Creating a website isn’t just about good design, it’s about building an experience that works hard for your business and your users. Whether you’re launching a new site or redesigning an existing one, the website creation process involves much more than meets the eye.
From initial planning to post-launch optimisation, each stage plays a vital role in ensuring your site not only looks great, but performs effectively. A successful website needs structure, creativity, strategy, and technical precision, and skipping key steps can cause major issues later down the line.
At Fifteen, we’ve built hundreds of high-performing websites for multiple brands across numerous industries, and in this guide, we’ll take you through our web build process. We’ll explain each stage in detail so you can better understand what it takes to build a website that looks beautiful, functions flawlessly, and drives results.
Step 1: Planning and strategy
Every strong website begins with clarity. Before design or development even begins on your new website, it’s important to define the purpose of it, who it’s for, and what you want it to achieve.
This starts by getting a true understanding of your goals and audiences by asking and answering these key strategic questions:
- What is the main objective of my new website – is it to generate leads, sell products, build awareness, or educate?
- Who are my core users and what are their motivations?
- What actions do I want visitors to take once they arrive on my site?
At Fifteen, we often conduct discovery workshops and research sessions at this stage, combining analytics data with user insights to identify what’s working on your current site and what’s not.
Another key element of the planning and strategy stage is competitor and market analysis, as your competitors can also reveal valuable insights. We analyse the digital presence of similar brands to understand where they succeed, where they fall short, and how your site can differentiate. This ensures that every decision – from navigation layout to content tone – is grounded in data, not assumption.
The outcome of this stage is a clear project plan that defines your audience, goals, and success metrics, which forms the foundation for the rest of the website creation process.
Step 2: Sitemapping
A sitemap is your website’s architectural blueprint. It defines the structure, flow, and hierarchy of your content and ensures that users (and search engines) can easily find what they need.
A well-planned sitemap isn’t just about organising pages, it’s about creating a logical journey that guides users through your site effortlessly. For example, an ecommerce sitemap might group products by category and highlight high-value items, while a service-based business might prioritise conversion-focused pages like “Book a Consultation” or “Request a Quote.”
If you’re redesigning an existing site, you shouldn’t discard your current structure too quickly. By reviewing your analytics, you can identify which pages attract the most visits, where users drop off, and how they move between sections. That data can inform the new sitemap and help avoid repeating old mistakes.
At this stage, we also plan redirects for any pages that will be removed, which is an often-overlooked step that preserves SEO authority and prevents broken links after launch. The result is a sitemap that outlines how every page fits together, giving both you and your development team a clear roadmap for the build.
Step 3: Wireframing
Once the sitemap is finalised, the next step in the web build process is wireframing – the point where structure meets usability.
A wireframe is a simplified, low-fidelity layout of each page. It maps out where key elements like navigation menus, call-to-action (CTA) buttons, forms, and imagery will sit. Think of it as the skeleton of your site. Its purpose is to show how the site will work, not what it will look like – therefore is not supposed to be pretty
Wireframes typically use neutral colours and placeholder content, focusing on layout and logic rather than visuals. For clients who are visually oriented, this stage can feel underwhelming, but it’s one of the most crucial parts of the process.
Wireframes also allow designers, developers, and clients to align on usability and functionality before design work begins. Adjusting layouts or content flow here saves significant time (and cost) later in development.
We often supplement wireframing with heatmapping and behavioural data to ensure our layouts reflect how users actually interact with websites. This user-first approach ensures that design choices are built on evidence, not guesswork.
Step 4: Website design
Once the wireframes are approved, it’s time to add visual identity, tone, and emotion. The design phase transforms your skeletal framework into a living, breathing representation of your brand.
We typically start with the homepage because not only is it the first thing most visitors will see, it sets the tone for your entire site. A great homepage needs to make an instant impact while guiding users deeper into your content. It should communicate who you are, what you do, and why it matters within a few seconds.
Using your brand guidelines, we apply colour palettes, typography, imagery, and UI patterns to create a cohesive look and feel. Each design decision will be made with user experience (UX) and conversion rate optimisation (CRO) in mind, as this ensures the website isn’t just visually appealing, but strategically effective.
When it comes to designing your navigation, it should be designed around user behaviour. Since visitors typically scan from left to right, design best practice encompasses positioning logos in the top-left and main navigation to the right. High-value pages should then be strategically placed at the start and end of navigation menus for visibility.
Footers should also be designed with purpose and contain essential information such as contact details, accreditation logos, social links, and policy pages. These elements reinforce trust and help users find key content quickly.
Once the web design has been nailed, we’ll create a style guide outlining all key design components, including headings, button styles, colours, and forms. This guide will ensure developers maintain consistency throughout the website creation process and allows future updates to be made easily without rewriting code.
Step 5: Content creation
No website is complete without content. Compelling copy and visuals are what transform design into communication. We typically provide a content plan that lists every page, its purpose, and word count recommendations, as well as optimising them for SEO, clarity, and conversion.
When crafting content, the focus should always be on user intent. Good content answers the questions people are searching for while subtly reinforcing your brand personality. When writing your copy, we’ll ensure:
- Copy is clear and concise with natural keyword placement
- Page titles and headings (H1–H6) are descriptive for an optimal SEO structure
- Engaging imagery, infographics, or videos are included to support your key points
- Strong CTAs are incorporated on every key page
The ultimate aim is that your content attracts visitors, holds their attention, and moves them toward conversion.
Step 6: Development
Once your design and content are completed, the project moves into development, which is the technical heart of the web build process.
At Fifteen, our developers begin by reviewing the approved designs, sitemap, and technical requirements. From here, they can identify reusable code blocks, define site logic, and plan how to integrate front-end visuals with back-end systems.
The team typically works in sprints, and breaks the project into smaller, more manageable stages. This approach allows for regular feedback and flexibility with our clients, and helps us keep projects on time, within scope, and focused on quality.
Throughout the web build process, our developers use version control tools which allows them to maintain a historical record of all code changes, allowing multiple developers to work on the same project simultaneously without conflict. This creates a transparent, organised development workflow.
We always ensure that testing isn’t just left until the end either. Our developers continuously check functionality as they go, ensuring each section works before moving on. This proactive approach helps catch issues early and ensures a smoother build overall.
Step 7: Testing, quality assurance, and bug fixing
Before any site can go live, it must be thoroughly tested, and this is where attention to detail really matters. Every form, link, and interactive feature should be tested across a range of browsers and devices – from desktop to mobile. With over 60% of global web traffic now coming from mobile users, responsive performance is non-negotiable.
Included in the testing process is bug fixing. In the development world, a “bug” is any unexpected behaviour that prevents a site from performing correctly. Our team purposefully stress-tests each page to uncover any issues before launch. By fixing these bugs at this stage, it will save both time and reputation later.
Testing continues until every function, form, and animation performs exactly as intended, and when we know that has been achieved, we prepare for launch.
Step 8: Launch and post-launch optimisation
When all testing is complete and any issues have been fixed, it’s time to go live. During the launch phase, our developers will migrate a website from the staging environment to the live server, and ensure all links, redirects, and analytics tracking are working correctly.
But the website creation process doesn’t end when a site has launched – it signals the beginning of ongoing improvement. A few weeks after launch, our digital marketing specialists will closely monitor analytics and SEO performance.
They’ll look at how users interact with the site, share any user feedback with the whole team, and look for ways to refine performance. This might include improving page load speeds or enhancing conversion funnels for example. This ongoing process ensures the website remains competitive, secure, and aligned with our clients business goals.
Ready to start the web build process with us?
By understanding our full website creation process, it gives you the confidence to make informed decisions, set realistic timelines, and collaborate effectively with our specialists. From early planning and sitemapping, to final testing and launch, every step plays a critical role in building a site that delivers lasting results.
Here at Fifteen, we guide our clients through each phase with clarity, collaboration, and creativity to ensure the finished product not only looks great, but performs beautifully and meets your objectives.
If you’re ready to start your next website project and you’d like to take advantage of our expert guidance at every stage, get in touch with us today to discuss your requirements in more detail.
