The time it takes to design and develop a website varies depending on the size, complexity, and designers used. Generally, smaller websites with less features take less time than larger ones. If you know what you want your site to do or look like before you start designing it then customizing one will be cheaper because of less hours of labor needed.
Start-ups or individuals who know what they want in terms of features and design can find someone with custom websites. However, an established company’s site will require more hours of labor than a custom website would because it has been recognized by the public and is continuously gaining traffic. This means that a designer would have to modify its current system to accommodate you which takes more time than building a new one from scratch. A well-known company’s site most likely won’t be designed unless its contract expires either way. For this reason, they must continue paying thousands per month for hosting fees if their plan is not renewed. If money were put into designing their site again when renewal time comes around, they would lose hundreds of thousands each year once they do renew.
What about an eCommerce site? How long does that take?
Designing an ecommerce site typically takes longer than a business or personal website because of complexities involved. An ecommerce site requires hosting space, web services, databases and applications which must be tested for bugs and glitches before going live. Users need to have the ability to add/edit/delete their products from the comfort of their homes before selling them online. In order for this feature to work properly, all purchasing options should be programmed into the system as well such as PayPal buttons and shopping cart functionality. Other features can also include shipping rates depending on location and items’ dimensions shouldn’t exceed a certain weight limit once packed at a warehouse. If there are too many limitations put on these features then either a new design or new features will have to be added and this could result in multiple redesigns and its corresponding costs.
If a company overhauls its current system or decides that it wants a new one, the cost of designing and developing your site is subject to change. Websites can take anywhere from a couple weeks to a few months depending on how fast communication goes between the designers, developers and clients.
The more efficient you are with communication, the faster results will show up because developers don’t like wasting time with people who only contact them every now and then asking for updates when they feel like it. They typically want you to email them once per week even if there aren’t any updates or changes in order for them to prove that they’re still working on it. If you’re serious about getting your site developed then stick to the schedule that has been established which will assure that your site is ready as soon as possible.
Last but not least, a website’s functionality and design is subject to change depending on how well-received it is from users. After its launch, some websites have been known to hire more staff members for support due to a massive amount of traffic coming in every second. What seemed like a great idea ended up being a complete failure causing everyone who was involved with designing or creating it to lose money because they wasted so much time on something the public didn’t want. Therefore, be sure that there’s a market for what you plan on selling online before launching any web service or ecommerce site.
Take a look at your competitors and check out what they have on their websites before getting started to make sure that you can do better. Make sure, too, that you have a back-up plan in the event something goes wrong with your design because it could cause huge losses if not prepared for. For example, if an ecommerce site is launched without considering factors like IP location limits or bandwidth restrictions then it will most likely fail due to technical issues people outside of this country will run into according to research. Fixing these problems doesn’t take much time but its effects are crucial in determining whether or not your website is successful. Your main concern should be how smoothly things go when designing rather than rushing into creating something and hoping for the best.
Conclusion
It takes a couple weeks to a few months for companies to create websites depending on their size, complexity and the designers they work with. It is cheaper for start-ups or individuals who know what they want in terms of features and design to find someone who does a custom website because it requires less hours of labor than an established company’s site would. If you are looking for help creating your own website, contact your local web designer today!
