Web Development is extremely vague… the development of any web-based technologies is considered web development. Specialized software applications, like the ones used in gas stations, restaurants, oil diggers, airplanes, and schools, as long as they are connected to the internet, can be considered web-based technologies and fall under the umbrella of web development. The use of programming languages like PHP, Python, Ruby, Java, or Node.js to interact with databases such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, or MongoDB, and to create functions that trigger manual or automatic actions, is all we need. This is the same principle applied to websites or any offline software solutions.
So, if all I need is a website, what is the best solution?
If all you need is a website, it depends on what you need your website for… so let’s unveil this:
- If your goal is to manage it yourself, and you don’t know much about code, get someone to create a WordPress installation, and then learn how to interact with the user-friendly (though not always easy) back-end.
- If you just need one page, either you make one HTML page yourself, or you can opt for the WordPress solution.
- If you need to create a personalized solution for a large team, you may want to hire a highly experienced development team made up of 1 project manager, 1 senior developer, 2 to 4 junior developers, 1 web designer who knows UX/UI and how to structure your current and future information without ruining the pre-thought system, and a marketer with neuromarketing expertise… with each salary averaging +100k/year.
- If you don’t know what you need, find out first.
- If you already know what you need and think this is easier than what I say, please tell me how!
- If you believe the best solution is social media platforms, good luck with trends changing… and offering all your content on platforms where your content has a limited lifespan. If it’s from last week, it’s gone forever (why? I’ll write my 2 cents, or the equivalent in satoshis, in a near future).
- If you’re into putting your products, and your team’s products, onto a communal platform that generates a website just like your competitors’ and every idea you communicate to your supplier is implemented into thousands of websites, including your competitors’… okay, but it’s affordable, I understand.
- If you’re curious about having ONEZ‘s opinions and adapting them for your needs, then give us a call!
Ok… after all this sellers perspective, all i need to know is…
What’s the difference between developing websites and web development?
Web development is broad. Developing websites is a branch of web development, where the main goal (at least my main goal) is to create effective, high-performing, cost-to-benefit website solutions for real needs in the present, while keeping in mind that future needs will change. The website should dynamically adapt easily and be maintained by someone else if, for some reason, I can’t do it. It should also be sellable, meaning it can run for someone else besides me, and hold value as an asset—just like real estate.
A well-built website can become a company’s main lead generator, their primary bridge between services and customers, a data saver (like storing client contacts), and more. Or, you can simplify it and combine it with CRM likle Saleforce, or Hubspot, or CallRail… or even Google Sheet which I personally think is a smart solution for smaller management companies!
So, if I build my own website on a social media platform?
If you build something on a social media platform, it will only be your website if you own that social media platform—which, if that’s true, then I really doubt you’d be reading my blog (you never know, Mark, if that’s you!).
Social media platforms—whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, X (formerly Twitter), or Google Business—are all considered websites. However, they also have apps to access their websites or the data stored on their servers. These platforms function like any other website, with a domain, a server, and a website structure. What happens is that they allow us to add personal pages with our information, but the rules are dictated by the platform owner—not by you. If they change their rules or shut down for any reason, your data and access could disappear. Of course, the platform will likely keep your data for “Advertising Segment Audiences Targeting” (fancy name, right?). I’ll write more about that later, but if you’re curious now, search for it on Google—or let AI confuse you even more!
My advice? Keep your original data (articles, pictures, videos…) in your possession. Use a hard drive, your computer, a cloud server, Dropbox (another platform owned by someone else), or, better yet, create your own website. Then share your content on social media platforms.
Why?
Because it’s the only way you can easily keep it safe for future site migrations or even for writing a book someday… who knows!
Some of our web development projects in the pipeline
We keep domains online for future development… Because as I learned from my good late friend Enrique. “Business never ends, and the right time always comes“.
- imobiliariasportugal.com
- caribbeanislands.com
- afrr.com
- aviagem.com
- newprivateject.com
- xrei.com
- surfa.com
- … and some more!
My level of confidence with Web Development
Web Development is a very dynamic topic, with a lot of new information emerging daily. Although the foundations remain the same since the beginning, being quite confident in developing any solution, and being brought together by very capable people to help with parallel issues, there is always something to correct, learn or evolve… and a lot that we can learn better!