What Exactly Goes Into Website Development?
In the modern state of the Internet and the universality of technology, building a high-quality website is crucial for businesses. Websites are comparable to a digital storefront: It lets potential customers know your brand’s identity and promise.
Here at Morris Creative Group, we have built many websites for clients seeking to elevate their digital presence. Building and developing a website is impressive on the surface… But what does that process look like internally?
We asked our talented web developer, Ryan Lemons, a few questions about his personal process when it comes to developing websites for clients.
What do the first steps of developing a new website look like?
I always start with determining the goal/mission of the website. If it’s retail, then the goal would be selling products, and the website would be designed and built around that objective. For a business or individual person’s website, this can instead be more story-telling oriented, designed to explain the businesses or person’s work.
In a “development” sense, the literal first step is to determine the host and CMS platform and then create a staging site for the development.
To simplify, I’d say the first step is a conversation about the goal and creating a roadmap for the problem we’re trying to solve.
What are the elements you must have in place before launching a website?
Once the content is in place and all pages are created, the last steps are connecting a domain, establishing an SSL, and optimizing media assets to ensure the site has an acceptable loading speed.
What is the most interesting or enjoyable part of developing a website? Do you have a personal favorite task or step?
What’s enjoyable to me is styling unique block templates on each page. Ensuring the visual elements are aesthetically pleasing and responsive is a fun and not-too-tedious challenge. These blocks then can be used as templates on other areas of the site.
In your experience, what is the most important part of a company’s website? What sort of elements attract traffic and lower bounce rate?
The most important part is the customer experience. This is a broader concept that can be applied to every page. Loading speed, readability, page structure, and all these smaller concepts must be considered in ensuring your customers are satisfied and can find the information or products they are looking for.
Here at Morris Creative Group, we’re here to build websites that fulfill three objectives: Authenticity to your brand, top-tier user experience, and long-term functionality. If you’re interested in getting to know a little bit about what Ryan (and MCG as a whole) can do for your business, we encourage you to reach out!
