A Website Design & Development Project Checklist For Beginners

I’ve been designing and building websites since 2000. In that time, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and I’ve seen even more. I love the creative process and the satisfaction of a finished product, but I’ve also learned that a web designer’s job is often at the mercy of factors far outside their control.

I’ve had to postpone launches for every reason imaginable. A few conversations I’ve actually had over the years might sound familiar:

• “The 150 images you sent yesterday? You want them all on the site for the launch tomorrow?”
• “This is the first time your boss has seen the design?”
• “What do you mean your logo is changing?”
• “So, you don’t have any content ready for the five main sections of the site?”
• “The person who controls your domain name is leaving early today?”

The list goes on. I’ve dealt with hosting companies that take a site down without notice, third-party IT departments as useful as a chocolate fireguard, and clients who think a £500 job is the only project our seven-person team is working on.

What I’ve learned the hard way is that good communication and taking shared responsibility are paramount. A successful website project isn’t magic; it’s a managed process. To save you the headaches I’ve endured, I’ve distilled my experience into a comprehensive project checklist. This is the guide I wish I could have given to every client at the start—a blueprint for managing expectations and ensuring a project doesn’t go off the rails.

My Journey from Web Developer to SEO Strategist

This checklist wasn’t created in a vacuum; it was forged from over two decades of hands-on experience. My career didn’t start with SEO. It began in 1999 in a Glasgow advertising agency, where I wore multiple hats: graphic designer, website developer, and early SEO consultant.

From 2001, I spent years in the trenches of web development, personally designing and building hundreds of websites for the public sector, including for universities and colleges across Scotland.

This was foundational work, focused on accessibility, usability, and making complex information clear – principles that still guide me today. This work was not only foundational but also award-winning; a website I developed for North Glasgow College won a Gold Award at the SFEU Scottish Colleges Marketing Awards in 2006.

In 2006, I decided to go my own way. I wanted to build something with a bit of a punk ethos – something that stood on its own. So, on April 1st, 2006, I launched Hobo Web. I built the first website by hand, registered the domain, and in 2007, started the Hobo SEO blog, convinced that sharing knowledge would be a key strategic advantage. The agency and the blog quickly gained recognition. We were proud to be finalists for ‘Best Emerging Business’ at the Inverclyde Chamber of Commerce ‘Bees Knees’ Awards in 2007, and in 2012, the blog itself was shortlisted for ‘Best Blog’ at the UK Search Awards, putting us in the same league as Microsoft’s Bing Ads!

The journey of Hobo has mirrored the evolution of the web itself. My philosophy has had to adapt constantly:

• The Tactical Era (Pre-2012): In the early days, SEO was a more mechanistic discipline. My advice was direct, tactical, and focused on on-page checklists and acquiring link “heat” to manipulate a fairly predictable algorithm.
• The Survival Era (2013-2016): After Google’s Panda and Penguin updates, the game changed. The focus shifted dramatically to risk management and remediation. My guides became manuals for survival, centred on link hygiene and navigating Google’s penalties.
• The User-Centric Era (2018-Present): This marked the point where SEO best practices became indistinguishable from best practices for building a quality, user-focused digital business. My work solidified around user experience, E-E-A-T, and a more holistic, strategic approach.
• The Evidence-Based Revolution (2024 onwards): Today, thanks to landmark legal cases and data leaks, the “black box” of Google’s algorithm is no longer a complete mystery. My approach has evolved again, this time to one of reverse-engineering a known blueprint, focusing on evidence-based strategies over speculation.

Managing Client Expectations – The Pre-Project Blueprint

If you’re agreeing to a fixed price for a website, clear communication at the outset isn’t just helpful—it’s essential for the project’s survival. Here is the stuff that needs to be discussed and agreed upon before a single line of code is written.

1. Defining the Scope, Cost, and Terms

This is where you prevent “scope creep” and ensure everyone is on the same page financially.

• Prices Can Change: Even a “fixed cost” website has its limits. Make it clear that the price is based on the initial brief and that significant changes will impact the cost.
• Show, Don’t Just Tell: Show the client your portfolio. This is the style of work you do. Do they like it? Conversely, has the client provided examples of sites they admire?
• Estimate, Then Confirm: Provide an initial cost estimate based on early discussions. Once the client’s requirements are reviewed and finalised, confirm the final job cost.
• Put it in Writing: Ask the client to send a simple email confirming their acceptance of the project scope and cost. This is your foundational agreement.
• Payment Milestones: A standard practice is 50% of the project cost before work begins and the final 50% upon completion, before the site goes live.
• Be Transparent About Costs: Make sure all costs, including VAT, are approved before starting. The client should understand that you are costing the job based on hours and that you have other clients to service.

2. Agreeing on Technical and Design Specifications

A website looks different on every screen. It’s crucial to set technical boundaries early to avoid surprises later.

• Browser Support: It’s impossible to make a site look identical in all browsers, especially older ones. Specify which browser versions you will officially support (e.g., the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge).
• Screen Resolution: Specify the target screen resolution the website will be designed for. Discuss whether the layout will be fixed-width or a fluid, responsive design that adapts to different screen sizes.
• Fonts and Download Speed: Inform the client about the realities of web fonts and the importance of page speed. A beautiful design is useless if it takes too long to load. A site should ideally load in under 3 seconds.
• Web vs. Print: Ensure the client understands that websites look different on a screen than they do on paper. Colours, fonts, and layouts render differently in a browser.

3. Content: The Client’s Most Important Job

This is the number one cause of project delays. Be crystal clear about who is responsible for what.

• Who Supplies What? Explicitly define who is supplying the text and who is supplying the images. In most cases, this is the client’s responsibility.
• Format Matters: All content—text, images, and photographs—must be supplied in a ready-to-use electronic format (e.g., Word documents for text, high-resolution JPEGs for images).
• Provide a Site Plan: The client should supply a simple site plan, ideally as a bulleted list, showing the hierarchy of pages. This forms the basis of the site architecture.

4. Setting Concrete Timelines and Freeze Dates

A project without deadlines is a project that will never end.

• Agree on Milestones: Set clear dates for key deliverables from both sides.
• Content Delivery Date: The date by which the client must provide all necessary content.
• Design Freeze Date: After this date, no more changes to the visual design will be accepted without affecting the timeline and budget.
• Functionality Freeze Date: After this date, no new features or functional requirements will be added.
• Launch Date: The target date for the website to go live.
• Communicate the Consequences: Make it clear that missing a milestone for supplying content will directly impact the launch date and potentially the cost. Both of you are running a business.

5. Managing Domains, Hosting, and Email

You are often at the mercy of third parties. Get all the necessary information upfront.

• Who Controls What? Identify who currently controls the domain name, website hosting, and email accounts. Get the contact details for these individuals or companies immediately.
• Recurring Charges: Ensure the client understands that domain registration and hosting are recurring annual charges.
• Transfers Can Be Tricky: Domain transfers can sometimes go wrong and are dependent on the responsiveness of the current registrar. Plan for potential delays.
• Email Downtime: Warn the client that during a transition, emails might be down for a period of 24-48 hours. This is crucial for managing their expectations.

6. Post-Launch Responsibilities

A website is never truly “finished.” Define who is responsible for what after the site goes live.

• Security and Updates: A Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress needs to be kept up-to-date to protect against hacking. Agree on who is responsible for these ongoing security updates and if there is a maintenance fee.
• CMS Training: If the client will be updating the site themselves, any training required should be discussed and costed.
• Legal Compliance: A website is subject to the laws of the land (e.g., UK Companies Act, Distance Selling Regulations, accessibility recommendations). It is the client’s responsibility to investigate these requirements.
• Ongoing Support: Define the scope of ongoing support. Do you guarantee the website is fit for purpose for a set period, like one year? When does annual billing for hosting and domains begin?

Ranking in Google Is Not a One-Time Fix

I ensure every client understands this critical point: launching a website does not mean you will instantly get traffic. We build search-engine-friendly websites, meaning they are technically sound and built in a way that Google can easily crawl and understand. We have never launched a site that doesn’t get indexed by Google.

However, a search-engine-friendly design is not the same as an ongoing Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaign. SEO is about competing for keywords against every other site in your niche. It requires continuous effort: adding fresh, high-quality content, building high-quality links, and constant analysis.

If you do nothing to promote a new website after it’s built, any initial traffic will likely plummet. The client must understand that they are responsible for the levels of traffic to the site after we launch it, unless a separate SEO agreement is in place.

The Technical Foundation: Build It Right from the Start

Back in the day, the big debate was about using modern CSS for layouts instead of outdated HTML TABLES. While the technology has evolved, the core principle remains the same: a website must be built to modern standards.

Today, that means building a site with a clean, efficient, CSS-based layout that is:

• Fast: Google loves quick-loading pages, and so do users. A faster site is a better site.
• Accessible: A well-built site should adhere to basic accessibility recommendations, ensuring it can be used by as many people as possible.
• Maintainable: Using modern standards like external CSS means that future design changes are quicker and cheaper. A simple edit to one file can change the look of the entire site, rather than having to painstakingly edit hundreds of individual pages.

If you are commissioning a new website, demand that it be built using modern, standards-compliant methods. It will save you money in the long run and provide a better foundation for SEO and user experience.