In this case study, we follow the building
of the Playa Grande website from beginning to end.
When you contract with BCG to produce a
website, we follow a clearly delineated, four-step process, which
we call "phases": Discovery Phase, Design Phase, Production
Phase and Delivery Phase.
Discovery Phase:
The Discovery Phase begins with the first
client meeting. Here, BCG "gets to know" your company
through interviews and tours of the facility, and begins determining
the target audience for your website. This demographic information
greatly impacts not only the look and feel of your site, but also
the content therein as well as strategies for marketing the site.
In addition, a project timeline is developed,
clearly indicating the completion of each phase and the beginning
of the next. As the needs of each website are unique, scheduling
differs greatly with each website depending on a whole host of
factors, such as client availability, the size or scope of the
site itself, availability of photographers or custom programmers,
etc.
Design Phase:
The Design Phase is often the longest part
of the process. During this phase, a marketing "angle"
is determined and our team of designers and copywriters come together
to work out a unique solution for your website. At this point
in the process, BCG will determine what information is needed
from the client for content purposes, such as hotel room rates
and descriptions, activity options, product information, etc,
for use in the next part of the process, the Production Phase
(see below).
Depending on the scope of the project,
a number of "rough ideas", called "comps"
are created for home and interior pages and shown to the client,
as shown here:
At this point, BCG and the client select
the best direction from the set of "comps", and the
design is then refined until it meets client approval. In the
event of Flash animation, the Design Phase is also when storyboards
are compiled and presented to the client for approval.
Production Phase:
During the production phase, the "nuts
and bolts" of the website are created. The client-approved
design is converted into HTML and the Flash animation and/or custom
programming (if any) is created.
In most cases, the website is developed
on the BCG server, and moved to the client's server during the
Delivery Phase (see below).
The Production Phase occurs when two conditions
have been met:
1. Client has signed off on the design,
indicating they are pleased with the outcome of the Design Phase
and no further major changes will be made to the functionality,
the "look and feel" of the site or the storyboards in
the event of Flash animation.
2. Client has supplied BCG with all necessary
information needed to create content for the site as determined
during the Design Phase.
Delivery Phase:
This is the shortest part of the process.
Once the client has approved all work done during the Production
Phase, the website is then final-tested on BCG's servers. Once
final payment has been made and any "bugs" have been
worked out, the website is "delivered" to the client's
server and is available to audiences worldwide.
BCG offers competitively priced, comprehensive
website hosting and maintenance plans in addition to our web design
services detailed here. Visit our hosting
and maintenance page for more information.
Creating a great website is only half the
battle -- now you need web users to visit it! See our web
promotion page for more information on how BCG can help you
market your website to create more site traffic.
