Success Tips for a Corporate Website Development

On Google are you looking for how to make a business website because you want to have one? Before hiring someone to produce a website, it is necessary to be clear how this internet application can then be activated and used. In fact, it is not enough to ask a person (freelance or agency) to develop a website without facing the issue of installation. Let's start by clarifying some concepts that may seem very complex, but which in their essence are actually very simple. If you know them, they will avoid civil disputes with the programmer.

How to make a company website: the programmer will write you the code, develop the graphics and possibly the database.

A website is nothing more than a program written by a software developer through the drafting of a programming code which is divided into several text files corresponding to the number of pages that structure the site plus a certain number of "service" pages such as certain features or settings.

Let's now leave out the technical detail of how these pages interact with each other and with the web server. What matters is to know that a programmer opens a text editor and writes the code that our browser (Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) will then compile making the corresponding web page appear.  

So when for example you load the home page of a site, the browser will ask a certain server where the site is installed, the index text file written by the programmer. This file is transmitted by the server to the browser (client) which, by compiling it, will make the requested web page appear. If you click on a link, the browser will call another page of the site or another text file containing the software code and so on.

So, when you start the creation of a website from a programmer (or Web Developer), the developer will deliver you files containing a code, the necessary graphics and possibly the related database in the case of a dynamic site.

Related blog : Useful Tips and Tricks to Make Your Small Business Website a Big Hit

Making a company website: it is not always enough to just hand over the code. What else can you request from your developer?

But once the code has been written (and delivered), can the programmer's job be finished? It depends on what we asked him. In fact, if you asked him to write a site, this work can actually be considered completed when the freelance gives you the code. But you should know that this code, if it is not installed on a web server, is useless. You can upload it to your computer and in the case of a static html site at most you can view it on your computer (where you uploaded it), but certainly not on the internet! And surely, you will never be able to view it on the internet in case it was a code written with server-side technology such as asp.net or PHP.

• You rent a hosting service, but agree with the Web Developer for the settings

Where do you have to put this code for the site to work and be accessible by the web user?

Very simple. The code must be stored on a web server, i.e. on a computer capable of receiving connections from browsers and structured in such a way as to execute dynamic codes as well as withstanding certain data traffic, on pain of crashing or slowing down the site. Where can you find a web server and how can you choose it? Again the answer is simple: you can find it on the internet and rent it for a few dollars a month. There are thousands of websites offering this type of hosting service.

Before renting a web space through a hosting service, it is good to know that there are different technologies that it must be set up, that you probably need to install a database and then parameterize the code so that it connects to the database. If renting a web space is as simple as buying a book on Amazon, here instead the server setting needs a technical intervention that must compete with the person who created the website with which it is therefore important to agree in advance.

• Buy your domain, but agree with the Web Developer for the settings

The domain is the website address. It is a unique name worldwide and is used to direct your requests to the network, that is, to open a connection with the web server corresponding to the site you want to see. So when you type www.yoursite.com in your browser, this makes a request to the network which translates the domain into an IP address, or translates the domain into a numeric identifier that logically represents the exact position within the internet of the server you want to reach, through an operation called routing.

The domain is therefore simply a name that points to a server, but it is important to know that the commercial value of a site is identified in its domain or the service that users are looking for. If tomorrow, hypothetically, someone takes possession of the Google domain, he could direct all the requests that users make to Google to his site.

Buying a web domain is a very simple operation. Just connect to a site enabled for sale and buy it but also in this case then you need technical intervention to ensure that this domain points to the server where you deposited (or had it deposited by the Web Developer) the site code.

Hence, both the domain and the hosting are services that should be registered and therefore paid directly by the customer in such a way that there is transparency in the costs and above all for the customer to keep control of his own system. The customer will then provide the programmer with the credentials to access his service so that the latter loads the site code, programs the database and sets up the server correctly.

The web developer must therefore have some basic internet-working knowledge, but enough to make his code run properly.

In doing so, you who are the customer:

• Get a complete job
• Stay in control of your product and your business branding
• Check the programmer's knowledge of the subject through simple feedback and relative response time

How to make a corporate website: make your purchases, but always dialogue with your developer to help you choose.

Before proceeding to rent the hosting service, ask the programmer which type you have to choose and let yourself be guided in the choice. But complete the payment and, above all, register the domain and web space contract. Also keep in mind that, in the event of a dispute with the programmer, your domain is not tied to any technology and can therefore be directed to other platforms. Even hosting is almost always given on trial by the maintainer for 30 days, so if the programmer fails in his work, you will just need to cancel the hosting contract at no cost. Instead, keep the domain, because you could hire another Web Developer your company site or the completion of the previous work.