7 Critical Steps To Create A Great Small Business Website

Whether you are an independent writer, shop owner, or another type of small business, a good website is key to your company’s success. Code&Care as a web-development company has worked on creating small business websites, we know what it takes to build great and attractive business websites.

No matter if you are looking to build a new website or make your existing website more performative, here are 7 essential steps to get you started and help your small business website compete effectively in the online marketplace.

Reasons Your Small Business Should Invest in Professional Web Development

We live in a world where technology is fully evolving and companies around the world can benefit from every latest innovation. The biggest achievement in business is without a doubt the creation of the Internet. Now, along with mobile technology, the Internet has given companies access to the global marketplace.

Almost everyone uses the Internet every day. Whether it’s browsing social media, playing online games, or more importantly, researching products or shopping online, we all use the Internet regularly.

Here is a list of 5 reasons to invest in websites for small businesses.

A professional website can make a good first impression

For most potential customers, your website will be the first thing they see about your business. If you have a well-designed, professional-looking website that offers a good user experience, chances are high that you will make a positive first impression.

To increase sales

While you can rely on repeat customers, any business that hasn’t migrated to an online domain yet loses a huge audience. Thanks to mobile devices and WiFI technologies, almost everyone uses the Internet every day. More people are buying products and services online than ever before. This number will only grow. You need an Internet presence so you can harness the enormous potential that the Internet offers.

To improve your search engine rankings

If your current website is not achieving the search engine rankings you were hoping for, there could be several reasons. Your site may be poorly optimized for search engines like Google, lack the user experience it needs to rank high, or it may be overwhelmed with content that search engines consider invaluable or spammy.

Improves customer support

When you have a website, your customers have a communication channel that they can use to contact you. Phone support is still in use, but most online inquiries and problems are answered online these days. This could be the email address listed on your website, the live chat feature or messaging tools such as Skype.

 Outperforms competitors

Most of your competitors already have a website. However, if you can create one that offers the best user experience for your target audience, there is a good chance you can start attracting your competitors’ customers. Nine out of ten online shoppers will go to competitors if they have problems using a website. By offering the best user experience, you can be the recipient of these disappointed buyers. As long as you continue to give pleasure, they are likely to stay with you.

How To Develop Custom Small Business Website In 7 Steps

Discovery Phase

We meet and discuss what makes your company special, we get visual assets from you like photos and branding elements that have already been created – we catch up with the keys to the kingdom, for example, what are the main goals of the site.

Website Architecture

We create wireframes and build the general structure of the site. Depending on how large or small the project is, it can include detailed Adobe Illustrator files for websites with different menu systems and complex hierarchies or sketches that we use internally for simpler marketing websites.

Wireframing

Wireframes serve as a reference for the entire site. It is colored, without copying, and shows the structure and location of the key pages of the site. They are layouts of gray rectangles that show where hero images, calls to action, text, images, etc. will be placed on the web page. This allows the design team and the client to agree on the structure of the site before adding any graphic elements.

UX/UI Design

In most cases, a developer or agency should have dedicated web designers to provide you with mockups of how your site might look. At this point, you probably want to make design changes to your site, which is welcome. Development hasn’t started yet, so these changes shouldn’t throw off the project too much. This is the stage where your website starts to take shape, and it can take anywhere from one to three weeks.

Web Development

The website is being coded and we are looking at what should be editable and what should probably be separated so as not to accidentally ruin the website. This goes back to the discovery, we always keep in mind that you will update regularly when you create a website in a content management system.

Testing

QA engineer checks the quality of the project for bugs. If bugs are found, the specialist fills out the report and submits it to the project manager. The latter, in turn, distributes the work among the team. The entire work can take from 2 days to 2 weeks.

Launch and support

The next step is application deployment. Then it’s essential to upgrade the app to the latest versions of operating systems, update the libraries and third-party services that you use, fix bugs, regular checks, and security updates, refactor the code, and update outdated parts of your application statement.

Where to Find a Dedicated Software Development Team?

Companies are striving to find the best remote team to outsource some of their core tasks. But how do you hire dedicated web developers?

Here are several options:

Google

Google is a perfect place to find outsourced programmers, but you need to know what to look for so you don’t waste time. Try using short phrases such as “hire programmers” or “software development services”. All the repeated words and focus on the purpose of your search.

Freelance workplaces

Collaborating with freelancers can be a comfortable and cost-effective solution. There are many communication models for freelancers to help build effective cooperation between the customer and the freelancer. If a business wants to hire outsourcers, there are portals set up by freelancers for freelancers to find work online.

B2B platforms

Use B2B portals to get data about companies that help hire dedicated programmers. B2B portals like Clutch may be the right point for collecting data about specific partners and the services they provide. Alternatively, you can visit sites like Goodfirms to find data on possible programmers.

How to Choose the Right Tech Stack for Your Project?

Front-end web development

Front-end web development includes everything that users see on their screens. Here are the main components of the frontend stack:

• Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). HTML tells the browser how to display the content of web pages, and CSS styles that content. Bootstrap is a useful framework for managing HTML and CSS.
• JS makes web pages interactive. There are many JavaScript libraries (such as jQuery, React.js, and Zepto.js) and frameworks (such as Angular, Vue, Backbone, and Ember) for faster and easier web development.

Back-end web development

The back-end is not visible to users, but it provides power to the client-side, just as a power plant generates electricity for your home. The problem is mainly in the choice of server-side technologies for developing your web application. As far as server-side programming languages are concerned, they are used to create the logic of websites and applications. Programming language frameworks offer many tools to make coding easier and faster. Here is a list of the main of them:

• Ruby (Ruby on Rails);
• Python (Django, Flask, Pylons);
• PHP (Laravel);
• Java (Spring);
• Scala (Play);
• js.

Database development

Your web application needs some storage space and it uses a database for that. There are two types of databases: relational and non-relational (the latter fall into several categories), each with its pros and cons. Here are the most common web development databases:

• MySQL (relational);
• PostgreSQL (relational);
• MongoDB (non-relational, document).

Server architecture

The language you use to build your web application, as well as the platforms and back-end services that support it, will narrow down your hosting choices. However, there will still be many hosting options available. One of the clouds hosting providers like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud is likely to be one of the first contenders these days. When deciding on hosting, it’s important to understand that hosting is more than just a hardware server that will run your application. The cloud also offers many services that your app can use, such as sending emails, directory services, sending push notifications, analytics, and more.

How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Website for Your Startup?

It is impossible to predict the precise custom web development cost it will take to develop your web application. But there are three key factors that most affect the development process.

The complexity of the project and design, the number of third-party APIs

The more functionality and integration of third-party APIs a project has, the more expensive its design and development. The use of complex or rare technologies also increases the estimate.

The number of developers, the level of their experience

An experienced developer’s stakes are several times higher than that of a junior programmer. At the same time, the quality of their code is much better, and the speed of work is much higher. If you hire dedicated web developers from their provider, they often offer better deals and fix the price for a month.

Development country

The cost of developing web applications is highly dependent on the country in which the contractor’s company is located. For example, in the United States, an hour for a senior developer will cost about $150. Let’s compare with other regions:

• Latin America – $45-55
• Eastern Europe – $25-35
• Asia – $0-42.

Remember, price shouldn’t be the deciding factor. First, we recommend that you pay attention to the difference in time zones, the quality of the code, and the level of English proficiency of developers and managers.

Conclusion

Now that you know why you need to create a small business website and how to take the first steps to build your website, get started. Start promoting your business the right way. Launch your small business website today.