This simplified version of the web development process is a continuation of a previous article that tackled the process from the planning up to the designing. As was mentioned previously it is important that you know what is happening although you won’t be doing the web development yourself.
Let us recap what was mentioned in The Web Development Process: From Planning to Designing. The first stage of the process is planning, which includes the client to an extent. The brainstorming and proposal by the website development company is done at this stage. During the first step, you should already have an idea if the development company you are hiring will be able to help you achieve your goals. Stage 2 is the prototype which consists of seven phases including the client approval. The last stage mentioned in the previous article is the web design, which includes the creation of idea and mood boards.
The following steps are what follow after the web design is done by the design team or the prototype is done by the development team.
Production
The production stage is the coding. Before the web development company can proceed with the coding, both the design and the prototype have to be approved. This part of the process is a laborious job, so the company wouldn’t want to be doing it only to be rejected in the end. This part of the process does not really involve the client anymore, since it is very technical. After the approval of the design and prototype has been done, the client will take a step back and let the website development agency do their jobs.
Since this part of the process won’t be discussed here in details. Here are things that you could in the meantime while waiting for your website.
- Have the web development agency set up a temporary website. Even if it is not fully up to par yet, a temporary page should still be up and running. A simple construction on going or coming soon will be enough as your temporary page. It is just better that you already have something that your potential viewers can to be excited about. A little information about your company is also a good thing.
- Advertise your business. While waiting for the website to be done, you can set up your own advertising or marketing. You can start with social media marketing to hype up your business. You could also set up promos and rewards for the first 100 visitors to your site or to the first 10 people to avail of your product. You are rousing your clients’ curiosity and you are already getting potential buyers.
- Advocate your site. Look for volunteers, like friends and family, to advocate your product. Even though the site is not yet up, this could be a form of advertisement. You have to build your momentum so when the site is up, it will be easier to get people to visit it. The waiting time for the site does not have to be a waste; you could use this time to build your brand and your marketing initiatives.
- The main objective you have to achieve before your site is up is to build a community of potential clients. Another thing you could do to achieve this is to set up an email marketing strategy. The newsletter has already been thought out in the planning stage, so all you have to do is to send these letters strategically to your followers. Don’t send them emails every day until your site is up because that would be spamming and they might unsubscribe from you even before the site is up. Do your email marketing in a way that it will excite and thrill them to visit your site and avail of your products. There are web development companies will probably help with this. Read reviews of website development companies to give you an idea on companies that will offer their help when it comes to marketing.
Marketing Automation
In addition to what was mentioned above while waiting for the website to be done, you could use this time to set up your marketing automation tools. Marketing automation software is used to make the marketing aspect of your job easier. Examples of marketing strategies were mentioned above; you could use this marketing automation software to make the repetitive tasks easier.
An instance would be social media and email marketing; you could use marketing automation software to make these tasks automated. A survey done by EmailMonday, revealed that 49% of companies are using marketing automation for their business.
Marketing might no longer be handled by your web development firm. So if you are to do it yourself, here are some tips you might want to follow to ensure that your marketing automation is successful:
- Set up your software so that all emails that it sends out are personalized and have specific messages. Readers will feel closer and more relevant to you and your business if you send them emails with their name. Your messages shouldn’t also sound generic, craft them in a way that the reader will feel like they are the only one you are sending that email to. With the software, you could make this possible wasting hours and hours of time.
- Your social media campaigns should be done in schedules. Do not overwhelm your audience with a barrage of updates and messages. Use your updates and messages sparingly but purposefully. This software will also help you automate the schedule of post updates and tweets.
- Nurture your leads. You might get a lot of leads if you do your marketing right. But it doesn’t mean that all of those leads will convert. So try to qualify your leads with the use of lead scoring. This is a strategy to gauge how a lead will likely buy or use your product and service. Spend more effort on leads that are likely to convert rather that all the leads that you gather.
Quality Assurance
The next stage of the web development process is the quality assurance stage. This involves both the best website development companies and the client. This stage is where the tweaks are done before the final launching. Any errors or improvements are done in this stage. The final approval will of course come from the client. In addition, training for content entry is also done in this stage. The client should know how to put in additional content to the site.
Quality assurance is a very crucial step in the custom web development process. Sometimes, the development team cannot see the bugs in the website they have made, so it is important that they employ a different team to do the quality testing. Here are some things that are tested by the QA team.
- Everything should be proofread and edited before the site is launched. To make the site look professional, all the content must be error free.
- Different browsers. The website will be tested using the most popular and used browsers. This is to ensure that it will work on all the browsers that are commonly used by people.
- According to Smart Insights, 80% of users use their smartphones to do an internet search. That is why it is important that your site is optimized for mobile use. Try to use different devices to make sure that the site will work on all.
- Websites have more than one page, so one thing to check out is if all the links are going to the right page. For the content, you also probably put in other links, so make sure that those links lead to right sites.
- Online forms. If you are using online forms, make sure that they work. See if they work by trying to submit a fake one just to try it out.
- Your website will have pages that only you as the administrator can access. Check that the page security is tight and that no one else can enter pages that they are not supposed to enter.
- Custom functions. If you have shopping carts or baskets and check out buttons on your page, this is the time to make sure they work.
Launch
The last stage in the web development process is the launching, or when your website is finally live and accessible. This happens when all of the process has been completed and checked and double checked. Even after the site is live, you still have to continuously monitor its performance. Is it meeting your desired goals and objectives? Are there bugs that have been missed during the quality assurance stage? The best website development companies will offer continuous communication with you, even after they have done their jobs. Read reviews of website development companies to know which firms are offering support even after you are no longer their client.
Looking to build a website? Visit CrowdReviews.com to check out reviews and rankings of the best web development companies out in the market.
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