How long should I expect my website build to take?

So you’ve made the decision to invest in building a website—congratulations! You’ve taken one of the first steps towards kickstarting your online presence and developing your all-important brand.

But how long does it actually take to get a website up and running?

Designing a website that makes a great first impression is as much an art as it is a process, and at Argon it looks something like this:

• Step 1. Project brief
• Step 2. Sitemap planning
• Step 3. Design phase
• Step 4. Coding & site build
• Step 5. Content entry
• Step 6. Finalisation & testing

It’s all in the scheduling

Any website design company worth their salt is going to have a forward-booked schedule of projects, which is why it’s crucial that the website design process is properly planned and transparent from the get-go. We usually anticipate about 8-12 weeks to get an average website up and running—and this can be impacted by a range of factors.

Be wary of developers who promise the world and that they can have your site finished in a few short weeks—in our experience, this is rarely the case. Without a proper schedule, it’s far too easy for lofty promises to not be met, as timeframes can balloon out uncontrollably or your original vision could become compromised in a mad scramble to launch.

Many clients also underestimate their own ability to provide feedback, deliver site content and do a thorough site review at the appropriate times—and in a timely fashion. Indeed, clients are often busy running their own businesses and dealing with their own customers, so it’s important to schedule when client input will be required so this is understood at the outset.

Bigger and better takes time

The number of pages and required functionality for your site are some of the first things to be determined in the website design process as they’ll have a significant impact on the overall timeframe.

If your site has only a handful of pages then copywriting and image-sourcing are less involved, content entry is fast once the site is built and the client review process is less intensive.

If you’re planning a complex site with lots of pages however, then there’ll obviously be a lot more work to do.

Similarly, functionality aspects (such as eCommerce, membership or subscription requirements, detailed custom forms, Xero or other accounting platform integration) all directly affect the time involved in planning, building and testing your site.

Custom designs and code

Our websites are all custom-designed and coded by our team. At Argon, we don’t use pre-made templates from other providers that may not be fit for your purpose. Instead, we create web pages specifically for you to meet your individual needs.

While this may take more time than simply using a template, custom design is almost always going to achieve a superior result for you, improving user experience, giving you the ability to edit your site after launch and ensuring there’s clean code behind the scenes that’s a bonus for SEO purposes and future-proofing.

Content is key

Content is the number one, top-of-the-list item that will slow a website project down.

When we talk about content, we’re talking about the text, imagery and key messaging for your website—and this is the part of the website build that clients usually need to provide the most input on.

Whether you’re writing your website text yourself or working with a copywriter (and we highly recommend this!), content requires some concentrated effort and good old-fashioned elbow grease to pull together. For clients who are too time poor and/or can’t be bothered writing their own content, we have copywriters that we can bring in to help speed this process up.

Countdown to launch

Once your website is built and content has been entered, it’s not over yet—there’s still the finalisation and testing phase.

The more detailed and functionally-complicated your site, the more time-intensive the review and testing process will be to make sure everything is perfect and working well before launch.

Once you’ve compiled feedback and provided it to us, allow time for any updates to be scheduled and completed and book time to test again!

If you have a new website project in mind, contact us to chat about your brief and timeframe requirements.

Give us a call on 08 8223 3099 or email info@argondesign.com.au to start the conversation 🙂