Website Development

One of the essential steps in growing your business is adapting to changes. Over the years most businesses (97%) have built an online presence that includes social media, websites, communities, etc. However, merely having an online presence isn’t enough to catch the eye of your customers anymore. Most customers that interact with your platform want an engaging and interactive experience. If they don’t get that, they’ll find someone else that provides it, which I’m sure you’d much rather avoid.

You have to provide more than just structure, web design, programming, and database management to create a website that captures your target market's attention and can help you grow your business. For a thorough understanding of web development services, here’s a detailed guide.

Today’s digital marketplace is shaping the global economy. With the pandemic, many consumer interactions that were face-to-face are now done through the online world. In order to effectively put your message out there and into the minds of your consumers, you need a website that focuses on:

Defined User Experience (UX): WIth an effective user experience (UX), you can guide users to their desired action. If a consumer’s looking for shoes and all they see are shirts on your website, chances are they’ll quickly switch to your competitor. UX doesn’t just include front-end web development, but it’s also coupled with the backend story, which we call User Interface (UI).

Quick and Efficient: For every second’s delay in loading, you’re losing customers without even knowing about it. Your website should be quick to load and efficient to interact with. According to recent studies, websites that load in under 5 seconds experience a 70% higher conversions than others.

Consumer-Centered Content: What do you think when you read ‘Content’? Blogs? Whitepaper? Infographics? While all that is also important, the type of content that matters most in a website is web-content. What message is it giving to your users? Is it guiding them to their desired action? If yes, then you’ve got killer content, don’t let it go.

Search Engine Optimization: Although SEO has been one of the essential elements for a long time, it’s going to continue doing so as well. The better ranking your website has, the better would be the chances of getting more users.

Mobile-Friendly Interface: Most of your users use a smartphone or tablet to access your website. In fact, more than 55% of your average visitors use a smartphone to browse your website. So make sure your website also comes with a mobile-friendly interface.

After you’ve decided what you need to include in your website, it’s important to center it around your users. Who are your users? What do they want? Are you meeting their expectations?

We’ve categorized users based on four popular types. However, they can overlap as well. These include:

B2C – Business to Consumer: B2C platforms are specifically targeted towards consumers, facilitating exchanging goods and services. Examples: Amazon, Flipkart, etc.

B2B – Business to Business: Selling or promoting your products or services to other businesses is the best use of B2B. Examples: Amazon Business, Alibaba Wholesale, NorthBay Solutions, etc.

C2C – Consumer to Consumer: A consumer-to-consumer model, also called an ‘online marketplace', connects consumers to exchange goods and services and make money by charging listing or transaction fees. Example: eBay.

B2G – Business to Government: Even though it isn't as popular, targeting government bodies falls under a B2G category. Examples: Remix Software.

Building Your Website

Although it can feel overwhelming, web development isn't as complicated as it appears. Even so, emerging websites have streamlined the technical task. The whole web development process is broken down into a series of steps.

• Strategize and set SMART goals
• Choose your unique domain
• Create a user-friendly website design
• Set pricing and payment options
• Create a painless checkout process
• Market and promote your business
• Evaluate and improve online sales with real-time data

Website Development Platform Options

After you choose the right category for your business, you can choose one of three main options for building it.

Open-Source: Open-source frameworks allow you to install your own plugins, host your own site, and design your store however you want. It also includes all the features you could ever want.

SaaS: Licensed software and delivery model was given to the user and accessed via the internet.

Headless Commerce: Among the more popular web development platforms, Headless is one of the newest and fastest-growing options. It allows developers to create a high-quality content experience by decoupling the front-end web development from the back-end functionality.

Common Features of Website Development Solutions

Most Web development platforms have the following features:

• Behavior tracking of customers
• User-driven interface and design
• Protection of site credibility and visitors’ data
• CRM integration
• Shipment tracking
• Multilingual & currency options
• Chatbots for customer support and a better shopping experience
• An easy-to-use checkout
• Email marketing features or integration

Benefits of Web Development Solutions

Without a doubt, website development offers a plethora of benefits. These include:

Convenience:

The convenience of usability is the key that sets brands apart—offering the convenience of purchasing items from anywhere in the world that is simple, quick, and less time-consuming.

Personalization and Customer Experience:

Online marketplaces can create rich user profiles, giving them the authority to improve customer experience by understanding them on a personal level through personalized products and services and offering suggestions for other products they find interesting. It increases the odds of brand loyalty.

Global Marketplace:

Customers worldwide can easily browse and shop on websites – companies are no longer restricted by geography or physical barriers.

Minimized Expense:

E-Commerce website development requires minimal startup and operating expenses.

Market Trends

In 2021, here are some of the dominating trends in web development:

• Progressive Web App Development: PWAs appear to be native mobile applications. However, they are actually websites. Studies have shown that Progressive Web Apps have 36% higher conversion rates than their native counterparts; therefore, we can see them becoming more popular as time goes on. PWAs are essentially mobile apps on desktop and mobile devices that offer a seamless user experience.
• Dark-Theme UI: In mobile applications, we have seen this trend, but now websites are also moving towards it. Darker or night-themed user interfaces are safer and easier to use. Increased black pixels use less battery power and reduce eye strain and eye fatigue. Additionally, it provides a stylish touch to the entire site and makes it easy for users to use it.
• Voice Recognition Technology: It has been well-established that IoT holds a great deal of importance. We can expect the voice search feature to improve substantially in 2021. Studies suggest that by the end of the year 2023, approximately eight billion voice assistants will be in use.
• Augmented Reality: Augmented Reality (AR) has become a major game-changer when it comes to online shopping. It helps online shoppers visualize the products they are interested in, whether it is a clothing item or a paint color.

Choosing the Best Website Development Solution

An attractive window display is where the first impression matters. It invites users and provides them an effortless and seamless website that encourages them to browse and buy.

Some trends aren't suitable for every business. Many are an incredible value, while others are too expensive to maintain a reasonable Return on Investment. The trend that corresponds to your business requirements depends on knowing your customers and the competitors well.

The following elements are important to keep in mind when creating a robust website experience.

Pro-Tip: Ultimately, you want to choose the eCommerce platform which delivers the outcomes and objectives your business has set for its operations.

• Website development budget – In retrospection, website development can be over-taxing if you do not have a budget strategy with optimal delivery constraints. Playing smart on allocation and investment will be enough to get you sales and facilitate growth.
• Conduct in-depth research of your business industry – staying current and updated on industry news (whether it’s home goods, fashion, or B2B) is equally crucial and will keep you from being left behind.
• Create an MVP (Minimum Viable Product).
• Reading and analyzing your Competitor eCommerce websites – Keeping track of their performance, market reach, customer interaction, marketing & SEO techniques is also essential. There will be ideas and innovations that could resonate with your customers’ wants.
• Identify your target audience – Understanding your audience and speaking to their needs directly will come from taking data and following their behavior.