When running a business, hiring a company to build your website can be an extremely stressful task. The industry is essentially an unregulated free-for-all. There is no standards exam to pass or license required to be able to hang up a sign and start selling website services. Unfortunately, a lot of people get burned.
We believe the BEST way to own a website is through a long-term partnership with a reputable developer who will build, manage and expand your website for as long as you need it. Don’t settle for anything less!
Do it once, get it done correctly, and continue to do it correctly. This is our philosophy.
Our website development company, WorldComm Website Builders, recently completed a new website project for Infinite Outbound, a new startup founded by entrepreneur and lead-generation expert Bryce McKinley.
I thought I’d take this opportunity to illustrate the above philosophy in action by walking you through the steps we took to complete the new Infinite Outbound website.
So buckle up and let’s begin!
Bryce approached us with the need for an initial website for his brand new company, Infinite Outbound. Though they were already operational with multiple clients and a custom domain name, they had no website in place yet.
We thoroughly studied Infinite Outbound and provided a full package of everything needed to launch their brand’s online presence. The end result is that infiniteoutbound.io now loads a world-class website which matches the professionalism of the services they provide.
WALK-THROUGH
Our basic process involves four phases:
- Onboarding – Studying the client, thoroughly understanding what they need and collecting and cataloguing any existing content they already have
- Preproduction – Planning the project in detail, then creating all of the actual content that will be assembled into the final website
- Development – Building and launching the actual website
- Management – Overseeing the completed website with routine inspection and maintenance to ensure it continues to meet our standard of excellence
All four of these steps flow smoothly through our PRODUCTION DIVISION:
NOTE: Our full company org chart can be found at worldcomm.io/about/.
PHASE ONE: ONBOARDING
The project begins with Onboarding:
Onboarding – Studying the client, thoroughly understanding what they need and collecting and cataloguing any existing content they already have
First, we start a new PROJECT CHECKLIST, a 35-step standard operating procedure document (carried out in sequence) that ensures every WorldComm project travels through the entire production line in a structured and consistent manner.
In preparation for our Onboarding Meeting, we then thoroughly research the client, what they do and their existing online presence. This research is compiled into a CLIENT RESEARCH REPORT.
We then write a PROJECT SURVEY: an exact list of customized questions to ask the client, in sequence, during our upcoming Project Onboarding Meeting. This allows us to plan for and collect the exact information we need to understand the needs of the project.
Next, we conduct a PROJECT ONBOARDING MEETING with the client.
For, Infinite Outbound, we met with the Founder and CEO, Bryce McKinley:
The information gathered during this meeting is compiled into a MEETING REPORT. In instances where the meeting is audio-recorded, a full written transcript is made and attached to the report.
By this point in the process, we have compiled enough information about the client’s envisioned project to write out its exact needs in a PROJECT NEEDS REPORT.
Here is an excerpt from Infinite Outbound’s:
SUMMARY OF NEEDS: a streamlined website which presents Infinite Outbound’s offering in a simple and impactful way, then provides a call-to-action for potential clients to connect with their sales team.
COLLECTION OF CLIENT ASSETS
Next, we compile a collection of CLIENT ASSETS, meaning any existing marketing materials and photos from the client as well as any reference websites they wish to provide. These are used by our team for reference when creating the new content for the project.
In most cases, this step includes collecting a company’s existing branding assets (logos, official colors, fonts etc.). In this case, however, Infinite Outbound did not have pre-existing branding assets and was therefore a blank slate to design from scratch!
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To conclude the Onboarding phase, all of the material we have collected or generated is compiled into a single PREPRODUCTION INFO PACKAGE and sent to the next phase of the process.
PHASE TWO: PREPRODUCTION
Preproduction – Planning the project in detail, then creating all of the actual content that will be assembled into the final website
PLANNING STAGE
With the project’s specific needs clearly defined as a result of the Onboarding process, we were ready to move into Preproduction, beginning with PLANNING.
This begins with the writing of the DEVELOPMENT PLAN, a master document which lays out:
- SITE ARCHITECTURE – A detailed list of every functionality, page and page section that needs to be created on the site
- TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS – Exact technical specifications for each site component and a direction for how each is to be created
For Infinite Outbound, we opted to build the site using WordPress (eg. ‘technical’) and to consolidate the site content and user flow into a single homepage presentation (eg. ‘site architecture’).
The Development Plan document is vital to our process; it serves as the bridge between: (a) our client’s concept of what they want in a website and (b) the technical process of actually building it successfully.
The next step in the process is the full write-up of an EXECUTION PLAN: a step-by-step checklist to be carried out (in sequence) by the remainder of the staff on the production line, resulting in the transition from a theoretical website (planned on paper) to an actual website (launched online).
The Execution Plan for Infinite Outbound included more than 80 individual steps.
It covers the (a) compilation of all content to be used on the website then (b) building and launching the website itself.
Before the Planning step is considered complete, however, the Development Plan and Execution Plan are reviewed by our most senior developer (the Senior Development Supervisor) to ensure they are complete and that they align with standard procedure.
CONTENT COMPILATION STAGE
The next stage of Preproduction is CONTENT COMPILATION, or creating then gathering together all of the final content that will be used to assemble the website.
This includes a variety of creative processes:
Wireframing: Each page of the proposed site is sketched out as a rough visual mock-up of the overall layout and flow of the page (also called a ‘wireframe’)
Brand Colors: We designed a color palette for Infinite Outbound, eventually settling on an impactful “IO Blue” as the brand’s primary color:
Fonts: A pairing of carefully-selected typefaces was chosen for use on the headings (Komet) and paragraph text (Halcom) throughout the site.
Logo: We designed and produced a full logo set for Infinite Outbound (including the variations needed for different scenarios).
COPYWRITING – After a detailed study of the content collected during onboarding, our copywriting team produced a full Copywriting Document addressing every piece of text on the site. This includes the obvious things (like the text for all pages) and the not-so-obvious things (like the exact wording of the notification email a user receives after submitting the site’s contact form).
IMAGES AND GRAPHICS – All of the photographs, graphics, icons and any other assets were collected (or created) then properly edited into the final files for use on the site.
The end result of the Content Compilation phase is the PROJECT ASSET PACKAGE, a neatly organized folder with all of the final files to be assembled and included on the final site during development.
PHASE THREE: WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
Development – Building and launching the actual website
With all content prepared, we were ready to begin the development and assembly of the actual website.
As a general rule, when the Onboarding and Preproduction phases have been completed well, building the actual website tends to go smoothly and swiftly.
The reverse is true as well; when website development is started without proper planning and content preparation, the project tends to snag. Errors or poor technical decisions get ‘baked in’ to the site, only to inevitably cause significant headaches somewhere down the line.
While it may seem counterintuitive at first, a majority of the work that goes into building a website often happens before any development occurs.
Here is a summary of the basic actions we completed during Infinite Outbound’s 63-step Development phase:
BUILD – Build, design and test the website in an offline environment
TRANSFER – Transfer the completed site to the online server
SET UP – Configure and connect all integrations and tools to be used on the final site, including:
- Security (to protect against hacking attempts)
- Speed and performance (so the site performs quickly and smoothly)
- Automatic site backups in multiple locations (to protect against data loss)
- Performance monitoring (so WorldComm can keep a close watch on a site’s health and uptime)
- Analytics (for measuring site visits)
- Search Engine Optimization (for customizing how the site and its pages appear in search results)
- Google Search Console (for monitoring the site’s search engine behavior from Google’s side)
- Transactional Email (so emails generated by the website are actually sent and actually arrive in the recipient’s inbox)
- Social Media Sharing (for configuring the website’s thumbnail displayed when someone shares the URL on social media)
By the end of the checklist, infiniteoutbound.io was fully online and accessible from anywhere in the world and looking great on a variety of screen sizes!
Quality Control – Before presenting the final site to Infinite Outbound, we conducted a full quality-control inspection of the project to ensure it had been executed correctly and meets our acceptable standard of excellence.
Final Review – Our final step was to review the completed site with Infinite Outbound and gather any feedback and requested edits.
After this round of edits, this project was given the client’s final stamp of approval and is now DONE.
FINAL SITE (AT LAUNCH):
Captured from infiniteoutbound.io on 1 October, 2024
PHASE FOUR: MANAGEMENT
Management – Overseeing the completed website with routine inspection and maintenance to ensure it continues to meet our standard of excellence
Now that the website launch project is completed, the Infinite Outbound site is enrolled on a website management plan designed to:
- Keep the site online
- Keep its software components up to date
- Regularly inspect the site and its performance to ensure any issues are quickly detected and resolved
Best of all, any new additions to the site can be addressed quickly and smoothly as new projects – by the same team that built the original site!
CONCLUSION
We believe the BEST way to own a website is through a long-term partnership with a reputable developer who will build, manage and expand your website for as long as you need it. Don’t settle for anything less!
Do it once, get it done correctly, and continue to do it correctly. This is our philosophy.
I sincerely hope you enjoyed this walk-through of the Infinite Outbound project. Give their LinkedIn page a follow at Infinite Outbound, and reach out to them if your company has a need for quality leads that keep your sales team busy!