#headless web development

Do you know Leonardo DiCaprio used JAMstack to build a website? And he is not the only one!

Well, now that JAMstack got your attention...We have previously talked about JAMstack web development so it should not be a surprise that everyone is using it to build websites.

Businesses having different priorities are also aligned with JAMstack web development and those that have chosen the JAMstack approach are certainly getting great results that are worth highlighting.

Here are the top 5 examples of JAMstack Websites in action:

1. Peloton

Peloton website sells bikes and treadmills packaged in-home classes depending on your location in the world.

This website uses React JS in the front-end for the users.

Of course, this website wouldn't be on the list if it wasn't using JAMstack!

JAMstack is smooth and performs well under pressure.

2. Logger MTS

Many developers think that "Static" websites are devoid to get animation on the website.

Logger MTS is one of the websites that perfectly proves them wrong, so we have included this website here.

Logger MTS website uses Hugo as a front-end generator and is smooth, fast, and still beautifully animated. This is an ideal example of headless web development that compromises on next to nothing and still gives all the benefits.

3. Louis Vuitton

We are including this website as we want to include examples of eCommerce websites running on JAMstack. Louis Vuitton fits very perfectly for an eCommerce website.

The front-end of this website uses VueJS.

This website's overall design shows that static web pages can have a flair of dynamism.

Overall, the website is easy to use and has a quick hassle-free checkout option for the customers.

4. Leonardo Dicaprio Foundation Website

Leonardo DiCaprio! We hope this name id familiar to you and should have got your attention.

Specifically, we are talking about the website made for his personal charity - the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

The website uses TakeShape.io as a front-end system.

The foundation has a long history and has used the JAMstack ecosystem for their based needs.

Thus, JAMstack is not visually boring, but it's fast to load and gives a smooth customer experience.

5. Fabuwood

Fabuwood's website is designed to sell luxury kitchen cabinets from their base in the USA. Their range might be small but their website doesn't pull any mistakes when it comes to content.

Fabuwood's website has the ability to find dealers via postcode. It’s the website can easily handle content updates and additions to their websites.

It uses Metalsmith and Webpack as a front-end and still loads wonderfully.

Conclusion:

JAMstack developers should take note that great websites don't mean to pay more for the website. The examples are reflected in this article and there is a broad range of what is possible with JAMstack.

A CMS (Content Management System), as the name suggests, is a collection of programs that allow users to create any website without coding. There are many such content management systems that are in use these days, including WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.

Headless web development is one of the latest known content management systems in web development. Content management systems work using themes or pre-built plugins of functionality and UI. In most cases, the backend is written in PHP and the front-end is a combination of CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.

The users maintain and update the website using a user-friendly admin panel, from which they can add or remove content, pages, and so on. Also, many of these systems are free or open-source content management systems, so CMSs have a very large community of contributors who constantly add new features.

For these all reasons, content management systems are very popular and also a very powerful tool. Businesses, big or small, have access to these affordable technologies allow them to build websites with great user experience.

CMS is extremely customizable, so the possibilities for websites are endless. But for now, let's focus on the latest renowned Headless CMS.

Headless CMS

A headless CMS consists of only three parts, unlike the other traditional content management systems. These three parts are - the database, admin panel, and reading/writing integrations.

As the name suggests the front-end or the head of the website is removed. Headless CMS works in the absence of the "View Layer". That's why developers building a headless CMS have much freedom of choice between using any front-end technology they are familiar with. Today, there are dozens of headless CMS available, each of them is unique and also is amazing in its own way.

Headless CMS Pros and Cons

The very first pro is the freedom of using the right front-end technology for each and every project- this also means that the headless CMS is cross-platform technology. However, this is also a drawback as it limits access for non-technical people to develop a website. For these kinds of people, there is Headless Commerce Development Company, which can handle all the limitations for non-technical people.

Headless CMS are of two types - API driven and GIT driven. API-driven headless CMS are fats and scalable. Since they rely on external APIs, they can be messy and costly.

On the other side, GIT-driven headless CMS re-deploy any change in the GIT repository. This makes a smooth development experience and keeps track of all the changes, ensuring the backup, and all the GIT benefits. However, if the user wants cross-platform headless CMS, things may get complicated.

Finally, the biggest advantage of using the headless CMS is that it does not rely on plugins. This also means that developers would have to build all the functionality from the ground up.

Conclusion:

Jamstack is the new-age web development architecture that allows you to build superfast, SEO-friendly, and safe websites.

Since its inception, JAMstack was mainly about Javascripts, APIs, and Markups but it's not the same anymore.

Now Jamstack is considered more of a modern development approach rather than a mix of specific technologies.

As an example, if you want to build a Jamstack website, you don’t have to use JavaScript nor API, so the Javascript, API, Markup acronym doesn’t apply anymore

However, simply put, Jamstack means a departure from the monolithic approach (when every single thing on the back-end and front-end was connected) and focuses on building websites based on microservices.

It gives Jamstack creators such advantages as great performance, high traffic resistance, fast page load speed, etc.

For much more information about what is Jamstack and how it works, you can go to our guide for business people – Jamstack web development

There are many use cases of JAMstack in the current fast-paced world but obviously, it's still not the best use case for everything. So, here are a few of the most popular use cases of JAMstack as per the industry trends:

1) Online Services: JAMstack was initially used for static page websites only but now it is being leveraged in dynamic websites too. That is why it can be used for online services like data analysis websites or cryptocurrency portals in the online world.

2) Software and SaaS: Many SaaS companies are shifting to JAMstack because the website is very important for product companies.

3) E-commerce Business: The eCommerce industry is the main one that is leveraging headless web development as part of the JAMstack revolution for their businesses because it makes their online sales even better.

JAMstack is the buzzword in the industry and every now and then you will hear someone asking "What is JAMstack?" Well, it might sound highly complexed to many people but JAMstack is here to make life easier for developers.

Many of the developers and website owners have shifted to JAMstack due to its endless benefits and the value it brings to a business with many outcomes.  

Just like CSS, AJAX, responsive design, and HTML5 brought a change in the web development industry and they have enhanced this whole industry, JAMstack is here now to take us all ahead in the future.

What is JAMstack?

The term was first coined by Mathias Biilmann, the CEO of Netlify, a cloud hosting company helping developers make the most of the Jamstack movement. Our industry loves a good TLA (three-letter acronym) so let’s start with the JAM:

J – It stands for Javascript to handle the dynamic elements of the website on the client-side.

A – It stands for application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow for content and experiences to be called by JavaScript as required. These can be third-party APIs and/or your own API endpoints. These APIs act as the servers and present the webpages in pre-rendered versions to the users.

M– It stands for Markup and this makes the whole JAMstack ecosystem different from other technologies. Markup is short for HTML (HyperText Markup Language) but it's when the HTML is rendered that is key. In an ideal Jamstack site or application, the core HTML or markup is rendered at build time, not runtime. In other words, the HTML is ready to go when the user requests the page, instead of being dynamically produced server-side when the user requests the page.

What are the Benefits of JAMstack?

1) High-speed websites because the backend is decoupled and due to the combination of static HTML and CDNs.

2) Stable development architecture because there is no reliance on the backend.

3) The cost to scale a JAMstack website is not too much.

4) Since JAMstack is new, it is less vulnerable to cyber attacks.

Conclusion

As an E-commerce website owner, you would always want to have good traffic on your website to generate sales. Just having a website is not going to do any good to your brand. The important thing is that people land on that website and buy something from it.

What is SEO?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) involved a variety of techniques and solutions to make your website appropriate for the search engines so that your website appears on the top for related search queries. This is a completely organic method to be on the top and that is why it takes time and effort. But, in the long run, it will keep on getting you the appropriate results for your business without even a single penny spent on advertisements.

Ecommerce SEO usually involves optimizing your headlines, product descriptions, metadata, internal link structure, and navigational structure for search and user experience. Each product you sell should have a dedicated page designed to draw traffic from search engines.

Why SEO Is Important for Ecommerce?

The primary revenue generation for an eCommerce business is through its website. So, if your website is not ranking on the first page for a related product or product category then what's the point of having a website?

That is why e-commerce businesses are shifting to newer technology like headless eCommerce solution that provides better SEO frameworks for the eCommerce stores which enables them to rank on top of Google within a quick time with some consistent link building.

SEO Checklist for E-commerce

1) Product Descriptions: Every product that is listed on your website must have a catchy description. Not only it helps the user in understanding the product but also it guides the Google crawler about the product.

Here are a few tips for product descriptions: Include your head target keyword in the description; Sprinkle in long-tail variations, synonyms, and LSI keywords (where appropriate—don’t shoehorn!); Make sure they’re well-written and readable for visitors; Tell visitors things they may want to know! (duh!); Don’t ramble—keep them short and sweet

2) Optimize the URLs: Before making your eCommerce website live you need to have a proper segmentation of your URLs. Because URLs are very important. It's not very important for a customer but it's highly important for ranking on Google. Your URL must be properly structured. Here’s what is suggested by Ahrefs:

yourwebsite.com/category (category page) yourwebsite.com/category/subcategory (subcategory page) yourwebsite.com/category/subcategory/subcategory (sub-sub category page) yourwebsite.com/category/subcategory/subcategory/product (product page)

3) Schema Markups: A proper schema markup denotes the page structure to Google. It enhances the way your website appears in the Google search results. It not only displays the name and description of the product. But it also displays the price, rating, and reviews below the title on the search results page. This kind of Title gets 30% better Click-Through Rates on Google SERP.

4) Homepage SEO: The homepage of your eCommerce website is very essential as it displays all the categories and ongoing offers or sales. That is why your home page SEO must be done properly so that you can get new customers very easily.

5) Responsive Design: It's a mobile-first world these days. 80% of the website viewers will access your eCommerce website through a mobile phone and that is why you wouldn't want your website to appear pathetic and unresponsive in front of those customers.

6) Structured Data: Your product page must have all the data about the product in a very structured manner. It should be displayed in such a way that it doesn't confuse a customer and gives all the information regarding the product.

8) Good CMS: An E-commerce website requires very good Content Management Software to manage all the data regarding a variety of products. Headless CMS for eCommerce has been the game-changer in this domain as it gives a very good CMS to manage your eCommerce website with many benefits that can boost your online sales by 60%

Conclusion

There are various CMS available for website owners these days. CMS is something that helps you manage your website's content. It helps users create, manage, and modify content on a website without any specialized coding.

In simpler language, a content management system is a tool that helps you build a website without needing to write all the code from scratch (or even know how to code at all).

Instead of building your system for creating web pages, storing images, and other functions, the content management system handles all that basic infrastructure stuff for you so that you can focus on more forward-facing parts of your website.

Beyond websites, you can also find content management systems for other functions – like document management.

One of the trending CMS in the current times is the Headless CMS for Ecommerce and Strapi is one the leading headless CMS in the industry.

Strapi, being a new generation CMS, offers many new website solutions.  Strapi supports a variety of databases such as PostgreSQL, MongoDB, SQLite, MySQL, or MariaDB. Strapi also offers many different technologies to pre-render your web pages and present them to your website viewers.

Another huge advantage of this Node.js headless CMS is that you can create and manage your content and then share it via REST or GraphQL. So, you can use whatever front-end technology you like. React? There you go. Vue or Angular? Not a problem. What about jQuery? Well, it works too. Sky’s the limit. What’s more — you can even use a simple index.html file with a basic JS script. It will get content from Strapi and display it in a browser.

Here are the top 4 reasons to use Strapi in your headless web development process:

1) Better customer experience: With headless CMS like Strapi, the developers get better accessibility to the CMS. Also, the end customers get a better customer experience due to the various functions of Strapi

2) High Security: When you are using a CMS, you wouldn't want frequent security breaches. All of your website content is dependent on that and that's why the CMS must be highly secured. When you're using a headless CMS, content management admin is not needed on top of your website. You configure all components when building the website. By doing that, you don't need a database, and that means no data storage point to be attacked.

3) Great Scalability: The main reason behind the popularity of headless web development is that it is very highly scalable. Businesses build websites these days with a future perspective and that is why they want such CMS that is scalable in the future.

4) Less time-consuming: The CMS that is built with the JAMstack web development framework is always speedy and provides less load on the server. Due to the APIs and pre-rendered versions, headless CMS is the go-to choice for website owners these days.

What's Next?

Just having a website on the internet is not something to be proud of. If your website is not able to get monthly visitors and not able to generate revenue for you then that website is of no use to your business.

As a business owner, you spend a lot of money and time on your website and its maintenance. So, in return, you should expect some value from that website. But 60% of website owners don't know how to measure the value their website provides them and this is a big worry!

These days new website development technologies and platforms are coming up that help business owners in analyzing their websites too. The latest addition to this segment is headless web development that is the trending form of web development where the backend and front end are decoupled to decrease the load on the server and lower your site maintenance costs.

Still, many people are avoiding this just to get websites at low investment.

It is very important to ensure that your website is performing well for your users and customers. This is why you must be aware of different metrics that help you analyze your website's performance on the internet. Your website’s performance metrics will suggest to you the necessary changes required in your website to improve the performance so that it performs better for future website visitors.  

Here are the 4 most important website metrics that you shouldn't avoid:

1) Page Speed: Nobody likes looking at the loading icon when they have visited a website to resolve their query. These days, people want quick actions as they don't like to be kept waiting. Slow page speeds are one of the quickest ways to get people to turn around and leave your site, no matter what it is you have to say or what you have to sell them.

2) Bounce Rate: It denotes the percentage of people who have bounced back from your website in a quick time. This means that people didn't find your website to be relevant or they were not able to use it because your website has some issues. Typically just a few simple improvements will be enough to retain site visitors for a longer period, subsequently improving your bounce rate.

3) Conversion Rate: Conversion rate is the most important metric with respect to your business because this denotes the percentage of your website visitors that are converted to your paying customers by visiting your website. The conversion rate refers to the number of unique site visitors divided by the conversions.

4) DNS Lookup Speed: It means the amount of time taken by your Domain Name System (DNS) provider to translate a domain name into an IP address. It’s important to note that there are faster and slower DNS providers out there, and if you’re using a slower provider, it can vastly slow down your DNS lookup speed. There are plenty of free online tools at your disposal to test your DNS lookup speed, and going with a premium DNS provider can ensure you have the fastest DNS lookup speed possible.

Conclusion