In today’s modern world every business needs a web presence. A well built and marketed website can help funnel new clients to your business, as well as inform existing ones about new products or services. There are many options when deciding what type of website you need. Your business is unique and your website should be too. LTCS aims to help you wade through the many options and select the best one that meets your requirements.
Website or Web Application
A website is a collection of content pages that is static in nature, meaning that the content is not updated very often. A website can only be updated by changing the content of individual pages and then uploaded the new content to the web server where the site is hosted. Depending on your business this might be all you require.
A web application is a site that has some type of software that assists in its functionality. Web applications typically have an administrative or back-end to allow an authorized user to modify what is displayed on the site. There are countless types of web applications. Below is a list of the most common.
Types of Web Applications
- Content management systems (CMS)
- E-Commerce – shopping cart
- Membership or subscription site
- Business to Business
- Message Boards
- Web Portals
The above list could be much longer but these are the most common types of web applications. LTCS will examine a few of these in more detail below.
Content Management Systems (CMS)
A CMS is the most common type of web application. For example this site was created with a CMS. They allow a business to add content to their site from a password protected administrative section. Updating your site frequently helps you better communicate with your customers as well as help your search engine placement. There are many types of content management systems. LTCS has listed its favorites below.
Popular CMS’s
- WordPress
- Drupal
- Joomla
- TextPattern
E-Commerce – Shopping Cart
An e-commerce or shopping cart web application is exactly what is sounds like, a web based market place to purchase products. Most retailers should have some type of e-commerce presence. More and more consumers are looking online to purchase the goods they want. Most e-commerce web applications also have a CMS system included.
E-commerce web applications do require some extra pieces that other web applications do not. These include but not limited to, online payment gateway, SSL certificates, and PCI compliance.
Below is a list of common e-commerce web applications.
- Magento
- Shopify
- BigCommerce
- X-Cart
Website Conclusion
Your website is an important asset in your businesses marketing tool kit. LTCS aims to help you put your best digital foot forward, as well as get your message out to as many potential clients as possible. Please feel free to contact us or fill out one of our free estimate forms and a representative will get back to.