In today’s digital world, having a website is no longer an option but a necessity. Whether you’re an individual, a small business, or a large corporation, a website is an important tool to reach out to a global audience and establish a strong online presence. However, the thought of building a website from scratch can be overwhelming but with our website creation checklist, you can do it with ease.
But what if we told you that creating a website doesn’t have to be a complicated and time-consuming process? With the right approach and tools, you can build a website that not only looks great but also effectively communicates your brand message to your target audience. In this blog post, we’ll take you on a journey to discover the exciting world of website creation and give you the confidence to build a website that truly reflects your unique brand identity.
There’s a long way ahead of you, but we believe that you can do it. We are here to guide you through all the steps you need to take in order for your website launch to be successful✅. So sit back, don’t forget to take notes, and let’s get started.
10-step Website Creation Checklist:
- CMS as your buddy
- Carry out a keyword analysis
- Get a grasp on your information architecture
- Prepare your prototype
- Test and rework your prototype, if needed
- Develop your website
- Pick your domain name and hosting service
- Make sure embedded content is functional
- Publish your website
- Test the usability, enhance UX and SEO
Let’s take a closer look at each of the steps.
1. CMS as your buddy
CMS will be your partner in creating a dynamic and breathtaking website. With the help of a content management system (CMS), you can easily develop, manage, and publish digital content. Many platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal help you build your website smoothly with their tools, features, customizable templates, and intuitive editors. Before you dive into web programming, don’t forget that a CMS will save you money and time, as well as provide flexibility and versatility.
2. Carry out a keyword analysis
A good keyword analysis is a key point in a website creation checklist (sorry about the pun).
Keywords help you categorize your website’s content on search engines such as Google, Bing, or any other for that matter. They help the end-user to find the thing they are looking for within millions of pages on the internet.
Let’s demonstrate an example👇🏻
Imagine you are a local grocery shop in New York City. You are a growing business and are looking to build an e-shop, so that your customers can find you and order from you online. Your optimal keywords, in this case, are “grocery“, “delivery“ and “NYC” and similar. If you were to optimize your website for keywords like “shopping,“ “online“ and “local“ your potential customers would have a very slim chance of actually finding you in the online world, let alone buying from you.
Do not underestimate keyword analysis, as it is the first and crucial step to launching a successful website. Conduct your own keyword research and conduct it well. Take a look at your competitors’ websites and keywords and find better ones suited for you. There are keyword research tools on the web to help you with this, so find one that floats your boat and get into it.
3. Get a grasp on your information architecture
This tip on our website creation checklist is essential. Information architecture (IA) is simply put the way your website is structured. It represents the anatomy of your website content such as your navigation, menu labels, categories, product pages, etc. What are you selling? Where will your customers be looking for it? What categories of products or services will you have? These are all questions a well-designed information architecture will answer for you.
If you skip this stage and don’t plan your information architecture properly, your customers will have trouble navigating your website and finding what they are looking for. This will not help your sales💰.
On top of that Google (or any other search engine) will rate your website as hard to read, due to high bounce rates. This automatically puts your website lower in the search results, therefore putting you at a disadvantage to your competitors. In order to design a comprehensive and user-friendly IA you can use AI research tools to help you organize your content:
- Card Sorting tool is perfect for gaining insights into your content categorization. It helps you find out the opinions of your potential users on what items should go together, what are the expected category labels, etc. With card sorting you can build an outline of the website navigation structure in a way that makes sense for your users.
- Tree Testing tool is the ultimate next step. It allows you to test your preliminary IA and pinpoint its potential problems. Do people get lost somewhere? Is an item still in a category most people don’t expect, even after your card sorting study? Tree testing has all the answers for you.
These tools are truly a must for any website and you certainly can’t forget about them while building a brand new website. We don’t always think as customers do and it’s okay. These tools can help us see their point of view, which is invaluable in the creation process.
4. Prepare your prototype
Now that you’ve completed keyword analysis and established your information architecture, it’s time to transition to the next phase of website creation. Prepare a prototype of your website to visualize the layout and functionality before proceeding further.
Whether it’s a willing friend with prior experience or a UX design professional, consider seeking assistance for this task. For an efficient process, we recommend using software tools like Figma or inVision, which streamline the prototyping process and make it more accessible.
5. Test and rework your prototype (if needed)
The prototype is done, great. However, don’t stop there. The next tip on our website creation list is prototype testing.
In order to make sure your website will be user-friendly and will have no usability issues you have to test the prototype thoroughly. This will save you time, money, and nerves in the future. With our handy prototype testing tool you can set up a test for your designs in a matter of minutes.
No need to upload huge files, you just need a link!
3 simple steps for conducting prototype testing:
- Observe users interacting with the prototype
- Find usability issues
- Use the insights from testing to optimize and rework your design
If something feels dodgy or incomplete, come back to it and rework it, making necessary improvements. Nothing wrong with not having something done right on the first try. In fact, it is better to fail in the early stages of development to save yourself the trouble of wasting time and resources on failing later, when the product is already live.
6. Develop your website
So, the time has finally come. You created a prototype, tested it and now you can finally develop it into its envisioned shape. Developing is slightly harder than creating a prototype, so if you are not fluent in Python, C, C++, or any other random combination of characters and syllables (otherwise known as programming languages) we advise you to get a professional to do this. It costs a fair bit, but with them working on it, you’ll see your site grow from scratch in no time.
Or, as a cheaper alternative, choose a website development agency or maybe a website builder. Some of the most popular ones are WordPress, Wix and Webflow, just to name a few.
7. Pick a domain name and hosting service
Oh my, you’ve come this far so fast in our website creation checklist, I am a bit proud of you. Now you need to pick a domain name and a hosting service.
A domain name should be something that characterizes you, like your brand name or something similar to that. Hosting means having someone host your website on their servers, so everything will run smoothly and without interruptions, leaving you to worry about smaller things in life.
In addition to hosting and domain name, you also need a theme to make your site well-designed. In case you are creating a WordPress eCommerce site, you will need the fastest WooCommerce theme and set up the payment system for your store, such as Paypal, Stripe, and WooCommerce Apple Pay.
8. Make sure embedded content is functional
When adding material, media, and links to your website during creation, it’s crucial to maintain consistency, accessibility, and relevance. Be aware of the following:
- URL is correctly linked to the intended destination
- Alt text describing the media
- Links and images should be optimized for different browsers
- Content is responsive on all devices for mobile users, PC users, as well as table users
- Links are clickable and images are resized appropriately
- All media used on your website, including images, videos, and links, must comply with copyrights and usage rights (source them)
- Embedded content (e.g. social media icons) is working properly
9. Publish your website
Almost the final step of our website checklist. Here we go Houston, we are ready for take-off. You can finally publish it. You’ve come this far, enjoy yourself for a while, you have officially done it. But before celebrating this milestone, ensure that all elements of your website design checklist have been thoroughly reviewed and finalized before taking this crucial step.
Double-check that your website is responsive across all different devices, and visually appealing for the user. Take a quick look at possible issues or errors and then you can hit the publish button and celebrate the launch of your new website!
10. Test the usability, enhance UX and SEO
Last but not least thing on our website creation checklist is testing the usability. However, it’s not the end of the journey. Now comes the long-term part. You still need to test usability on your running website, so it’s not stuck in 2003. Users’ behavior changes every day and you need to adapt and make suitable adjustments.
SEO needs constant attention as well, Google sometimes changes things, so be on the lookout for that. Competition is still alive and well, so don’t forget to bring something new to the table that will make you stand out.
🐝For this reason work on your website, and improve it. Our many testing tools can help.
Ready to ensure your website is user-friendly and optimized for success? Learn from a complete guide and be at the top!
Best Practices for Website Creation
Not only we have compiled the website creation checklist above, but we also gathered a couple of best practices for you to follow:
🔎 Search engine optimization boosts your online presence
Google is sending hidden signals that indicate what websites should include, and what approach to choose in order to appear higher in search results. Do not confuse readers with poor quality of readability and structure of web site. As long as your content, meta tags, and keywords are optimized, you will be rewarded with more traffic.
🔒 Don’t forget about security
The worst-case scenario you can come across is the loss of your data. Pay attention to security by implementing software updates, using SSL certificates to encrypt data transmission, and preventing unauthorized access.
⚙️ Keep maintenance regularly
Keep your websites updated. Even minor tasks such as checking broken links, adding new content, and enhancing security over time.
💸 Save money with cost-effective solutions
Instead of spending your fortune on professional coders, try free website builders first, they offer tons of helpful templates and themes to choose from. A similar option thanks to modern technologies is a free AI website builder. Moreover, these platforms are intuitive and user-friendly to manipulate. However, if your budget is generous do not hesitate to contact professionals.
📈 One step ahead by using analytics and tracking
Track key metrics such as conversion rate, engagement, bounce rate, and traffic to build a sustainable brand and reveal imperfections that can drive away your target audience. Do not underestimate the importance of analytics as data is a key element you can rely on.
Congratulations, you’re all set!
Carefully go through each of the points on the checklist several times to understand the basics of building a website. You can always use the information provided by us and refer back to it if you are not sure about the next step of the website creation process.
But our efforts and support do not end here: Explore our diverse range of blogs covering UX, UI, and various other topics. We’re excited to continue supporting you in the future with our comprehensive UX testing tools.
