Blog

Having being immersed in the web development industry for well over 20 years, the Codeminers team have heard all of the myths and whispers that have been darted around the Internet, but with so many rumours flying around it can be hard to know which ones you should be paying attention to.

With this in mind, we wanted to ensure that you’ve got all of the facts before you head into your next web project.

Myth 1: ‘Not all websites need to be mobile responsive’

These days, our mobile phones are practically an extension of the human arm, with users spending two and a half hours per day on average, using their device online due to the introduction of smartphones such as iPhones & Androids to the industry. With this in mind, it really IS important to ensure that your site is responsive on mobile devices. 

Without a mobile-friendly version of your website, all of the hard work that you’ve put into making the desktop experience exactly how you want it to be could be in vain. Stats vary from industry to industry, but most businesses (especially in e-commerce businesses, where mobile is dominating online sales) are starting to see more users visiting their site via mobile devices and less on traditional desktop PCs. Showing users a clunky version of your site, that requires extra scrolling, blurry images and long loading times is a sure-fire way to put them off, and you’ll notice a huge increase in your bounce rate. 

Image source: Quick Sprout

Myth 2: ‘Once your website is finished, you don’t need to touch it again’

In the digital world, updates and changes happen almost on a daily basis. From CMS upgrades, to search engine updates, you do need to ensure that your website is being maintained in order to help it perform at its best and help you to achieve the objectives that your business has put in place. 

Whilst you may be completely happy with the way your site looks, from a technical perspective it’s important to undertake regular testing, to see which pages are performing well, to keep an eye on additional/bespoke functionality to ensure that it’s working correctly and delivering the results you want, to develop new features and content, to keep the user returning to your site and of course, to be optimising your site for search engines (which is an ongoing effort, thanks to Google’s ever-evolving algorithms!) 

Keeping your website as up to date as possible by utilising new and fresh content including blog posts, on-page content and high authority backlinks from other websites, help to keep your website ranking well and ensures that your user has a positive experience whilst they’re on your site – which in turn, gives them a great impression of your business.  

It’s important to remember that a brand new website doesn’t always mean stability. Often, large companies and corporations will employ a number of web developers in order to maintain their websites. These teams will ensure that it runs seamlessly with little/no glitches both front end and back end, as well as being on hand 24/7 if an issue does occur.

Myth 3: ‘Creating a website classes you as a web developer’

With platforms such as Wix and 101 IONOS making it easier than ever to build and host a website without the need of a highly skilled team, we’ve seen more and more websites coming into the digital landscape. However, it doesn’t always class the maker as a web developer. 

Experienced web developers have skills in a number of areas such as HTML, CSS and website performance optimisation in order to keep your website performing at its best as well as helping it to look more professional overall. Furthermore, they are experienced in building sites using more complex, secure and enabling content management systems (CMS) than some of the more ‘starter website’ systems, such as GoDaddy and Wix. Whilst these sites can be great for simply having an online presence, technical support and more complex features are often lacking. 

Web development demands a high level of familiarity with simple coding before proceeding into the more advanced developments of website building, such as front end CSS and integrations with other software via APIs. For example, if you want any leads that you collect on your site to pull automatically through to your CRM system, or if you have more complex functionality requirements, a web developer will be able to help you make the best decisions and provide you with a website which helps you to achieve your business objectives. 

Myth 4: ‘Web developers need to know every coding language’

It’s often assumed that any web developer can build any website, but due to the many variations in coding language, you’ll need to find the right type of developer for your project.  

Different elements of the build, along with the developer’s preferences or experience will dictate what kind of coding language is utilised. For example, for the front end of the website, a front end developer will often utilise CSS in order to create the styling and visual elements, whilst a back end developer will connect your new website to the server using Java or PHP.

In order to make sure that your website helps your business to meet set goals and KPIs, we’d recommend choosing to work with an agency or team that has experience across a wide variety of languages and can, therefore, recommend and create your website with your objectives in mind.  

Are you on the search for someone to help with your web development project? Get in touch with one of our experts to see how Codeminers can advise and help you with your upcoming project. 

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more tips and industry news.