There are several steps in the web design and development process. From gathering original information, to the creation of your site, and finally to maintenance to keep your web site up to date and recent.
The correct process will differ slightly from designer to designer, but the basics are the same.

Information gathering – the first step in designing a successful web site is to gather information. Many things need to be taken into consideration when the look and feel of your site is created.
Few things to consider are:
Purpose – what is the purpose of the site?
Goal - what do you hope to accomplish by building this web site?
Target Audience – is there a specific group of people that will help you reach your goals?
Content - what kind of information will the target audience be looking for on your site?
Planning - using the information from phrase one, it is time to put together a plan for your website. The site map is a list of all main topic areas of the site, as well as sub topic, if appropriate. This serves as a guide to us. During the planning phase your web designer will also help you decide what technologies should be applied.
Design - drawing from information gathered up to this point, its times to determine the look and feel of your site. In this phase, communication between both you and your designer is fundamental to ensure that the final web will match your needs and taste. It is important that you work closely with your designer, exchange ideas, until you arrive at the final design for your website
Development – in this stage website itself is created. At this time, your web designer will take all the individual graphic element from the prototype and use them to create the actual, functional site.
Testing and delivery – at this point your web designer will attend to the final details and test your web site. They will test such as the complete functionality of forms or other scripts, as well last testing for last minutes compatibility issues. Once you give your web designer final approval, its time to deliver the site.
Maintenance - development of your website is not yet over. One way to bring visitors to your site is to offer new content or products on a regular basis. Its really up to you as far as how comfortable you feel with updating your own website some people prefer to have all the control so that they can make updates to their own website the minute they decide to do so. Others prefer to hand off to the web site completely as they have enough chores on hand that are more important to handle directly. Other maintenance type items include regular backups, wordpress upgrades, additional plugin installation, etc.