Upgrading a Company Website by 2020

The creation and development of a company website by 2020 is a project! [1]

We all thought in the past that “in the future”, creating a website for a company would be easy, with a click of the mouse and boom, all set.

Little did we know that it could actually get more complicated.

This year we decided to update Visionnaire's website, improving communication, expanding offerings and generally seeking to bring more in line with our strategic plans. Even though it was a site upgrade (ie not a completely new website development) it took a lot longer and took a lot more work than first imagined.

 

Website is Strategy

For starters, there is no way to write or update a company's website without first talking about the company's strategy.

We already knew that, as we work with several clients who ask us to make systems that are integrated with their websites, but whenever we come across the work itself, we are surprised.

In fact, this year I was very surprised, because among the goals of the new site, besides improving in general, was the complete integration and search engine optimization (SEO) and the organization for better positioning for the ad platforms. (like Google Ads). Which made the strategic positioning work aligned with the new way of marketing (the digital form).

A company website starts in strategy. There is no way to think that with a mouse click the site will be ready. Of course we know that there are a lot of tools that promise this currently on the market, but it's not about the technical part I'm talking about, but about the part of what goes on the site, the content itself, and it's no use making vague content, it has to writing with quality, and for that, one has to know the strategy of the company.

Visionnaire's strategy is well defined, we are a Brazilian software factory that works with modern technologies, but without losing the essence of over 23 years of experience in the market. "We are beyond our time," and this is reflected in our name, we are "Visionary."

Also within our strategy is speed, using agile techniques and tools, we develop software quickly, which meets the speed needs of our customers.

Software is no longer unique to big-money companies, software and technology are the strategic differentiators of many companies of all sizes and systems of all complexities, so we always strive to stay ahead. Companies that invest more in technology are high performance companies, and stand out most in their areas of expertise. [2]

We are in the Agile era, the DevOps (Development and Operations) era, the Pipelines, Cloud, Continuous Integration, and Continuous Delivery era. The software development and deployment process has changed a lot over the last few years, and Visionnaire is on the cutting edge. [3]

 

  

Website is SEO

Besides strategy, website is SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

There is no way for a company to have an Internet presence by 2020 without optimizing that presence for search engines. There is no way for a company to have a system that runs on the Internet and mobile phones without optimizing either. The old way of just having a "static HTML page" on the web is dead, and who does it is not found.

In addition to SEO, the site has to have a structure to be easily integrated with paid ad systems (like Google Ads, formerly called AdWords). There are a lot of techniques and gimmicks for both SEO and Ads, and Visionnaire is at the forefront of that as well. A better prepared site for all this has more reach, with less costs.

 

Website is Mobility, and More

It was not today that the mobile world has passed the web world in hits, it has happened for years, and a modern website has to be optimized for the mobile world.

Thought it would be easier to develop website in 2020 is it? So, today sites have to be responsive, have to work for dozens (look at one day we'll get hundreds) of browsers, have to support AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), have to have modern design, images, videos, but At the same time has to be very fast, can not have many images and videos (go understand ...).

It has to have a way for your customers to interact with you in real time, it has to have various scripts and ways to know which pages are most viewed, what the customer was most interested in, how they came to you, how they will continue talking to you. you, and all of that, of course, quickly.

It has to be available in multiple languages, it has to be on cloud servers with replications and caches around the world, it has to contain monitoring, database, backup alarms, it has to be in some container or Docker for quick deployment and maintenance, It has to have security, HTTPS and certificates (only this part already deserved a single post because it can be very complex).

And you still have to do it all with a system behind it, a Content Management System (CMS), because if you do it without a tool, double or triple the amount of work and time required. [4]

Still think a site is “just” an 80's “HTML page”?

 

Computers Solve, But Also Bring Complexities

If you think about it, making a modern business website by 2020 may not be that simple.

Computer science clearly solves many problems, but sometimes brings many complexities that did not exist before. I miss my college days in computer science where you did “everything” on just one PC.

Today we have the Internet, the Web, the TVs, the tablets, the cars, the dashboards, the videos, the audios, the podcasts, the cell phones (only on cell phones there should be a thousand different models), by now you should feel that It's not simple to develop websites and systems by 2020!

Oh, I miss my “PCzinho” of 1986… :-)

Sergio Mainetti Jr. is Director and Co-Founder of Visionnaire.

 

Grades

[1] I know it's not 2020 yet, but we are already heading towards the end of 2019, and following one of the goals of our new site, we want to be more aligned with SEO (Search Engine Optimization), so by that time 2020 convert much more than 2019 :-).

[2] Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps: Building and Scaling High Performing Technology Organizations. Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble and Gene Kim.

https://www.amazon.com/Accelerate-Software-Performing-Technology-Organizations/dp/1942788339

[3] As I always say, it is much better to be on the “here side” of the wave, in front of the wave, rather than behind the wave, so it is “much easier” to surf. :-)

[4] Glad Visionnaire has its own Content Management System (CMS), Visionnaire WebPublication, which has greatly optimized our work. If it weren't for the tool, our work and time on this project would be much larger.

https://www.visionnaire.com.br/en/corporate-portals-and-sites/