What is a Website lifecycle? A definite guide

A website lifecycle or the web development lifecycle covers all the phases that go into building a website. From designing ideas to coding, deployment and maintenance. This is a standard or methodical guide to develop a website that works well.

In this article, we will take a closer look at the process of website lifecycle. Here are seven main phases of this amazing process of web development:

1. Information Gathering

2. Planning

3. Design

4. Content Writing and Assembly

5. Coding

6. Testing, Review, and Launch

7. Maintenance

Website lifecycle phase 1: Information Gathering

This very first phase of discovery and research determines what the next steps will look like. The most important thing at this point is to get a clear understanding of the purposes of your future website- the key goals you want to achieve, and the target audience you want to attract to your site. A website development questionnaire helps in this regard to develop better strategies for further project management.

The estimated time for this Information Gathering phase is from 1 to 2 weeks.

Website lifecycle phase 2: Planning

At this phase of website development cycle, the developer creates the plan that constitutes how the whole website will look like. The sitemap is created which is based on information gathered in the previous phase. For example, here is the sitemap of TanBits.

The sitemap must describe the relations among the primary areas of your website. High clarity levels in this regard offer a better understanding of how usable the final product will be. The major purpose at the back of sitemap creation is to build a user-friendly and an easy-to-navigate website.

A wireframe/mock-up is used in this case which is a visible illustration of the consumer interface that you’re going to create. Many developers directly leap onto wireframing process skipping the initial planning. This approach doesn’t include any design components consisting of colors, logos, etc. It simply describes the components that will add to the web page and their location. It’s artless and reasonably priced in production sketches. But, the most crucial component is to choose the technology stack, i.e., programming language, frameworks and CMS that you’re going to use.

The estimated time for this Planning phase is from 2 to 6 weeks.

Phase 3: Design

During the design phase, your website takes shape. All the visible content, along with images, and videos are created in this step. Once again, all of the data that is collected via the information gathering phase is crucial. The consumer and target market should be the focus while you work on the design. For database development, you need to build a logical and robust database for smooth and flexible website performance.

After that, the client can evaluate the layout and send you his feedback. If the client isn’t sure about a few components of your layout, you have to change the design and send it back to him. This cycle needs to be repeated till the client is completely satisfied.

The estimated time for the Design phase is from 4 to 12 weeks.

Phase 4: Content Writing and Assembly

Content writing and compiling normally overlap with different phases of website creation, and its part can’t be underestimated.  At this phase, it is important to include the message you want to send to the target market of your website and add calls to action. Content writing additionally includes the creation of catchy headlines, content editing, writing new content, compiling the present text, etc. This takes time and effort. As a rule, the client undertakes to offer website content material ready to be put up on the site. It is better when all the website content material is provided before or in the duration of website coding.

The estimated time for this Content writing phase is from 5 to 15 weeks.

Phase 5: Coding

At this phase, you can finally start developing the website. The graphic components that were designed in the previous phases are used in website development. Usually, the home web page is created first, after which all sub-pages are added in line with the website hierarchy that was formerly created in the form of a sitemap.

All static web page factors that are designed in the duration of mock-up and layout creation must come under production. Afterwards, unique functions and interactivity must be added. A CMS (Content Management System) proves great in this regard. Nowadays, CMS like WordPress and Joomla are used for site creation. You could also set up CMS plugins in this phase if there’s a need.

The other essential step is SEO. SEO is the optimization of website factors ( e.g., title, description, keyword) that can assist your web page to attain better rankings in the search engines. 

The estimated time for the Coding phase is from 6 to 15 weeks.

Phase 6: Testing, Review, and Launch

Testing might be the most repetitive part of the process. Every single link must be tested to ensure there aren’t any broken ones among them. You must take a look at each form & each script, and run a spell-checking software program to locate possible typos. Use code validators to test in case your code follows modern web standards. 

After you re-check your website, it’s time to add it to a server. An FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program is used for this purpose. After you deploy the files, you must run another final test to make sure that all of your files were installed correctly.

The estimated time for the Testing and review phase is from 2 to 4 weeks.

Phase 7: Maintenance

Maintenance means that it doesn’t end at the website launch. You have to additionally ensure that the whole thing works fine, and everyone is satisfied. Furthermore, you should also be ready to make modifications in any other case.

The feedback system introduced to the website will assist you to discover possible issues at customer’ end. The only important task here is to fix the issue as quickly as you can. The other essential aspect is keeping your website up to date. If you operate a CMS, regular updates will save you from bugs and reduce security risks.

This phase is ongoing.

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