Resources
How Is Website Development Like Building a House?
Domain Registration
First, we need to select the address where we want our house to be built. Essentially, we stake a claim on a street address, whether or not we own the land. In web-speak, this is called “domain registration” – registering the literal URL (or .com / .net etc) where your website traffic will be directed. Several large companies offer registration options – due to their considerable marketing efforts, many clients use GoDaddy, however, there are many alternatives.
The client is responsible for registering the domain and maintaining all associated fees.
Hosting
Once our house’s address is registered, we need land on which to build. By procuring adequate hosting, we ensure we have enough land for proper construction. By telling your domain registrar where your house is located (pointing the DNS), we ensure that the right URL looks at the right host.
Hosting is also digital “location” – a fast host ensures people can access your house (through quick loading times), and a secure host ensures visitors won’t find a pile of rubble when they arrive (through warding off malware and hacking). We highly recommend using a private host or one of the following larger companies, as they both provide automated site backup.
This site is hosted by Root River Studio – a private cloud server owned and managed by a trusted partner. Many of the large conglomerate web hosts will allow thousands of sites to be hosted on one server, which is a risky practice, as malware on one site can consume all the resources of the server. This leaves little bandwidth for the other sites and, ultimately slows them to a halt. Root River Studio avoids this by only hosting a limited number of sites that we at Emerald Creative have admin access to. This way we can help keep your site free of malware and ensure that every site on the server remains secure. This hosting goes above and beyond larger hosts by including SSL certificates, e-commerce security, WordPress security, malware scanning and automated malware removal, and regularly scheduled offsite backups.
The client is responsible for procuring hosting and maintaining all associated fees. CPanel access may be required.
Platform
The framework of the house first needs to be built before we can move in! Several digital platforms exist (including SquareSpace, Shopify, Wix…), however we’re specialists in WordPress – which allows the most versatility in a site outside of a custom build. WordPress development is considered front-end development, as it’s closer to building a kit house where several studs are pre-assembled, vs. chopping wood and hewing lumber.
WordPress is also FREE to install and maintain!
Plugins
Once the framework is in place, we need to install plumbing and electrical. Just like in home building, websites need different types of “wires and pipes” to correctly function. The most important plugin we use is Elementor Pro: the site builder which allows quick and responsive changes to happen instantly. Usually, other additional plugins are required for further customization. These might include plugins for image resizing, backup-and-restore, and/or spam blocking.
The client is responsible for specific plugin fees, including Elementor.
Content
Once our house is built, it’s moving day! Much like a house has different rooms, sites have different pages on which content will reside. As your house has a living room that’s usually the first location guests will see, your Front Page / Home Page often acts as an overview as your visitors access your site. Providing (or having us create) great content is what will keep your visitors coming back. Often, repeat guests drop by to see what new furniture you have on display – a blog is a great way to showcase new digital content for repeat traffic!
Design / UXUI
Sure, you’ve moved in the couches and beds… but a few pieces of furniture don’t turn a house into a home, right? Working closely with your content, we design the “rooms” (pages) so they make stylistic sense for your brand. Design aesthetically organizes your content (UI) to elicit a compelling and worthwhile visit (UX) for your houseguests. We pride ourselves on beautiful, responsive design to complement any home – digital or otherwise!
Just What Are You Talking About?!
Sometimes we get really into what we’re doing, and forget not everybody uses graphic design lingo in their everyday conversations as much as we do. For that reason, we’ve put together this helpful glossary of terms. Study up for a quiz later!
UX/UI
UX/UI
