A winning strategy for achieving success in web design requires a consistent process that can be divided into several stages. Each stage has its own requirements and engages a different set of resources. A simple web design project to a complex web application such as a social network all must go through a structured lifecycle in order to achieve excellence. At Creative Stride, regardless of the frameworks, methodologies, modeling tools and languages that we use in a given project, the overall process does not change. What are the difference steps of a web design lifecycle? The web development process may be divided into seven discrete stages: website definition and planning, information architecture, web design or Graphic Design, web Development and Testing, SEO and SEM, Tracking, evaluation, and maintenance.

Firstly, Website Definition and Planning. In the first phase of site definition and planning, these professionals treat the web design project as an extension of a company internet marketing campaign. Therefore, each web development project must begin by clarifying the project marketing objectives, what it seeks to achieve, who will be its target constituency and if there is a group of competitors that should be considered during the design process. The, identify the information architects, web designers, web developers, QA team, copywriting and content development team, subject matter experts and marketing strategists for the project. After that they identify the content management system, the CMS, that would make the most sense for the project. Generally, these professionals use Drupal for developing a robust web application or a social network. If they are developing a blogging platform, then is preferably to use Wordpress. These are strong advocates of open source and Drupal and Wordpress have wide acceptance.

They develop custom modules for Drupal and plugins for Wordpress and also identify where the site will be hosted, its operating system, and whether it will be on a shared sever with other web applications or websites. These questions are necessary to ensure that there will be no problems down the road.

Information Architecture. During the Information Architecture phase, Creative Stride documents the content and organization of the web site that is being designed. In the case of an existing site that is being redesigned, they create an inventory of existing content, along with documenting the inventory of new content and changes in existing content. This allows us to create a content architecture. Using site prototypes and wireframes, we begin to articulate a navigational structure and a user interface for the site. The content prototypes allow us to engage users to test the site navigation and how it works with the content of the site. Good prototyping demands that it is flexible, especially in its early stages: the low level of complexity in the site prototype prevents that the Creative Stride interactive design team to become too invested in one design at the expense of exploring better alternatives.

Web Design or Graphic Design. This stage takes the wireframes developed in the information architecture phase and begins to create a visual design that will be aesthetically pleasing and functional at the same time. Illustrations, graphics and video content for the website are commissioned and created here at our Boston office. Once the initial mockups are created, they are given to the client for comment and feedback. Once the feedback is received, the design goes through several iterations to achieve perfection.

Web Development and Testing. The design is translated into templates in the web development phase. The process is called theming in Drupal jargon. Because Creative Stride provides interactive design solutions to government agencies and educational institutions, they strive for web accessibility. This means that the web pages are Section 508 compliant. Section 508 is an important federal standard to measure the accessibility of a website. They validate the pages and the content throughout the development process to ensure that the pages are accessible to all users. We use the guidelines and techniques developed and maintained by the Web Accessibility Initiative WAI. If the site require interface with other applications or database, that integration is also performed during this stage. Finally, the site is tested using these procedures: functional testing, usability testing, load testing, etc.

Online Marketing: SEO and SEM. There is little use of having a site if others cannot find it. Creative Stride uses a wide range of on page and off page SEO techniques to promote your site. They submit your site to hundreds of directories and to all major search engines. For your internet marketing strategy to be successful, it is vital your site to rank high in the search engines, to leverage social media and pay per click advertising, and to make sure your website turns visitors into leads and sales. If you do not successfully apply these strategies, then your customers will go to your competitors instead. The online marketing team works with you to provide a winning strategy.

Tracking, Evaluation and Maintenance. It is necessary that your site be updated and maintained at a regular basis. Updating of content, checking for broken links, fine tuning keywords in your page titles to improve the visibility of the site on the web should all be addressed regularly. There are a number of tools such as Google Analytics that they use to track the performance of your site. These tools help us furnish you with data analysis and identify trends in your user activity. What keywords are your users searching to reach your site? From pages are the entering and leaving your site? The pages where they exit should be analyzed closely to see if any improvements are necessary in terms of content or structure of the pages. Finally, it is important to back up your site frequently to ensure that your data is secure in case of a server disaster. These specialists automate this process if you are hosting your site on the recommended infrastructure.