The site serves as a means of digitalization* and representation of your company in the Internet space.
Let’s see why some sites are cheaper, while others are more expensive, and what affects the development cost.
What is a website and what value does it bring as a sales tool.
The website of the company is analogous to the office or headquarters, only online. When you open a real office, you rent a room, equip it, conduct communications, buy equipment and furniture, hire specialists, launch a marketing campaign, order a sign, etc. Everything is very similar online.
Premises rental and its repair is a domain, hosting and development or technical support solutions.
Equipment and office furniture is the interface of the site, the advertising campaign is seo / contextual advertising / target, and the logo takes the place of the sign.
If you have a startup or a small local business, then a website for $100-500 can solve your problems. But if you have a regional company, a marketplace, or an international organization, and you are aiming to seriously position yourself in the digital space, be prepared to invest both time and money in your website.
What are the solutions for creating websites and how to choose the right one
Types of site and purpose.
Landing.
This is a one-page site containing general information about the company, the benefits of work and contacts for communication. Usually they have simple functionality that does not require technical improvements in the future. Such sites are not difficult to develop, they can be made even on online constructors (Tilda, Wix, LP Generator).
Corporate website.
A more professional and comprehensive site representing a company or business on the Internet. This is a multi-page site containing more detailed information about the services, their cost, history and contacts of the company.
Online store.
The online store is designed to implement online sales. On such sites it is possible to order goods, book a service and pay for the order online. Often there is a personal account for users, there may be different access rights to it. And if we are talking about a marketplace, then sellers will also have a personal account.
Which solution to choose?
Choosing the right site can be easier than you think. It all depends on the intended purpose. First, you need to decide on the purpose, and then with the type of site, structure and functions.
If the main goal is to sell goods, then an online store is at your service. If you create a platform to work with a large number of sellers, this is already a marketplace.
A corporate website is suitable for companies that need it to engage users and inform about company news.
And if you need to present some kind of event or talk about new products online, you can use the landing page.
The cost of creating a website mainly depends on the complexity of the implementation of design and development.
Development Technologies
There are three most popular solutions for creating a website:
SaaS platforms (eng. software as a service – software as a service;
development on CMS (eng. content management system – site management system) (can be boxed or custom);
framework development.
1. SaaS is a way to distribute software on a rental basis.
Such systems are leased by subscription. You just need to register on the service that provides the appropriate software and fill out the template with the relevant information. This development option is suitable for launching new simple projects or areas already in an existing business and testing business hypotheses (it’s trite: “take off or not take off”).
The most popular SaaS solutions are UMI, WIX, Shopify, uCoz.
Pros of creating a website on SaaS platforms:
- Creation speed – on such platforms, you can create a ready-made solution in a couple of days;
- The cost of development is much cheaper than development on CMS or Framework, just select the desired package and pay for a subscription
- Such solutions already include everything necessary for the full operation of the site – control panel, hosting, server – all this is done for you by the SaaS provider
Minuses:
On such platforms, only a template design is provided and it is not always even possible to swap blocks
Setting up the project for unique features or improving the functionality is impossible, you can only use what is provided by the system;
Most of these systems are not optimized for a high load on the site, they have low speed, fault tolerance and performance
2. CMS is software in the form of a ready-made site frame that can be edited and filled with content without special knowledge in programming.
The most popular “shareware” CMS are WordPress, Joomla, OpenCart, Drupal. Such control systems can be mastered even with minimal programming skills.
ing. You can download and install such a system in a couple of minutes.
But, when developing a site on such CMS, you also need to take into account the main disadvantages:
For free CMS, the biggest problem and risk is security. Anyone can master these CMS, and almost everyone who has knowledge in programming can hack it, which causes irreparable damage to the company.
The lack of technical support and documentation, the search for the necessary information turns into a whole problem, which complicates the work and maintenance of the site on such an engine.
Access to individual functions and modules occurs on a paid basis.
Boxed CMS are paid “engines” for the site. They also have built-in functionality and a set of necessary modules that can be mastered in a short time. But unlike free CMS, they are more reliable and secure in terms of hacking. They have available and free technical support and documentation. Boxed CMS include 1C-Bitrix, NetCat, UMI.CMS, HostCMS.
Advantages of development on CMS:
- The main functions are already provided by the selected CMS
- For a standard site, it is easy to predict the result
- The already created site structure saves time and development budget
As for the cons:
Limited functionality within the CMS. Creating additional functions that are not provided incurs additional costs
It is impossible to remove unused functionality, which can complicate and burden the work of the site
Lack of uniqueness. Everyone can buy the same website framework.
Custom CMS (custom (transl. from English) – made to order; client) is an option for scaling when the business does not adapt to the framework of the “engine framework” and when it is necessary to implement “atypical” solutions.
Custom CMS make it easy to administer and configure websites built on the framework. These include October CMS, Asgard CMS, PyroCMS.
Such CMS allow you to choose a set of functionality and finish it on the fly. Custom solutions can suit both complex projects (large services, social networks, projects with many integrations, etc.), as well as simpler, but with non-standard tasks (affiliate programs, subsite management systems)
Most often it happens that complex projects originate at the level of boxed development, but grow out of them as they develop.
3. Framework is a set of libraries that facilitates the development and integration of different modules of a software project.
This option is perfect for companies that implement non-standard trade offers and implement individual business systems. For example, creating your own LMS (English learning management system – learning management system) as part of a project or developing subsites that will be managed from one management system.
Advantages of website development on the framework:
- The ability to create and implement all ideas and improvements without restrictions
- Allows you to add unique functionality during development
- Framework allow you to increase the functionality and scale any project with minimal risks
- The speed of loading and optimization of such sites is much faster than those developed on CMS
- It is possible to completely exclude unused functionality
Of the conditional disadvantages of developing sites on the framework:
Development may require a little more time than the development of analogues on boxed CMS. This is due to the fact that the technology involves the creation of both client and administrative parts of the site from scratch.
Website development on the framework is much more difficult, so you need to attract highly qualified programmers. However, these sites are several heads higher than their predecessors, because it’s worth it.
The more dynamic your business develops, the more your site evolves. The need to keep up with the times dictates the constant development of technology: today your site is convenient and fast, but tomorrow a new breakthrough in IT may occur and again will be where to strive. Based on our experience, we can say that most large projects update the functionality and design of their site at least once every 3-5 years, industry leaders do it even more often. Don’t be afraid to develop your company’s website to keep your website competitive. Then the site will be the most effective tool for developing your business.