How to deliver a smooth company website project

Phil: So Laura, we've been delivering successful web projects here at Bespoke for 20 plus years now. Could you talk to me in a little bit more detail about what goes into delivering a smooth and successful web project?

Laura: At Bespoke, we always sort of start off with a workshop, or two workshops, and we get the clients in. The outcome of the workshop is to make sure that we're all on the same page and that we can all visualise the site by the end of the workshop. We draw out the key deliverables, what we want the site to do, you know, how many leads do we want, but we do it all from the users' perspective. And then following that, we run our 91 step process. So that is a process that we've perfected over the years that ensures a smooth and successful web project.

Phil: So I suppose with the workshop, the workshop's not just drawing out the requirements from the client, it's getting everybody invested, including the team here, so we've all got that shared vision.

Laura: Yes, so it just enables us to see things from the users' perspective. It enables the clients to see that as well, to let them zoom out a little bit and see that from the client's perspective. So it just means that we can work collaboratively with the client to draw out the best user journey at the end of the workshop.

Phil: And then you talk about the 91 step process for developing a successful, smooth web project. I suppose there's an irony in that, isn't it? In that the, from a client's perspective that 91 step process creates simplicity for them.

Laura: Yeah, it sounds like a lot of steps, but there are steps to take and we've perfected that over the years. The 91 step process is for us, but it does ensure that it's as simple as it can be for the client. So the 91 step process is broken down into blocks, so the workshop are a block in themselves and each block of the process has an outcome. So at the end of the workshop, the outcome is the wireframes so we'll have some black and white wireframes and then we'll move on to the design process. And the outcome of that will be a full set of designs. The build process, you know, a live site. So each one of those blocks has processes within them, but the client is involved once the site is live after the design stage.

Phil: You talk about those key phases, those seven phases. Testing's crucial at all steps isn’t it, along the way?

Laura: Yes, so we we will test before the site goes live, obviously. We'll do thorough tests on different devices, different browsers make sure that everything's working as it should be. That lead forms are being captured correctly, the call to action buttons work, all those kinds of things. But we also test after the site has gone live, so that we can test the performance of the site as well which is crucial.

Phil: I know one thing we do here: we don't celebrate the launch of a website, do we? Necessarily.

Laura: We do to a certain extent because it's a key milestone, but we tend to celebrate once you know, two, three months down the line. Once you've seen an uplift in commercial value to the site. Once you've seen successes from the website, that's when we'll celebrate.

Phil: So we celebrate a successful project, not the launch of a project?

Laura: Exactly that and we continuously test even after launch so that we know that it's optimised and that the site is performing as best as it can.

Phil: So how would you summarise those three key crucial elements of delivering a smooth, successful website project?

Laura: The workshop is the first one for us, just to draw out the deliverables, make sure everyone's on the same page. The second is the 91 step process so that we can ensure everything runs to time and as smooth as possible. And then testing is the key crucial thing before live as well, but also after the website's gone live.

Phil: And then celebrating the success.

Laura: Absolutely, yeah.