This 9-Step Website Dev Checklist by Nabeel Adeni provides a comprehensive guide for developing a website. It starts with defining goals and target audience, setting the scope of features and content, and seeking developers with relevant expertise. The checklist emphasizes the website as a marketing tool, requiring effective content creation, SEO optimization, and clear calls-to-action. It also covers the importance of design, selecting a robust CMS, ensuring mobile-friendliness, and planning for maintenance and future updates. Comparing quotes and setting aligned expectations regarding output and timelines are also crucial steps in the process.

1. Buyer Guide
Website Development Checklist
Nabeel Adeni | strategy@nabeeladeni.com
1. Define your goals
• What do you hope to achieve with your website? Who is your target audience?
• Do you want to generate leads, increase brand awareness, or simply provide information
about your services?
2. Set scope
• Determine the specific features, functionalities, and content you need.
• Suggest other websites you like, which can be used as references by the developer.
3. Look for expertise + experience
• The 3 main pillars of any website are Content, Design and Development
• Look for their past record of website development in your domain/industry and find one
that is a good fit for your needs & budget. You may look for developers or agencies with
experience in financial services websites, as well as a portfolio of work that you like.
4. Website = Marketing tool
• Determine your value proposition (why your target customers should opt for your service
over the other players in the market).
• Ensure they can optimize the content for search engines (SEO) and incorporate effective
calls-to-action.
• Include your contact info prominently on your website and make it easy for visitors to
contact you with any questions or inquiries. The developer should provide you with an easy
to use interface for viewing all incoming inquiries.
5. Content - creation, proofreading & upload
• Who will own these pieces? Will you provide the content?
• Can they assist in developing engaging and informative content for the website?
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2. 6. Design
• Evaluate their designs from past websites they have developed. Look for aesthetics, user
experience, and visual appeal.
• Assess their ability to create a professional and cohesive brand identity. Determine if they
can design intuitive navigation and employ user-friendly functionalities.
• Use high-quality images/videos that are not copyrighted. Visual content is a great way to
engage visitors and make your website more visually appealing.
7. Development
• Choose a solid CMS (content management system) - allows you to design a website from a
pre-created template. Popular CMS' include WordPress, Wix, Hubspot, Drupal.
• The CMS should allow you to create and edit content including landing pages and blog
posts. Its features should also allow you to organize your content, schedule it, track website
visitor analytics, and optimize it for SEO.
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• Make sure the website is mobile-friendly
• Discuss how they handle website maintenance going forward
• Discuss their ability and availability to accommodate future expansion or additional
features or content on your website.
• Ask them to provide an easy way for you to make updates to website content
8. Compare quotes
• Once you've found a few potential developers or agencies, get quotes from them.
• Make sure to compare the quotes carefully, including the cost of development, design,
hosting, maintenance (they typically offer 6-12 month service on a retainer)
9. Set & align expectations
• Set expected output and timelines. Customer service (SLA)
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