The Idea Is Everything. The process begins with an idea. The idea is then brought to life through several steps and phases. 

Strategy. The first step is strategy. Coming up with a strategic plan is the most important step because it will affect the execution of your product. Within this step, stakeholder interviews, competitive analysis, persona development and information architecture should be conducted.

Wireframes. Have you ever built a house without blueprints? I guarantee your answer is no. Think of wireframes as a blueprint to your website. Wireframes are a very important step because it creates the foundation and framework to your website. Within the wireframes phase, user flow and navigation is created, page types are generated and the information architecture is executed.  

Responsive Design. Once the wireframes are complete, you can then start adding color, photography and fonts to your website. Back to my analogy of building a house, I think of this phase as picking out the paint colors, countertops, cabinets, etc. Your product is coming to life within this phase. This is one of the most exciting phases in website development because you begin to envision what your product will look like across multiple platforms and devices. 

Development. The development phase is considered the building phase. All of that hard work planning and designing begins to fully come to life and you can see it in action. This phase is another really exciting phase to me because you can actually start walking through the product and interacting with the product that you have worked so hard for. 

Testing/QA. Quality assurance testing is very important. A lot of people tend to eliminate or shorten this phase because they are ready to roll with their new product because the development has ended. I find this phase to be extremely important because you must test the functionality of the product before you begin using it. Testing must be conducted in and out, backwards and forwards and on multiple devices, operating systems, platforms, versions, etc. This is a very tedious process but definitely well worth it in the end. 

Launch. Once all development has been complete and everything has been thoroughly tested over and over, it is time to finally reveal your product. Back to my analogy, think of this phase as "move-in day." Very exciting!

Optimization & Reporting. Reporting is conducted through multiple tools that you can apply to your site. Reporting involves measuring metrics such as site visits, time spent on site, revenue (if an e-commerce site), demographics, technology and behavior.