Choosing the Best Web Development Solutions for Your Business

You spend most of your home budget on the rooms you spend the most time in. Spaces like your living room are often a priority — they need to be comfortable, attractive, and functional.

Your website is your business’s virtual living space. It is the space where your clients first find you and form their first impression during the nurturing and sales process.

While you want a stunning web presence, you must also stick within your business budget and needs.

Take a closer look at some of the most popular web development solutions and learn how to choose the right web design company for your business.

Key Considerations when Choosing a Web Development Agency

According to recent data, 71% of businesses have a website. A simple title and product page are not enough to stand out amid that level of competition.

Here are the top considerations when choosing the right web developer for your business:

• Budget: Web development solutions include both upfront costs and ongoing maintenance expenses.
• Time to Launch: Custom-built sites take longer to build than pre-made templates.
• Future Expandability: Consider your needs over the next few years and what new features or functionalities you might need to add.
• Editing Ease: Understand what changes you can handle on your own and when you will need a developer’s help.
• Proven Track Record: Portfolio work that showcases experience with projects that deliver quality, reliable results.
• Support: Continued support and website maintenance keep your site functional and up-to-date, especially If your organization lacks design or development expertise.

5 Web Development Solutions for Your Small Business

Choosing a web development solution can feel overwhelming, given the many options available. You might worry about making the wrong choice.

Let’s make it easier by narrowing those down to the top five options.

1. Custom Web Development

Custom web development is a comprehensive approach that provides tailored web solutions to your needs. It brings vision to life with custom-coded websites designed from scratch.

Custom web development delivers end-to-end solutions for your entire digital presence — including web design and app development. Think of it as the charcuterie board of web design, allowing you to choose your needs.

Pros:

• Web development companies can handle everything from inception to ongoing maintenance.
• You receive a full-customized strategy with end-to-end support. This will be your go-to solution if you want a hands-off approach to design and development.
• Working with a web development company means you can customize every part of your web presence and user interface without restrictions.
• Custom websites are built with content management in mind, making adding pages, images, and text easy without compromising design or user experience. This focus on a clean CMS helps prevent future redesigns due to poor content management.
• Custom websites are typically great for Technical SEO. They offer a clean, lightweight codebase that avoids unnecessary bloat from pre-built themes or plugins.

Image from Forbes

Alt-Text: Web traffic from mobile devices over time

Cons:

• The initial cost is higher than some of the other solutions.
• Web development companies tailor websites from the ground up, which takes longer to complete than a plug-and-play website. Before committing to custom web development, plan the time needed to get your website designed and developed to completion.

2. Site Builders

With the rise in website demand, developers offer more DIY options through site builders. Site builders are drag-and-drop solutions that allow anyone to assemble a website without coding skills.

Some popular site builders include Wix and Squarespace. They support the entire site-builder experience, including hosting and design. WordPress Gutenberg is also growing, allowing WordPress lovers to use block-based elements to build a full website. 

Pros

• Site builders are some of the fastest solutions for building a website. You can easily drag and drop a simple element into your browser and complete your website quickly.
• No coding experience is required since the builder is designed with a prebuilt drag-and-drop feature and often includes prebuilt templates.

Cons

• Site builders limit your creativity with design. It’s a ‘what you see is what you get’ situation, making customization difficult.
• Functional requirements needed for future expansion and growth can be limited due to restrictions with the site builder. Developing new functionality or modifying existing integrations can be challenging.
• Monthly subscription fees are common with site builders and may increase over time.

3. WordPress Templates

WordPress is one of the most popular website platforms. It offers pre-built themes to help new business owners with limited web development budgets.

These themes take most of the work out of web design that would have come from site builders by putting the page together for you. You just need to swap out images and paste your content into the text blocks.

Pros

• WordPress templates are one of the fastest and easiest ways to set up a website. You don’t need to drag and drop elements or build any part of your pages, as the template has all the elements ready.
• WordPress has an expansive library of templates that match all types of businesses. It is the ultimate plug-and-play solution for fast, simple websites for beginners.

Cons

• Templates have limited customization options unless you know how to code. The third-party template developer controls what you can customize and which updates are available.
• While the template helps you gain initial visibility, your site will lack uniqueness using a template also used by other businesses.
• Templates often include excessive bloatware that potentially leads to slower page load times. Significant optimization requires adding additional plugins to improve page load speed. Ironically, the fewer plugins a WordPress website needs for functionality and performance – the better.

4. WordPress Page Builders

The WordPress page builders sit between premade templates and a custom builder. These plugins simplify the web design process without having to understand coding.

Pros

• WordPress page builders offer more flexible design options than rigid prebuilt templates. Some page builders are included with prebuilt templates to provide more flexibility. Fewer restrictions with page builders enable you to customize and adjust your web design layout as needed.
• Popular page builders we’ve worked with include Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Oxygen, Bricks Builder, WP Bakery, and Nectarblocks. Nectarblocks is quickly becoming a favorite for us. The notable advantage is that it’s built on top of Gutenberg, WordPress’s core block editor.
  

Cons

• Page builders are more complex than templates, which may overwhelm beginners.
• Because WordPress page builders aren’t a part of your initial WordPress setup, you may need to pay a monthly subscription fee if it’s not included with a prebuilt template.
• Page builders can slow down your site. They’re like a box of snacks: you might only like a few, but you must buy the whole box. Page builders are backed with prebuilt elements and features to make design easy. However, Page builders often cause “bloat” because they add significant extra code (scripts, stylesheets, and font files) to your website, even if you don’t use all the available features in your design. This results in slower loading times and a heavier overall site due to the additional processing required to render all this unnecessary data on each page load.

5. Custom WordPress Development

WordPress custom development allows you to mix and match some of the best web development features with the ease of WordPress’s plug-and-play capabilities. Your website begins with a custom design, created in collaboration with your developer, and is then coded to meet your specific needs. You’ll need a web developer to build the website from scratch based on your unique requirements. Once your website is live, you can choose between a web developer or WordPress’s user-friendly features to maintain the site.

Pros

• A custom-developed WordPress site allows you to scale and grow as your business changes. It is also streamlined, only using code you actively need, which avoids unnecessary bloat and boosts your overall site speed.
• You can build your website around your content rather than trying to fit your content into a limited template.
• Your backend CMS can be built completely flexible to your needs, so you can make simple changes using WordPress’s user-friendly interface without compromising your web design.
• Custom WordPress Web Design can be built into WordPress’s native Gutenberg builder, which is the current focus and future for WordPress Developers.

Cons

• WordPress custom development requires extra time, and upfront cost. Your developer needs to write code and customize each page to your business. Be sure to discuss timelines with your Developer.
• While WordPress does have many user-friendly features, a custom site will require technical expertise for significant changes.

How Do I Select a Web Development Company?

Each business is unique, and so are their web development solutions.

A custom-built site is ideal, yet it is not feasible for everyone’s budget. As you decide which solution is best, remember to look beyond initial setup costs and consider long-term profits.

Not quite sure which option is best for your business’s needs? We can help.

Contact us for the best web development option to fit your budget, scale, and goals.