Website solutions should be client-focused, consumer-centric, and deliver tangible results. The digital landscape is ever-changing, which is why it’s essential to evolve and elevate your consumer population to enhance the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) and see a significant return on investment (ROI).

Regarding website development, it’s a catch-all term used to describe the work, from coding to configuration, that goes into building a website. Given the rapidly increasing number of online users globally, 4.66B in 2021, for brands to reach optimal levels of success, they must expand to an online storefront.

But what types of development services are there? What types of websites exist? And how can you stand out from the other 1.9B websites?

Let’s discuss website development services and which one is right for your business.

Website Development 101

Website development is a term used to describe the work that goes into building a website. This includes everything from markup and coding to scripting, network configuration, and CMS development. You might even factor in web design, digital marketing, website copywriting services, mobile app development, search management, etc.

After all, your brand’s website is not only the tool that creates a competitive edge, leaves a lasting first impression, and results in lead generation and conversion.

From a professional standpoint, website development often consists of

  • back-end development,
  • graphic design,
  • content marketing,
  • eCommerce solutions,
  • search engine optimization,
  • paid search management,
  • marketing services,
  • website design services,
  • digital marketing strategy,
  • integration of a content management system,
  • professional website design services,
  • website development projects,
  • web development services,
  • software development, and
  • quality assurance.

Each of these plays an essential role, but before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s first answer the question, what is a website?

What is a Website?

Put simply, websites are large files stored on servers, which are computers that host websites. These servers connect to an extensive network known as the Internet. Internet browsers are computer programs that load websites via your Internet connection, such as Google Chrome or Safari, while the computers used to access these websites are known as “clients.”

What is Hosting?

Put simply, web hosting is the service of providing online space for the storage of web pages. Web hosting companies run the servers on which websites are hosted. Each server has an IP address, the same as each computer has an IP address. It’s not practical to host a website on your personal computer, however, as it would require 24/7 access.

What is HTML, PHP & CSS?

HyperText Markup Language (HTML) came into existence in the 1990s. HTML is considered to be the foundation of all modern-day websites. It represents the bare minimum of what’s needed to create a website. It is the first language aspiring software engineers learn and is quite simple to pick up. That said, while creating a website with only HTML is entirely possible, it wouldn’t look aesthetically pleasing. That’s because HTML doesn’t have many stylistic possibilities. The text would all be simple, plain, and there would be significant whitespace. To make HTML more aesthetically pleasing, you use a second programming language called CSS.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) was also developed in the late 1990s. CSS adds design elements like typography, colors, and layouts to websites to improve the overall “look” and feel of a brand’s website. CSS is what adds the pizzaz to the pizza—or website. CSS allows software engineers to transform a brand’s website to match its aesthetic and is compatible with all browsers. It’s a little more challenging than HTML, but the next step in the natural progression of learning to program.

To tie these two together in a simple statement: Languages like CSS enhance and modify the basic site structure built by HTML.

Finally, Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) is used to develop dynamic and interactive websites. It can be embedded into HTML, making adding functionality to web pages easier without needing to call external files for data. It further enhances user flow, user experience, and the website’s overall functionality. While it isn’t absolutely necessary to learn PHP, it helps. That said, there are dozens of coding languages available to learn. It all depends on the type of software developer you want to work with or become and the type of website you want to build.

Types of Websites

There are many different types of websites. Just take a moment to consider the sites you interact with on a daily basis. Odds are it’s more than just a few, maybe even a dozen or more depending on your profession and personal interests. From lead gen sites to eCommerce, membership, portfolio, social media, and more, there are many different types of websites to consider. Let’s explore the big three when it comes to businesses.

Lead Gen Sites

A lead generation website helps site visitors while gathering information about them for your company. It’s more than just a digital brochure; it’s an experience that educates and nurtures prospects. Picture it as a one-stop-shop to learn all the most important information about your brand and why a consumer should care. Your lead gen site should include contact information and an opportunity for users to understand more about the product or service you offer and what problems you solve.

eCommerce

An eCommerce website is another term for an online store. Running an eCommerce business allows your brand to make sales online. It is essential to note that selling to consumers online is vastly different than selling to them in person. They don’t have the chance to preview your products, feel them, see the true colors and quality, and instead must rely on your eCommerce website design to show off the details and the value of every item you sell.

This is tricky and you don’t often get a second chance. That’s why eCommerce development is its own branch of software development. It requires a better understanding of your target market, and consumers in general, to gain prospective customers and convert them into paying customers.

Membership Portals

A membership website is a gated website that includes members-only content. Nonprofits, clubs, associations use them, and even businesses to “gate” content only members can access to provide additional value. Remember Club Penguin from the early 2000’s? That was a membership website, and a complex gaming website, too. Membership portals are simple externally, but internally have many advanced security features that require special attention and development.

Types of Development Services

In relation to the many different types of websites, there are many different types of development services. From custom development to eCommerce, let’s dive into the big four in further detail.

Custom Development

Custom web development is a customized website solution for your brand, business objective, product, or services. It enables you to have a unique website. During custom development, website developers must consider many components such as whether or not the site is user-friendly, can result in organic traffic, generate potential clients, resulting in digital transformation, be accessed from both a desktop computer and mobile devices, and what search engines will see, and more. They must understand the digital marketing goals, target audience, and what will work well for your unique website visitors.

If you want to give your consumers a completely authentic experience, custom development is the way to go. It’s essential to note that this will come with a hefty price tag as compared to going the WordPress development or WordPress website route, but for many brands, it’s worth it as it results in a better web interface and user flow.

eCommerce

An eCommerce web development service refers to the process of creating and designing an eCommerce website. This is where consumers can purchase your brand’s products online. Because eCommerce websites are so popular with consumers, developing an eCommerce website can help you generate more conversions and revenue for your business.

Other web solutions that are essential to consider when designing an eCommerce website are web apps, online stores, the content management system, broad and niche web solutions, what the business online looks like, any upcoming web design projects, marketing services, the target audiences, and search engines. Web developers specializing in eCommerce must understand the consumer and how to create a simple experience for shopping. This is essential to land leads and conversions, in addition to returning customers.

Maintenance

Maintenance in regards to development services refers to managing the design, coding, testing, and ongoing improvements and debugging of software. It is an ongoing task for web developers, web development services, website developers, web design companies, and software development teams.

The goal of maintenance is to ensure the web design and development makes sense, is user-friendly, and provides custom solutions to problems. After all, at the end of the day, companies hire individuals to solve problems. Maintenance is required for every single website, regardless of whether or not it’s custom or not. As a brand, maintenance ensures your site is up to tippy top shape and fully functional for your customers.

Supplementary

Supplementary development services include creating a custom blog and content and enhancing the user flow, user interface (UI), and user experience (UX). Let’s dive into each one of these a little further. It will help you understand why your brand should care and the value it provides to your consumer.

Custom Content & Blog

Custom content on a website, including a blog, landing page, or otherwise, is typically the responsibility of a digital marketer or content marketer. A blog is an excellent way to incorporate additional content, enhance SEO, and compete on Google search rankings. It is also an excellent way to inform your consumers about your product or service and paint yourself as a thought-leader in the marketplace.

User Interface (UI) & User Experience (UX)

As explained in a previous blog, UX design is also referred to as “user experience design.” UI design refers to “user interface design.” Both of these components are critical to creating a stellar website experience. But despite their professional relationship, the roles are quite different, referring to aspects of the product development process and the design discipline.

In a nutshell,

  • UX design is essential to improve interactions between a brand and a consumer,
  • it’s a non-digital practice used by digital industries, and
  • it’s not about visuals; instead, it focuses on the overall feel of the experience.

On the other hand,

  • UI design is a purely digital practice,
  • it considers all interactive features—including buttons, icons, logos, spacing, whitespace, typography, and color schemes, and
  • it ensures the design is consistent, coherent, and aesthetically pleasing to the user.

Website solutions should be client-focused, consumer-centric, and deliver tangible results. The digital landscape is ever-changing, which is why it’s essential to evolve and elevate your consumer population to enhance the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) and see a significant return on investment (ROI).

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