In this post I am going to share my exact website development & design process for my two signature services: Website in a Day and Custom Website Design and SEO Package
Here is a quick overview of my step by step website design process
Website in a Day
- Client fills out inquiry form and books a free consultation
- Free consultation call
- Sign contract and pay deposit to secure design date
- You pick a website template to be customized for your business
- I give you access to a shared Google Folder.
- You prepare all of your content prior to our design date
- Design Day! This is when we start and finish your website development & design
Custom Website Design and SEO Package
- Client fills out inquiry form and books a free consultation
- Free consultation call
- Sign contract and pay deposit to secure two week custom design period
- SEO research and strategy process
- I create a unique strategy for your website and business
- I give you access to a shared Google Folder.
- You prepare all of your content prior to our start date
- Two week website designing & development design period
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Website designing & development for Website in a Day service
1. Client fills out inquiry form and books a free consultation
This is where you can share more about your business and website needs through the inquiry form. The form is designed to get information from you that will help me prepare for our consultation. I can start thinking about what offer will be best for you and how I can help support your business! Once you have filled out the inquiry form you will be able to book a free 30 minute consultation in my calendar.
2. Free consultation call
On this call we can get clarity on what you’re looking for and if we are a right fit to work together! It’s really important to discuss what you want from your website. Is your website a place to:
- Provide information
- Purchase or book with you
- Market your business
- Grow your email list
- Etc.
When I know what the purpose of your website will be I will be able to give you a realistic idea of what service will best match your needs. From there we can discuss your budget and what I can offer within that. Consults are especially important for the Website in a Day service. You have to be the right fit in order for us to design, develop and publish your website in such a short period of time.
I love consultation calls because we both get a feel for each other and what working together might look like! This is your time to get all of the information you need to confidently make your decision to move forward!
If you’re ready to chat about website development & design for your business you can book a free consultation here.
3. Sign contract and pay deposit to secure design date
Once we are both confident that a Website in a Day service is the right fit for you we can move forward. This is when we secure your design date in my calendar. We can do this while we are on the call together or I will send you a link to my calendar so you can choose a date.
After you’ve picked a date you will receive a contract and invoice. Your design date will only be secured once the contract has been signed and a deposit has been paid!
If you want to learn more about pricing for a Website in a Day service you can get all of the details here: VIP Design Day
4. You pick a website template to be customized for your business
The only way a website in a design service can work is if the design is already created! For this service you pick a design from my template shop. This will be the bones of your website! I do have templates designed for specific industries. You can pick your template based on your business or based on the template design, completely up to you!
5. I give you access to a shared Google Folder
This Shared Google Folder is where you will upload all of your website content. Here are the things I will need from you prior to our design date:
- Branding
- Website copy
- Images
- All relevant login credentials
- Any outbound links (eg. for a Newsletter sign up form)
You will upload all of this content in this shared folder. Don’t worry, I will walk you through how to do this! And do not worry about the copy (the text on your website). I provide you with copy writing guides which walk you through exactly how to write copy for each page on your website. You simply follow the prompts and fill in the answers!
6. You prepare all of your content prior to our design date
This is the “client homework” period. It’s the time between you signing on and our design date. My recommendation is to give yourself approx. 2-4 weeks to gather all of your content. It really depends on how much time you can set aside to work on this. Typically, 2 weeks minimum to get it all together. You shouldn’t need more than 4 weeks unless you’re getting a photoshoot and waiting for images or something like that!
7. Design Day! This is when we start and finish your website development & design
This is a big and exciting day!! We start off the day with a project kick off call where we review all of your content. I do review your content prior to your design date to prepare. But this call is where I can ask you any questions for clarification or you can share anything from your end regarding your content.
From there I get started on your website design! As mentioned before we use a template you have picked from my shop. I update the template with your branding, copy and images. I make any changes needed to personalize and customize the template for your business.
Throughout the day we stay in communication so I can send you pages as I design them for you for feedback. You have one round of revisions for your website to make any changes or updates.
Towards the end of the day once all of the design has been created for you I add the functionality and connect your domain! And just like that, your website is ready to launch on the World Wide Web!!
If you’re curious about how a template can be transformed for a business, here is an example! This is the Sage Template customized for my client Jillys Laser Spa
Before: Sage Template
After: Jillys Laser Spa (template customized for my client)
Custom Website Designing & Development with SEO Process
1. Client fills out inquiry form and books a free consultation
You will fill out the inquiry form on my website with as much detail as possible. The more detail the better! This allows me to prepare for your consultation so I can start thinking about your website strategy.
When you hire me for SEO and Website Design it’s very custom! We start with SEO strategy and design each page uniquely for your business! So it’s really important to get all of the details about what you’re looking for in your website and how you want it to support and grow your business.
2. Free consultation call
I like to think of this as more of a strategy call! We will discuss what your business and marketing goals are and how your website can support them. Your website can be a really strong, long-term marketing strategy when optimized for SEO. I recommend pairing this with a blogging strategy which we can also discuss on this call.
Once again, if we are a right fit we would move on to the next step to officially work together!
Book your free consultation call if you want to grow your business with and SEO optimized website.
3. Sign contract and pay deposit to secure two week custom design period
If you’re ready to move forward we pick two weeks within my calendar to designate your custom website design. Once we have coordinated our design dates I can put them into your contract.
I will send over your contract and invoice. Your dates will be secured in my calendar once the contract is signed and the deposit is paid.
To get more details about what’s included in this package you can get more information here: Website Design and SEO services
4. SEO research and strategy process
This is a really important step in creating a website based on strategy! I do SEO keyword research and competitor analysis to determine where the opportunity is for you to realistically rank in Search Engine Results. AKA Google Results.
I do have another blog post which walks you through the exact SEO Processes I use for this service. You can check that out here to get all of the details: The Exact SEO Processes I Use To Increase Website Traffic
5. I create a unique strategy for your website and business
I take all of the research from the SEO process and create a unique strategy for your website and business. This is what makes this specific website design and SEO package different! The website is custom designed for you and I create a custom strategy for your site as well!
I map out each page on your website based on the SEO keyword research. This is so we can target specific keywords on different pages to start ranking in Google (or any other Search Engine).
6. I give you access to a shared Google Folder
This is where you will upload all of your website content. Including your branding, website copy, images and any other content required to build your website!
If you do not have copy (the text on your website) don’t worry! I will create custom copywriting guides for each page of your website. These will be based on SEO and industry research to determine what content is needed on each page of your website. These copywriting guides will make it super easy for you to be able to write your own copy on your website. It has prompts and walks you through exactly what to write throughout each page. Of course, you can always hire a copywriter if you choose to!
7. You prepare all of your content prior to our start date
This is your “client homework” period. Once I have created all of the copywriting guides and given you access to your Google Shared folder, it’s time for you to fill it all out! You will upload the following content:
- Write your website copy (using the copy writing guides I provided)
- Your branding
- All images
- Any relevant login credentials
I recommend taking anywhere from 2 to 4 weeks to gather all of your content. This is between when I share the Google Folder and when we start your two week design period. I do want to be honest here, this is quite a bit of work for you as the client. Depending on how much you already have ready to go or if you’re starting from scratch. Either way, you will have everything you need to feel prepared and confident to work on all of this stuff and get ready for your design dates!
8. Two week website designing & development design period
These two weeks in my calendar are secured just for you! All of my attention is on designing a fully custom website for your business! I like to break this up between the two weeks.
- Week one: designing
- Week two: developing
Week One
We start week one with a project kick off call. This is when we review all of the content in our shared Google folder. I can ask any questions I might have and you can clarify anything needed from your end. From there, I start designing your Homepage and then send it over for approval. The Homepage is the most important in the design process because it determines the design layout for the rest of the pages.
Once you approve the Homepage I start designing the rest of the pages! You have one revision round for each page and then one final revision round when you see the entire website together. The final revision round is not for design updates but for minor changes, eg. copy edits, swap images, etc.
Week Two
Week two is to finalize any website revisions and add all of your website functionality. This is basically when we make the website “work”. I connect your domain and publish your website.
After publishing you have a one week period to test your website. If you find any glitches or anything like that, you can reach out to me and I’ll update as needed!
Here is an example of a custom website including an SEO strategy
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