Develop A Website
If you are looking to build a new startup website or make your current site more effective, here are 10 key steps to getting started and helping your small business website compete effectively in the online marketplace.
develop a website
Your domain name, also known as your website address, is often the entry point to your site. It is important that it makes a good impression for usability purposes, as well as for search engine optimization (SEO).
A website host (or sometimes referred to as a website hosting provider) is a company that offers the technology and services necessary for a website to be viewed on the internet. You connect your domain name to your hosting provider so that when users visit your website address, they are shown your website that you store on your hosting account.
If you plan on selling goods and/or services through your website, you will need the right technology to do so. (If you do not currently sell anything, you may want to consider doing so since e-commerce could potentially increase your profits.) If you decide to allow users to financially transact with you online, you will need to choose the right platform for your business model.
Features include unlimited products, unlimited bandwidth, fraud analysis, discount codes, reports, and much more. The key benefits of Shopify are that you do not need a developer to set up a store, and everything on the backend is already set up for you when you subscribe. The downside is you do not have as much control or flexibility over your store as you would with WooCommerce.
SEO is an extremely important ongoing process that can mean the difference between showing up on the first page of search engine results pages (resulting in large amounts of free traffic to your website) or page 300 (resulting in no traffic).
In addition to static page content and articles, a great form of content to post on your website is testimonials. Asking for testimonials from your customers and then publishing them on your website is a great way to post fresh, high-quality content on your site that makes your small business more attractive.
As you can tell after reading this article, creating a great small business website may not be as simple as you first thought. However, if you follow the steps set forth in this article, your small business will have an excellent chance at succeeding in the online marketplace.
I'm a Webmaster who specializes in WordPress, graphic design, mobile-friendly website development, search engine optimization (SEO), pay per click (PPC) advertising, user interface, e-commerce, and blogging/social media marketing. I am originally from Ohio and received my Bachelor of Science degree from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, focused on Web Design and Interactive Media. I have been involved in building or marketing over 100 business websites. To find out how to drive visitors to your website, check out my article, Small Business Internet Marketing Strategy: Pay Per Click Advertising and Search Engine Optimization. Visit my website www.allisonbowlus.com and connect with me on LinkedIn.
While web development typically refers to web markup and coding, website development includes all related development tasks, such as client-side scripting, server-side scripting, server and network security configuration, eCommerce development, and content management system (CMS) development.
To access a website, you need to know its Internet Protocol (IP) address. An IP address is a unique string of numbers. Each device has an IP address to distinguish itself from the billions of websites and devices connected via the Internet.
Front-end code allows users to interact with a website and play videos, expand or minimize images, highlight text, and more. Web developers who work on front-end coding work on client-side development.
There are always malicious actors looking to find vulnerabilities in websites to expose private information, steal data, and crash servers. Cybersecurity is the practice of securing data, networks, and computers from these threats.
These different types of web development primarily refer to the different sectors of the profession in which web developers can work. Some of these distinctions overlap, and web developers will often master multiple types of web development.
These developers work with systems like servers, operating systems, APIs, and databases and manage the code for security, content, and site architecture. They collaborate with front-end developers to bring their products to users.
Because full-stack developers require years in the field to build the necessary experience, this role is often sought after. Their all-around knowledge helps them optimize performance, catch issues before they occur, and help team members to understand different parts of a web service.
Website developers can be front-end, back-end, or full-stack developers. However, these professionals specialize in building websites, as opposed to mobile applications, desktop software, or video games.
Desktop developers specialize in building software applications that run locally on your device, rather than over the Internet in the web browser. Sometimes the skillset of these developers overlaps with that of web developers if an application can run both online and off.
Mobile developers build applications for mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. Mobile apps operate much differently than other websites and software programs, thus requiring a separate set of development skills and knowledge of specialized programming languages.
Developers will use different coding languages for the front-end and back-end of websites, as well as for different functionalities of the site (such as design, interactivity, etc). These different languages work together to build and run your site.
Languages like CSS and JavaScript enhance and modify the basic site structure built by HTML codes. HTML5 is the most recent version and supports cross-platform browser functionality, making it popular in mobile application development.
JavaScript is the cherry-on-top of coding languages. Created in the mid-90s, JavaScript is used to add functionality to websites. Developers use it to add animations, automate tasks within certain pages, and add interactive features that enhance user experience.
Front-end (or client-side) development includes a combination of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. It also controls components such as typography and fonts, navigation, positioning, and browser compatibility and responsiveness. This part will reflect more of your initial site vision and what you included in your wireframe.
Interested in learning more about development and coding? Outside of connecting and networking with other developers, there are plenty of resources you can tap into to further your understanding of web development.
freeCodeCamp is a non-profit organization (like Khan Academy) that helps people learn to code for free. With thousands of articles, videos, and interactive lessons, as well as worldwide study groups, freeCodeCamp helps thousands of developers and engineers learn about programming and land development jobs.
Team Treehouse is a subscription-based online learning program. Users pay a monthly fee and gain access to hundreds of courses on over 20 different topics. From JavaScript to Python to PHP, Treehouse can teach you all you need to know about web development.
Stack Overflow is a great place to go with questions because most of the time, other developers have asked and answered the same ones. The forums in Stack Overflow keep you connected to other developers while also keeping you informed.
Having a website helps grow an online presence, whether that be your personal blog or business, by connecting you with a broader audience. A website can also become a platform for sharing your opinions and skills, creating opportunities for personal or work-related projects.
As an example, we will show how to make a high-quality website using the WordPress content management system and Hostinger website builder. Both of these platforms are beginner-friendly, not requiring any coding knowledge.
We will also share what to do after publishing a website and answer some of the most frequently asked questions. By the end of this article, you will be able to create your first website from scratch.
A CMS is a computer software for designing, managing, and publishing website content. In this article, we will focus on WordPress as it is the popular CMS platform, powering over 42% of all websites on the internet.
Web hosting is a service that publishes a website or web application on the internet. Before choosing a hosting plan, decide what type of web host is suitable for your needs. If you are using a platform like WordPress, you may want to consider different CMS web hosting options as they offer optimized solutions specifically designed for CMS sites.
If you are looking for a beginner-friendly hosting service to create a small to medium website, we recommend using shared web hosting. Hostinger offers cheap website hosting and more premium plans. That being said, our Premium Shared Hosting plan comes at $2.99/month with a free domain name registration, along with unlimited bandwidth and databases. You may also get the additional discount Hostinger regularly offers for different hosting plans.
On the other hand, hosting a website on VPS gives access to a more secure and flexible server, but using it requires some technical knowledge. Though you can install an easy-to-use control panel with your VPS like Cyberpanel, powered by LiteSpeed.
Lastly, choose a domain name for your website. A custom domain name is not only essential to help visitors find a website, but it is also part of branding. A memorable domain name can also drive high organic traffic.
To achieve this goal, organize your menu to help visitors navigate when browsing through the pages. In addition, choose the most important pages to feature on the menu. Keep in mind that website navigation also affects conversions. 041b061a72