How to Develop a Website? 10 Steps to Consider

There are over 1.86 billion websites in the world. Be it for your business or personal, having a site in this digital era has become necessary. Without a digital presence, it is challenging for a company to sustain, compete, and survive against strong competitors. However, building a website for the first time can be overwhelming. So, how to develop a website? What steps and factors to consider when building a site? Where to start? Everything is included in this article.

It is normal to have confusion because it requires a lot of planning and tasks to develop a website. Most importantly, you need a site that represents your brand value and goals. Customers should get what they seek and solve their pain points. The best solution is to hire a software company because they will understand your business needs and problems. They will come up with the best approach to develop a site that fits your business requirements goals.

So, below, we will be talking about the necessary steps to develop a website successfully and how a software company like us actually does it.

How to develop a website in 10 steps?

Type of website

There are numerous websites you can go for, like personal blogs, e-commerce, magazines, news, portfolio, etc. So, first, you need to finalize what type of sites you are planning to build. Doing so will help you identify which one will meet your needs and goals.

Moreover, it also depends on what kind of audience you are targeting and the business you run. For example, if you have products to sell, then Ecommerce is your best option. You can go for a news site if you are a newspaper publisher.

So, first, identify the type of websites you want to build.

Plan and identify your requirements

Before choosing a software company or building a website yourself, you always need to plan and identify your requirements.

• What is the purpose of developing a website?
• What are your goals and visions?
• Who is your audience?
• What kind of services will you provide?

If there are no precise requirements, then the purpose of building a website fails. And without researching your target audience, how will you solve their problems and fulfill their needs? If customers are unaware of what you do, then they will simply walk away.

Proper planning lays the foundation for success. Without it, the development process won’t even move forward, let alone achieve your goals and objectives.

Decide who will be building

Now, you need to finalize who will be building your website. Will it be a software company or a freelancer, or you? No matter what you choose, the development process remains the same. The only difference is the budget.

Hiring experts to do the job of developing the site is less expensive rather than doing it yourself. How? If you decide to do it on your own, you will be losing a lot of time in research, learning to code, or using the website builder. Likewise, you will have to spend a lot of money on hosting, domain name, tools, libraries, APIs, etc., which is an easy task for experienced developers.

If you value your time and money, it is best to let the experts handle it. It will be best to invest those time in something you are good at and earn money instead. And if you need any help, Truemark will assist you. We will help you build a world-class website that aligns with your business needs and goals.

Choose a domain name and hosting

Now, choose a perfect domain name that uniquely defines you. It is one of the most crucial things to do when developing a website. It helps customers find your business on search engines or by typing on the URL bar on the browser.

Here are some useful points you need to remember when choosing a domain name.

• Keep it simple and easy to read.
• Make sure it is short.
• Add keywords relevant to your business.

Always ensure that the domain name you choose is unique and available.

Where to get a domain name?

Here are some of the best domain generators, which suggest you the best public domain.

• Nameboy
• GoDaddy
• Domain
• Name.com
• Namecheap

Once you get a unique name, you need a server to host your domain and connect it to the WWW (World Wide Web) or, simply, the Internet, i.e., a web host. It stores all your site’s data to access it from anywhere at any time.

What are some of the best web hosting service providers?

• Bluehost
• Hostgator
• Hostinger
• DreamHost
• SiteGround

Depending on your needs and budget, choose the right domain name and web host.

If you need any help in hosting your website, then Truemark can help you set up your website successfully and quickly.

Choose a website platform

Now, you need to choose the right website platform. Besides hiring a software company, several platforms are available that let you build a website quickly. Simple, easy-to-use, pre-made templates, drag and drop, etc., make these platforms popular and demanding. Still, you need to learn to use them.

What are some of the best website builders and Content Management Systems (CMSs)?

• WordPress.com
• Wix
• Web.com
• Squarespace
• Weebly

With platforms like WordPress, Wix, Web, etc., building a website has never been easier.

Start developing

Now, it’s time to build your website. Here we have divided the process of developing a website into website builder and coding.

Website Builder/CMS

Once you have decided to use a website builder, now you need to:

Select and install a theme

There are hundreds of ready-made templates on WordPress, Wix, etc. You need to select a suitable one and install it.

The best themes on WordPress are Astra, OceanWP, Divi, etc. Similarly, every website builder has its own templates, so choose the right one.

How to install a theme on WordPress?

• Log in to WordPress.
• Go to Appearance, then click Themes.
• Now, click the Add New button.
• Search a theme, install, and activate it.

The alternative method:

• Download theme’s zip file.
• Go to Themes, then click the Upload Theme button.
• Browse and select the zip file.
• Install and activate the theme.

Customize the theme

You have selected an appropriate theme. Now, it’s time to customize it according to your preference. We assume that you already have an idea about how your website looks.

How to customize a theme on WordPress?

• Log in to WordPress.
• Go to Appearance, then click the Customize button.

Here, you have different settings to personalize your website.

Likewise, you can download themes on different website builders and customize the theme. What makes them so amazing and unique is that you don’t need to have coding experience. Basic HTML and CSS are all you need only when you need to tweak your website, which is also optional. The drag and drop feature is a huge advantage for anyone on these website builders.

Coding

If you decide to hire a software company or a freelancer, this is the website development’s process.

Wireframe

After gathering requirements, we design a wireframe. Even if you go with the website builder, you need to follow this step. Wireframing helps to structure your site. It aids in knowing where to put your elements, like images, videos, texts, etc.

Moreover, the wireframe gives a direction to you and the development team to develop the website. Currently, there are several wireframe tools that will help you design your website.

Work on the front-end

The next step is writing code. This phase includes working on the front-end, i.e., the user interface to interact with the website. In other words, giving a look and feel to the wireframe. For this, the developers use different programming languages and frameworks, like HTML, CSS, JS, etc., to build stunning visuals of your site.

Work on the back-end

Now comes the back-end part, where every feature and functionality that you build on the front-end is triggered and handled by it. It includes a database to store all the data, connect with the server, receive and send data to the client, activate an event, etc.

Even on a website builder, there is the back-end phase. However, it handles everything, so the users need to only think about designing the front-end. That is why people without any programming experience can build a site on WordPress, Wix, etc.

Add content

Without content, your website will look dull and uninformative. Users want information. They want to know about your products and services and how your business solves their problems.

Colors, layouts, and other elements aren’t the only things that make a website attractive and stunning. It becomes complete once it has good content to attract customers. So, after we finish the front-end and back-end parts, we add content to the site.

We add content on your home, contact, portfolio, blog, etc., pages. This will help improve your site’s Google rankings and boost your digital presence. Moreover, we optimize headings, tags, subheadings, etc. Doing this will help the users to understand what your business is, what are your goals, and how you solve the user’s problems. Moreover, it will assist in expanding customer reach and enhancing brand awareness.

Truemark has a dedicated content writing team to help you create high-quality content to connect with your customers, improve your rankings, and attract new leads and clients. So, please feel free to contact us.

Optimize your website

Now comes one of the essential parts of website development-  search engine optimization (SEO). Once you have built a site, you need to make sure that people find it easily on search engines. SEO helps your site to rank higher on the search engines and generate more traffic.

Here are a few but essential factors that will help you raise your ranks on search engines.

• Use the right keywords
• Use keywords in titles, headings, subheadings, URL, meta descriptions, alt tags, etc.
• Create quality, fresh, and relevant content regularly.
• Optimize images and videos.
• Use internal and external links.
• Optimize the site’s speed, and so on.

If you need help optimizing your site, then please feel free to contact us.

Test

It is crucial to make your website bugs-free to run smoothly. You need to make sure everything is good to go before launching the website. And to ensure everything is working perfectly fine, you need to test your site in every phase of the development process.

Check every page, link, image, video, buttons, etc., to see if they are working as expected. Moreover, test the website speed, device compatibility and responsibility, etc.

At Truemark, we test every feature to make sure they are functioning well and isn’t affecting the site’s performance and other functionalities. Moreover, we re-test the website after completion to ensure it is ready to go live in a real-world scenario. Plus, acceptance testing is a part of our process, where clients test the website to assure the site fulfills their needs and requirements.

Launch

After the completion of testing, the only thing left to do is publish the website. After launching, re-check it to make sure everything is working perfectly.

Maintenance

A website needs regular updates and maintenance to keep it top-notch, cope with the change, and stay competitive even after publishing.

Besides these, you always need to keep in touch with the development team to ensure everything is on the right track.

Even though developing a website is challenging, it is very satisfying after becoming an owner of a website.

How does Truemark work?

Truemark is a software company with 5+ years of experience developing high-quality software at an affordable price without compromising quality.

The process includes:

• Client meeting and requirements gathering.
• Brainstorming and prototype design
• Design and development
• Review (in each development phase)
• Launch

Note: Truemark constantly keeps in touch with the client before finalizing any update, and tests the website and its features, modules, etc., in every development phase.

If you are looking for a company to build quality software that meets your business goals and needs, please feel free to contact us. We offer a free consultation service, so don’t hesitate to reach us at any time.

Cover Image Credits: Freepik