The question that many people have is, “what really goes in to website design?” Most website owners do not know the answer to this question. Because of their lack of research, they gasp at the turn around time and the price quoted to them by their web designer. The truth is, websites do not grow on trees. They are more than just turning content and pictures into a code that is ready to place online. Going into a project like this, you need to understand that it takes a lot of time, energy, experience and skill to turn the raw data that you presented into a usable platform that can increase the profits that your business sees.

Now, lets answer the question standing between you, and the website of your dreams.

What really goes into web design?

 
Review
Your designer will review and breakdown the information that you have sent them. After they understand your target audience, reviewed information about the appearance you would like your website to have, the pictures you have sent and the text that you have created for your website, it is time for them to do some research.

The next step in the design process is to compare your competitors’ websites to your concept. After this research is complete, they will offer the various modifications to your initial design that are necessary to make your website successful.

 
Creating the Architecture
After a design concept is agreed upon the designer must create an easy approach to the navigation menu. In order to create an effective website, a well-designed menu and an in-site search engine may be what you need. If your website will have a lot of content or an online store approach, you will probably need a database and Customer Management System.

 
Graphic Design
After the basic architecture has been created and the designer understands what mistakes your competition has made, your designer will offer sample images that will allow you to look into the basic appearance that your website can have. In order to ensure that your designer knows exactly what you are looking for, providing helpful feedback on the designs and how you would like to have it modified is necessary.

 
Coding
After you have approved a design, your website designer must create the code from scratch and create each page for the website. Inside of this process, they are keeping in mind the accessibility of the content, and search engine accessibility. If a search engine cannot access all of your content easily, or it is buried too deeply in the website, your website traffic and conversion will suffer greatly. Therefore, this step of the process requires great skill and understanding of current SEO practices, and search engine limitations.

 
Testing Process
While all codes must be up to date to satisfy search engines, not everyone has a brand new computer, or the most up to date software available. Because of this, your designer must ensure that the website will work on older model computers, cellphones and software. The code must be adjusted to ensure that it works on as many devices as possible, and as many web platforms as possible.

 
Registering With Search Engines
Depending on the work you have done to draw traffic into your domain, you may want to delay this step. Many web designers will let you know that until you have developed inbound links to your website, you may not want to register your website. After you have developed traffic through inbound links, you can then register your domain with search engines.

Along with keeping multiple clients satisfied at one time, your designer must also take time out of their schedule to stay up to date about the updates in coding, content accessibly, website accessibility, search engine ranking, and e-marketing. Staying up to date in their field involves studying, networking and experimenting with various techniques.