A robust development management process is needed for a successful website project, and for the process to be effective, there must be a checklist of essential items that must be addressed.

Too many developers and designers get right into the process without first putting out a solid plan. It’s critical to divide your time wisely for planning when you’re starting to build a website.

To make things easier for you during the web development process, I’ve put together a web development checklist with ten must-haves for your next project.

 

1. Secure Your Domain 

Get your domain name as soon as you can. There’s a chance the domain name you want will be gone forever once it’s gone. If you wait too long, your shortlisted domain may become quite expensive due to domain hoarding.

SSL certificates should also be considered. SSL certificates are now favored by Google as a key metric for determining the ranking website, therefore implementing SSL on your site will provide it a much-needed boost.

 

2. Choose Your Hosting and Storage Provider

Of course, if you don’t have a dependable web hosting, you won’t be able to run your website. Consider your web host to be a piece of property on which your home (your website) is built.

A good web host includes a number of valuable features. For starters, you’ll need something that’s dependable (at least 99% uptime), secure, scalable, and capable of providing technical support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Set up web hosting and storage options as soon as possible. This is especially crucial because your web hosting package must be large enough to accommodate your scripts and technology. If you’re developing websites with Ruby, for example, you’ll need a hosting plan that allows you to install and execute ROR on the server.

 

3. Optimize for Search Engine

Your website won’t gain any traffic if it is optimized for search engines.

The process of locating, indexing, and distributing web content more easily is known as SEO (search engine optimization). The primary function of SEO is to help consumers find your company’s website, among millions of others. As a result, SEO is an indispensable part of any effective digital marketing plan.

Proper SEO makes the website rank in the first page of SERP. This is due to the fact that people generally scan and review the first two pages of the search results.  Some of the most popular SEO strategies include Content Marketing, Backlinks, Guest Posting etc.

 

4. Must be Fast

Page load time impacts the user experience and your website rankings, which directly affect your conversions and bottom-line results. In other words, slow speed can be the death of any website.

Over half (53%) of mobile consumers abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load, according to Google’s own data. If your website is slow, you have no chance of converting these visitors.

Most websites will require a considerable amount of effort to improve page performance, so it’s crucial to know when you can be confident that you’re in the clear.

One of the great tools I recommend to measure your page speed is GTmetrix. It’s is an industry standard, and it’s free!

 

5. Map Out Your Web Design

Web development is a complicated task. Whatever your project entails, it will necessitate some amount of design expertise. This means your web development checklist should include design considerations.

Always communicate with your designers and arrange your project accordingly. If you’re coding a WordPress theme, make sure you talk to your designers about PSD files and designs. Make sure everyone is on the same page with both design and functionality.

 

6. Integrating External Tools

There are a plethora of fantastic tools and services available to spice up and improve your web development process. MailChimp and FluentSMTP, for example, are useful services if you need to send emails to your clients or users on a regular basis.

Make a list of the criteria that your web development project must meet, then create a shortlist of tools and services that will meet those demands. You can reduce your workload and save time and effort by incorporating external tools and services into your web development workflow.

 

7. Optimized Your Web Content

Have you ever heard the phrase “content is king”? That’s because your website’s unique and well-optimized content is what sets it apart from the competition. Not to mention your blog articles, books, photos, videos, and other forms of information.

To begin with, content is what educates, informs, or entertains visitors to your website. This reaffirms their decision to put their faith in you and purchase your product.

Second, optimized content might assist you in becoming more recognizable online. This is due to the fact that there is no better place for your target keywords to be than throughout your content.

Third, high-quality material is something that other websites would use as a point of reference if they are looking for a quality source. Not to mention opportunities for greater social media engagement.

Thus, high-quality and well-optimized content should be the core of your website if you want to succeed.

8. Generate an XML Sitemap

 The creation and maintenance of an XML sitemap is an important part of any SEO strategy.

Your website will not be indexed if you don’t have a sitemap since search engines won’t be able to scan it properly. Make XML Sitemaps a priority in your web development checklist to ensure that you can effectively implement them for the benefit of your web project.

Even the best developers have to deal with major errors and bugs from time to time, thus worrying about errors in your code is meaningless.

When problems or bugs arise in your code, you should be prepared to resolve them as soon as possible so that your project does not suffer. Even if you can code a fantastic application or website today, web development is an on-going process, prepare to continue to upgrade and maintain your website in the future.

 

9. Legal Compliance

There may be a lot of compliance factors to consider depending on what type of website you’re building (notably an e-commerce website). While developers like myself are not qualified to provide legal advice, the following are a few things to consider:

• Create a privacy policy and make it public.
• If the website utilizes cookies, create a popup to obtain consent.
• Ensure the website is accessible to those with disabilities.
• Create and publish your website’s terms and conditions.

10. Optimize Security Settings

For web development, security settings are crucial. Your website will be vulnerable to hackers and other malicious users if you don’t have a solid security strategy in place.

Poor security practices, such as improper file access rules, out-of-date software, irresponsible content management, or even poorly coded websites, jeopardize millions of websites every day. Make sure to address all security aspects while developing your website so its won’t jeopardized it down the road.

Conclusion

There are a lot of things that you need to keep in mind when it comes to having a website for your business. But there is no need to be overwhelmed as you can tackle it one-by-one with the help of the checklist above.

Hopefully, with our checklist, your web development project will be breezy. Remember web development is not easy, but with the right plan you will have the confidence to tackle it head on. If you need help implementing any of the above suggestions, please contact me! You know I am always happy to help.