Dmitriy N. Full-Stack Developer

The stages of creating an internet portal

One of the main directions of companies engaged in development and promotion is the service of creating and running web portals, which are large web resources with a complex structure, diverse content and various kinds of services.

The development of such a web site is more expensive than the creation of other types of sites. However, investing money in the creation of a similar resource, may result in a good profit in future. The reason for this return on investment is a large number of features and capabilities that an Internet portal provides, both to visitors and the owner.

The main purposes of the website are to accommodate a large flow of information, to provide users with access to all the necessary data and to obtain a stable income from the sale of advertising and services.

Many web portals are developed as closed ecosystems on the Internet with the access to the employees and management only. Such websites host the information needed by the management and employees for their work. The purpose of such portals is to provide all kinds of information. They include major news resources and media as well as provide access to training materials with the opportunity to take tests and examinations.

Why is it worth buying your own Internet portal?

If a business owner plans to accommodate a large amount of information on the website, for example, news articles or blogs, he should consider the creation of a web portal. Such a resource will quickly attract the target audience. If the website content and services are regularly updated, it can help turn some visitors to regular customers. The benefit in this case will be a rise of popularity online and a large target audience.

Another option for making a profit from such an online resource is to sell advertising. These can be paid ads and banners or commercial articles and reviews.

Designing an Internet portal

This is one of the main stages of development of a web portal, which includes the following steps:

Analysis of target audience interests. It is important to determine what services will be offered on the portal.

The choice of goals and objectives. As with the development of any other Internet resource, it is important to highlight the goals that need to be achieved after the creation and launch of such a large website.

Designing the structure of the web portal. Both a client and developers need to determine the elements the future project will consist of. At this step, it is possible to estimate the budget and the scope of work to be done.

Selection of services to be installed on the site. Determining the functionality of the resource, its capabilities and services through which the web site will be implemented.

Drawing up terms of reference, which will determine the main objectives of the business and the wishes of the client.

Development of document prototypes for final work approval with the client and making changes if necessary.

Reconciliation of the project cost. Obtaining approval from the client regarding the cost of developing the portal.

All these steps are important at the stage of creating and launching a major website.

Development and programming of a web portal

In the process of creating a web portal all functions chosen for its work are realized with the help of the code. For correct work of the code some preliminary tests and checks are needed.

For each project, you need to select individual solutions. This allows you to speed up the work, convey the specifics of the project as much as possible and comply with the client’s expectations.

At this stage, the priority should be given to the website demo version development. The demo version will provide users feedback and hypotheses for the further resource development. Running a test version helps to simplify a web portal development process and save the client's expenses for portal launch.

Filling with content, testing and launching

For a large web portal the variety of content plays a key role. Therefore, filling sites of this type is a separate and more time-consuming stage. It includes the following steps:

- placing the content to the site;

- starting a website on a hosting site;

- usability check;

- bugs fixing;

- SEO and analytics.

There is one mandatory point that should be taken into consideration during the portal test launching. It is the optimization of the content and all the technical details. The main goal is to launch an online resource that will be approved by Google and get first places in search results.

To achieve this goal, the experts develop a user experience map, do some usability analysis and some other tests to find all the weak points which prevent customers from feeling comfortable while using the portal. Then they change and improve the structure of the portal so that users can work with it easily.

An important task is to set up reporting and collection of statistics. With the help of the received data, we identify target users' actions and optimize the efficiency of further work of the portal.

Technical support for the web portal

All applications and services of the web portal should be regularly checked. If a problem appears in the functioning of the resource, the tech-support and administrator should be notified immediately.

In addition to tracking basic functionality, it's important to monitor the user scenarios. Target indicators such as authorizations, registrations and payments should be recorded as well. Special systems collect statistics and in case of any deviations, certain measures should be taken to eliminate failures in the work of the web resource.

Conclusion

The web portal is one of the largest online resources. It has a complicated structure and high load of content, as well as links to third-party web resources. Its development is expensive, but it pays off well in the future. The creation of such an Internet resource is a complicated and time consuming process, which can only be trusted to professionals.