Website Development Process
The website development process explained
What is the website development process
The website development process involves far more than just writing some HTML and finding a host for the website. Website development is actually a lengthy process that requires a lot of analysis and planning. That's why website development is typically a pretty expensive process. Understanding everything that goes into the website development process can help you understand the high cost of it and all the work that goes into it that you don't want to miss out on by choosing a bargain-basement option.
First of all, to appreciate what goes into the website development process and understand why it's expensive you need to realise that website development is more than just creating the website. Anyone can make a website. You can get WYSIWYG software, which is What You See Is What You Get software, and make a website yourself without any knowledge of HTML. And for that matter, you can get free WYSIWYG software so it costs you nothing but time. That is not the website development process. That's creating a fast and simple website. Those are two very different things. If you want to make a fast personal website for fun, use a WYSIWYG editor. If you want a website that gets traffic and a website that is easily navigable, as well as one that helps your business grow and increases your customer base, you need to go through the full website development process.
Steps in the website development process
The first step in the website development process is basically an analysis of your company and what it needs in a website, including the types of features that will be found on the site. Without this step, you're going to get a site that's much like all the others out there. Companies that advertise that they can create a full website for you for just £100 or £200 are going to give you a basic cookie-cutter site that's not really something you need. This step in the process doesn't have to be lengthy, but it does have to be thorough. In deciding what your company needs in a website, you'll be deciding whether it's to be a commercial website that actually sells items or schedules appointments, or just an informational website.
The next step in the website development process is determining how to best optimise that website. Keywords will be researched to find out what people are searching on that can lead them to your site. When the website is designed, these keywords will be used to help people find your site so that you get traffic. Without this step, the search engines aren't going to present your site to searchers and you won't get traffic.
These first two steps in the web development process are crucial and should not be skipped even though they can be time-consuming. Then you need a website design, content for the site, special features like a shopping cart or an opt-in list, and the added features that finish off your site and end the website development process to give you successful and highly trafficked commercial website.
