Due to the growing pace of the Internet communications industry, the operation of your business on the World Wide Web has become especially relevant. Your potential customers began to turn to search engines to find interesting products or services there. Almost all modern companies are presented on the Internet by their web portals and online advertising. Moreover, a large share of small and medium-sized companies began to transfer all the Internet space, as e-commerce requires much less money and resources.
That is why it is important to have your own well-designed, informative, and extremely user-friendly web portal. A fundamental element of the effectiveness of your online presence is the interaction of your portal with search engines, i.e., its search engine optimization, which allows it to be at the forefront of the results on the search query for any product or service. In this article, we will discuss when your business needs a portal and how to create it.
What is a web portal, and when do you need it?
Contents
A portal is an Internet access point, or, more simply, a site with a huge number of functions and services. A web portal can be dedicated to one topic or many, divided into different sections and levels. If you are an expert in the construction, trade, mobile phones, entertainment, computer games, etc., and you want to make money by advertising/providing your services — you need a web portal. Having developed the Internet portal, you will get an effective tool that will allow you to generate income from the vast space of the Internet.
The portal is a very complex site in terms of structure. It can contain a huge number of sections and services, including the following ones:
- news;
- articles;
- job proposals;
- dating;
- information search;
- mail;
- forum;
- subscription and mailing;
- blog;
- auction;
- booking;
- library;
- ordering goods;
- book/movie reviews, etc.
The structure of the portal depends entirely on its subject and the goals set by customers. If you have any questions or need information about the work of the portal — you should contact the team of professionals. Accordingly, if you work with a huge amount of data, and want to simplify customers’ access to your goods and services, you need to consider the creation of a web portal.
Key stages of building your web portal from scratch
The development of the Web portal requires certain resources and can only be done by a professional team of developers. Development of highly loaded portals and sites, implementation of non-trivial tasks, and creation of sites designed for high traffic require a high level of expertise. The development of the portal includes the following stages:
- Compilation of the technical task. This is a document, according to which further work on the creation of the portal will be carried out. This paper is initially agreed with the customer;
- Portal design development. Web designers outline the structure of the portal, making a user-friendly, understandable, and at the same time memorable user interface;
- The layout of web pages. This stage involves building the prototype of the portal. The final design of the project will be implemented here;
- Development, connection, configuration of the control system, and further testing. At this stage, all the main and additional functionality of the portal is being developed. It is also tested for the correctness of work, while all the functional changes are made;
- Filling the portal with content. The final stage of creating a portal involves the textual and graphical design of its pages — the final look of the portal that users will see;
- Launch online. The portal is ready to work, so there is a little thing left: the purchase of hosting services, domain registration, downloading the portal to the hosting, and its launch.
The cost of developing an online portal, as well as the cost of an online store, depends on the type, volume, and functionality. The total cost of creating an Internet portal or service includes all stages of prototyping, technical development, design, testing, and search engine optimization. Therefore, the exact cost of development is determined after consideration of the terms of the technical task or completed brief.
Types of web portals
You can select from a huge list of web portal types, and configure some basic solutions for yourself. For instance, you can use one of the following ideas:
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Public customer portals
Modern solutions help connect companies with their customers through a wide range of functionality and capabilities, including fast product and service search, constant multichannel communication, and secure transactions combined with user-friendly interfaces. The public customer portals improve self-service performance, reduce the overall cost of customer service, and ensure long-term customer loyalty.
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E-commerce portals
B2B and B2C e-commerce solutions allow business owners to plan and manage product lines, distribute and share information between suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, and customers. E-commerce companies can launch trading platforms for suppliers, and develop auctions, betting platforms, e-commerce aggregators, and other individual solutions. Such customers win the race thanks to the modern AI-based e-commerce features that help increase customer satisfaction and overall business development.
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Intranet portals
Whether working with documents, managing projects, or creating internal and external teams, an intranet portal will meet your specific needs for collaboration. Such portals are usually created from scratch, taking into account both functional and financial aspects. It is also possible to optimize and maintain already deployed intranets throughout their life cycle.
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Medical portals
Portals of clinics and medical institutions provide patients with convenient sets of tools and functionality that promote more active participation in treatment. As patient-physician interactions become more dynamic and controlled, medical portals help healthcare organizations improve their clinical and administrative operations and achieve better results.
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Travel portals
The travel portals allow business owners to create a powerful environment that brings users a positive travel experience and stands out in the competitive travel market. From the ability to select tours, hotels, online payments, and online booking mechanisms, customers are offered features that meet market requirements and are attractive to end-users.
As you can see, the opportunities of web portals are endless. Choose the appropriate type for development and enjoy the result!