A Peek Into Our Website Design Process
Updated: September 2023
Today, we’re giving you a peek behind the scenes of our website design process from the initial call to launch day! At Hoffbeck + Co, we’ve spent years refining our processes in order to create a transparent and efficient experience so that our clients know what to expect throughout their time working with us — and we figured why not break it down for you on our blog?!
Step 1: Intake, Plan + Make It Official
The first thing we do is hop on a free initial call with you to talk about your business and the people you help. We will discuss the current status of your website, as well as your website goals and wishes, and how we at Hoffbeck + Co can help you.
Sometimes it’s helpful to book a 45- or 75-minute strategy session before we jump into the website build project. This allows us the opportunity to zoom out and make a solid plan before jumping in. In the session, we can outline a broader scope for the business’s marketing plan and how the website fits into that plan and/or do a deeper analysis of what’s needed for the new website – types of pages, size of pages, and how we can update your website to best reflect your brand so you can attract highly qualified leads.
We want to help customers sell themselves on buying from you through the visuals and words on your website. Starting with a strategic plan increases the likelihood of success for this outcome. Booking this initial session isn’t required and totally depends on the client and the nature of the project, but it can be a great first step to ensure a holistic plan for the new website and how it fits into an intentional marketing plan.
Once we’ve nailed down the project scope, we’ll send you a statement of work (SOW) that outlines the services and a letter of agreement (LOA), which is our standard operating contract you’ll only need to sign once for all the work we do together. To make it official, you’ll simply sign the SOW, pay the initial deposit (generally 50% down; payment plan options available), sign the LOA, and then we’ll begin the onboarding process!
Step 2: Onboarding + Content Gathering
Next, we’ll get you onboarded to our project management platform, Basecamp, assign you some initial to-dos to begin content gathering, and schedule the kickoff meeting.
Onboarding
We use Basecamp to communicate, assign tasks and due dates, and organize all our docs and files so everything we work on together is in one place and easy to find. It’s a user-friendly platform that helps us stay on track and have a smooth, successful project from start to finish. We’ll get you all set up and teach you how to use Basecamp so you can confidently jump in and get started. Of course, we’re always here if you have any questions. 🙂
Content Gathering
Here’s an overview of tasks we will assign to you to get started (with a few variations to the below list depending on if we’re doing copywriting or a messaging project with you first before the website design and development):
Schedule Kickoff Meeting
Complete Questionnaire: We’ll send you an interactive marketing + branding questionnaire to complete. It includes a variety of questions about your business to help us learn more specifics about what you do, your mission, your competitors, your brand vibe, your target audience, and more. It gives us a thorough overview of your business and helps us better understand your brand tone, voice and vibe so we can create a website for you that truly reflects your business.
Complete Authority Doc: When we’re writing your website copy, we’ll have you complete a document that outlines questions to help us gather information specifically about you and your business’s credibility and authority. What makes you an expert in your field? What do your customers say about you? What are your business’s most notable stats, awards, and/or press features? Basically, this helps us dial in on what makes your business particularly unique, notable and legit. It helps us gather info about things we can incorporate into your website to help you build trust with anyone who visits it.
Share Brand Elements: We’ll ask you for your logo files, typography (fonts), colors, and any other brand elements you might have. If we’re doing a branding project for you, then we’ll have all of this for you. 🙂
Share Photos, Videos + Imagery: We’ll create a folder in Basecamp for you to drop or link access to all the brand imagery you have. The more custom photos or videos you have to share with us the better! But if you don’t have much (or any), don’t stress. We got you. Read our blog: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Images for Your Website.
We collect all of this content and background information from you before the kickoff meeting because it sets us up to have the context we need to hit the ground running so we can really nail your messaging, copywriting, strategy, and design (*accordingly to the services you’ve selected). Ultimately the content gathering in this step tees us up to be efficient and dialed in when we get started.
Step 3: Kickoff Meeting
In Step 2, we will have scheduled the kickoff meeting according to the originally discussed timeline. The Kickoff Meeting is a 30-45 minute Zoom meeting where we officially begin your website project. We’ll go over everything you provided in step 2, ask follow-up questions as needed, align on the overall steps and timeline of the project, and answer any questions you may have.
From here, our work really begins!
Step 4: Copywriting (If Selected)
We offer website design and development services without copywriting — aka: you provide the copywriting yourself – but the large majority of our clients choose to add copywriting services because they don’t want to do the writing themselves 🙂 and they want to ensure the words on their new website are strategic, on-brand and compelling. If you’re curious to learn more about how we do this, read our blog: 3 Steps to Great Copywriting For Your Business.
If we’re writing your website copy, we start here. We’ll write all the words for your selected website pages. Generally, website copywriting projects include the initial draft and one round of revisions as needed.
We use the StoryBrand framework to write strategic copywriting, and if you really want your copywriting especially dialed into your brand story – check out how we help businesses dial in their brand messaging here.
The words on your website are so important. They are what really tip the scales for you and actually prompt people to take action and buy.
Once you’ve approved the copywriting, then we move to the design phase!
Step 5: Mood Board + Homepage Mockup
the mood board
Using all the information you’ve provided us thus far to give us a deeper understanding of your brand “vibe”, we’ll start putting together inspiration for the brand elements that we’ll carry throughout your new website’s design and put it into a basic mood board. Think: fun shapes, icon styles, section dividers, textures, image styles, accent fonts, and more. These are things we compile into a document we call a “mood board” that helps us visualize and get in alignment on a cohesive vision for the brand design and gives direction for drafting up the homepage mockup.
The Mockup
From there, we use the finalized homepage copy and the mood board inspiration and begin designing your mockup. The mockup is a flat PDF document of what your homepage will look like, and once we create it — we send it your way! This gives you the chance to review it, submit one round of included revisions if needed, and sign off on the design before we actually build it out on the website. The goal of the step is to get your input and approval on the overall design look and feel — the elements of the design — which will be built and implemented throughout your website.
Step 6: Build the New Website
Once you’ve given us the green light on the mockup, we’ll take it to the web to start building your site in Squarespace.
(Why Squarespace? We outline all the reasons why we use and love the Squarespace platform in this blog post!)
We’ll start with the homepage first, building it out to look just like the mockup. Once that’s done, we’ll roll out the design elements and aesthetic to the other pages you’ve selected in your website package.
Once the pages are all designed and built, then we set up the functionality pieces of your website: building out the contact forms and newsletter signup forms, embedding third-party integrations, setting up eCommerce (if applicable), and making sure everything is responsive and mobile-friendly.
Finally, we give your website a solid foundation for SEO (search engine optimization) by adding page titles and descriptions, renaming and compressing image files to improve site speed, and more.
Our projects go through multiple rounds of QA (quality assurance) with our internal team to make sure all our i’s are dotted and our t’s are crossed before sending it over to you to fully review and submit one round of included edits, as needed, before your site goes live!
Step 7: Launch Day!
Once we’ve put the finishing touches on everything, we’ll get your final confirmation and begin the launch process. We’ll test the buttons, links and contact forms, connect your domain, upgrade your Squarespace plan (as applicable), and go LIVE!
After launch day, if desired, you can choose to book a website training session with our team to get one-on-one guidance on how to make basic edits on your website.
A new website is a big investment for most small business owners, so you want to get it right — and you want to make sure to maintain and take care of it, just like you do with a big investment like your car. So we also offer on-going website maintenance and support at $95/mo.
Many of our website clients come to us with DIY websites and don’t know what to expect when partnering with a designer. Others have experience working with a designer or agency but had a less-than-stellar experience.
You want to make sure you choose a designer or agency that prioritizes transparency and communication. You want a partner who allows you to take an active role in the design and development of your website, guiding you step-by-step throughout the process with multiple touch points along the way. A solid partnership is crucial to the success of your website.
We hope this post has helped you know what to expect when you partner with us on a website project. If you’re ready to get your project in the queue with us, Schedule a Call!
More soon,
Mahla
CONSULTANT + PARTNER
P.S.
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