How does one develop their business website? If you look at the image here, you can see plenty of platforms, CMS systems and programming languages. We believe it is crucial to understand the uses of each individual technology before you begin to develop your business website.
The main point here is talking about websites and developing them. We are also talking about small businesses that are trying to determine their strategy and we hope that the information this particular blog provides is able to teach you some important things to look for. We will provide you the options with the first group being the websites that requires you to contract a developer and the ones that do not.
Now let's start with the type of websites that require a developer for sure. I will go through them in a listed format and very briefly.
DRUPAL: Now this is one of my favorite PHP based CMS (content management system). Very versatile meaning you can do pretty much whatever you want. E-Commerce, a company website, an online tv channel. Drupal is one of the most secure websites you can have and it comes with a hefty price tag. Mainly because developers in some parts of the world are relatively rare and coding is long and tricky. Which on the flip side also makes it hard to penetrate. It requires constant updates and patches.
Magento: A powerful E-commerce engine second to none in my opinion. Only use this if you have thousands of items to be listed.
Wordpress: The famous go-to site. You could DIY this, but it is best left to a professional really. In good hands, it can be as secure and powerful as the best of them.
Joomla: A mid-range type of website that has a great reputation. I never had the pleasure of managing a project doing one since most clients either want cheap or the best. Which is my opinion Joomla is not.
Ruby on Rails: An excellent type of website to have running on Ruby. Right up there with Drupal in my opinion.
Now that I have briefly, really briefly went through the type of website that would require a developer for the average layman to do, I need to remind you that these are simply the packaging, not necessarily the language these websites will be developed in. And a website still requires to be hosted. Hosting is a separate thing entirely. Then again your developer should be able to advise you accordingly and we will also write a blog about it when we feel like it that is.
Now let's get on to what I believe is the future, a more cloud service like approach to web development. Something that is annoying developers everywhere after years of coding. Have a look at these guys. If you are a small company, I really don't see any reason not to consider a DIY approach to doing your websites and these solutions give you exactly that.
WIX is one of the more famous brands out there. Just drag and drop and pull and push. Write a little text here and there and you more or less have a website. Or better yet, choose a stencil and simply make changes. Or hire a very cheap WIX designer on Fiverr who will do it all for you for hundreds of dollars. The monthly cost is a bargain considering you don't have to worry about constant security updates.
Squarespace in my view is a direct competitor to WIX. They sell almost exactly the same product. With wonderful stencil web pages to choose from and give your website that professional crisp looks as if you had hired a proper designer to make it for you. It is a US-based website and I do find that their Content Delivery Network is still not that great in Singapore. Nonetheless, I think they have better-looking webpages than WIX in general.
Now if you are not a fan of listing your items on Lazada or eBay or Carousell etc. You wish to have your own e-commerce platform, you have to use Shopify. Magento is great, don't get me wrong. But you are a business owner and a retailer. You need your staff to be able to easily add stock, items, manage your inventory without facing some technical difficulty and having to rely on a developer constantly to manage your Magento webpage. So if you are a startup, I suggest you use Shopify. In fact, all of the solutions here have an e-commerce solution as well and I think Shopify is a specialist in this field.
An honorable mention would be Weebly. Just like the others, I think it is best to have a look at all of them, compare the prices and make a decision. Website development is not what it used to be. From designing static Java or HTML webpages to complex CMS systems. It has been simplified and most of the processes automated on your behalf. Spending thousands of dollars at the start when you still have to figure out where your new business venture is going will need all the money you have. New hires and expansion are a priority and so is your website.
So my opinions are still, if you are a new startup, just go with this platform to launch something simple. And when you are successful and wish to have your very own product, you can start considering the other options. Thank you for reading 'How to develop your business website' and have a beautiful day.
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