THE PROCESS

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How to Plan and Research a Web Development Project

When you’re planning a web development project, it’s easy to overlook some of the basic steps that can save you time and money in the long run. Many projects fail to meet their full potential because their owners didn’t spend the time necessary on research and planning—something that can be helped by using these tips on how to plan and research your web development project. Whether you’re looking to build an entire new website or just fix a few bugs, these ideas will help you plan the right project and make sure that you get all of your questions answered before beginning any development work.

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The Preparation Stage

Getting ready for web development can be as simple as jotting down ideas or as meticulous as creating an entire design document, but every phase is important. First, you need to know what you want. Brainstorming sessions can help kick-start your planning process by getting everyone on board with common goals. If you’re working in a large company, ensure that all of your developers have access to client notes so they can get up to speed quickly when they join your project team.

The Requirements Analysis Stage

The most important part of any development project is its planning. While requirements can come from many different sources, they are ultimately filtered through your client or employer (or customer if you’re in business for yourself). Writing down these requirements is an important step that requires some research on your part, especially if you aren’t familiar with your clients’ processes or businesses. Use Google and other sources to learn more about who you are working for so that you have a solid understanding of what they need.

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The Design And Build Stage

This stage is where you bring your wireframes to life. This phase of website design involves several parts: conceptualization, design, development, testing and deployment. Conceptualization here means taking those wireframes from earlier in the process and turning them into mockups – visuals that represent how your site will look, as well as its features.

The Testing And UAT (User Acceptance Testing) Stage

Depending on how complex your project is, you may want to design various prototypes before getting your client’s final approval. You could build up several dummy websites in WordPress (or whatever CMS you’re using) with different layouts, until you find one that works best for both parties. Here are some tips on conducting user testing

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The Launch Stage

Web developers spend most of their time planning and researching before they ever write one line of code. They want to make sure they’re building something that will benefit users and accomplish their goals—not make things more difficult. Once you start building, you’ll likely go through several rounds of revisions as you find errors or realize what you need is slightly different than what you thought. To help avoid problems like these, it’s important to plan out each phase of your project. If you can define exactly what needs to happen in each phase, it will be easier for everyone involved—including yourself!—to stay on track during development. This will ensure everything goes smoothly from initial idea through final launch. What are some steps I should take while planning?

branding

Before you even think about what your website will look like, or how you’ll market it, you need to decide on your brand. What’s your company name? What tone of voice will you use on social media and in emails?

Illustrations

Web development project planning consists of research, planning, and estimating. Web development projects have so many steps that it is difficult to determine where research ends and planning begins. The beginning of each web development project should begin with research on your client’s business.

Marketing

It is important that you have experience with Google Adwords Campaigns, SEM, SEO, PPC (Pay-Per-Click), email marketing campaigns & landing pages.L

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