Behind the Scenes: How We Build a Custom Website in Chicago | Chicago Web Development Process
2026-06-15 · Development
Go behind the scenes of our Chicago web development process and see how a web design and development agency like Gott You Digital plans, designs, codes, and ships custom websites.
Most small businesses only see the final homepage, not the messy, detailed web development process that gets it live. As a Chicago web design and development agency, we spend most of our time in the unglamorous middle. That is where smart strategy, clean custom code, and a real understanding of your business turn into a website that actually works in the wild.
What does a Chicago web development process actually look like?
A Chicago web development process that works starts with discovery, moves through planning and design, then hits custom development, testing, and launch with a clear checklist. At Gott You Digital, we walk Chicago and Chicagoland businesses through a consistent path so no one is guessing what happens next. We adapt details for each project, but the backbone is the same whether you are in the Loop, Naperville, Evanston, or Arlington Heights. That structure keeps your project on time, on budget, and flexible enough to handle real-world curveballs.
We typically break a custom website project into five phases. Discovery and strategy, content and structure, UX and UI design, custom web development and integration, then testing, launch, and post-launch support. Each phase has its own deliverables, questions, and sign-offs, so you always know what you are approving and why it matters for performance, SEO, and conversions.
Phase 1: Discovery and strategy with Chicago context
Discovery is where we figure out what the website needs to do in the real Chicago market, not in a vacuum. We look at your current site, analytics if you have them, your main competitors in Chicago and suburbs like Northbrook, Oak Park, and Schaumburg, and your sales process offline. We ask direct questions about leads, average deal size, margins, and how people actually find you now. That gives us a baseline for what a “win” looks like for the new site.
We also validate search behavior. For a North Shore contractor, for example, we will look at how often people search for “Highland Park remodeling” versus “Chicago home renovation” and build pages accordingly. The same applies for restaurants, law firms, med spas, and ecommerce brands that ship out of a Chicagoland warehouse. That local keyword and intent research shapes your sitemap, content strategy, and the way we structure landing pages for organic and paid traffic.
Good web development starts long before you write a line of code. It starts with understanding what a lead is worth and how your market actually searches.