How I Make Websites
Sep 3, 2018 · 3 min read

After four years of building websites, I’ve settled on several principles that help guide all of my projects, despite the fact that every site and client is unique. This is my five point checklist I use for every site:
- Understand the needs of your client. Not just how they’ll be using the site, but what they want to communicate to their audience. Who is the site going to be serving? Why do they need this website? Are there specific business objectives they’re hoping to achieve? Instead of telling your customer what they need, I find it’s productive to have a conversation and listen to what they’re telling you they need. Even if you think you already know what to do, there’s a good chance you’re missing some pieces. They know their business better than anyone else, and if you miss an opportunity to lay the groundwork correctly, it’ll cost you in the end.
- Wireframe before you begin coding. The user experience can be very clearly demonstrated with this phase, and it gives you the chance to catch any pain points the client might have before you invest dozens of hours into building the pieces. Wireframes typically use placeholder text (lorem ipsum) for paragraphs, but the titles and subtitles should be fairly refined before you send anything out for review. This helps to communicate the flow and structure of the site. Good copywriting can take time, but even without all of the content completely polished you will need to have some idea about how it is going to be organized.
- Build for mobile first. This one is common sense, but I still find myself building sites and then trying to go back and make them responsive. If you do this it will almost always feel like a second-thought (which it was!) ~ so, I build every site first and foremost to look good and be usable on a phone. My favorite method is to use CSS Flexbox containers and simple components. In building sites this way, I hardly ever find it necessary to include media queries. After the site is finished and looks great on mobile, there usually isn’t a lot to do for desktop.
- Play the SEO game. As much as the game is changing every day, it’s crucial to know and implement the proper foundations for every site you produce. After all, what’s the point in having a stellar site if it isn’t going to be found? Today, Google doesn’t just rank you on back-links ~they also take into consideration your site’s security, speed, and mobile score.
- Clearly communicate expectations. As obvious as this sounds, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a project stall because the client dropped off the face of the earth, only to have them get up in my face when our deadline wasn’t met. Clients need to know upfront what you expect of them, and be every bit as committed to the success of the project as you are.
There you have it, my five principles for building sublime websites! If you have any questions about these items, or suggestions to add to the list, feel free to comment :-)
