A process built to remove the usual risks.
Most failed web and software projects fail in predictable ways: the wrong thing gets built because nobody understood the business, a design is approved that can't rank or can't be built, a launch loses years of search visibility, or a system goes live and nobody uses it. Our process is designed around preventing those failures.
Every project — website, search engagement or business system — runs through the same five stages. What happens inside each depends on the type of project.
Discovery
We learn how the business actually works: how customers find you, what they need before getting in touch, how inquiries and orders are handled, and where things go wrong. We talk to the people doing the work, not only the people commissioning it.
| Websites | SEO | Business systems |
|---|---|---|
| Services, customers, competitors | Technical audit | Process mapping with staff |
| What the current site ranks for | Keyword and intent research | Current tools and data |
| Analytics review | Local presence review | Pain points and priorities |
| Conversion paths | Competitor comparison | Integration requirements |
What you get: a written scope, priorities and a fixed price for the first phase.
Why it matters: estimates given before anyone understands the business are guesses, and guesses become change requests.
Architecture
Structure before screens.
For websites: the page list, URL structure, navigation, internal linking, content plan and structured-data plan. This determines what the site can rank for and how visitors move through it.
For SEO: a prioritized plan — foundations first, then visibility.
For systems: the data model — what the business tracks and how those things relate — plus user roles, permissions and integrations.
Why it matters: architecture is the most expensive thing to change later. Agreeing it before design saves rework.
Design and build
Designs are reviewed as working pages or clickable prototypes, not static images. Development follows the agreed architecture. Systems are built and released in phases, starting with the part that removes the most pain.
Quality checks during the build
- Code reviewed and tested as features are built
- Pages checked for speed, mobile usability and accessibility
- Structured data validated
- Permissions tested for each user role
Migration and launch
The stage most likely to go wrong, treated as core scope.
Websites: every changed URL mapped to its new equivalent with a permanent redirect; content migrated and checked; analytics and conversion tracking verified; pre-launch technical checks (indexing settings, sitemap, robots, canonicals, speed); search engines notified.
Systems: data cleaned, mapped and migrated; figures checked against the old records; staff trained on the live system; old and new run in parallel until you're ready.
After launch: indexing, errors and traffic monitored closely for the first weeks, with problems fixed quickly.
Support and growth
Fixes and monitoring after launch, then — if you choose — ongoing work: SEO and content, conversion improvements, or the next phase of a system.
How communication works
We haven't published the detail on this yet — ask on a discovery call and we'll tell you directly how meetings, updates and response times work on your project.
What we ask of clients
Access
To the people who do the work, and to existing systems and accounts.
A decision-maker
Someone who can approve scope and designs.
Timely feedback
Delays in review are the most common cause of delays in delivery.
Subject expertise
For specialist content (medical, legal, technical), review by your experts.
Frequently asked questions
How long does discovery take?+
It depends on the project's size. You'll know before it starts.
Can we skip discovery?+
For very small projects, it's brief. For anything substantial, skipping it is the most common cause of projects going wrong.
What if requirements change mid-project?+
Changes are scoped, priced and agreed before they're built.
Do we see progress during development?+
Yes — working pages and phased releases, not a reveal at the end.