How to Crush Your Next Website Project from Start to Launch
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In this episode of Inbound Agency Journey, Gray continues his conversation from last week with Blake Imeson from LimeCuda about how they successfully complete their website projects from start to launch.
Blake goes deep into LimeCuda’s web development process and how they’ve refined it to ensure successful launches.
Here is their process:
Discovery Phase
At the beginning, LimeCuda spends a lot of time listening and asking the client questions. Clients rarely know what they need but often have a list of what they want.
Make sure you fully understand the needs of the client and then guide them towards what should be done. Understand their business objectives and help them focus on this rather than the latest industry buzzword.
Project Kickoff Call
Once they’ve landed the project, LimeCuda has a call with the main points of contact to make sure everyone is on the same page. This is a perfect time to reaffirm and set expectations.
You want to have as many of the key contacts as you can on this call to help build rapport and get the client relationship off to a great start.
Content + Design + Development Split
Once the project needs are understood, Blake and his team split up the project into three segments: content, design, and development.
Content requires understanding and outlining what is needed on the website, who’s in charge of creating content, SEO optimization, etc.
Next is the design itself. This involves creating mockups and outlining a design plan that will achieve the client’s objectives with the site.
The final piece is development which includes what integrations and specific functionality that the website needs.
Design Views and Approval
Once what is required for content is determined, LimeCuda will focus on the design aspect of the site.
They create mockups in Figma and work internally as well as with the client to create a design that will align with the business’s objectives. They focus on the main pages of the website, so everyone gets an idea of what the rest of the site will look like design-wise.
They also make sure during this time to emphasize their expertise. If you are not setting expectations and guiding the design process, clients may try and take control. Make sure that you clarify that you are the expert.
You can batch approval and feedback from the client at set points to help avoid a design battle.
Adding in Content
Blake’s team either hires a copywriter, use a resource at the company, or use the company’s agency to ensure that the content process is smooth. They will include their expertise or work with partners to make sure that the content is optimized for SEO
Blake also recommends importing the content the client has already done on a past website to understand the process for how the client creates content. This will help determine how to plan out the content creation part of the site.
Clients don’t always create or promote content the way you expect, so you want to understand how they do and then build around this.
Preventing Scope Creep
In web design projects, it’s pretty standard for agencies to encounter scope creep from a client. You can counteract this by setting expectations, sticking to your contracts, and having regular touchpoints with the client. If scope creep occurs, it is the agency’s fault.
Launching the Website
Once a site is done, Blake and his team like to launch it a certain way, depending on the level of control they have over the project. If they have control over all the pieces, they like to set the website’s live generally on Friday night. This helps ensure that traffic isn’t as high in case something goes wrong and time over the weekend to fix any issues.
Successfully creating and launching a website can be stressful for any agency. Blake’s process at LimeCuda helps ensure they can deliver high-quality results, avoid headaches from clients and prevent technical problems.
If you’re interested in connecting with Blake, you can reach him through the LimeCuda website.
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