A simple guide to the website design process

This guide details the common steps involved when redesigning your website. It’s broken down into different sections to give you an overview of all the areas you need to be thinking about to build a site that is both future-proof and fit for purpose. 

If you have no budget and you plan to build the website yourself, these articles will be more relevant: 

Website Builder Platforms 

How to create a simple website on a shoestring! 

If you need some help with the process, contact our website Tech Champion. 

Creating a web design brief and selecting a supplier

Generally speaking, a website design project will follow a certain structure. The structure will vary depending on if you decide to go down the self-build route, or with an agency.

In either case, to start with you’ll need to create a brief. If you need to write a brief for your project, then you can refer to these resources Writing a web brief and Selecting an agency. You might also find the webinar on How to plan effective and engaging content for your website useful too.

Website design process

Once you have the brief you can send it out to carefully selected suppliers, or use it to refer to if you’re building the site yourself. 

Discover – Define what the site needs to do and how it feeds into your marketing strategy: 

• Establish the objectives of the website – (you might like to use the MOSCOW process, (see this article) and target audiences 
• Stakeholder interviews to uncover internal thoughts, gain buy-in and define priorities 
• Website user feedback workshops or questionnaires 
• Discuss any preferences on creative delivery 
• Technologies and integrations – what will the website need? (ticketing/eCommerce/newsletter/ticketing/CRM platforms, etc) 

Identiy and audit – Establish where you are now and scope out the things you need to build the site

• Audit your content and log anything new and what you can keep/edit, including articles videos, images, etc
• Agree on the scope of work and who will be responsible for what
• Discuss target keywords for SEO / AI overview rankings
• Identify accessibility requirements and standards
• Agree on a timeline/roadmap/phased approach
• Create a comms plan for the launch of the new site
• Create a plan for the things you need to track the objectives

Create – Building the website

• Create the sitemap (structure and list of webpages)
• Author any new content needed (referring to sitemap)
• Draft wireframes (defining the hierarchy of page content)
• Design the interface and content components
• Build the site based on approved wireframes/interface
• Content entry
• User testing
• Create cookie / privacy and accessibility statements
• Create 301 redirects (instructions to send people to new pages that replace the old ones from a server level)
• Integrate data analytics to measure objectives effectively
• Stakeholder sign-off

Need help understanding what this all means? Our website Tech Champion can help – book a support call using this link Ask a Tech Champion – Digital Culture Network

Ongoing – Post launch activites

• Review analytics to assess visitor behaviour and interests
• Security – make sure software and any plug-ins installed are kept up to date
• Ongoing social media/comms/paid marketing to promote content
• 6-month review of content
• 6-month review of cookie and privacy policy

Common problems

Keep an eye on the following to keep your project on track:

• Agree with your supplier exactly what is being delivered before the project starts to avoid misunderstandings later – create a specification or request a detailed proposal
• Ensure all stakeholders required sign off at key stages to prevent conflicting feedback and delays.
• Control requests for extra features, as even small additions can increase costs and timelines.
• Prepare and approve website content early, as content delays often hold up launches.
• Plan for support, maintenance and ownership after launch, not just the website build itself.

Further Support

The Digital Culture Network is here to support you and your organisation. Our Tech Champions can provide free 1-2-1 support to all arts and cultural organisations who are in receipt of, or eligible for, Arts Council England funding. If you need help or would like to chat with us about any of the advice we have covered above, please get in touch. Sign up for our newsletter below and follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates.