The Development Process
Up to 3-6 weeks
During the planning phase, we'll be going back and forth a fair bit as I get a better idea of what style of website design you like, as well as starting to plan out the necessary site structure to present the content in a way that best represents your brand. If you would like to bring in your own UX/UI or graphic designer, I'd be happy to work with them.
For WordPress sites, I will send through mockups of the pages before building them, as we must land on a design at this stage to reduce the need for major design changes once the pages have been built.
Up to 4-10 weeks
During the building phase, I'll begin configuring your builder and creating your website pages and SEO components.
You will also need to start collecting all of your content (images, video and text). Unfortunately, content collection tends to be the most drawn-out part of the process!
Up to 1-2 weeks
Your site is almost ready! You will have a chance to review the site pages prior to the launch in case there are any final changes. For WordPress sites, I recommend having content migration performed by your hosting provider. For Squarespace and Wix sites, I am happy to handle the launch process.
Once the site is live, I will then run it through a series of post-launch tests to ensure everything is set up and running optimally.
Website Building FAQ
Why does it take so long to get a site built?
There’s a lot that goes into building a site, from choosing the right plugins, to redrafting pages and troubleshooting code, and all of that takes time. Plus, in order to create a truly unique and beautiful site for you I like to customize the pages instead of simply using templates, and all of this can prolong the process… but it’s worth it at the end of the day when you get a site that you are happy with!
Despite the time-consuming nature of building, in my experience, the largest delays actually come from the customer side. Most of my website customers are busy people, so making time to collect content and review pages is understandably often challenging, which means the project can, at times, stall out while I’m waiting for responses. The upside to this is that, if you’re someone that can put aside time to work with me on your project, then we can get it completed much faster!
Why is there such a wide range for project timelines?
Each project is unique and the time a site takes to be built will be influenced by a number of factors, including:
* which builder you choose (WordPress sites are MUCH more involved)
* how much content you need to collect and how easy that is to source
* how many premium features you’d like to include and how much troubleshooting that will require
* how many pages you need
How much does a website cost?
Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all, so the cost of a site build depends on several factors, including the builder you choose and how large and feature-rich the site needs to be. Once you email me I can send you a general price list and then work with you to work out a more specific quote.
Additional costs that you will also have to keep in mind include domain name, hosting plan, site migration (for WordPress), any paid plugins/templates/widgets/ subscriptions, SSL certificate, and licenses for paid fonts/ images. I try my best to source free or low cost options where possible.