Website Development Process

Our website development process includes the following stages:

Stage 1 - Defining the objectives

The process of gathering the website requirements ensures that you have identified the goals and marketing objectives of the organisation and you have a clear understanding of the needs of your target market.

During the requirements gathering phase any of the following may occur:

Online Focus groups using Additional View’s propriety Group Quality eFocus Group Tool
Online surveys of the target market to ascertain customer needs and motivations
Persona development and customer workshops to assist in building a website strategy based around the demographic and psychographic profile of your target market
Contextual enquiry to develop an understanding of how the site may be used by customers and by the business in a real world environment
User experience testing and evaluations of your websites to identify your strengths and weaknesses to ensure weaknesses don’t slip into the new website
Market analysis and competitive comparisons using Additional View’s Website Quality Index methodology

Stage 2 - Customer Conversion Architecture

The second stage in the web development life cycle is the creation of the Customer Conversion Architecture. This part of the process has the primary objective of developing an information design model which delivers actionable and measurable business results. The Customer Conversion Architecture design is an Additional View process which structures a website to assist users in achieving their end goal. The process considers each stage of the Additional View online decision making process:

Awareness
Expectation
Engagement
Interaction
Conversion
Maintenance

During the Customer Conversion Architecture development phase the following usually occurs:

Information gathering and sorting to build an overall picture of the website content and context
Affinity diagramming workshops to help understand how information is related to the marketing objectives
Information card sorting into categories and subsections to classify the information based on the decision points
Application of the Additional View online customer conversion decision making model to identify customer website entry and exit points
Wireframe development of the website which involves the creation of website blue prints to develop design briefs and page structure to meet the needs of the user and achieve the marketing objectives.
Customer persona walkthroughs - a simulation of how your users will access the information they need. This involves building story boards and paper prototypes of the website and stepping through the screens to identify issues, design challenges and points within the site which require a customer call to action

Stage 3 – Interaction design and specifications

The third stage in the process is the testing of the website design including the proposed forms and interactivity of the website.

During the interaction design the following usually occurs:

Client workshops to ensure the online customer interactions are consistent with offline processes
Detailed specifications to ensure the website applications and processes delivers the required customer interaction and marketing outcome
Website graphic design to turn the wireframes, story boards and concepts into great designs
Search engine optimisation strategy development
Website metrics strategy development and specification to ensure the website results are measured in a marketing context

Stage 4 - Website development and usability testing

The fourth stage of the web development lifecycle includes the construction of the website based on the final specifications. This stage may also include usability testing of the first iteration of the site with a representative sample of the target audience. The testing of the constructed website with real users identifies potential usability issues in the processes and functionality which would not have been identified.

The purpose of user experience testing is to identify the problem issues which stop the user achieving their goals and the marketing objectives. The process identifies structural, functional and visual elements which need to change to ensure the website is operating efficiently, effectively and resulting in customer satisfaction.

During the website development and user experience testing the following may occur:

Website design finalisation and template creation
Website construction and the integration of the developed technology
Search engine optimisation of the website
User experience testing in either a lab setting or online usability groups using Additional View’s Group Quality software
Acceptance testing to ensure the application side of the website is performing to the software specification
Integration of all tracking code and metrics measurement tools

Stage 5 – Website deployment, marketing and review

The fifth and final stage of the web development lifecycle includes the delivery of the final product and deployment to a live website environment. This phase of the process also requires monitoring and review of the website to monitor the customer flow and the success of the website in meeting the organisational marketing objectives.

During the deployment and review phase the following usually occurs:

Deployment to the live environment
Monitoring of the website logs
Alteration and adjustment based on web log information
Development and delivery of a website marketing strategy
The process also includes the delivery of search engine marketing methods to assist in the delivery and awareness of the site
Analysis of website results and strategy review