Blog

Developing your own website is never easy; we know this from first-hand experience. There are a lot of moving parts that all work together to make for a seamless user experience. It can be a lot harder when there’s a minefield of additional software needed to manage your website and upgrade your online brand presence. We know for many business owners, this can be very overwhelming and confusing, making it difficult to understand which tools are right for them.

In this blog post, we have focused on the most important digital applications for businesses. Offering all-important functionality, user experience and value for money. So you can effectively meet both your users’ needs and business objectives. Here’s what we recommend you take a look at…

Content Management System

Arguably one of the most important parts of setting up your website is choosing the right Content Management System (CMS). A CMS platform helps you manage your content published via your website. An essential when you are both pre-populating and updating your website. 

If you’re looking for a quick set-up, efficient and multi-use CMS take a look at WordPress. Also known for developing the best website builders for businesses, it easily allows you to establish a strong brand presence and scale your business. Using the plugin architecture, extensive theme support and advanced security features. The easiest way to curate a bespoke website, that is safe and secure in no time. 

If you want a more robust, advanced and effective CMS, we recommend Umbraco. Umbraco’s open-source CMS allows you to effectively manage and publish content. Holding features like cross-platform capability and intuitive editing, helping you easily manage your content; in the best way for your business. Some specific features include infinite editing, image cropper, multi-device previews and scheduled publishing.  Learn more about Umbraco and how we can help implement this software here. 

Website Analytics

You can’t have a great website without a good user experience. And to understand your users you need to monitor important web data. Using analytical tools, like Google Analytics helps to deliver better results to your users. Even though Google has announced the end to third-party cookies, they have added additional privacy properties, so this can still be used on your website. 

It allows you to track and monitor customer behaviour, user experience device functionality and more. And what’s even better – it’s free! So you can gain in-depth insights into user experience and website performance, without any cost for your business, whilst delivering better results. A win-win.

Team Collaboration 

If you’re working with your colleagues on updating your online brand presence and updating your business website, we recommend trying out a digital collaboration tool, like Miro. Whilst not particularly website orientated, it allows us to create notes and designs on a range of projects and iterate the working process within all related tasks. 

When starting out you can create dedicated boards on project management, research and design and agile development. Helping us better communicate and collaborate with our development team and complete digital solutions knowing we haven’t missed anything. 

Here at Codeminers, we collaborate with your business to provide the best digital solutions that suit your organisational and online user’s needs. 

Productivity Apps

Whether a large organisation or a small start-up business, having effective communication with your team is key to your success. With more teams working remotely, it’s no surprise that applications like Microsoft Teams and Slack have become more popular, streamlined and incorporated in more businesses. 

Utilising instant messaging systems, allows you to keep in touch with your team, no matter where you are. As long as you have Wi-Fi connectivity. With larger organisations using Microsoft Teams, as a key communication tool to secure meetings, collaborate on projects and save files into the cloud storage. Helping your team operate, no matter what the circumstances.

Timesheet Management

If your business has tasks and projects that need to be completed, invest in time management software. Utilising these systems from the start can help streamline work processes, add more transparency and accountability for your team. Helping you track hours spent on individual tasks, holistically within a specific project. 

The biggest contenders on the market are Get Harvest and Monday.com. Each software helps you manage team performance, internal budgets, provide real-time data insights and integrate third-party workflows. Helping you transform time into revenue, with less effort – helping your business to thrive. 

Business Automation

Looking to further automate your work processes? Take a look at Zapier, business software that allows end-users to integrate web applications used in their organisation. This can also actively be used on websites – connecting to over 2,00 apps currently in the marketplace. Including Google Analytics, Hotjar, WordPress, Shopify and Xero.

For example, if a customer buys your product or service, you may get a notification through Shopify. If you have set up a trigger path, this will tell other applications to do certain actions; like logging this purchase in Google Analytics. Helping your business streamline work processes, saving much needed time and money. Learn more about how we can automate your business, for the best results here.

Invoices and Accounting 

Whether you are an entrepreneur within a start-up business or part of a large established business, invoicing and accounting is something that cannot be overlooked. Using well-known accounting software like Quickbooks, Xero and FreeAgent can help you tackle your business expenses. Each uses the virtual databases within the cloud to effectively sort invoices, manage internal expenses and simplify payroll for employees. 

If you need to manage previous purchases and have receipts on hand, we recommend you trial Dext. It automatically classifies your expenses using Artificial Intelligence, automatically pushed to the above accounting software (depending on your business choice). Triggering an alert for the linked account to match against that transaction. 

Conclusion

With the digital landscape ever-evolving and the new year here, it is more important than ever to invest in digital solutions; to upgrade your website, reach a wider audience and establish an all-important brand presence.

If you are just setting up your website or want to understand which solutions work best for your business, our development team can help. 

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram to learn all there is to know about website development.