Did you not hire that handyman because their email address had “@gmail” on the end? Were you entirely overwhelmed by how frustrating using a business’ website was and moved on to their competitor to purchase from? Are you reading this after finding it through a Google search or on TikTok?
Digital presence is the modern marketplace. Social media is the farmer’s market, and websites are the brick-and-mortar that establish an organization’s presence. Thousands of users experience the above frustrations, discoveries, and hard choices daily.
Many years ago, back in High School, I took a business class: Web Development for Business. This was my third tech-focused web development course, and I was curious about how it tied into business. Unfortunately, the class was more of a starter course with basic website-building assignments: HTML, CSS, and Photoshop.
Every now and then, the business side would come into play, and this was the most interesting part of the course. We would discuss credit cards, business law, and marketing from a developer angle. What I learned from that course is that your business in the early 2010s was tied to your brand more than anything else, but now, in the mid-2020s, your business’ brand is entirely intertwined with the online ecosystem.
In this post we’ll explore more on the importance of web development for businesses, introduce basic concepts, and help you decide the best web development approach for your needs.
The Importance of a Web Presence
The Digital Shift
- Global Reach: In the internet era, a business without a web presence might as well be invisible. With over 4.66 billion active internet users worldwide, the digital landscape offers a vast audience for businesses to tap into.
- Consumer Expectations: Today’s consumers expect to find businesses online; having a well-designed website can be as crucial as having a quality product or service.
- 24/7 Accessibility: Unlike physical stores, websites operate round-the-clock, allowing businesses to engage with customers anytime, boosting potential sales and customer interaction.
- Overwhelming Choice: Users today are plagued with a cacophony of choice when picking their newest pair of shoes or scrolling through Facebook posts from local businesses, all providing the same HVAC or landscaping services. If your content is not consistent across the board and your brand is not in top shape they will move on to the better choice.
- Digital Investment: When your brand fails to gather traction, many business owners will clutch their purse strings and pull back on marketing and digital outreach. Users can pick this up immediately, whether it’s a free “@gmail” email address or a temporary WordPress.com URL they will come to the conclusion that the business is not investing in their digital identity and may have other underlying issues internally that interfere with successful execution.
Benefits to Businesses
- Increased Credibility: A professional website enhances a company’s credibility and can level the playing field between small businesses and larger corporations.
- Marketing Insights: Websites, coupled with digital marketing tools, provide valuable data on customer behavior, preferences, and demographics, facilitating more targeted marketing strategies.
Basic Concepts of Web Development
Understanding Web Development
Unfortunately most businesses don’t see web development as a marketing tool. They think of it more like real estate property and once they get it they don’t need to touch it. Remarkably web development is not just pushing out code and dealing with errors related to misplaced semicolons.
When thinking about what web development really is, we can still use real estate as an analogy, except with this mindset, we pull back from a single property and look in from the perspective of the subdivision developer.
Here, we piece together the functions of each part, from the gate entry to the roads, parks, and exits. We can focus on specific parts and realize that for people to want to be there, to enjoy their experience, and to return, we must make every component meaningful and useful.
This is where the Design part of web development comes into play. We can focus more on how the parks look and how they are used than just that they exist for the customer to look at. Design frameworks are more important nowadays than the code itself. A digital platform with all the bells and whistles is nothing without a functional design that the users enjoy every time they use it.
Common Technologies and Frameworks
- Design Frameworks: These can sometimes just be brand guidelines. However, a true design framework such as a full user interface library built in Figma or Adobe XD creates reusable components and all their states before code is touched and can generate most code for developer hand-off.
- Front-end Development: Involves everything the user interacts with on the site, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.js enhance UI/UX designs.
- Back-end Development: Deals with server-side operations using languages like PHP, Ruby, and Python, and frameworks such as Node.js and Django.
- Full-stack Development: Encompasses both front-end and back-end and is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses that require professionals to handle the entire website.
Choosing the Right Web Development Approach for Your Business
Custom Development vs. Using a CMS
My experience as a web developer has shown me that Custom Development and Content Management Systems (CMS) are no longer mutually exclusive.
- Custom Development involves what most people think of software development for a specific application or use case. For websites, this can be a bespoke environment built using code frameworks that many people will balk at trying to understand. This gives you more control over the look, feel, and responsiveness of the site.
- Content Management Systems are generally pre-built applications that provide the tools for almost anyone to build, manage, and maintain websites, such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc.
In this new era of web development, we’ve become increasingly aware that neither of these options alone is the optimal solution for businesses of many sizes. A combined approach of Custom and CMS development is proving to be a modular and effective system that provides easy scalability and an enjoyable user experience for developers and users.
Factors to Consider
- Cost: Custom development generally costs more upfront and takes longer but offers uniqueness and tailored solutions. A CMS is cost-effective, with many plugins and themes available but might be limiting if highly specific functionality is needed.
- Scalability: The chosen solution should grow with your business. Custom solutions scale well but require ongoing developer support. CMS solutions can scale efficiently up to a point, but extensive customization can become cumbersome.
- Maintenance: Consider the long-term maintenance required. CMS platforms often have user-friendly updates and a large support community, while custom solutions might require dedicated technical support.
Final Thoughts on Web Development for Businesses
Web development is a critical aspect of establishing and maintaining an effective online presence. Whether you opt for a custom-built site or a CMS-based platform depends on your business needs, budget, and the specific goals you aim to achieve through your online presence. By understanding the basics of web development and carefully choosing your development approach, you can ensure that your business thrives in the digital marketplace.