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Developing and Maintaining a Website

This article will cover the process for developing a website, including technical aspects and general issues such as purpose, content, design, and maintenance considerations.

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Updated:

April 28, 2023

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Website planning; Image: bigstockphoto.com/adrian825

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Even in the age of social media, a website is a valuable tool for farm, food, and agricultural businesses. Prior to investing time and money into the development of a website, take the time to consider its purpose. Reasons for having a business website include:

Sharing business-related information with the public
Serving as a hub for content and with other communication channels (email, social, etc.)
Marketing your business's products, services, events, experiences, etc.
Driving sales through e-commerce
Providing customers with value-added content (recipes, DIY instructions, etc.)
A sign of business legitimacy

Whatever your reasons for developing a website, your prevailing concern should be the public and consumers. Determine the value of a website to them, make that your initial focus, and build from there. That value to the public should drive your purpose and website content.

There are many types and forms of content that can be included on a website. At a minimum, basic information should include the business name, logo, and contact information, including address, phone number, and email address or embedded contact form. Beyond that, you may be interested in sharing:

Description or history of your business
Descriptions and photos of your product(s). If you provide a service and your customers would want to know the equipment you work with, share that too.
Information on how to purchase your products or hire your services
Photos and/or videos of behind-the-scenes or in-the-field activity that customers and the public would be interested in
Information about special projects you are doing
Map and/or directions to your location, as appropriate
Relevant content such as articles, videos, etc. (self-created) or links to other sites
Ideas/suggestions on uses for your products
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Calendar or events
Links to social media profiles (Facebook, Instagram, X [Twitter], LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, etc.)
Vision and/or mission statement
Customer account pages

If you're unsure of what content to include on your website, talk to customers about what they most want to know about your business. And spend time looking at the websites of other farms and small businesses, whether they're similar to yours or not. You'll likely see many similarities in the information provided, as well as features unique to individual businesses. Once you focus on your ideas for your website, you may want to ask your customers for feedback on those ideas to ensure that you are providing value to them.

Now that you're focused, let's talk about some basic development and management issues.

Website Development

Domain Names - Your Online Identity

One of your first decisions when developing a website is what your URL, or web address, will be. Ideally, you want it to be the same as your business's name, as it makes it easier for consumers to find you online. However, there are reasons why it might not be possible or desirable to have your business name as your website URL. If your business has a lengthy or easily misspelled name, for instance, you may opt for a shortened version that is commonly used in everyday conversation, similar to a nickname. Another situation that may arise is that the name you want may already be owned by another business. Be careful that your "second choice" isn't so close to the other company's URL that it causes confusion.

Purchasing and registering a domain name can be accomplished through one of several domain registration sites, such as GoDaddy.com or Network Solutions. Many of the website builder services, such as Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, and others, also provide domain registration as part of their service package.

Building a Website Yourself vs. Using a Website Builder Service vs. Hiring a Consultant

You have three options when building a website – you can build it yourself, subscribe to a website builder service, or hire a consultant. The advantages and disadvantages of each option are outlined in the table below.

WordPress is the dominant platform for building a website yourself. There is an abundance of themes and plugins, both free and paid, that allow you to create and control virtually every aspect of your website's design and features. If you, or a trusted family member or employee, has technical experience and confidence with building and hosting a website, this may be an option to consider. If you choose to work with a consultant, many choose this solution.

A few of the currently popular website builder services include Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace, among others. The main advantage of using such a service is that it is virtually point-and-click. Most of the technical details are handled for you, not only making it easier but often a much faster way to build a website. Web builder services also provide guides and tutorials on website development that can be helpful if you are less experienced.

Hiring Professional Web Services

Hiring a consultant to build, update, and maintain your website is an option, whether you decide to use a platform where the consultant builds and maintains the site or uses a website builder service. You should view hiring a web designer as a partnership since communication, collaboration, and contributions on both sides are necessary. Upon identifying several options, meet with each possible consultant to discuss your needs, their areas of expertise, the range of their services and associated costs, and their expectations for a successful working relationship. You should also look at other websites they have built and/or maintain and talk to some of those sites' owners about how good the consultant is to work with and how quickly they respond to problems or "emergency" updates. Also, before you hire a consultant web builder or sign up with one of the builder services, make sure you understand the "ownership" of your website content. If something goes wrong, you need to be sure you can get that material and move to a different consultant or website builder service.

Whether you choose to build your website yourself or use a website builder service or hire the services of a professional, the issues discussed in the remainder of this article will serve as a valuable foundation for the development of your website.

Online Stores

The ability to have an online store, or conduct e-commerce, is one reason many business owners decide to develop a website. Many of the website builder services (Wix, Weebly, etc.) offer their own integrated e-commerce platform. There are also e-commerce platform services such as BigCommerce, Shopify, Grazecart, and Square that allow you to build your online store using their service and then link to it from your website built on another platform.

Whether you build the website yourself, use a website builder, or hire a consultant, there are many considerations that you should work through before making the dive into e-commerce and deciding upon a platform, including features, costs and fees, payment processing, and security. You can read about these considerations and more in the article Management Considerations for Implementing E-Commerce in a Food or Farm Business. In addition, if your primary goal with having a website is to facilitate online sales, this could drive your decision regarding website development, so really spend time thinking through your reasons and assessing your e-commerce goals.

Design

Website design is a highly personal and subjective matter. Over time, website design has evolved as technology has improved. To see how website design has evolved, check out the site Internet Archive Wayback Machine. This site archives websites over time, allowing you to view how an individual website looked 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, or more years ago.

While there is no "correct" design, the public has expectations regarding navigational ability and visual aesthetics. Some of this is determined by industry. For instance, the expectations for a bank's website are considerably different than those for a landscaper's website. Web visitors form an opinion regarding a site's appeal and usability within seconds.

One way to approach website design is to liken it to a reference book. Consider what the consumers visiting your site will be looking for and develop webpages (aka "chapters") for each topic. Drafting a flow chart or storyboard for your website can be a useful exercise to ensure that content is organized in a logical manner.

Other web design aspects include:

Font. Typefaces and sizes should be chosen with readability in mind. Script fonts and Old English can be difficult to read and, therefore, avoided. Do not use more than 2 or 3 fonts across your site.
Colors. Decisions regarding colors should be made with both your branding and the consumer in mind. By using the same color palette that you use on your logo, signage, labeling, packaging, employee apparel, and so forth, you'll be extending your branding to your website experience, providing an important tie in consumers' minds. However, just as you would avoid certain color combinations on signs and labels, you should also avoid them on your website. You should also be sensitive to individuals with color blindness when making color decisions. The website usability.gov provides a useful overview of color blindness and web design.
Whitespace. This refers to the amount of space on webpages that is free of text, graphics, photos, and videos. Sites with little whitespace can become overwhelming, confusing, and tiring for the visitor, leading them to leave your website altogether.
Photos and videos. The use of photos and video on your website can greatly enhance the visitor experience. Photos and videos are particularly valuable if you are engaged in e-commerce, as customers want to get a sense of the product they will be purchasing.

Mobile compatibility is another important design consideration. Currently, websites are designed either responsively or adaptively. Responsive design results in a mobile web experience that mirrors a traditional desktop website experience. That is, the design and layout of site components is the same across all platforms. Adaptative design, on the other hand, tailors the website experience to fit the user's device, resulting in differences in layout that could be confusing to a user accustomed to a desktop website experience.

HubSpot offers these 8 guidelines for good web design:

Simplicity: Eliminate unnecessary design elements and make your site easy to understand.
Hierarchy: Arrange your site so visitors naturally gravitate to the most important elements.
Navigability: Make your site's navigation simple and obvious.
Consistency: The look and feel of your site should be uniform throughout.
Accessibility: Your site should be compatible with all devices (mobile, tablet, etc.).
Conventionality: Don't reinvent the wheel. Use elements and design that people are familiar with.
Credibility: Be upfront about your intent and your pricing.
User-centric: Gather user responses to all site elements to get the best user experience.

Conversely, design mistakes to avoid include:

Unreadable text
Browser and mobile incompatibility
Missing contact information
Complicated navigation
Poor organization of content
Outdated or incorrect information
Broken links
Too much content on one page
Complex backgrounds
Poor color combinations
Pages that take too long to load

Monitoring Use

Through monitoring the use of your website, you can gain valuable insight regarding the number of unique visitors, the type of device they use when visiting your site, length of time visitors stay on your site, the pages they visit, and how they navigate through your site, among other data. The most well-known and accessible method of collecting this information for your website is through Google Analytics. After creating an account, you simply add a piece of code to your website. Carve out time to regularly analyze the data that you collect and/or receive regarding website use and performance, and use that information to drive your decisions regarding site updates.

Updates and Maintenance

Properly maintaining your website is mandatory. An old, outdated website with incorrect information, broken links, or irrelevant content can turn visitors away, particularly if you have an online store as part of your website.

Website updates can, and should, be made to both content and design, though the frequency with which each should occur will differ. Content updates should be performed when there are changes to the business, such as special events, highlighted employees, products, services, pricing. Depending on the exact nature of your business, you may find it useful to at least review your website on a quarterly basis. Design updates will be a less regular occurrence. Consumers typically prefer consistency to their web experiences and frequent, radical changes can be unsettling.

Soliciting feedback from customers and website visitors is one method for assessing whether updates or maintenance are required, as well as specific types of changes or updates to implement. While you have business purposes for having developed a website, from a consumer perspective, your website needs to be something that they find valuable, easy to use, and that serves their needs.

Summary

Developing a website can be as big or small a project as you make it. If web development seems overwhelming, start small and focus on high-priority content items that you want to share with your customers and the public and that they want from you. Then, as you become comfortable, you can expand and further develop your website, keeping it aligned with your business goals. Keys to a good website include clear, concise, and accurate content and simple, easy-to-follow navigation.