10 Things You Need to Consider When Developing a Website

Over the past few years, there has been an incredible rise in the number of websites on the Internet. Since you want to be sure that your new website stands out and gets noticed, it’s important to plan your website design carefully. The first step in this process is to create your own top 10 web development checklist that will help you make sure you’ve considered all the crucial aspects of developing your new website before you begin building it. Here are ten things to consider putting on your checklist so that you can create a truly effective website design.

Secure the domain and set up SSL

Insecure websites can damage your company’s reputation and limit your exposure to new customers. Setting up an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is one of the best things you can do for your business. It tells potential clients that you run a legitimate business, taking precautions against hackers.

The process may seem complicated, but it’s surprisingly easy. Start by setting up an account with Let’s Encrypt or Cloudflare; then purchase an SSL certificate from one of these providers: DigiCert, Comodo, RapidSSL, GeoTrust, or GlobalSign. Using website builder software like Weebly? A number of platform providers offer automated SSL installation for a small fee – check their FAQ section for details on how to go about it.

Set up excellent hosting and storage

Great-looking websites live on great servers. Start with a web host that keeps all your files safe and is easy to use. If you can, go for hosting in your own country or region (e.g., if you are located in Europe, select servers that are also located there). From there, get your site up and running on an excellent content management system like WordPress, Drupal, or Joomla. These systems offer excellent performance and ease of use.

If you want an expert to do it for you, hire professionals who are familiar with these CMS platforms; they will set up your website quickly and manage it efficiently so that it is secure and looks its best.

Optimize for SEO

Optimizing your site for search engines is incredibly important. Search engine optimization, or SEO, will ensure that you get results when people search online for products or services that your business provides.

Even if your business isn’t directly related to providing web design and development services, you need a good web presence in order to be successful in today’s marketplace. With good SEO, it won’t matter whether someone stumbles across your website from an organic search or through paid advertising. Either way, they will find what they are looking for.

Plan out scripts and languages

Always have three scripts ready. Backup HTML, server-side code, and client-side code. It’s important to know how all three work in order to develop an effective site. For example, some of your pages may need to be updated regularly by an administrator while others should be generated at run time on user request; however, these can both be considered part of your Web Development Checklist if you organize them correctly.

Also, keep in mind that your users may have one browser for browsing and another for development purposes; if you plan out your scripts accordingly (i.e., by element type), it’ll make things much easier on you when it comes time for publication!

Map out design

Always start with an outline or map out how you’re going to develop your website so you know where your company is headed in terms of design. This web development checklist item has everything you need, including the color scheme and font choices.

Focus on Your Keywords by SEMrush Your website is built for your customers, but it’s also built for search engines and social media sites. While your primary focus should be on making sure customers can easily navigate and find what they want on your site, it’s also important that search engines can quickly crawl through every page and understand its purpose.

Consider any external tools needed

If you’re building an online business from scratch, don’t just build your site with your CMS of choice. It’s important to consider any external tools needed for development, such as domain registrars, hosting companies, and other third-party services you might use. If you’ll need any premium tools—like Photoshop or Illustrator—then sign up for a monthly plan rather than purchasing software outright. These small expenses can add up over time, which is why it’s important to think about them before committing to your vision.

Generate an XML sitemaps

Generating an XML sitemap (also called a site map) is one of those web development details that doesn’t get talked about much, but it’s incredibly useful. Why? These days, search engines are very interested in your website’s information architecture. In fact, they actually use XML sitemaps as one of their primary tools for crawling and indexing new content on your site.

If you want your site to be visible in search results (and you do), then you need to pay attention to generating a proper XML sitemap. Creating one doesn’t take long and there are plenty of tools available online that will help guide you through all aspects of creating an XML sitemap for your website—and make sure it works with today’s search engine algorithms.

Create an error-handling strategy

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: Your customers don’t care about your error-handling strategy. They only care that they can get what they want when they want it. So make sure your website works properly and makes it easy for them to find what they’re looking for.

Whether you’re creating a simple error-handling strategy for a large application or writing individual error handlers for each piece of content on your website, it’s important to think about

• What should happen when things go wrong?
• How can you ensure that users know something is amiss?
• What steps do you need to take to make sure that errors don’t become critical?
• How will both parties—you and your end-user—react when mistakes are made?

Those are questions you’ll want to be answered before deciding how best to develop an error-handling strategy.

Create a file-handling strategy

It’s tempting to ignore issues of file management when you’re developing a website in India but don’t. A file-handling strategy can help ensure your site is easy for customers and yourself to navigate.

Think about what kind of image you want on your home page—do you want something static or dynamic? Dynamic images are more complicated, but they allow you to update your home page whenever you like without having to worry about creating new graphics every time.

Some other questions to consider:

• Where will all your HTML and CSS files be stored?
• Are there any particular guidelines for naming them (e.g., .htaccess)?
• How do I make sure all my pages are uploaded in the same location?

Optimize security settings

Make sure that security is your top priority from day one. Make sure you’re using state-of-the-art firewalls and that no one can access your site or content without permission. Put up under-construction pages while you create your site, and make sure they let people know when it will go live. Be prepared for someone to try to hack into your site right away, and know how you will handle it before it happens.

Most importantly, be smart about security: It’s not enough just to protect yourself—you need to protect your clients as well! Include disclaimers on all pages of your site so there are no misunderstandings when something goes wrong or something isn’t available on time because of unforeseen technical problems.

Conclusion

As technology evolves and expands, so does web development. With an ever-growing market of people who use their computers for work, as well as for pleasure, it is crucial that your website functions in an effective and efficient manner.

Fortunately for you, we’ve compiled a helpful list of 10 things you need to consider when designing or developing a website. Our simple Web Development Checklist is sure to help make your life easier when making online projects. By using this list of ten thing and focusing on them appropriately, online business owners from any and every genre can significantly enhance the success of their website and make sure that their requirements are fulfilled and the overall design of the website is supportive of the business goals.  Enjoy! And please let us know if you have any suggestions for future posts! We’d love some input from our readers! Thanks for reading.