IN THIS ARTICLE · 6 PARTS
A website gets made in seven steps: a call about your business, gathering the materials, design, the build with checks, your review, the launch, and changes afterwards. The developer does the technical work, but in three places everything depends on you: on the call you set the goal, then you send the text and photos, and at the review you give feedback. If those three happen quickly and clearly, a small business website can be ready in days, not months.
This article is the view from your chair: what happens at each step, what you do and where time usually gets lost. The full picture, with prices, contracts and choosing who builds it, is in getting a website built: a complete guide.
At a glance: the seven steps
| Step | What happens | What you do | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Call | The developer asks about your business, customers and goal | Name one main goal and answer the questions | A clear brief and a list of what to send |
| 2. Materials | Text, photos, logo and contact details are gathered | Send what you have, without waiting for "perfect" | Everything needed in one place |
| 3. Design | The pages are laid out and the look is chosen | Say what you like and what you do not | A layout and the look of the site |
| 4. Build | The design becomes a working site and gets checked | Wait, and answer if you are asked something | The first version on a link |
| 5. Review | You go through the site on your phone and computer | Give specific feedback | A corrected version |
| 6. Launch | The domain is connected and the site goes live | Approve it | A live site at your own address |
| 7. Changes | The site keeps improving over time | Get in touch when something in the business changes | New versions of the site |
Step by step
1. The call
It all starts with questions: what you do, for whom, in which town, who your competitors are and what a visitor should do when they open the site. Call, send a message, book an appointment or come by.
What you do: pick one main goal. "More calls for bathroom renovations" helps far more than "we want a modern website". If the developer asks no questions and goes straight to a template, that is a red flag.
2. The materials
Logo, photos of your real work, a list of services and prices, opening hours, address, phone number, a few reviews. The full list is in what to prepare before a new website.
What you do: send what you have now. The text does not have to be perfect, it just has to be correct. A good developer will shape it, and if you would rather write it yourself, see how to write your website copy. For photos: use your own photos, not stock.
3. The design
Usually a page layout comes first (a wireframe): a simple skeleton that shows where everything goes, before there are colours and photos [1]. Then comes the real look, with your colours, fonts and photos.
What you do: check that the most important thing is visible straight away. On a phone, because that is where most people will open it.
4. The build
The design becomes a working site: pages, a contact form, a call button, a map, the mobile version, the groundwork for Google. Before it reaches you, the site should also go through an internal check: forms, links, speed, phone numbers.
What you do: almost nothing. Answer if you are asked something, and think about the domain. If you do not have one yet, see how to choose a domain name.
5. Your review
You get a link to the first version. This is when your opinion counts most, and also where projects most often stall.
What you do: open the site on your phone and try to do what a customer does: find the price, call, send an enquiry. Better still, hand your phone to someone who has not seen the site, ask them to do one task, and stay quiet while you watch. That is how professional usability tests work too: a participant performs tasks while someone observes [2]. For a quick look at the basics of accessibility, the W3C has a short list of checks that says itself it is not exhaustive, but it catches common problems [3]. The full list is in the website launch checklist.
6. The launch
After your approval the domain is registered or connected, the site goes live and gets SSL (the padlock in the browser). From that day customers can find you at your own address.
What you do: tell people. Put the link in your Google Business Profile, on Facebook and in your email signature. And do not worry if the site is not on Google the next day: Google itself says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks [4]. What you can do in the meantime: new website: how to help it climb in Google.
7. Changes after launch
A website is never finished "for good". A new service, new prices, new opening hours, photos from the latest job. The UK government describes the same thing for its own online services: after launch the work continues with improvements, tested on different browsers and devices [5].
What you do: get in touch when something in the business changes. Who makes the changes and what they cost should be clear before you start: website maintenance: what it includes.
The first version of your site does not need to be perfect. It needs to be clear, correct and live on time. Then it gets better.
How to give feedback that works
Vague feedback leads to another round of changes, and every round pushes the launch back. Compare:
| Instead of | Say |
|---|---|
| "I don't like it." | "The photo at the top is dark, use the one from the kitchen job." |
| "Make it more modern." | "I want less text and more photos, like these two sites (links)." |
| "The phone number doesn't stand out." | "On mobile the call button should be at the very top." |
| "Fix the text." | "Air-conditioning installation is missing from the services, and the painting price is out of date." |
Put all your notes in one message instead of sending one a day. That way the developer sees them together and handles them in one go.
What slows a website down most often
Almost never the code. Here is a list you can check today:
- I have one main goal for the site.
- I have a logo (or I know we will start with just the name).
- I have at least 5–10 photos of my own work.
- I know the services and prices I want to show.
- I know who will approve the site (one person, not the whole team).
- I know whether I have a domain and whose name it is in.
- I will set aside an hour for the review on the day I get the link.
If every answer is "yes", you are ready for the build.
How it looks with us
At Studio V1 every step is a version of the site. After you pay the first month (€50 incl. VAT) we call you and tell you what to send (v0.1). The first version is ready within 7 business days of the payment and the materials (v0.5), a real developer reviews it, then you get a link and tell us what to change (v0.9). After your approval we connect the domain and publish (v1.0), and minor updates after that are included, each one becoming v1.1, v1.2… If you do not like the first version, we refund the first €50. See how a site grows from v0.1 to v1.1 or get in touch.
References
- Wikipedia. "Website wireframe." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website_wireframe
- Nielsen Norman Group. "Usability (User) Testing 101." nngroup.com/articles/usability-testing-101
- W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. "Easy Checks – A First Review of Web Accessibility." w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/easy-checks
- Google Search Central. "Ask Google to recrawl your URLs." developers.google.com/search
- GOV.UK Service Manual. "How the live phase works." gov.uk/service-manual
