The Secret of a Good Website Development Process
It is not a secret that the world has gone digital. Therefore, big or small, every organization needs to take advantage of website development to increase brand awareness. Several individuals do not understand the process of web development. Some believe it is a complicated process, while some think they can develop a website in a blink of an eye. This article will explore the steps that will guide you in creating an effective and efficient website.
Contents
What is Web Development?
Website development is creating a website for an organization, blog, brand, or product. It often involves coding, creating, and managing content. A website may be simple or complex, depending on the processes of the organization. Apart from building a website, maintaining it is also crucial.
Steps in Website Development:
How to start a website
The first step in starting a website is to create a domain name and hosting. The domain name is the website address, and it goes a long way in determining the website’s success. Here are important factors to consider when picking a domain name:
- The domain name has to be easy to spell and easily understood by the public
- It should be short so that you won’t forget it
- A good domain name needs the proper domain extension, such as “.com”
- It should be SEO friendly
- Do not include numbers or hyphens in the domain name.
A domain registrar is an organization that manages the reservation of domain names and their IP addresses. Examples of top domain registers include:
Hosting providers are businesses that provide services and technology to host websites. This ensures that the website is available on the internet or World Wide Web. The top hosting providers include:
Although domain registrar and hosting providers are equally important in developing a website, there are significant differences between them. A domain registrar is a company that leases the domain name to you. However, the domain name needs renewal, and this is when the hosting provider is useful. In layman’s terms, the domain registrar is the person who sells you the land. However, you have to pay a monthly maintenance fee, which is the hosting. The domain name is the address of the website. Web hosting helps to store files on the website.
How to know what to put on my website
Building a website is excellent. However, we cannot overemphasize the significance of the content. The main topic on the website should revolve around your product/services. Ensure the content is search engine optimized as this increases visibility.
Furthermore, having a logo is vital in optimizing your website to increase traffic. You can search for logos online and hire a designer to create something similar. Suppose you want to create a logo yourself, you could try Wix’s free logo marker tool (https://www.wix.com/logo/maker)
In addition, having photos that speak to your product/service improves the customer experience. If you do not have any pictures of your products, you can find pictures at royalty-free photos at the following sites:
- Unsplash
- Pexels
- Negative Space
- Freerange
- StockSnap.io
- Pixabay
- Picjumbo
However, if you want to increase the uniqueness of your website, then you may need to take exact pictures of your product. You do not need to be professional photography; a quality camera can do the trick.
After you’ve decided on the content (text and images) that you’ll be adding to your website you can confidently move to the next step.
Website Development Stages
There is software that aids in the development of a website. Some of this software can help you create a website even when you have little or zero knowledge in tech. However, from personal experience, it is best if you orient yourself to the tech world.
Suppose you do not have the time or interest to figure out what it takes to develop a website. You can easily hire an expert website developer to do it. It is great to understand the stages of website development. However, it is not a criterion to own a website. You can delegate the task to someone else while you focus on other pressing matters.
A programming language is a set of instructions given to a computer. This is the language that a computer understands. These are the main programming languages that you can use in developing a website:
- Javascript: this is the most popular programming language among website developers. The best thing about Javascript is that it is versatile. It can be used to create frontend, backend, web applications, and mobile applications.
- Python: Python is another popular and versatile programming language. You can create a website conveniently with python. It also supports data science, scripting, and automation.
- Typescript: Typescript is a modern programming language for website development. It is several inbuilt debugging tools that make web development an easy process.
- PHP: PHP is a dynamic language that allows for the creation of a website. It also has powerful frameworks that make it a good choice for web development.
Undoubtedly, the importance of a website cannot be overemphasized. You can find high-quality websites here: awwwards.com. A website of poor quality will not yield results.
A high-quality website with advanced features is important to build more authority and trust with your clients. People are very selective about what they view online. Thus the content of a website has to captive the audience. A good website should have a good design, quality content, and ease of navigation. For this, you need to hire a professional developer.
In general, there are a few stages to website development. They include:
- Research: this is the stage of gathering information that will inform the content of the website. At this stage, you will determine the purpose of the website and the target audience, which will influence the choice of design.
- Planning: the plan is essential to drive the process so that everyone will know what role to play. At this stage, you make plans for the programming language and other technology that you may need.
- Design: the design is greatly influenced by the target audience. The design of a website is the proposed layout. The easiest way is to find example websites and see what features you’d like to use on your own.
- Implementation: this stage is the actual development of the website. It is the stage when you create content, develop the frontend and backend.
- Testing and launching: before a website is officially launched, it is essential to test it to identify errors. After ensuring that the website is in optimal condition, you can unveil it to the world.
- Maintenance: A website requires regular maintenance to prevent sudden breakdown
Website Launch and maintenance
After careful development of a website, the next step is to launch it. You need a domain name and host provider to launch a website. After launching, regular maintenance is necessary to keep it in good shape. It helps if you see your website like a car that needs fuel for running; it also requires regular oil, brake, and tire check to replace parts that are not in optimal working condition.
The mechanism of working on a website is similar to that of a car. You need to maintain the website to avoid a crash. It is necessary to continuously update the software such that your website is accessible to people around the world. An uptime monitor (examples include Uptrends, Cronitor, AlertBot, Dotcom-Monitor, Check, etc.) is also essential to give real-time performance updates to alert you when the site crashes.
Keep it Current with Consistent Marketing.
Launching a website is not enough to put at the top of search engine results. Consistent marketing is a tool that can boost the ranking of a website. You can employ digital marketing strategies like:
- Search Engine Optimization
- Social media marketing
- Content marketing
- Pay-per-click (PPC)
- Mobile marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Affiliate marketing
Offline marketing strategies can also improve brand awareness. This includes using offline methods to promote awareness of a website. They include:
- Print media such as magazines, newspapers
- Billboards, banners
- Radio and television advert placement
- Networking
Conclusion
Website development may be easy or hard, depending on their knowledge. Some people can write the codes for the website. However, they need an expert content creator to generate search engine optimized content. You can hire a professional website developer to get the job done.
Finally, a website is not the only method of effective marketing. A good business does not depend on one method of marketing to increase awareness. Although the world is digital, a website should not eliminate the need to use other marketing strategies to attract people to check out what you offer.
Have any questions or comments? Write them below!