Starting A Website - What's Involved

Starting a small business can be rough!  But starting a website for your business doesn't have to be.  Before setting up a website, you'll need to understand how the website will impact you and your time.

For most small business owners, the second biggest anxiety they have about setting up a website has to do with time.  Does starting a website take a lot of time?  How much time is involved with setting up a website?  How long does it take to build a website?  And, how much time is needed to update my website?

The following website questions and answers will give you a clear picture of time commitments to consider when setting up a website.  Go easy!  Starting a website doesn't have to leave you feeling frazzled.

How long does it take to build a website?

Web designers differ, but for most basic small business websites, you can expect development time to be about four to six weeks.  More complex websites are completed over a longer period of time and in stages.  For example, design and development of an e-commerce online web store, or programming for a custom web application may take a couple of months.

What is the process of setting up a website?

The website development process can be broken down into four phases:

• Information Gathering - During this stage, you web designer will gather information from you about your business and goals in order to recommend solutions.
• Design Development - At this stage, your web designer will begin creating sample web pages to identify your visual preferences and marketing needs.
• Content Development - Your web design team will begin writing copy (copywriting) for your site's individual web pages.
• Site Maintenance And Marketing - Once the first three phases have been approved, your site will be completed.  The last step is to routinely provide new content, address maintenance issues and to continually market your website online.

How involved is the process of setting up a website?

Typically, a small business owner can expect three to four conference calls to discuss needs and design concepts and to review materials completed.  Although it is nice to conduct meetings in person, it's certainly not a requirement.  In most cases, the entire process of setting up a website can be completed over the phone and by e-mail.

How much time is needed to routinely update my website with news and other content?

If your business is in a less-competitive field or you don’t have a lot of local competition... you could probably skate by for three months or more without updating your website.  But be warned!  You may want to spare the expense of setting up a website if you don't plan on keeping it up-to-date.  Routinely adding new content to your site is a great way to improve your website's visibility in search engine results.

Here's a great tip...

If you don’t have the time to write new website content, you can always contract a ghostwriter to do the hard work for you.  Ghostwriters research and write articles, white papers, reports and more on your behalf.  They're a great option for overworked small business owners starting a website.

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