Continuing the series we started with last week's topic, "Why We Use WordPress," this week we'll be covering the first phase of a web development project at Zimmer Marketing. Whether you're considering having us build your website for you or are looking for insights as you tackle your own web improvement goals, we hope this view into our web-building process will prepare you for the road ahead. So, let's take a look at the content creation phase!

Web Development Project Start Meeting

During the content creation phase of web development at Zimmer Marketing, one of our professional copywriters will work in close contact with you, learning everything they can about your business. The copywriter working on your web project will set up a phone call with you before they start content creation. They will ask about highly specific details of your business on this call, including:

• Your business' history
• Your goals
• Your strengths
• The customers you serve
• The region you serve
• Details about your products
• Your competitors

The purpose is for the copywriter working on your project to know as much as possible about your business, so they can write compelling content that serves your eventual web visitors and gains traction with search engines. 

Keyword Strategy 

After the copywriter finishes learning about your business, they will begin building a data-based keyword strategy. Your keyword strategy lies at the intersection of your business goals and your potential customers' online searches. At Zimmer Marketing, we put extensive time into finding which search terms people use to find the services or products you offer. We will target those keywords that provide your business the best opportunity to rank well on search results pages.

SEO Copywriting

Once a keyword strategy is set up, your project's copywriter will begin writing the text content or 'copy' that will eventually go on your website. Our copywriters have the task of balancing several things: 

• Emphasize your strategic keywords
• Write useful content for the web user
• Format the content for an enjoyable user experience
• Create "Calls-to-Action" 

The copywriter will create a sitemap based on your keyword strategy, and each page of the sitemap will have a document created containing all of the text intended for that page. When finished, you will be able to see the full scope of what will go on your website.

Other Types of Content

Some other types of content will be addressed by the copywriter working on your web development project during phase one.

Photography

Your copywriter will ask you if you already have high-quality pictures to provide for your website and assist you in uploading those to our project management software, Basecamp. If you do not have quality business photography, we can take any necessary pictures at an additional cost.

Logos & Branding Elements

If you have a logo that you plan to keep, your copywriter will help you get that to us in a format that we can use. Similarly, if you have a developed brand get with things like fonts and colors, your copywriter will help you send those to us.

Resources

Any resources that you plan to place on your website, like downloadable PDFs or brochures, should be provided to our team during the content creation phase.

Wrapping Up Content Creation

The final step in phase one is for your copywriter to send you the copy for your website and gain your approval. You will receive an assignment in Basecamp to check off for each page. You can personally edit or request edits during the approval time before approving the content. Once you check off the read and approve assignment for each page, we're all set for phase two! 

Next Week...

Now that we've covered content creation, we will be ready to cover phase two next week. We'll be digging into the design phase, when we create a semi-functional prototype of your website!