Nov 29th, 2024
Best Practices: Optimizing Web Portal Development
The term “web portal development” has been popping up more frequently in searches recently, and business owners may be concerned that they don’t understand what it means. “Web portal” sounds like a new type of technology that might require complex and difficult to learn skills, but in fact, it’s really just another way of saying “progressive web app.”
Businesses in today’s online environment can certainly benefit from understanding what a web portal is and why they might need one to better connect with their customers.
What Is Web Portal Development?
Web portal development is the process of developing an interactive app for your business that users can access via the web. A web portal is different from a website in that a website is typically a set of static, read-only pages, while a web portal offers users the ability to input data, make changes, and interact with content.
A web portal is more commonly referred to as a “progressive web app” (PWA.) There are many types of web portals and web apps, all of which serve specific purposes and meet the needs of businesses and their users in specific ways. Here are just a few examples of the types of portals a web-based company might offer.
- Self-Service Portals: These are typically places where users can come to find information about your organization – where numerous resources are gathered into a single-entry point, made searchable, organized, and filtered for users’ benefit.
- Customer Support Portals: This is where your customers might come to make contact with a helpdesk, sales rep, file bug reports or complaint tickets. Customer support portals might require a chatbot integration, submittable web form, or even online video chat.
- E-Commerce Portals: These portals allow your users to purchase goods and services. There are numerous e-commerce solutions available today that make setting up and running your own online business very easy.
- Employee Portals: These are internal pages on your site that employee’s access for things like logging timecards, responding to customer queries, and providing support.
Key Requirements and Steps for Building a Web Portal
The requirements for building a web portal will vary depending on what you want the web portal to do. There are various types of web apps that allow your customers to access your products in different ways.
- Planning and Design: The first step in web portal development is to determine the scope of your needs, meet with various stakeholders, and plan out exactly what the app’s functionality should be.
- Execution: The resources required to build the web portal will differ depending on what functionality you need. If you need a very complex solution that allows users to interact with your business in specific ways, you may need to hire developers or build an in-house development team to handle the app. If your needs are less specific, you may be able to use an out-of-the-box solution like the ones discussed below.
- Testing: Before you release your app to the public, it will need to be thoroughly tested, both by hand and via automation testing tools. Testing will need to continue throughout the app’s life cycle, and every time an update is released.
- Support and Maintenance: In addition to testing, ongoing monitoring should be set up to track the app’s performance, gather data about your users, and catch bugs when they occur. Good support and maintenance not only ensure your users will have a good experience with your product, but it also allows you to learn about your users so you can make business decisions based on their actions.
What Are the Tools and Platforms Used in Web Portal Development?
Web portal development these days is frequently done by linking multiple cloud services to provide the various pieces of functionality required to meet user needs. Organizations with the capability to build their own systems also use various programming languages and frameworks to code different parts of their platform. These days, many web apps are composed of a mix of cloud platforms and in-house solutions.
Some easy-to-use, no-code solutions for building web portals include:
- Squarespace
- Wix
- WordPress
- Magento (for e-commerce)
- PayHip (for e-commerce)
- Mailerlite (for mailing lists and landing pages)
Some more advanced tools for those with coding skills or access to web developers include:
- Gatsby
- React
- WordPress
- Custom-built solutions with JavaScript/Python/other popular web languages
What Should I Expect the Cost to Be When Adding a Web Portal?
The cost of building a web portal will vary greatly depending on your needs. Setting up a complete e-commerce solution, for example, will cost you more than implementing a simple portal to allow users to view information about your business.
In general, it is estimated that the cost of building a basic web app with a simple interface can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000.
What Are the Benefits of Having a Web Portal for Business?
There are many benefits to having a web portal for your business.
- Increased visibility to new customers
- Improved experience for your existing users
- Facilitation of communication between employees
- Enhanced customer support
- Refinement of branding/cohesion of online presence
Get started on your web portal today
There are really no downsides to increasing your online presence with a functional web app. Consider getting started with a service like Wix or Squarespace, or work with a software partner to find top-quality software developers that can design and build a custom app from scratch.
