Website Production: A Comprehensive Guide

Website production is a complex process that requires careful planning and execution. It starts with defining the project's scope, goals, and timeline.

A typical website production process involves several stages, including planning, design, development, testing, and launch. This process can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months to complete.

The planning stage is crucial, as it sets the foundation for the entire project. It involves identifying the target audience, determining the website's purpose, and creating a content strategy. For example, a website for an e-commerce business will require a different content strategy than a website for a non-profit organization.

A well-designed website is essential for capturing visitors' attention and conveying the brand's message. The design stage involves creating a visual identity, including the logo, color scheme, and typography. A website's design should be responsive, meaning it adapts to different screen sizes and devices.

The production process for a website is a series of steps that transform your idea into a reality. From planning to launch, it's a journey that requires careful execution.

The website development process typically involves seven key steps, including project definition, website planning, website design, content creation, website development, testing, and maintenance.

To ensure a smooth process, establish proper communication with your team, optimize your working environment, and manage time effectively. Automate tasks where possible to save time and track your progress to stay on top of the process.

Here's a breakdown of the estimated time for each step:

The final step in the production process is launching the website, which involves uploading it to a server and running a final test to ensure everything is correct.

At Digital Silk, experts perform research and analysis to craft specific recommendations for website design and development, aiming to make your brand memorable and unique through engaging storytelling and a strategic conversion funnel.

Design and Planning is a crucial stage in website production. It's where you get to visualize how your website will look and function. A sitemap is a list of all the topics and sub-topics of your website, helping you create an attractive website that's easy to navigate.

Your sitemap will determine the layout of your website, from landing pages to product pages, and key conversion points. It's essentially a bird's eye view of your site that defines the list of pages, their placement, and relationship to each other. A sitemap helps you organize your web content, allowing your strategist and designer to plan the look, feel, and functionality for each page.

A wireframe is the layout of each individual page of your site, outlining elements and content like headlines, CTAs, and subscription boxes. It's essential to create a wireframe for both desktop and mobile versions to ensure a seamless user experience. By creating a sitemap and wireframe, you'll be able to plan your conversion funnel and user journey for each page of your website.

As you start designing and planning your website, it's essential to understand the different types of website development.

Front-end development is what a user sees on the website, while back-end development is what a user doesn't see.

Front-end development is responsible for the visual aspects of a website, such as layout, graphics, and user interface.

Back-end development, on the other hand, handles the behind-the-scenes work, like database management and server configuration.

Planning is a crucial step in the website development process. It's where you take the information gathered in the first step and create a sitemap to visualize the website and how a user can navigate it.

A sitemap is a list of all the topics and sub-topics of your website, which will help you create an attractive website that's easy to navigate. You'll need to define your website's layout, including landing pages, product pages, and key conversion points.

To create a sitemap, you'll need to identify the main areas of your platform and how they're connected. This will help you understand how usable the final product will be and make any necessary adjustments.

Defining your project's goals is also an essential part of the planning process. This includes business details, business goals, target audience, and competition research.

Here are some key elements to consider when defining your project's goals:

By considering these elements, you'll be able to create a solid plan for your website and ensure it meets the needs of your target audience.

Development and testing are crucial steps in the website production process. Testing can be a tedious process, but it's necessary to ensure the website is running properly.

During development, you'll need both backend and frontend developers to build your website using industry best practices and detailed specification documents. Back-end development is focused on how the website works, rather than how it looks, and involves user authentication, network and hosting configuration, and database interaction.

The goal of testing is to detect any issues such as broken links and compatibility with different devices. You'll want to check the functionality of all elements on your website and use validators to ensure the code follows standards. Manual and automated testing should be done before pushing the website live.

A staging environment is used to test the website as a whole before changes are published, and it's typically used at the end of the web development process. On the other hand, a testing environment is for experimenting with smaller, specific changes.

Front-end development is what the user will see and interact with on the website. This typically involves website design and includes the website's colors, layout, fonts, and images.

A front-end developer will need to understand various programming languages, or coding languages, like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Understanding these programming languages is crucial so that a user can actually interact with the website with buttons and navigation menus.

Using tools like Photoshop and Illustrator is essential for creating the website design. A front-end developer will need to have a solid understanding of these tools to create a visually appealing website.

A well-designed website should be user-friendly and easy to get around. The homepage will usually be created first, and then all the sub-pages will come after.

Functionality is a crucial step in the development process. It's where all the previous steps come together to create the look and functionality of the website.

You want your website to be user-friendly and easy to get around. The homepage is usually created first, and then all the sub-pages come after.

The website needs to be accessible from both a desktop and mobile phone. This ensures a smooth user experience across different devices.

A user-friendly website is essential for retaining visitors and encouraging them to explore further. By making your website easy to navigate, you're more likely to keep users engaged.

The website's functionality should be tested thoroughly to detect any issues such as broken links and compatibility problems. This step is crucial for ensuring everything works properly.

Setting up a local staging site can be a game-changer for your WordPress development process. You can use a tool like Local, which turns your computer into a simple hosting environment.

Local is a free application that guides you through the steps needed to set up your local development site, starting with its name. You'll need to select a unique username and password for your WordPress account.

The software will then create your staging site, which is an essential step for pre-testing modifications before they go live. This staging site will be accessible via the Local interface.

Having a local staging site allows you to assess and tweak your WordPress dashboard before finalizing its features. You can experiment with modifications without affecting your live website.

Deploying live changes can be a bit tricky, but with the right tools, it's a breeze. You can use the Copy To and Copy From buttons in your User Portal to push changes from your staging site to your live website.

WP Engine's staging environments make it easy to deploy changes, and you can even use the Copy To button to push your staging site to your production site. This feature is included with all WP Engine plans, from Personal to Enterprise.

You'll also want to establish backups for your live and staging sites, especially after updating your WordPress staging plugin. This will give you a safety net in case something goes wrong during the deployment process.

Local environments also provide a 'push to live' option, which can be accessed through the Connect feature. This allows you to connect your local environment to your website's hosting provider, and then use the Connect icon to push and pull updates as needed.

With the right tools and a little practice, deploying live changes can be a seamless process.

Testing a website is crucial before launching it live. Your developers should check the functionality of all elements on your website to detect any issues such as broken links and compatibility with different devices.

Testing involves putting your website to the test, and there are different types of testing environments available. A testing environment is for experimenting with smaller, specific changes, whereas a staging environment is for testing the website as a whole before changes are published.

In a testing environment, you can quickly check on subtle changes as you go, which is often used before staging. However, testing comes before staging, and it's essential to have a clear understanding of the difference between the two.

You can set up a testing environment using a WordPress plugin like WP Staging, which makes a clone of your existing site, including all files and the database. This allows you to experiment without impacting your live site.

Having a testing environment can significantly contribute to enhancing your website's performance, and it's an essential step in the web development process.

To streamline the website development process, you'll want to utilize the right tools. Sketch is a vector-based design tool that's perfect for creating interfaces quickly and intuitively.

For prototyping, consider using Atomic, Framer, Balsamiq, or Webflow. These tools will help you design through vector tools and then export the result, or create animated or interactive prototypes. Webflow is also a great option for simple, static sites.

Collaboration tools like Zoom, Slack, Podio, Ryver, Flock, and Dropbox Business will improve team communication throughout your project. Google Drive, WeTransfer, Zoho Docs, and Microsoft Teams are top file-sharing platforms for sharing secure files back and forth for collaboration.

Congratulations on launching your website! Regular maintenance is crucial to keep your site fresh and competitive.

Editing existing content and adding new content are essential to keep your website updated and engaging for your audience.

Modern web design trends are constantly changing, and new technology provides opportunities for advanced features and functionalities.

Regular maintenance tasks include fixing bugs and issues, doing site backups, and installing plugins.

Here are some key maintenance tasks to consider:

Hiring a professional web design agency can ensure your brand stays ahead of the competition by consistently updating your site and performing routine maintenance.

You can streamline your website development process with the right tools.

One of the top prototyping tools is Sketch, a vector-based design tool that allows designers to create interfaces quickly and intuitively. It's compatible with macOS only.

For file-sharing, consider using Google Drive, which offers 5 GB of free data and unparalleled connectivity, change monitoring, automated saving, and instant file recognition.

Notepad++ is a free Windows tool that supports syntax highlighting for various languages, including CSS, JavaScript, HTML, and PHP.

Zoom is a video conferencing tool that allows face-to-face communication, especially useful for remote teams. It offers free calls up to 40 minutes long.

If you're a WP Engine customer, you can access staging site functionality through your User Portal, which allows you to set up a staging site in a matter of clicks.

Creating a staging site for your WordPress website is a crucial step in the website production process. You can establish a staging environment using your hosting service.

To make the process even smoother, consider utilizing a WordPress staging plugin like WP Staging. This plugin makes a clone of your existing site, including all its files and the database.

Setting up a staging site with your web host is not always an option, but using a plugin like WP Staging can be a reliable alternative. You can access the staging site using a distinct URL and experiment without impacting your live site.

WP Staging allows you to select which components of your site's database and files to duplicate for your staging site, ensuring you have a reliable and efficient staging site. You can make a calculated decision on what to clone.

Once you've made your choices, click on Start Cloning again, and you'll get a real-time readout of the cloning process. The time it takes to clone your site will depend on its overall size.

WP Engine offers a staging feature with all of their plans, including Personal subscriptions starting at $29 per month. With WP Engine, you can set up your first WordPress staging site today and have access to around-the-clock support.

Using a staging site can take longer to update your website, as you need to test changes first.

Web hosts often charge for a staging site service, although you can always set one up locally.

Staging sites may not be exact replicas of a live website, with caching not usually enabled on a staging site, for example.

Here are some of the major drawbacks of using a staging site:

Fortunately, not all hosting packages are created equal. Some, like WP Engine, come equipped with free complimentary staging sites, ensuring a hassle-free experience for you.

Testing is a crucial step in the website production process. It's a tedious process, but necessary to ensure the website is running properly.

You'll test all the links and buttons on the website, check the spelling of everything, and make sure the website looks the same on a phone as it does on a computer. This process should be done manually and automatically to catch any issues.

Your developers should check the functionality of all the elements on your website. The aim is to detect any issues such as broken links and compatibility with different devices.

Use validators to check if the code follows the standards, test the site's speed, and ensure it's responsive on all devices.

Here's a breakdown of the types of testing environments used during development:

A staging site should remain concealed from the public or any search engine, such as Google. Proper utilization of the staging site ensures that any modifications to your website code won't disrupt your live site's visitor experience.

Having a plan is crucial when it comes to website production. It helps you know where to start and ensures a smoother process, resulting in an end result you're proud of.

To create a website that's easy to use on any device, you need to make sure it's mobile-friendly. This means your website should look the same on a phone screen as it does on a laptop, just smaller.

Content is king, and it's essential to make it easy to read. Don't waste time with fluff; focus on getting your point across with clear and concise words.

Here are some best practices to keep in mind: