There might be an “I” in “website,” but you won’t find one in “team” anytime soon, especially when it comes to developing beautiful pages to represent your business. While trying to create a better website can take months and dozens of iterations, a solid push from a group can complete the same job with better quality in a fraction of the time.

Let’s examine a website our company, Promotion LA, recently made for a mobile auto services company and how collaborative efforts from a web developer, a writer, a designer and a video editor helped create a better website than the client ever could have imagined.

Business Consultation

The first step to creating an amazing product for the client is hosting initial business consultation. This should come as no surprise, but when it comes to websites, collaboration is a must. An all-hands-on-deck operation, it’s imperative to have the developer, writer, designer, and any content people ask their specific questions in that first encounter with the client about their business. This allows all angles to be covered and on the same page with any internal brainstorming that happens afterward.

Website Ideas

After questions have been asked and notes have been taken, discussions begin to flow. In order to create a better website, clear and focused communication is extremely important, which eliminates confusion moving forward. After basic decision making on hot-button customer asks, breakout meetings may take place between the developer and writer, developer and designer, writer and content, etc. For this automotive business, motion was very important. We wanted to introduce some kind of unique movement as well as a video element to the homepage that reflected their core services.

Individual Production

At this point, each individual gets to work creating their specific elements.

The web developer chooses an appropriate theme for the site and begins to implement any preliminary custom code or functions that the client has requested. This website called for a custom form with photo upload capabilities and a privacy policy agreement. The writer begins researching top SEO keywords for the industry. Those keywords are then strategically, but sensibly, placed when writing copy for the website’s pages. The designer creates branding elements like a color pallet, page layout, custom icons, etc. Our content person, in this case, worked with the client to retrieve previously unused video clips to cut together to display as the hero of the homepage.

Discussions definitely happen amidst this shuffle, but good communication helps maintain a straight path.

Building the Website

When the website’s pages have been completed, edited and approved by the client, the writer, developer and designer work together to place the text and heading elements into the pages with a custom page building tool, while minding the layout, navigation and overall clarity.

To go a step further, the designer and developer build a customized animated car that assembles from 15 separate pieces upon page load.

After the video was completed and a watermark added by the content person, it was placed on the top of the homepage to intrigue page visitors and encourage them to browse.
At this point, all copy, graphics, and content should be uploaded. One tactic Promotion LA uses to ensure accuracy, cohesiveness and flow is an all-hands quality assessment – using the new website as a regular user to monitor the experience. This helps speed up any redesigns, page consolidation and other errors that may have been previously overlooked.

Delivering to the Client

Once the entire team is satisfied with the website, it’s presented to the client for their review. Clients may also be a part of the collaborative process – they’re the creators of the brand’s core values and validate whether our elements correctly depict their brand.

After any post-delivery requests were made, this client was not only satisfied with the website they received but continues to refer to new business.