From kickoff to launch: what really happens in a website project

Most clients see a website project at two moments: when they sign the proposal and when the site goes live. In between, though, there are weeks of work, dozens of decisions and several approvals that shape the final result.

As project managers, the question we hear most often is "where are we right now?". That's why we wrote this guide. It describes the seven phases every website we build at dontmatter goes through, what we do in each one and what we need from you.

It's not a production line. It's a process that keeps strategy, design and code moving in the same direction, so that what goes live is what your business actually needs.

1. Kickoff & Discovery: we understand before we design

Discovery is the most important phase of the project, and the easiest one to skip. This is where we get to know your business: what you sell, to whom, who your competitors are and what the new site needs to achieve.

In the kickoff meeting we discuss:

• Goals: more leads, online sales, bookings, brand awareness?
• Users: who visits the site, what they're looking for and what we want them to do.
• Technical requirements: e-shop, multiple languages, integrations with ERP, CRM or booking systems.
• What already exists: your current site, its Analytics and Search Console data, your branding and guidelines.

What we need from you: one main point of contact on your side and honest answers. A "we don't know yet" is far more useful than an assumption that will change halfway through the project.

Deliverable: a short brief with goals, scope and timeline, which becomes the reference point for every decision that follows.

2. Sitemap & content architecture

Before we design a single page, we decide which pages will exist and how they connect to each other. The sitemap is the skeleton of the site: it defines the menu, the user journeys and the foundation for SEO.

In this phase:

• We map out the pages and categories.
• We define what content each page needs.
• If there's an existing site, we list the URLs that need to be carried over with redirects, so you don't lose your Google rankings.

What we need from you: sitemap approval. A change at this stage takes a few minutes. The same change after development can take days.

3. Copy & photos: before design begins

We ask for copy and photos right from the start, before we design the first page. This is perhaps the single most important step in making the whole project run smoothly.

When the design is built with your own copy and your own photos, you get a much more complete picture of the final site. You can tell straight away if something is missing, if a message isn't clear or if a section needs more emphasis.

The opposite causes problems. If we design space for one paragraph and the final copy has three, the page layout no longer works and the design has to be redone. These last-minute changes are among the most common causes of delays in a website project.

What we need from you: final copy, not drafts, and high-resolution photos. If you'd like us to handle the copywriting or the photography, we schedule it during this phase.

4. Design: we start with the homepage

Design always starts with the homepage, built in Figma with your real copy and photos. Depending on the project, we also design one key inner page alongside it, for example a product page for an e-shop or a project page for a portfolio.

The look of the site is based on your branding: logo, colours, typefaces and any guidelines you've given us. We don't invent a new identity. We bring yours to the web, so the site feels like a natural extension of your business.

We don't start with black-and-white wireframes. A real design, with your own materials, is much easier to evaluate than an abstract sketch. Once the homepage is approved, we extend the same style to the rest of the pages.

What we need from you: consolidated feedback in a single round, from everyone who has a say in the decision. Scattered comments from different people slow down design more than anything else.

Deliverable: approved designs, ready for development.

5. Development: from design to code

Our developers turn the designs into a working site. We set up the CMS so you can manage pages, articles and products yourself, and we build every feature defined during discovery.

The site we deliver is a faithful build of the design you approved, not something that merely resembles it. We don't start from a ready-made template and adapt it as best we can. Every page is built exclusively for your business, with the spacing, typography and details you saw in Figma. What you see in the design is what goes live.

This is also the phase where we add animations: movement as the user scrolls, transitions between pages and small reactions on buttons and links. It's the moment the website comes to life and leaves the static image of the design behind.

Development also covers the things you don't see but that matter:

• Responsive behaviour on every screen size.
• Loading speed and a solid technical foundation for SEO.
• Integrations with third-party systems: payments, couriers, newsletters, ERP.
• Security and backups.

You don't have to wait until the end to see progress. We work in a staging environment and share a link as soon as there's something meaningful to look at.

What we need from you: to discuss any change in scope before it happens. Adding a new feature mid-development is possible, but it affects time and cost, and we'll tell you before we build it.

6. QA: we test before your users do

Before launch, we put the site through a thorough check. The goal is simple: we find the bugs, not your visitors.

We check:

• Display across different browsers and devices.
• Forms, confirmation emails and the full checkout process, if there's an e-shop.
• Loading speed and Core Web Vitals.
• Broken links, redirects from the old site, meta tags and the sitemap.
• That tracking works correctly: Google Analytics, Tag Manager, pixels.

What we need from you: one last review with your own eyes. You know better than anyone whether a price, a phone number or a product description is correct.

7. Launch & beyond: the beginning, not the end

Launch happens at a scheduled time, usually when traffic is low, and we monitor it closely for the first few days. We take care of the final steps: connecting the domain, SSL, submitting the sitemap to Google Search Console and checking that redirects work in real conditions.

After launch, we train you on the CMS so you can update the site without depending on us for every change.

But a website is never really finished. Data from the first few months shows what's working and what can be improved. That's where ongoing support, SEO and performance marketing come in, for those who want us to keep working together.

Conclusion

A good website isn't the result of luck or rushing. It's the result of a process where each phase builds on the one before, and where client and team know from the start what to expect from each other.

Thinking about a new website or redesigning your current one? 
Get in touch and let's start with the most important step: discovery.