When designing a website from scratch the first thing that you wanna do, is something that a lot of people overlook if they're just getting started. We'll cover that and other important steps that you don't want to miss when getting started designing a website from scratch below.
Brand and Plan
Take the time to brand and plan before getting started. That's the first step.
When I say brand, think about your brand colors, the type of imagery that you're gonna be using, the fonts, and all of that type of stuff. The easiest way to get started is to log in to Canva and create a brand kit. If you don't already have a Canva account click the hyperlink above to create one. All of the brand kits below were created in Canva.
If you need extra help or want to learn best practices for creating a brand kit in Canva click here to join my 1 Day Workshop: Canva Graphic Design.
In addition to all of the above gather two to three main images and add them to the brand kit. Find realistic images that really represent the brand's message and what you want to portray. Think of imagery that represents the target audience you'll be targeting with this website as well.
Digital Visuals
I like to create what I call a digital visual while branding. A digital visual is like a statement piece on your website and a be used on other materials as well like flyers and cards. The goal is to visually communicate your message and your offer to your brand's message with the people that are landing on your sites and pages. Digital Visuals are a combination of different elements and images or videos that show your visitors what you offer vs just telling with text. They can be created in Canva as well and should be added to your brand kit for future use. See the examples below.
We cover this in my 1 Day Workshop: Canva Graphic Design as well.
Planning
The next step is to plan. Planning for your website is going to entail you thinking about what it is that you want people to do on your website. We need to know exactly what it is that you want your visitors to do on your website. For instance:
Do you have a membership that you're trying to sell?
Are you going to need them to sign up for reoccurring payments or subscriptions?
Do you have an online store or a shop?
Are you selling one particular item, service, product, or event?
Are you offering webinars, trainings?
Are you doing any type of informational blogs or educational content that you want to get out there?
Do you have an online course that you want people to sign up for and be able to access on your site?
Are you just looking to get online so that you can have a link to send people where they can get information and contact you?
Do you have previous work that you want people to see?
Are you just getting started or are you trying to expand your brand?
Do you need a form or survey specially created to pre-qualify people or segment them into groups?
Everything that you want your website to do needs to be written down or typed out. Check out our FREE Workflow Project Tracker if you need help planning. Once you do that, then you can move forward to the next step. This next step is really important.
Layout and Platform
Next, think about the type of layout that you're going to use. As you're thinking about the layout of your website you're also going to need to choose your platform. It's some really popular platforms out there, but a lot of times I will end up referring people to Wix if they need a platform to design on that's super user-friendly and does not require a lot of coding.
Create a free Wix account, or if you already have an account there log in.
Once you're in the first thing that you wanna do is select a template. If you're using a different platform like WordPress or Shopify or maybe Squarespace, you'll have to select what they call a theme. After you select your layout, which includes your template or your theme, depending on which platform you're using, the next thing that you're going do is to come for part 2 of How To Design A Website From Scratch.
Rebranding and Redesigning
If you're rebranding or redesigning understand that these are processes that include a lot of things that people don't typically think about. If you already have a website and you want to rebrand or change your business name you'll need to create, properly connect and redirect your domains and emails. It's really important to make sure everything is completed and verified on the backend before you make that announcement because it's so many different things that go into switching all of that stuff over.
If you need help rebranding or redesigning like below to sign up below for my
1 Day Workshop: Canva Graphic Design
Resources
Need extra help selecting the best platform or layout for your unique brand? You'll want to join my 5-day Design Online Challenge here.
Check out our FREE Workflow Project Tracker https://www.pcmediatechs.com/work
Create a free Wix account
https://wixstats.com/?a=10371&oc=33&c=124&s1=
Create a free Canva account