Every good WordPress website starts with a central strategy in mind. It has to grab attention, convey clear information about the company, the products and the services being sold, and convince users to make a purchase, while incorporating visual elements, interactions and textual content. In this article, we’re going to cover the process that brings it all together step by step.
1. Have a clear goal
The first stage of the development process starts with identifying the business objectives of the website. Will it be an e-commerce store? Will it have a blog for search engine optimization (SEO)? Here, the developer will collaborate closely with the business owner and other stakeholders in order to find the right set of goals that the website needs to achieve.
During this stage of the development service, the developer will try to understand who the website is for, the primary aim of the site, the core brand message and branding strategy, the various competitors of the business, and the unique sales proposition that will make the website stand out.
2. Creating the sitemap and wireframe
Before we get to the WordPress themes, content management and custom plugins, we have to set up the sitemap. A sitemap displays the main topic and subtopic areas of the site, and its purpose is to help you set up an effective navigation system. Where will the user go after he lands on the front page? How will your blog posts link to one another and other pages on the website? The sitemap attempts to answer these questions. By creating a site that is easy to navigate, you also ensure that it is easier for search engines to crawl it.
After that, you have the wireframe. A wireframe is a very basic, very easy and quick to make, outline of the website. It helps establish the style and the flow of content on important pages.
3. SEO and content creation
SEO is extremely important for business websites. It is one of the key avenues of online marketing. SEO has two components: technical optimization and content optimization. The developer should have the know how to implement the proper technical optimization best practices right from the start. These best practices include making sure that the website loads quickly, and that it s well optimized for mobile devices. WordPress is one of the best content management systems for this due to the numerous themes and plugins available, along with the ability to implement in-depth customization in the code base.
You then have to implement the SEO strategy at the content level. This involves researching long-tail and high-volume keywords and building content around them on your pages and blog posts. By starting out with the right SEO strategy, you will be able to avoid additional costs further down the line which would have to cover revamps and changes to the website structure and content.
4. Theme and plugin implementation
WordPress themes and plugins make it much easier to create a completely custom website. You just have to choose a theme and a set of plugins, click the install button, and 75% of the website is set up. From there, WordPress developers can implement custom features and functions in order to make sure that the entire website comes together and runs smoothly. There are also a lot of choices when it comes to WordPress themes and plugins, and with experience, you can cut costs while increasing functionality by using the right ones.
From setting up a contact form, to social network integration, search fields, shopping carts, menu items and content blocks, you have thousands of plugins at your disposal. WordPress is also open source, allowing experienced developers to implement an even higher degree of customization. However, even without any knowledge of coding, you can still set up something as complex as an e-commerce store, complete with payment gateways and a strong user experience.
