How to Design a CMS Website for a Client
Penny Dower Hunt, 23 November 2022.
So, you have finally landed a client for a website design project and need help figuring out where to start. If that's the case, this article is for you.
Web Design Auckland helps you with website design steps and many other issues. Designing a website can be an issue, but most clients often need to learn about it. So, educating them if they want a CMS website can take time and effort.
Your client is giving you the responsibility to design a website for their business or blog, which is not just building a website but taking several steps to do it. First, we should be overawing and carefully picking a suitable theme for the client's website. Your skills do play a significant role here in designing the website.
This blog will give you a comprehensive step-by-step process to design a client website. So, without further ado, let's kick this off.
Step 1: Gather client goals and info for the website design
Step 1: Gather info and Client Goals
The first step in creating the website design is to know the client's goals and requirements. Such as:
- What is the purpose?
- Why are you building this website?
- What audience are you targeting?
- Does your client want email and social media integration?
- Is it about eCommerce, Business, or Blogging? Is it about Shopify?
- What's their brand name?
- What are the budget and deadline?
- Do they want a CMS and, if so, which one?
And many others ... it's essential for you to know your client's goals for the website. Try to gather all the information from the client so you don't miss anything in the future. In addition, you can write these down on your notepad and revise them while completing the website.
Step 2. Deciding a CMS Platform & Planning
The second step is to choose a platform to use for the design of the client's website. It plays a key role, as it is the foundation of the website. For example, if clients want to be able to manage and update their website, you will need a CMS (Content Manager Solution) - essential for this purpose. The best way to choose a CMS platform is to check its price, usage, and scalability. Website Design Auckland has a few suggestions regarding CMS platforms. Let's read them respectively:
Step 2: Choosing a CMS for your client's CMS website
WordPress
WordPress is the most common and easiest to use. It provides basic templates and plugins for free. There are also premium templates and plugins for a fee. We suggest you use FREE versions (if it is not mentioned in the client's requirements). Additionally, it is the most affordable option.
Joomla
Joomla is the best if you have technical website development experience. It is one of the coolest open-source CMS platforms available in the market, with multilingual settings and more than 70+ languages. It is also a cost-effective CMS.
Step 3: CMS Theme and SEO Strategy
Once you have chosen the most suitable CMS for your client, it's time to ask them about the selected theme (including colours, pictures, etc.)
Moreover, SEO also plays a crucial role in your client's website. There are On-Page SEO, Technical SEO, and OFF-Page SEO. You'll be targeting more of the technical SEO strategy. It includes:
- Sitemap.xml
- Sitemap.html
- Robots.txt file
- Page Load time
- Optimizing JS and CSS files
- SSL Certificate (encrypted web host certificate)
You must take measures for SEO for your client's website, as Google Crawler will notice it. But, more importantly, it will help the website get ranked on SERP.
Step 4: Website Sitemap
A website sitemap is an indispensable part of your SEO strategy. As mentioned above, it is one of the core parts of your technical SEO. Why is the Sitemap important? Because it provides a good understanding of the website and helps the crawler navigate more easily.
It works as a checklist to guide the website's process. It includes all your website's data and the pages' location.
Step 5: Website Content Review & Testing Website
Step 5: Content Review and Testing
The last step is to check all the website content for your client's site and test it. You can test the page load timing and other things. You can review all the pages, such as About us, the Home page, FAQs, Contact and Location Map.
After that, ask your client to review the website. If it looks fine, you can host it and give access to your client. Make sure to get payment before providing login access to your client for the website.