December 20th 2018

Web Development Tips For 2019

Web development should be an ever-evolving factor to your business. There will always be room for improvement, and your website is the perfect example of this. As we look towards 2019, below are some top tips to follow that can help to ensure your website is the best it can be.

Focus on security

As technology evolves, business processes become more efficient, and consumer demand increases, the need to adopt cybersecurity also grows. Technology is providing business and consumers with faster performance and access to information at a rapid rate. However, unfortunately, cyber threats and hackers are working at a similar pace, meaning companies must invest in the latest tech to protect themselves and their clients. Data breaches and malware are a real and continuing threat, and cannot be ignored in your web development plan for 2019. Ensure your cybersecurity is up to date so that you aren’t caught out by costly downtime and hackers.

Optimise your website for voice search

You may have only just got your head around keyword optimisation and SEO, however the latest advancement for businesses to capitalise on and be aware of is voice search optimisation. This is due to the booming rise in voice-activated virtual assistants, such as Amazon’s Echo and Google’s Homehub. It means that the way consumers are searching for their products has shifted yet again compared to when manually searching online. Optimising your website to these phrases should be a priority for 2019. For example, instead of searching ‘best in-ear headphones this year,’ as a consumer normally would with a search bar, consumers now instead ask the question ‘what are the best in-ear headphones of this year?’ It is predicted that 50% of searches will be voice driven by 2020. Optimise your website sooner rather than later so that you are ahead of the game.

Invest in the latest frameworks

The structure of your web applications is another factor to consider in 2019. You cannot hope to provide the best results for clients and customers if your programming language is behind the times and outdated. Keeping up with advancements can keep your business running so that you can build applications rapidly. Your frameworks should offer database support and community support and should work to simplify business processes and the logistics element of your business.

Lavarel is one such framework. A relatively new PHP framework, it is incredibly popular, providing screencasts, tutorials and blog updates with their release. A key feature of Lavarel is a focus on rapid application development, with an interface providing helpful demands. This is handy for those looking for simple processes regarding business portals and accessing information. Choosing a framework that reduces workload by speeding up the coding and developmental process will provide a firm foundation from which to grow your business.

Chatbots

Another feature now regularly found on websites are chatbots. Chatbots are systems driven by AI that can interact with users via text, messaging or speech, depending on the type of chatbot technology used. They are a driving force in customer service and have made a considerable difference to user experience when visiting websites. Research has found that 45% of users prefer chatbots as a primary mode of communication for customer service inquiries, so if your website has yet to invest in setting up a chatbot, this should be a goal for next year. There are many reasons why chatbots have grown in popularity, including the fact that:

  • They allow for 24-hour customer service
  • They provide a more personalised service
  • They can answer consumer queries without employee intervention, thus saving valuable time and resources
  • They assist with simpler concerns of customers in real time, making customers feel valued, and, therefore, more likely to come back.

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