The website design process, from first message to launch

How website design works, in four steps

Every site I build follows the same order, and the order is the point. We agree on what the site needs to do before anyone talks about colours. You see a direction before anything is built. You see the site as it comes together, not only at the end. And nothing goes live until it has been checked on a phone as well as a laptop.

I'm a freelancer, not an agency, so there's no account manager passing messages along. The person you talk to in step one is the person who writes the code in step three. If that's new to you, hiring a freelance web developer explains the honest trade-offs.

• We talk: your business, your customers and what a visitor should do first
• I show you a direction: layout, colour and type, before anything is built
• I build it: hand-coded, quick, and tested on a phone and a laptop
• It goes live: domain connected, everything checked, and a walkthrough

Step 1: We talk

The first conversation is free, and it can happen on WhatsApp, a call or a video call. I want to understand what the business is, who you're trying to reach, and what you want someone to do the moment they land on the page. That might be sending a WhatsApp, asking for a quote or requesting a booking.

This is where my Systems Analysis and Design studies earn their keep: sitting with a client, pulling out what they actually need, and mapping it before a single line gets written. I'll also tell you honestly whether a website will help you. Sometimes the answer is "not yet", and do I need a website? explains when. Questions I usually ask:

• What do you sell, and which part of it do you most want more of?
• Who is your ideal customer, and how do they find you now?
• What do people always ask before they buy or book?
• What should a visitor do first: WhatsApp you, call, or send a request?
• Which websites do you like, and which ones put you off?

Step 2: I show you a direction

Before I build anything, I show you a direction: layout, colour and type. This is the moment to react honestly. If something feels too formal for your business, or the colour feels wrong, say so. Changing a direction is easy. Changing a finished site is a much bigger job, for both of us.

A degree teaches you how to make a website work. It doesn't teach the feel of a thing: the right spacing, the colour that suits a bakery and not a law firm, the point where a page stops looking cheap. That's the part I care about most. We adjust until it feels like your business, not like a template anyone could have.

Step 3: I build it

Once the direction feels right, I build the site by hand, from scratch. There's no page builder and no bloated template to fight, which keeps it fast and makes later changes direct edits. I build it to work properly on a phone first, because most of your visitors will arrive on a phone, then check it on a laptop too.

You see it as it comes together, not only at the end, so a wrong turn gets fixed early instead of discovered on launch day. This is also when your words and photos go in, along with the groundwork Google reads: page titles, descriptions, headings and speed. SEO-friendly websites explains that groundwork in more detail.

Step 4: It goes live

Launch day is calmer than it sounds, because by now you've already seen the site. I connect your domain and check everything properly before calling it done. Then comes the walkthrough, so you know exactly what you have, how it works and who to ask if you want something changed. (That's me.)

Some things only you, as the owner, can do once the site is live, like setting up your free Google Business Profile and asking customers for reviews. My guide on getting your business on Google walks you through them. What gets checked before launch:

• Every page, on a phone and on a laptop
• Every link, button and enquiry form, including that messages actually arrive
• WhatsApp and call buttons, so they open the right number
• A separate title and description on every page
• Your business name, number and area, spelled the same everywhere

What to prepare: a simple website brief

You don't need a polished website design brief or a template to fill in. A few notes on your phone are plenty. But the more of this you bring to the first conversation, the faster we get to a direction that fits. Think of it as the information needed to build a website, in plain language.

Don't worry if the words aren't written yet. Knowing what customers ask, in their own language, is more useful than a polished paragraph, and it's what shapes the page titles and headings later. If you'd like something in writing to send me, these points make a perfectly good brief:

• What you do, in the sentence you'd use to explain it to a stranger
• Who your customers are and which areas you serve
• The one thing you want a visitor to do: WhatsApp, call or send a request
• Your services and the questions people always ask about them
• Real photos of your work or premises. Good phone photos are fine
• A few websites you like, one you don't, and your domain name if you have one

What you get at the end, and what's yours

You own the site and the domain. I hand over the files, so you're never locked in to me or to a platform you can't leave. If you don't have a domain yet, we'll talk about choosing one, registered in your name. Whoever you hire, ask before you pay: whose name will the domain be in?

You also get the walkthrough at launch, and I stay reachable if you want changes later: new photos, an extra service, updated details. I don't sell monthly maintenance plans, so nothing is quietly billing you in the background. This website is a working example of how I build, so open it on your phone and judge for yourself.