This article will help you choose the right website for your business. If you are already running a business or are considering starting one, having a website has probably crossed your mind, and it should. Today, not having a website for your business is the equivalent to a business not having a telephone number, many years ago. It is one of the tool that almost every business needs when they open their doors. There are many website options out there so the task of choosing the right one for your business can be confusing. This article can help you simplify the shopping and selection process and help you understand your options.Websites can often be put into one of two categories:

1. Static website (sometimes referred to as “brochure websites”, “flat websites”, “stationary website”, etc.) These are simpler websites where the webpages do not change, unless someone edits the HTML codes.
2. Dynamic website (often described as “database-powered websites”.) These are the websites with more features and functions.)

Static websites are often built with just HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) coding alone, or with XHTML (Extensible HyperText Markup Language) and CSS. Static websites do not change its pages or content on its own unless someone with HTML (or XHTML) knowledge edits or changes the codes. However, a dynamic website can change its own pages on its own. While many dynamic website use HTML and CSS or XHTML and CSS for the visible-portion, they often include some type of scripting language behind-the-scenes. Some examples of these scripting languages are PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) along with a database such as MySQL (often pronounced as “my sequel”).

Some examples of dynamic websites you’re likely familiar with are shopping websites such as Amazon or ebay. Non-shopping websites such as Bing or Google are also “dynamic websites”. These search-sites create webpages based on user-input and interaction. For example, if you search for “cars”, the webpage with the results generated are very different than if you searched for “food”. So one of the big differences between “dynamic websites” compared to the “static websites” is that your actions on their website can change how a page or content is displayed.

A static website simply cannot do many of the things that a dynamic website can do. If you’re a brick and mortar business and you have no plans for e-commerce, a static website may be enough for you. However, if you are a business that has plans for future e-commerce or if you’re planning on being an e-commerce business then a dynamic website should be your choice.

Dynamic websites are not just for e-commerce-types of business or larger businesses, they also make great tools to help simplify things for smaller business. A dynamic website can be programmed to handle many tasks that can reduce work for its owner. An example is, if your business involves paperwork/forms, why not have the forms built into your website? This one simple idea has numerous benefits for a small business owner:

• Avoid unreadable handwriting on written forms
• Let your website correct mistakes before your clients/customers submit forms
• Save on printing costs
• Avoid requiring additional labor for data-entry work
• Eliminate the additional needed time to check paperwork
• Eliminated the extra step of converting information from a paper-form to a computer database or a computer document

So while a dynamic website may cost more upfront, this one example shows us that even with one “simple” feature, the investment can be well worth it in the long-run!

In the following articles, we will discuss static websites and dynamic websites in greater detail. We will point out the pro’s and con’s of the two and even share some simple ideas how to make better use of your next website!

If you have questions regarding any type of website for your business, you can check out our company website or you can contact us. We custom build many types of websites; static websites, dynamic websites, platform-based websites, etc. So if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.