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Need To 'Clone' A Website? Read This.
Every business owner is embracing technological means to grow their business.
Internet is the best way to expand your business and reach more clients.
To establish yourself on the internet you need a professionally built website; a personal website that showcases your business and attracts more clients.
Choosing a layout and functionality for your website could be very tricky.
There is a solid chance that you miss some very crucial information or functionality to add to your website.
So it’s actually good practice to do competitor analysis and website research to find a website that fulfills your exact business needs.
You may end up finding a website that best matches your business requirements, and want to hire a professional to build a similar website for you.
While this is a perfectly legal practice that MANY other businesses use, ideally it's best to do it right the first time.
This article completely outlines the best practices involved in creating your own similarly looking & functioning website.
Best Practice for Creating Similar Websites:
The amateur way of just downloading a website is not trustworthy or encouraged.
A website consists of many small modules and files, and missing any of these critical chunks results in a slow, insecure and inefficient outcome.
And that's if you're lucky, most of the time the downloaded website just doesn't work...
That's why one of the best practices involved in creating your own version of a website, is to build it from scratch.
A professional developer understands the functionality parameters and UI/UX of a website.
Moreover, a developer can help you add any additional functionality and aesthetic to your website, making it yours and yours alone!
Let's discuss the steps and techniques involved in developing a professional website that you'll be proud to call your own.
Research:
First of all, you need to be clear on the purpose of your website.
How is your site (despite looking & acting similar) different from your competitor's - this is important, as it's your selling point!
To help identify your selling point, you can:
- Go to your competitor’s website, find out how they are showcasing their services.
- Find a website that is functionally advanced and gives a good user experience.
- Research the best website development trends and frameworks.
Outline:
Brainstorming ideas for your website is very important, as there is almost always a need for improvement.
Decide a budget for the website development with professional collaboration.
Purchase a domain name and web hosting plan for your website.
Once you have all the necessary information, as well as the target reference website, you can hire a professional to execute the development.
Implementation:
The functionality and appearance goals of a website could be achieved using several programming languages.
We will discuss a few programming languages capable of designing a website exactly as required.
HTML:
HTML is used to make up the structure and layout for your website or web application.
HTML is a dynamic language and lets you create a minimalistic website using a few lines of code.
The landing page of your website is often developed using HTML, and is a very important starting point for your website.
As it's considered to be the skeleton of your website, connecting the rest of the pages together.
CSS:
CSS is the styling language responsible for the beautiful styles/designs we see on on modern looking sites.
This style sheet scripting language helps formulate the way your website is presented, as well as handling the layout of your website.
A professional web developer should know how to use CSS very well in order to give you the custom aesthetic you deserve.
PHP:
Hypertext Preprocessor or PHP is mainly a server-side scripting language.
It is used for both dynamic and simple sites alike.
There are many open-source extensions supported by PHP including Bzip2, .NET or Apache.
It also allows a developer to access and modify databases (i.e. Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL)
JAVASCRIPT:
Many aspects of web development are incomplete without JavaScript.
This language is used to add a range of functionalities and interactive elements to just about all modern websites.
JavaScript plays a vital role in website design, by making it more engaging and user-centric.
SQL:
SQL is the most commonly used database query language.
A functional website needs a database to manage user credentials and other crucially important materials, and so SQL allows smooth database interaction.
As discussed above, PHP usually leverages SQL to query and display data from multiple databases and present it to your target audience in a way that caters to their needs.
Which Do you Prefer a Copy, or an Improvement
A custom business website developed professionally and according to the expectations of your target audience is the key to success.
A developer with good experience of creating similar websites can help you achieve that goal, and much more.
Elevating your website to new heights, beyond that of the original.
So if you want a similar website that's an improvement, and don't want to spend any time wasting valuable resources, do yourself a favor, and hire a professional developer to get the job right the first time.