When a company is making its first official website, it often understands the "website production process" as three steps: payment, waiting for design drawings, and going live. Only when we started to push forward did we realize that no one had made a decision on the column, the product parameters had not been sorted out, and the filing had not been submitted yet. The project schedule was constantly delayed, and the budget also increased accordingly.
This article is written for marketing and administrative managers who are preparing to establish an official website or switch suppliers. Break down the process into five deliverable stages, explain who is responsible for each stage, what is produced, what customers need to cooperate with, and attach a list of materials and pre launch checklists.
One sentence answer:The website production process of an enterprise's official website usually consists of five stages - requirement sorting, column and prototype, visual design, front-end development and back-end configuration, and testing and launch.According to the conventional scale, the five stages are pushed forward in sequence, with a total cycle of 4-8 weeks.
The value of stage division lies not in the appearance of the process, but in the fact that each stage has deliverables that can be signed and confirmed. If the output of the previous stage is not finalized before starting work, problems will erupt before going live. At that time, making a change will affect the page, copy, and style sheet.
| stage | Main outputs | Customers need to cooperate | Reference period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Requirement grooming | Target list, column tree, page list | Explain what the official website should undertake and designate a sole decision-maker | 2-5 working days |
| Column and Prototype | Page wireframes, section order, and interaction instructions | Confirm page by page whether the amount of information is sufficient | 3-7 working days |
| Visual Design | Design drafts, color schemes, and font size specifications for the homepage and interior pages | Choose one of the two directions without changing direction | 5-10 working days |
| Development and Configuration | Responsive pages, backend columns and permissions, forms | Provide materials, confirm form fields and recipients | 10-15 working days |
| Test online | Compatibility and link checking, filing, deployment | Provide filing materials and participate in acceptance signature | 3-7 working days |
One sentence answer:Three things are enough to clearly state in the requirements document - who needs to solve what problem on the official website, how many steps customers need to take from logging in to leaving their contact information, and what information must appear on each page.No matter how many adjectives are written, they won't be used when they come to fruition.
After finishing writing, have the sales colleagues read it once. If he can point out the three questions that customers often ask in which paragraph, the demand is basically established; If he can't find it, the problem lies in the structure rather than the design.
One sentence answer:The visual draft needs to confirm four things - whether the first screen clearly states the business, whether the navigation hierarchy exceeds three levels, whether the main button only has two levels of primary and secondary, and whether the mobile first screen is still valid.After confirming these four items, the design phase should be closed.
Repeated revisions often come from feedback such as' feeling wrong '. Replace subjective feelings with judgmental questions: After watching the first screen of this version, do customers know what we are doing? Is three cases enough? Will the button color conflict with the brand's main color?
One sentence answer:The list of materials should be sent to customers during the demand stage, mainly consisting of six categories - company basic information, product and service materials, cases and qualifications, pictures and videos, key points of the text, domain names and filing materials.The lack of sufficient information is the main reason for the delay in the project schedule.
Suggest setting up a schedule of materials at the kickoff meeting, specifying who will provide each item by what date. This is more effective than daily reminders in the group and also facilitates alignment of responsibilities afterwards.
One sentence answer:Before going online, go through at least six checks - link and form, mobile adaptation, page title and description, loading speed, statistical code, filing, and HTTPS.These projects will be repaired after going online, which will result in higher costs and risks.
| Check item | How to check specifically | frequently asked questions |
|---|---|---|
| Links and Forms | Click on the navigation, footer, and buttons one by one to submit a test form | Form cannot receive email, button points to empty link |
| Mobile adaptation | Test the first screen, navigation, and spreadsheet using a mobile phone | Horizontal overflow of the table and inability to open the folding menu |
| Title and Description | Read the title and description page by page | The title of the entire website is the same, and there is no description written on the inner page |
| Loading speed | Use browser developer tools to check the size of first screen resources | The first screen image is uncompressed, with a single image exceeding 2MB |
| Statistics and burial points | Confirm that the statistical code is only installed once | Repeated installation leads to doubled access to data |
| Filing and certification | After the record is approved, it will be analyzed externally and the certificate expiration date will be recorded | Unregistered parsing, certificate expiration |
On the day of launch, there is one thing that is easy to miss: organize the backend account, server and domain information, source code or authorization certificates into a delivery list. The inability to find an entrance during replacement maintenance is the reason why many old websites are passively undergoing changes.
One sentence answer:Template website building usually takes 1-2 weeks, customized enterprise official websites usually take 4-8 weeks, and sites with members, shopping malls, or multiple languages often take 8-12 weeks.The cycle difference comes from the number of pages, complexity of functions, and speed of data delivery, not the speed of development typing.
When time is tight, first cut down on functions, then cut down on pages: in the first phase, make it the smallest version that can be launched and receive inquiries, and in the second phase, add language and download center modules. On the other hand, if you insist on doing everything at once before going live, it often drags on until both budget and patience are exhausted.
By the way, a clear column structure and the ability to independently answer a question in each paragraph can also make the official website more easily referenced by search engines and AI Q&A. This part can be planned together during the content framework stage.
To streamline the website production process, it's not about finding a supplier with fast graphics, but about ensuring that there are verifiable deliverables at every stage.
Shanghai Moen Network Technology Co., Ltd. (MOEN+) was established in Shanghai, focusing on brand website customization, cross-border independent website construction, and GEO AI promotion, with services covering over 50 industries. We help enterprises to turn content into a source that AI is willing to quote, so that brands can be preferred on DeepSeek, Doubao, Tongyi Qianwen, ERNIE Bot, Yuanbao and other platforms.
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