Get To Know How You Can Design A Website In A Step-By-Step Manner
Having a proper web design will solve several challenges. For example, it will help people understand the product/service, generate more emotional bonds, increase interactions, etc.
The success of a web page design totally depends on how you combine elements like color, font, texture, etc. Therefore, it is essential to have a clear understanding of each in detail.
When you create a new website from scratch, there are a lot of things to do before it’s ready for launch. Below, we’ve broken the process down into a series of basic website design steps that you can follow.
- Determine the goals of your site
The first thing to do when designing a website is to determine the goals of your website. You need to know what you want the site to accomplish.
To determine the goals of your site, you should start by answering some basic questions, such as:
- What will be the main functions of the website?
- What audience are you trying to reach with the site?
- What do you want this site to accomplish for your business?
Once you’ve found some simple answers to those questions, you’ll have a better idea of how to frame your website in a way that will help you achieve your goals.
Perhaps you are looking for a content-heavy site that aims to familiarize users with you. Or maybe you want an eCommerce site where people can buy from you. You may even want to build a larger site that accomplishes both.
- Choose a CMS (or use HTML)
Once you know what your goals are for the website, it’s time to figure out how you’ll create it. A content management system (CMS), a sort of platform that lets you develop websites, is used by the majority of first-time site builders.
The following are some of the most popular CMS platforms:
- WordPress
- Wix
- Weebly
- WooCommerce
- And more!
Using any of these platforms will allow you to create a website using a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) format rather than having to code. As a result, you’ll be able to create a website visually.
However, if you already have extensive knowledge of HTML, you can create a website from scratch instead of using a CMS. HTML is more difficult to use, but it allows you to be more creative.
If you want an HTML site from scratch but don’t have the experience to do it yourself, you can hire a web design agency to create one for you!
- Plan your site design and branding
The third step of website setup is all about planning. Specifically, you need to plan how your site will be organized. You will want to ask yourself questions like:
- What sections will I have on the site?
- What pages will I include in each section?
- How will the sections be organized?
This step is essential because, in addition to improving your workflow, it determines the design of your site’s navigation. When users visit your site, they should be able to find their way around easily. If they are unable to do so, they will become irritated and quit. So don’t skip this step.
Once you’ve planned the overall layout of your site, create wireframes for each of the pages to determine how the elements on the page will be laid out.
You should also use this time to plan your branding – how do you want your site to communicate your unique brand? You’ll want to choose your color schemes, font, and language style to ensure you have a consistent branded appearance throughout your website.
- Find a web server and register a domain name
Setting up your domain name and web hosting is the final step before you begin designing your pages.
Your domain name is basically the address of your site, your base URL, while your web hosting refers to the physical servers where your site is stored.
You may find available domain names on websites like GoDaddy.com. Be sure to choose a domain name that is short, easy to remember, and clearly associated with your brand.
Once you’ve found and purchased a domain, you can set up your web hosting, often through the same site where you purchased your domain name. GoDaddy, Bluehost, and more are great web hosting options.
- Create the pages and content of your website
Once you get to this point, it’s finally time to create your website. Using the plan you laid out in the previous step, start setting up your pages. Be sure to keep them organized as they were in your initial design, and include a navigation bar at the top of the site that allows users to move around easily.
Take this time to create all of your content for your site as well. Produce any video you want to use, create your images, and write all your textual content like blog posts and service pages. Be sure to keep it informative and useful to users.
- Optimize your site for SEO
After setting up the basic website, start optimizing it for search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a marketing strategy that involves getting your site to rank in relevant search results so that users can find you. There are several Search Engine Optimization tactics that you can use, including:
- Page speed optimization – Try to make your page speed as fast as possible. Accomplish this by caching web pages, compressing images, and minifying code.
- Responsive Design – Having a mobile-optimized site is essential so that you can retain traffic on mobile devices and rank higher on Google. You can do this by using responsive design, which will automatically restructure your pages to fit whatever screen they appear on.
- HTTPS – Your site must be secure so that users feel safe visiting it. For that reason, make sure to use HTTPS for your site. This will help users feel more secure, in addition to improving your position in Google rankings.
When you follow each of the strategies above, your site will attract much more traffic once you launch it.
- Publish and reoptimize your site
With your website setup now complete, you can finally move on to the final step of creating a website: Publishing! However, when your site goes live, that doesn’t mean it’s done. On the contrary, the first few weeks after launching your site are critical.
Be sure to track user behavior on your site, looking at which pages are generating traffic and which are not. Then take what you’ve learned and re-optimize your site to make it perform better.
Even after the first few weeks, keep looking for ways to improve the quality of your website, increasing your search rankings, and attract more traffic so you can drive more conversions.
Now that you already familiar with how to construct a website, you’re all set to get started. But you may still be unsure how to handle the details, or maybe you just want an expert’s touch on your site. If either of those is the case, there is no better course of action than contacting us at Small Biz Web Design Studio.
You can avail of Los Angeles web design service by Small Biz Web Design Studio and get a great website built by us. Contact us today!