WEB DEVELOPMENT
A strong website is crucial for the success of your small business, regardless of whether you run a hardware store, are a freelance photographer, or run another kind of small business. I know what it takes to make fantastic and engaging company websites since I’ve worked on establishing or marketing over 100 small business websites.
The effort that goes into creating a website is referred to as “website development” as a whole. Markup, code, scripting, network configuration, and CMS development are all included in this.
Website development encompasses all related development chores, including client-side scripting, server-side scripting, server and network security settings, eCommerce development, and content management system development, even though web development traditionally refers to web markup and code.
WHY DEVELOP WEBSITES?
The Internet is here to stay. It has evolved into a global portal and the main means of information gathering, communication, education, and entertainment. More than half of the world’s population (4.66 billion people) were online as of 2021.
It should come as no surprise that the web development sector is expanding quickly given the rapidly rising number of Internet users. Web development jobs are predicted to increase by 13% between now and 2030, a rate far higher than that of most other technology vocations.
Here are 10 crucial stages to getting started and assisting your small company website to effectively compete in the internet marketplace if you’re trying to develop a new startup website or make your current site more effective.
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REGISTER A GOOD DOMAIN NAME
The main portal to your website is frequently your domain name, also known as your website address. It must leave a positive first impression to be effective for both search engine optimization and usability (SEO). Your website cannot operate without a name, usually referred to as a domain name. Imagine it as a street address for a house, with the domain name serving as the address and your website serving as the home.
Whatever happens, if you own a domain name, you will always be in complete control of your entire website. Here are a few tips to keep in mind before selecting a domain name:
- ENSURE THAT it’s MEMORABLE: Make it memorable, please. Because there are so many websites on the internet, your website’s name must be memorable so that people will know how to find it in the future.
- EASY TO SPELL: Make the spelling simple. Avoid using highly obscure words, made-up, or slang. Make it as brief as you can. It is simpler to remember and type accurately the shorter it is.
- APPROPRIATE DOMAIN EXTENSION: Please use the correct domain extension. Whenever possible, try to choose a.com domain name (rather than one ending in. net,.co, etc.), unless.gov,.edu, or.org would be a better choice.
- STEER CLEAR OF HYPHENS AND NUMBERS: Avert using hyphens and numerals. They are less elegant, more difficult to recall, and more likely to be misconstrued when spoken aloud than word-only domain names.
- CHECK IF THE PRICE SUITS YOUR POCKET: Verify that the price is fair. Find out if you can afford to buy the domain name you want for your website from the current owner since the majority of good domain names are already taken.
- THE ADDRESS SHOULD FACILITATE FUTURE PROSPECTS: Make the address inclusive to allow for future expansion. For instance, Amazon.com has a considerably wider range of products than BooksOnline.com, which enables Amazon to offer more types of goods than just books, which was its initial intent.
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CHOOSE A PLATFORM FOR BUILDING THE WEBSITE
The platform on which your website will be developed is the next step.
However, there are countless website builders (and methods) to choose from. And the first error that most individuals make is choosing the incorrect platform on which to develop their website.
You’ll have to start over with a different platform if you pick a website builder that isn’t effective or versatile enough. Although it is possible, doing so is not advised (because it is a waste of your time and money).
Here are a few website builders that ease the process way too much:
- WordPress
- Wix
- Shopify
- Squarespace
- Joomla
- Drupal
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THE WEBSITE HOSTING PARTNER
A company that provides the technology and services required for a website to be seen on the internet is known as a website host (or, occasionally, a website hosting provider). You link your domain name to your web host so that users who access your website address are directed to the website you have stored on your hosting account.
Depending on the kind of technology and support you want, hosting services might cost anywhere from $2 to $100+ per month. If you choose to purchase a yearly plan as opposed to a monthly one, you will typically receive a discount.
Some popular website hosting companies include:
- GoDaddy
- DreamHost
- Bluehost
- InMotion
- SiteGround
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ADD A PROMINENT DESCRIPTION FOR YOUR WEBSITE.
The description is basically like a cover letter for your website. Visitors judge, and decide whether they want to choose you as a partner by reading this description. To avoid confusion when customers visit your small company website, it’s critical to immediately communicate who you are and what you do. Make sure your primary homepage banner (often known as a “hero image”), any subsequent banners, and the introductory text blurb at the top of the page all serve as visual representations of your services.
Additionally, make sure that the “About Us” page links on your main and footer navigation menus are prominently displayed so that visitors may click them and read additional in-depth information about your company.
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THE USER INTERFACE
Make sure the user experience on your small company website generates results. You can achieve this by putting the following advice into practice:
- Make use of eye-catching images and legible typefaces.
- Ensure that your visuals are optimised and compressed for quick download. Search engines like Google will lower your rating if your website is slow.
- Implement comparable elements that will work for your small company website after researching the competition to see how they have designed and optimised their websites.
- Find out what your target audience wants from your website through research, and then make it simple for them to obtain it.
- Maintain brand identity throughout the entire design of your website.
- Create a user-friendly navigation system that enables people to easily access the pages they require.
- Publicise contact details that are simple to find.
- Include clear calls to action, particularly “purchase now” buttons.
- Establish standardised web pages for small business websites.
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SEO FRIENDLY
An SEO-friendly, enjoyable-to-use and search-focused website are SEO-friendly (i.e., search engine-friendly). Here is a Venn diagram that illustrates this: The point where these three groups converge is an SEO-friendly website:
- It should be technically sound: Important content can be located by search engines, crawled, and indexed.
- It should be a delightful experience to go through the website: Clear navigation, purpose, and design with quick loading.
- Search-oriented: Search-focused content prepared content for searchers, and linkers, too.
SEO is a crucial continuing procedure that may make the difference between having your website appear on page one of search engine results, leading to a tonne of free visitors or resulting in no traffic.
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CREATE AND UPDATE QUALITY CONTENT
Success in content marketing demands consistency, just like in any other form of marketing. There needs to be a pattern. It should be published every Wednesday if you choose to publish something every Wednesday. You must adhere to this timetable if you wish to write a lengthy blog post every 15 days. As was already noted, you might link to content that has already been published elsewhere if you frequently struggle to think of original ideas. Make sure the content you provide is helpful to your readers, whether you publish original content or curate it.
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WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT MAINTENANCE PLAN
An ongoing strategy to support and maintain your website, a website maintenance plan is exactly what it sounds like. This frequently necessitates more intricate labour than the majority of people have time for or are competent to perform, so they rely on outside digital marketing vendors or firms to maintain their websites. You shouldn’t build a website and then leave it to become outdated. You must make sure your website is properly maintained if you want to have a successful one that performs well in search engine results and isn’t hacked.
CONCLUSION
The Internet will always be around and will continue to change to accommodate user needs. This blog, your favourite social network, and the apps you use on your phone are all examples of how web developers are at the forefront of these advancements and developments. Therefore, it’s worthwhile to invest the time to learn coding and programming to make your company website the best it can be for both you and your clients.
White Label Technologies offers the cost and simplicity of a do-it-yourself website system along with the time savings and peace of mind that come with working with a qualified developer. For a fair monthly price, Our Experts can host, create, manage, and even offer continuous content for your small company website. We manage your website so you can focus on running your business. If you’re just getting started, tell us everything there is to know about you and your company. Together, let’s develop an internet plan that can aid in bringing you more online clients.
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