick-off meeting is where your project officially begins. During this phase, you’ll set milestones, assign tasks, and establish timelines.
Why it takes time:
Marketing strategy alignment: If a marketing consultant is involved, they’ll ensure the website aligns with your broader marketing goals, which may involve refining initial ideas or adding new objectives.
Milestone planning and timeline setting: The project will likely have numerous stages—wireframing, design, development, testing, and launch—each with its own timeline.
Role definition: Clear communication and defined responsibilities are essential for avoiding delays, especially if multiple stakeholders or consultants are involved.
Wireframing and User Experience (UX) design
Before any visual design begins, wireframes are created to outline the website’s layout, navigation, and overall user experience.
Why it takes time:
Understanding the user journey: Good UX design is about understanding your audience and ensuring an intuitive experience on the site. Crafting the user journey requires research and empathy, which takes time to get right.
Wireframe iterations: Wireframes are rarely perfect on the first draft. Expect a few rounds of revisions to refine the user journey and navigation.
Visual design and branding
Once the wireframes are approved, the team moves to visual design, where colours, typography, images, and branding elements bring the wireframe to life.
Why it takes time:
Iterative design process: Designers usually start with a few design options, and you’ll work together to finalise the one that aligns best with your brand. Each iteration requires feedback and adjustments.
Creating custom assets and imagery: Custom illustrations, iconography, or animations may be necessary for unique, on-brand visuals. Developing these assets takes time and often involves specialised designers or illustrators.
Approval rounds: Expect to go through a few rounds of revisions to perfect the visuals. If multiple stakeholders are involved, these approval processes can take extra time.
Development and coding
With design approved, development begins. This is where the website takes shape in code, and your design ideas start turning into a functional website.
Why it takes time:
Complex features and integrations: Features like e-commerce functionality, custom forms, or CRM integrations take time to develop and test. A marketing consultant may also recommend adding tools to support campaigns, such as analytics tracking or automation platforms.
Ensuring responsiveness: The website must look great and function seamlessly on all devices, requiring thorough testing and adjustments.
Testing and debugging: Developers will spend time testing the site on multiple browsers and devices to ensure it works flawlessly. Debugging and refining the code are often iterative processes that add to the timeline.
Content creation and integration
Content is one of the most critical elements of any website. It includes everything from written copy to images, videos, and SEO elements.
Why it takes time:
Content creation and copywriting: Crafting compelling, SEO-friendly copy that aligns with your brand voice and meets audience needs requires time and strategy. Images and videos may also need to be custom-created or sourced.
Content approval: Content creation involves multiple rounds of writing, editing, and approval, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved.
SEO and metadata: Optimising content for search engines—titles, descriptions, tags, and keywords—is essential but meticulous work.
Integration with the website: Adding and formatting content on the site, especially on a new platform, can be labour-intensive and often requires the coordination of the design and development teams.
Testing and Quality Assurance (QA)
Once development and content are in place, the website undergoes rigorous testing to ensure it’s ready for launch.
Why it takes time:
Multiple device and browser testing: The website must be compatible across various devices and browsers, requiring thorough QA checks.
User testing: Some teams opt for user testing to gather feedback on the website’s usability, which can lead to additional tweaks or adjustments.
Bug fixing: Bugs or issues that come up during testing need to be fixed before launch. Debugging can be a lengthy process, as fixing one issue may inadvertently affect another part of the website.
Launch and post-launch support
This step involves setting up the site on the live server, testing the live environment, and ensuring everything works as expected.
Why it takes time:
Site migration: Migrating from a staging environment to a live server can reveal unexpected issues, so the team must remain on standby to troubleshoot.
Putting redirects in place: When transferring your old website to the new one, it's crucial to set up redirects to ensure users and search engines are seamlessly directed from outdated URLs to the corresponding pages on your new site, preserving your SEO rankings and avoiding broken links.
Monitoring and quick fixes: For the first few days post-launch, the team usually monitors the site for any problems that might arise with real user traffic. Adjustments may be necessary based on user feedback and analytics.
Training and documentation: If your team will manage the website, some training on how to use the content management system (CMS) may be necessary. Documentation on key features and workflows can be helpful here.
Launching a website is a complex, multi-step process that often takes longer than anticipated. Every phase—from creating a brief and collaborating with a marketing consultant to development and testing—requires careful planning and execution. By understanding the time and effort involved, you can set realistic expectations and build a website that supports your long-term marketing and business goals.
