Sneak Peek: Our website design process

22 Nov

Your website is your business’ digital home — it’s where your brand lives, your audience connects, and your goals come to life. Just like you wouldn’t dream of building a house without a blueprint, creating a website without a clear plan can leave you overwhelmed and out of pocket. Whether you’re launching your very first site or giving an old one a fresh start, a strategic approach can save you time, money, and stress. In this blog post, we’re taking you on a behind-the-scenes tour of our signature offer – Website in a Week – where we, (as the name would suggest) build your website in a week. Our hope for giving you this behind-the-scenes look is that you’ll see that with the right tools, guidance, and planning, it’s possible to create a website that not only looks stunning but also works hard for your business.

Planning Your Website

If you’re looking to launch your first website, or hit refresh on your existing one, it can help to get expert advice to help you turn your big ideas into reality – creating a roadmap to successfully launch your website.

A Website Strategy Session can help identify the goals you have for your business and how a website can help you achieve them. We’ll discuss with you how to ensure your website meets the needs of your ideal audience, and showcases exactly how you solve a problem for them. As part of your strategy session, you’ll also determine the structure (i.e. key pages you’ll need created), along with the functionality of your site (i.e. what tech you need to help you make the best possible user experience that your website needs.

You’ll leave the strategy session with a clear plan for the next steps to bring your website to life.

Selecting Your Website Template

When you’re creating your dream online space, there are many decisions to make, by starting with a pre-designed website template you’ll get to skip straight to the fun part and save all that decision-making for the things that really matter – like what photo to use for your about page.

We liken the process of choosing a website template to being like choosing to build a project home. You get to explore the virtual ‘display home’ for your new website – seeing how things will look and function, and customise things to reflect your unique brand personality. Each of our Squarespace website templates have been professionally designed and created with specific industries in mind, and include features and functionality that will enhance your user’s experience.This means you can skip the wireframing stage of meticulously planning the sections and technology each page needs, knowing that your chosen template will fit the needs of your industry.

Working with a website template streamlines the process of creating and gathering the content for your website – you’ll have a clear map of what brand assets you need, such as copy sections and images, thanks to the pre-designed layouts, saving you both time and money.

All in all, working with a template allows you to have a manageable number of decisions on what goes where, and how your website will work effectively for your business. It removes the headaches and hassle from getting what you want for your website, and ensures that the pre-build stage of your website has a clear plan to help you get everything ready before you kick off your Website in a Week.

Booking Your Website in a Week

Thinking Website in a Week might just be for you? Our clients tend to fall into one of two categories. They see all the benefits of not having to spend months of back-and-forth with a web designer and feel Website in a Week might be right for them, but they need to chat through their ideas to make sure working with The Brand Method is the right move for their business. Or, they’ve been watching from the sidelines as we launch other businesses' websites and they’re ready to make their very own mark on the world with a brand new website.

That’s why we offer two simple pathways to getting started with your Website in a Week project. You can choose to schedule a no-obligation, free 15-minute discovery call – we’ll answer your burning questions about how Website in a Week works, talking you through the key aspects to consider before deciding if this is the right move for your website. Then, if you decide now is the time to bring your website dreams into reality, you can book your Take Off Call and pay your Website in a Week deposit.

With your ticket to creating a wonderful website secured (i.e. you've paid your deposit), you’ll receive instant access to our Pre-Planning Checklist. This checklist helps you determine what brand and website assets you already have in your luggage, and what you’ll need to organise before you’re ready to embark on your website creation journey. This will help you create a plan for curating your brand assets, brand photography and copy, and determine the dates you can sort this by, to determine the best date for your Website in a Week project.

We’ll also send through a copy of your contract, so you’re across the finer details of scheduling your Website in a Week – consider this like your website’s travel insurance. It outlines the responsibilities of The Brand Method to deliver your website, and what we’ll need from you to make that happen. If you’ve opted for a payment plan, this is when we’ll also send you through the details to set up your direct debit.

With your checklist complete and contract signed, it’s time for your Take Off Call. We’ll lock in your chosen template, determine what services pages you require, decide on what your opt-in will be and more. After our call you’ll receive your unique access codes to our Website in a Week Business Lounge – the VIP area that holds your timelines, video tutorials on how to share access to required technologies with us securely, copywriting templates and a place for you to upload your brand assets.

What’s inside the Website in a Week Business Lounge

We know that creating your dream website has many moving parts. With over a decade’s experience in bringing brand websites to life, we know a thing or two about what’s involved, what needs to happen first and what can make the process go a whole lot smoother. We’ll share it all with you, in our VIP Business Lounge. Here’s a sneak-peek of what’s inside:

A week-by-week timeline: We generally book Website in a Week projects 8-12 weeks in advance. Our timeline is designed to help you manage all the aspects of preparing for your Website in a Week project, without it feeling overwhelming or stressful at the last minute.
Step-by-step video tutorials: We’ll need access to some things to make your Website in a Week go off without a hitch. We get these all setup ahead of time. To make the process simple, we’ve created step-by-step video tutorials that show you the exact steps to follow to securely share access with us to any tech that we need.
Access to your Google Drive Suitcase: We’ve created a packing list of what you’ll need to pack inside your Google Drive Suitcase, so that The Brand Method team have access to your brand assets, logos, copy and photos in preparation for your website build.
Copy templates: Whether you’re writing your own copy, or working with a professional copywriter, these templates will help ensure your copy fits neatly within the template, guiding you on how much to write and how it will flow through to the design of your chosen website template.
Time to Fly Checklist: Know exactly what to expect on each day of your Website in a Week, so there’s no mid-flight turbulence and we can arrive at launch day feeling excited to embark on celebrating your new website.

Frequently Asked Questions

That depends on what you’ve already finalised and ready for your website. If you’ve got your brand (logo, style guide, fonts and colour palette), brand photography and website copy ready to go, you can book in for our next available Website in a Week slot.

If these things are still in the works, then we generally suggest you book your Website in a Week project for 8-12 weeks ahead of when you want to launch. That way, you have plenty of time to work through the pre-planning checklists and get all your website assets together before your allocated project start date.
We can absolutely write your website copy for you, however this is an optional extra you can choose to purchase. All Website in a Week clients receive our Creating Copy that Converts guide, which will help you to clarify your core brand messages and the problems you help solve for your clients.

Then, when you’re ready to write your website copy, you can pull from the ideas you’ve curated in the Creating Copy that Converts guide, and begin formulating them in the templates we provide for your chosen website template. That way, you know that you’re writing exactly what’s needed for each section of the website.
One of the big reasons we’ve created Website in a Week is to help people just like you get their website launched! We know that learning a whole bunch of new technology can be a big hurdle to even getting started, let alone getting to launch day.
We’ll walk you through every step that needs to be taken in the lead-up to your Website in a Week project, with step-by-step video tutorials for anything tech related (think: sharing passwords securely, or uploading your brand photos to Google Drive etc).
On the final day of your Website in a Week project, when everything is complete and created, we’ll hop on a live call with you and go through a general overview of your website, so you know how to access, edit and update your site.
Plus, post-launch, you’ll receive 30 days free access to our Squarespace Style School – our video tutorial library, that teaches you everything you need to know to not only edit your website, but also make additional style updates should you wish to in the future.
On the final day of launch, you’ll join your lead-designer from The Brand Method on zoom, to take a walk-through of your website. After this, we’ll send you access to start a free 30-day trial of our Squarespace Style School. We also provide 14-days free eMail support, so if there are any questions that pop-up on how to do something, or where to find something, you can reach out and our team will respond with a video or instructions to help you on your way.
If you need ongoing support from here, you can choose from the following services we offer:

1. Apply for one of our monthly retainers, which gives you access to our team to help you with design updates or other marketing activities.
2. Join our Skyrocket Your SEO membership, to help you improve your sites visibility in search engines. Or,

3. Work with us for a VIP Day. If you’ve got new pages you want created in the future, need new tech integrated or want additional brand assets created, then a VIP Day is the perfect way to get things done in a day!
You’ll be given full access to edit everything you need after your site is live. Between our hand-over call on the final day of your Website in a Week project, your free trial of Squarespace Style School, and the 14-days email support we provide post-launch, we’re confident that you’ll feel confident in making updates. If this isn’t something you want to do (because you’d rather focus your time and energy on your own zone of genius), we are available to help via our VIP Day offering, or reach out to us to talk about our monthly retainers.
Your content will need to be uploaded to your Google Drive ‘suitcase’, and access to any third-party software (e.g. mailing list platform, domain provider etc.) provided to us no later than 14 days prior to your scheduled Website in a Week start date. This gives our team enough time to ensure we can access everything and have the correct files.

If it’s looking like you won’t be ready by 14 days prior to your Website in a Week start date, then you’ll need to reschedule your start date, as long as it is no later than 28 days prior to your originally scheduled start date. Outside of this timeframe, rescheduling fees will apply.
Don’t worry, we’ll work with you in your Take Off Call, to determine the best timeline for your Website in a Week project to give you plenty of time to work on what you need. With our handy checklists, and prompts from our team in the lead up to these key dates, we’re sure you’ll be able to create and collect all your relevant assets with plenty of time.
You can reschedule your Website in a Week start date up until 28 days prior to your scheduled start date. Our team will be in contact with you in the lead-up to your scheduled date to ensure you are on track with things such as getting your brand assets created, and uploading your content to your Google Drive ‘suitcase’. If you need to reschedule your Website in a Week start date less than 28 days prior, then a 25% rescheduling fee will apply.
When rescheduling, our team will work with you to find the next available date. You may not delay your Website in a Week project for more than 2 months from your original scheduled start date, as long as we have the availability.

Take note: Should we have the availability, and you cannot find a suitable date within 2 months from your original scheduled start date, to reschedule your Website in a Week project, your booking deposit will be forfeited.
Yes. Initially, you’ll be required to pay your 25% deposit, this will give you access to our planning activities, and be able to book your Take off call. Once this has been paid, you can choose from 3 payment options.
Option 1: Pay in Full
Pay the remaining 75% amount in full, due 7 days prior to your Website in a Week start date. If you’re choosing this option, we’ll give you the bonus of reviewing your copy for free
Option 2: Pay in 4
You’ll pay your initial 25% deposit to book your Website in a Week project. We’ll then split the remaining 75% of your project fee over 3 additional payments.
Option 3: Weekly instalments.
You’ll pay your initial 25% deposit to secure your Website in a Week. We’ll then set you up with a direct debit option, for weekly instalments to be withdrawn directly from your bank account. A $5/week fee applies to each weekly payment.
Please note: for all payment options, 100% of the project fee is required to have been paid 7 days prior to your scheduled Website in a Week start date.

Your website is the digital face of your business, and getting it right is what attracts, engages, and converts your ideal audience.

With our Website in a Week program, you’ll go from idea to launching in five fun and collaborative days—fully guided, supported, and designed to meet your business’ unique needs.

If you're ready to finally launch or revamp your website without any drama, delays or diminishing your entire marketing budget, book your Website Strategy Discovery Session with us today.

Let’s get you started with a roadmap to success, giving you the website you've always envisioned, ready to serve and impress your clients.

Don’t miss this chance to make a powerful, lasting impact—reserve your spot now!