Oh, the web development process. The phrase alone makes people outside of tech cringe at just the thought of staring at lines of code. In the web development community, it’s synonymous with long nights, junk food, and lots of trial and error. However, there is no reason for the term to conjure up bad images in your mind. At least, not with WordPress.
WordPress is the most popular website building platform amongst small business websites. About 30% of business websites run on WordPress. WordPress gives web developers the flexibility needed to create great custom websites for their clients. At the same time, it also has an intuitive interface so clients can manage the site once it is complete.
If you are vetting a freelancer for your web design project, make sure you ask them what platform they use to build websites. Not only because it will affect your ability to manage the site post-launch, but because it has a direct effect on the web development process for your project.
If they tell you they build websites with WordPress, you should be jumping for joy. Why? Because both of your lives are about to get a whole lot easier. Let’s take a look at why.
An Overview of the Web Development Process
The web development process entails the hosting setup or configuration, coding, and optimization of a website before it goes live on the internet. This phase of the project generally takes just as long as the design phase of the project. However, it could be longer depending on how large or complex the project is.
The web development process begins once the client has approved the final version of the wireframes for the website. The completed version of the wireframes are high fidelity. This means they contain all the images, copy, elements, and overall design of the final website.
The great thing about wireframes is once they are approved, the design is finalized, and you already know how the website will look once it’s online. All that’s left is for your developer to code it.
Creating wireframes before going through the web development process is vital. It speeds up the project and ensures a more organized workflow. They improve collaboration and ensure that everyone is on the same page. Honestly, we’d argue they are a necessity, as they are the foundation of the entire design phase.
The benefits continue into the web development process, as it gives the developer and a big jump start that lasts through the entire phase.
If you want to read up on how creating wireframes are incredibly helpful for web design projects, check out the blog post below.
Read: Why You Need To Create Wireframes Before Developing a Website
Once the wireframes are finalized, all that’s left to do is code the site.
Of course, that’s easier said than done. However, with a tool like WordPress, you will save yourself a lot of time and energy during the web development process.
How WordPress Streamlines the Development Process
WordPress makes it super simple to pick up right where you left off in the design phase.
It’s quick installation, development shortcuts, and fully-featured Content Management System (CMS) will get your website live on the internet faster than other platforms.
Also, if you’re managing the website once it’s complete, WordPress gives you more features and options compared to other site builders. As long as you have solid computer skills, you should be able to manage your website and make necessary edits, no problem.
Quick Install
The first step in the web development process is to get your domain name (URL) hooked up to a website hosting provider. Website hosting is essentially the service that connects your domain name to the internet. It’s a necessary service you need to pay to get your site live on the internet. There are tons of website hosting providers out there, and some work better with WordPress than others.
If you are planning on building your website with WordPress, make sure to choose a hosting provider that offers a one-click install of WordPress. This way, your web developer can get started coding the website in under ten minutes.
This makes it super easy to go right from the design phase into the development phase. It also reduces potential troubleshooting and server issues that can bottleneck the project at the worst time.
Page Builder
There are several page builders available for WordPress that dramatically speeds up the web development process. Website page builders contain common, pre-coded elements that allow a web developer to build out the structure of a web page quickly.
From there, using HTML/CSS/JavaScript, a web developer can create the look and the feel of the page as dictated by the approved wireframe. Page builders used to be very hit or miss, but they are now powerful enough to be used reliably during the web development process.
However, don’t think you can install a WordPress page builder and code a website yourself. You still need to have an in-depth knowledge of web design and development to create a functional website.
Link Sharing for Review
WordPress speeds up the end of the web development process by making it simple to share the website with our clients so they can view it.
Every new WordPress website gets a “coming soon” page once it is first created. This page stays there until the developer removes it –usually done at the end of the project when it’s fully complete.
Pro tip: if you’re worried about people seeing that on your website, you can tell Google and other search engines not to index it to decrease the chances of anyone seeing it.
So, Is WordPress the best platform for Building Websites?
Honestly, it depends. We would argue that it is the best overall option for most small businesses. It’s infinitely customizable, has strong support in the web development community which will make your site viable for years to come, and it has no monthly fee.
However, that isn’t to say its the best solution for every small business. Specifically, if you want to go in an e-commerce direction, Shopify may be better depending on the scale of your store.
But for the most part, WordPress should fit almost all small business needs.
