Website development is very important. These days if your company or business is not online it practically does not exist.
It is important to have an online presence and work to be a reference in the topics we deal with.
In this blog, we tell you the steps to successfully develop a website and give you some tips if you haven't started the process yet. Read on!
First, we are giving some important definitions.
What is a Website?
According to Wikipedia, A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server.
What is a Domain?
A domain or domain name is the location of a website. For example, the domain name "google.com" points to the IP address "216.58.216.164".
Generally, it's easier to remember a name rather than a long string of numbers. A domain name contains a maximum of sixty three characters, with one character minimum.
What is a server?
Servers are high-powered computers built to store, process, and manage network data, devices, and systems.
Servers are the engines powering organizations by providing network devices and systems with adequate resources.
For businesses, servers offer critical scalability, efficiency, and business continuity capabilities.
Difference between website development and web development
Web development and website development are often confused terms, however, web development is a broader category that also includes web application development.
You may wonder what the difference is between a web application and a website.
A web application is a program that runs on the internet and gives tools to users to do certain things.
For example, if you need a tool to translate a text you can go to DeepL or Google Translator; in the same way if you need to design a piece for your social networks or make an invitation for your child's birthday you can use Canva.
Those are huge examples of web applications.
On the other hand a website is a group of pages belonging to the same domain that provide different information according to the needs of the creator.
There are different types of websites, they are divided depending on the content they handle.
What steps should I follow to create a Website successfully?
Choose your website’s type
For developing your website, it is crucial to know which type suits you better for your enterprise.
The following section will tell you about six types of websites. Which one fits better with your idea?
Business:
A business web page is a repository of the most important information of a company, in it usually the companies have a Home page which is an opening of everything that contains the website, inside it there are links to the most important pages of the web site.
A business website often has an About page where the company tells about its history, talks about its history and can also talk about the people who are part of the team.
Companies that work providing services usually also have a tab where they specify all the Services they provide.
Another very important page of the websites is the Blogs or sites where the resources are located.
Blogs are spaces to write about subjects related to the company, they are essential to communicate various topics to the audience but also serve to position the company or brand on the Internet, there come into play issues such as SEO and SEM.
2. eCommerce:
An eCommerce website is almost entirely intended to sell physical or digital products, in which the products are displayed and described. In addition, payment methods are embedded in the page to close the transaction.
It also usually contains a blog page and an about page.
3. Personal blogs
Personal blogs are places for sharing life updates, individual opinions, and news online.
4. News Website
As its name indicates, these types of web sites are specialized in news, there are both generic and specialized, they exist in science, technology, fashion, health and others.
5. Educational websites
Educational websites are sites where you can take online classes. Important examples are Coursera, MindValley, or Crehana.
6. Review Website
Review websites are virtual places where customers of different companies rate different products or services.
It is an excellent way to attract new customers because you get to know first-hand the experiences of current and former customers.
Important examples are G2.com, Clutch, and Google Business Profile.
2. Get inspired
To get inspiration it is necessary to look for important references worldwide, companies or people that do what you want to do and that are successful.
As inputs for UI and UX designers it is necessary to have very clear:
The objective of the project
the name
The slogan
What you want to communicate
What things you don't want to show or communicate
References of the ideal brand,
The direct and indirect competition
The promise of value
The tone you want to have when speaking
The target audience.
3. Work with UX and UI experts for an excellent website
In the process of thinking, imagining, and building your website is very important to hire an expert in UX and UI.
UX means User Experience; this person is in charge of the general experience of the web page visitors.
Meanwhile, the UI is the User Interface; the UI designer is in charge of how the site will look.
This person will be the translator between your thoughts and the developers.
You will tell your ideas, and this person will draw in special software how your website will look, its colors, buttons, and forms, among others.
If you want to know more about UX and UI, read this post.
As a tip, in this blog, you can find The Most Common Screen Resolutions To Design For.
4. Time to choose. Which program language should I use in the development of my website?
This point is undoubtedly essential when developing your project.
To answer this question, we interviewed two of our developers, and here is the answer.
The question was: How do you choose the programming language for a project?
Alejandro Cano, one of our senior developers, answered:
It is complex, but it all depends on the project's scope; some tools facilitate the development and give you some advantages in terms of time but have limitations.
There are programming languages with specific emphases that can provide indications of which one to choose.
Still, in general, you must first specify the project's requirements to know the scope and make a decision.
David, our TechLead in Code Branch, answered:
The choice of programming language for our project is defined by the application's needs to be developed.
Some needs are easier to satisfy in specific platforms, for example:
It is much safer to go with Java than with any other tool in security issues, such as in financial or banking systems.
For artificial intelligence, Python is undoubtedly the right tool.
To make a video game or any development requiring audio or signals that need outstanding performance, you can choose C++ or evaluate the feasibility of new platforms such as Rust.
You can think of Python for more commercial web applications. You also can consider Node; right now is a trend among programmers with typescript. You can also evaluate PHP, although it has already fallen into disuse.
Finally, to summarize and choose the programming language for web software development, you should evaluate aspects such as: how much the technology is used, how mature is the programming language, and what kind of solution you need to implement.
5. Choose your developer team
At this point, there are several options to start developing your website; we’ll show you some of them.
Get your own development team:
This is an option depending on the size of the company and your budget.
If we are talking about a large company, it may already have its development team, so it will only need to adjust it for the development they need.
This process is costly because it is necessary to go through the process of interviewing, testing, and hiring. The company must pay the payroll if the applicant does not pass the trial period.
For startups, getting an in-house development team can sometimes be costly.
Many startups prefer to go for the second option, an external development team.
Outsource the development team
To outsource software development is an excellent way to have very qualified people working for you with many advantages.
You can focus on other Business tasks.
You have more control over your project's timeline and budget
You can outsource any part of your project.
You can work with an expert team with years of experience in their field
You will receive a quality product that meets your needs.
You won’t have to spend time learning how to use the tools needed to complete the task.
You won’t have to worry about finding qualified employees who understand your needs.
You will have access to experts who can answer questions as they arise.
You can check our services, we are Code Branch a Bespoke Software Development Boutique based in Medellin, Colombia; also known as The Software Valley in Latin America.
We have a service that will work perfectly if you need a team and you can't or don't want to hire an in-house development team.
We create dedicated teams of developers to accomplish our partners' goals based on their specific requirements.
Although we don't work under a scope-based approach, we estimate all the software development projects we work on.
To accurately estimate the projects, we use a Story Point (SP) methodology, which allows us to have a solid idea of the initial project duration and budget.
With the SPs, we can determine the right team to work on the project (Seniority and number of developers).
Once the team is defined, we are able to commit to an average team's performance measured in SPs/Sprint.
Conclusion:
These days if your company or business is not online it practically does not exist.
Some of the steps to build your website are: Choose your website type, get inspired with some references pages that you admire, work hand in hand with UX and UI experts to put on paper all your ideas, choose your programming language and Build or outsource your developing team.