If you've never hired a web designer, the process can feel like a black box. You pay a deposit, wait a few weeks, and hopefully get a website you like. That's a bad way to spend money.
Here's the process I use, step by step: what happens, what I do, and what you're responsible for at each stage. It's designed so there are no surprises and no mystery. If you're comparing designers, this is the kind of process you should expect anyone to walk you through.
Step 1: Discovery and goals
Every project starts with questions. Who is your audience? What do you want visitors to do? What makes your business different from the competitor down the street? I also look at what's working and not working on your current site, if you have one.
Your job here: answer honestly and share examples of sites you like and sites you don't. You don't need design vocabulary. Just show me what resonates.
Step 2: Content and structure
Before any pixels, we map the sitemap: what pages exist, what goes on each page, and how content flows. This is where messaging and search structure get decided. A website's structure determines whether visitors find what they need and whether search engines understand your pages.
Your job here: gather or approve the copy, images, and brand assets. Content is the single biggest variable in how fast and how well a project goes. The more ready your content is, the better the result.
Step 3: Visual design
Now the design work happens: typography, color, layout, spacing, and visual hierarchy. I design in a collaborative loop, where you review and I refine, until the design is right. You see direction early, not after everything is built.
Your job here: review and give specific feedback. "Make it feel more trustworthy" is a feeling; "the contact form should be higher on the homepage" is a decision. Both are useful, but specific feedback moves faster.
Step 4: Build and development
Because I design and develop, the approved design is translated directly into a fast, responsive website. No handoff, no "it looked different in the mockup." This stage covers performance, accessibility, search setup, and putting your content into the content management system.
Your job here: minimal: review the live preview and test the site on your own phone. This is also the time to hand over final content if it wasn't ready earlier. A look at front-end development explains the technical side of this step.
Step 5: Launch
Before launch, the site is tested across browsers and devices. Then the new site goes live: domain, redirects, analytics, and search sitemap, all checked. If you're replacing an old site, your old URLs are redirected so your search rankings don't take a hit.
Your job here: a final review of the live site and a checklist of any last polish.
Step 6: Support and iteration
Launch is a starting line, not a finish line. After the site is live, we watch how visitors actually behave, and make iterative improvements based on real data. Most clients keep me on retainer for updates, new pages, and ongoing improvements so the site keeps performing instead of going stale.
Your job here: tell me what's happening on your side: new services, new offers, seasonal content. A site that's maintained always beats one that launched perfectly and was forgotten.
What the whole thing feels like
A typical marketing or business website takes 4 to 8 weeks from discovery to launch. You're not hovering over my shoulder; you're giving focused feedback at clear checkpoints, and I'm doing the work in between.
If this process sounds like what you're looking for, we should talk. Reach out and tell me about your project; the first conversation is about understanding your goals, not closing a sale.