In a city like New York, everything happens fast. Trends change on a dime, technology evolves overnight, and people are always in a hurry to get to the next appointment or meeting. Of all the fastest moving pieces, competition is the fiercest. New Yorkers don’t just compete with each other; they push the weak aside.
It doesn’t matter if you run a boutique in SoHo, a law firm in Midtown, or a food truck in Brooklyn.
Separating your business from the pack online is just as important as convincing that potential customer to convert in person.
This is where top of the line web development comes in.
This article shows how web development will help increase growth, conversions, and relevance.
A Website Is No Longer Optional
We’ll start off with the basics: a website isn’t an added bonus. It’s a business card, a selling tool, a digital face, and a miniature storefront all rolled into one. For many prospects, their first look doesn’t occur in the real world.
It happens online, and this means that if your site is designed poorly, loads too slowly, or doesn’t make sense, you are turning prospects away. They don’t even get the chance to see what you are offering, and it only takes only a few seconds to decide that.
Businesses around the globe are feeling the squeeze: innovate online or fall behind. And while New York web development is known for its sky-high standards, the concepts that demand that kind of work can be found no matter where you look. In other words, the need for web development services is not geographic; it is worldwide.
Good web development makes sure you site is:
- Appealing to the eyes
- Easy to navigate
- Mobile-friendly
- Safe and fast
- SEO ready
These are just the basics. A beautifully designed website means nothing if visitors can’t be directed to convert to real customers.
Design Is Only the Beginning
We all think about design when it comes to web development: the color schemes, typography, and layout that brings it all together. But design isn’t nearly enough to make a website what it is.
A modern website is made of several components that include:
- Front-end Development: This is the part users see and use
- Backend Development: The code and database that no one sees but is the part that makes everything work
- Content Management Systems (CMS): This part allows you to update your site easily
- Integration: Makes it easy to add other tools to the site
Figuring it out is a tall order. But if you have the right development team behind you, they will put all that together, figure out the parts that matter to you, and make it work.
Mobile Optimization Isn’t Optional
Did you know that more than 60% of all traffic to your site comes from mobile phones and that number grows every year? If your site isn’t what’s known as “responsive”, that is, not specifically developed to be attractive and easy to use on every kind of mobile device, you’re missing out on a sizable segment of your customers.
In today’s digital age, mobile-first websites are not an option. A team of skilled web developers will use responsive design methods to guarantee that no matter what size of screen your website is accessed on, it functions correctly and looks great.
This approach improves the user experience, leads to favorable SEO outcomes, and makes it likely that people will stay on your website longer. To better understand mobile optimization, follow this resource: https://www.semrush.com/.
The SEO Factor: Get Found or Get Forgotten
You may own the most impressive, beautiful, and on-brand website in your industry, but if it’s invisible in the eyes of search engines, you won’t see that pay off monetarily. This is why you want to ensure search engine optimization (SEO) is taken into account during development, and not as a secondary consideration after all the hard work is over.
There are different elements a web development team can control to aid in SEO success, including details surrounding:
- Crawlable code
- Speedy load times
- Mobile adaptability
- Security
- Structured data markup
- Meta tags and alt descriptions
Security Is Not Just for Banks
Cybersecurity is one of the most disregarded elements of web development. From client email information to credit card details, keeping your site secure is essential. Modern-day best practices include:
- Frequent software upgrades
- Safe hosting environments
- SSL encryption
- Firewalls and malware (malicious software) prevention
- Backup systems
A cyber-attack can impact more than your site being down. It can also ruin trust with consumers and inflict harm to your overall brand. That is why there is no excuse for not developing your website with security in mind. Click here to find out more about the importance of cybersecurity.
The Final Word
Every small business owner appreciates a website that works well. Deciding to work with a web development team allows you to tap into a performance-centered mindset. It capitalizes on creativity, business understanding, and top-notch skills.
But just because you may not be located in the Big Apple does not mean you should not be striving for similar expectations wherever you are. Your clients are on the internet and your competition will also be on the internet. So, the question is: How well does your website in fact stack up?