All posts in Website Design Practices

Virtually every startup business requires web development support. After all, it’s nearly impossible for a new company to generate interest and attract customers without a compelling, responsive website. What’s more, many small businesses rely on outsourced web developers to help them set up and expand other key digital features –– like ecommerce stores or chatbots. Eventually, though, some businesses may benefit from moving their web development team in house. This could help a company save money, become more efficient, and deliver improved customer experiences. With all that in mind, today we’ll share three tips for business leaders looking to pull off this tricky, but crucial, transition. Check them out here:

Retain Backup Support

Moving a complicated process like web development in house is going to take a lot of time and plenty of internal readjustment. As such, it makes a lot of sense to retain at least one or two web development freelancers who can help your new team handle their workload and become acclimated to the challenges they may face. Web development teams may need months to get in sync with each other and to develop meaningful solutions.

Create a Blueprint for Success

Not all web developers have the same skill sets or areas of expertise. That’s why it’s crucial for small business owners to determine how they want to progress their digital identity for years to come. Figure out if you want to build a new website, redesign your current one, create satellite sites, or improve your ecommerce setup before you begin the hiring process. Having specific assignments in mind will allow you to find web developers with relevant experience and qualifications.

Read more: 3 Tips for Moving Your Web Development Processes in House

Irrespective of your organizational structure or size a website is hard to indispensable. An attractive website is not enough, as customers have to be driven to the site. Only if the website is attractive customers would stay there and sales figures would scale new territories. In the present era of COVID-19, this posses to be a considerable challenge.

Only a handful few small businesses have the financial capacity to afford services of the website development business. The better news is if you focus on a few basic principles on anticipated lines you can derive true value for your investment.

Tips to enhance web development business during the pandemic

Business-oriented approach

Be aware that the website works out to be a business tool and a quality design is essential. Ideally, it should be business-driven and your current and future customers can engage with the company via a quality website. Regular branding and promotion of your company starts off with a quality website and from there stationery, marketing along with other activities start.

Review and develop measures

Sometimes you could be happy with the layout and design of your website. But the need of the hour is to evaluate the performance of your website on a regular basis. Does it align with the customer needs or has the design changed considering the market trends? Check with the graphics, content or the design is a relevant one. For example, if the website is operational for numerous years, it is difficult to adopt an objective approach.

Design differentiation

People who have a shorter attention span might be forced to leave the website within a short time frame. At this juncture, design has a role to play. Due to improved design and higher bandwidth of the internet, the design of a website has developed. Images along with graphics have assumed new proportions and we are well on the way to be establishing a greater brand identity. Another way you could differentiate from the completion is via a graphics design.

Recurring development

A website should not be static and needs to be continuously developing. Sadly most people fail to acknowledge this fact and once a website is over they feel that a task is accomplished. But you have to update the website on a regular basis in terms of content and design. Developing blogs and providing links to the website are ways to achieve the task. A reason for its importance is clients along with visitors have a liking towards attractive sites. Even Google is bound to revise their listings if the site is not updated on a regular basis.

Reaching number one

When a customer is searching for a service or product, they would be availing services of a search engine. It is important that your site is mentioned on the search engines. Smaller companies are of the opinion that only the large companies can reach the number one rankings, but this is a myth. If you have a proper strategy in place it is possible to reach the number one rankings easily.

Sort out the priorities

When marketing any component of your business, it is necessary that you have a clear strategy in place. Even when marketing your website it is no different as you have to formulate short term and long term goals and a web designer might not justify the decision. Designers often lack the concepts of SEO and the basic versions of Meta tags would not suffice. For example, even if you have an active marketing strategy sales figures would not substantive.

Read more: 10 Tips to Grow Web Development Business During COVID-19

Often when someone talks of a website, the frontend where the user/visitor interacts is what comes to mind. However, the backend is where most of the magic happens. This backend has been said to be the engine of a website, as it is where developers get to define how the website will function.

With the growth in the complexity of technology, frameworks have become an integral part of web development. Depending on the features and functions you want your website to perform, the framework you choose will determine the nature of the success and functionality of your website. The best developers are versed with these latest technologies, but most specialize. Here, we will feature some of the top web development frameworks in the market to help you make a decision.

Express

In recent years, Node.js has grown in popularity within the developer’s community. Consequently, Express has gained a reputation as one of the most preferred backend web development frameworks. The popularity is attributed to it being minimal and flexible while giving room for robust features a developer needs. This flexibility makes it suitable for single-page and multipage/hybrid web applications alike. Perhaps the most appealing characteristic of the Express framework is that it leverages Node.js performance, allowing for a light coating of web applications without obscuring the node’s features.

Read more: Effective Backend Web Development Technologies In 2020

According to the Digital 2019 report, a typical person spends 6 hours and 42 minutes online every day. The rise of the internet has revolutionized how we live and communicate and moved most of us to live a digitally-driven lifestyle. This is now exacerbated as we live in a ‘new normal’ because of the COVID-19 pandemic where we are pushed more than ever to rely on the internet for entertainment, education, employment, and livelihood among others.

With everyone depending on the internet for their access to necessities and supplies (i.e., food, appliances, medicines, clothes, among other products and services), website development has become more crucial to any business’ success. Website development is one of the ways to ensure the success of your business by informing people of products and services your business offers, getting to know your (possible) customers better, and understanding how to improve your product and service further.

Website or web development services include building, creating, and maintaining websites. It includes aspects such as web design, web publishing, web programming, web content creation, and database management.

Having an online presence is no longer an option for businesses; it is a requirement! Here are more of the reasons why companies need to invest in web development services:

Increasing Accessibility

It allows businesses to be accessible at any time of the day. It provides space for everyone to access the information they need when they need it. Whenever customers need to know something about the business, having a contact form, a live chat, an option to comment, or a phone number is a step towards them, which increases the possibility of sealing the deal.

Proving Credibility and Reliability

It allows effective communication with customers. Interacting and engaging with customers shows that the business is concerned about their satisfaction and is responsive to their needs. People prefer to transact with a business with their own websites as it gives them security and assurance.

Expanding Reach

It helps businesses to expand their reach by attracting possible customers or leads. Through website development, testimonies about your product/service will be available. These details help earn the trust and confidence of potential customers in the future. A properly designed website can help build an audience, target niche customer bases, and quickly return your investments. Your website conversion rate can multiply by 200-400 percent if your webpage is well-designed and has a functional, responsive interface.

Read more: The Importance of Investing in Web Development for Your Business

Part of my day job was to look after networks and servers, as well as web applications and websites. I could see the potential for web technology (and the move towards cloud/SaaS) in business and thought WordPress had a place as a powerful publishing platform far beyond blogging. The DevOps movement was also in full swing, and I saw how important it was to break down silos and barriers between different tech disciplines. I also had a number of my own personal websites that I ran in my spare time and found WordPress was the logical choice.

The light bulb moment for me was when I saw my colleagues using the websites that I had built. There were people without much experience using the web, that we’re able to publish and manage content after a few basic lessons. I liked the power it could bring to everyday users, not just web developers. The WordPress mission of “democratizing publishing” really struck a chord with me.

I also saw the community start to grow and gain momentum and I was inspired by the work that was being done in the space.

Read more: Building a Career Around WordPress Web Development With Chris Burgess