Some users shared their factors that you can consider as you create your small business website. User grumpymcgrumpface said that the answer to how long it would take to create a website depends on several factors. Building a small business website can take days to months. A factor to consider when knowing the time frame in creating a website is considering if you want the website designed by a professional designer or to use an off-the-shelf team. Also, consider deciding if you plan to hire a developer to build a theme or use a page builder. 

User WPmitra_ responded that it can take a couple of days to a week when creating a small business website. However, it can take more time if you develop a custom team. The additional information they added is to add Google Analytics and Google Search Console once you have the site up and running.

How Long Does It Take to Create a Custom Small Business Website? Insights from Quora Users 

Digital experts and other Quora users shared their varying experiences when building a small business website. Paul Gobat shared his experience with building his first business website in 500 hours. It took him 3-4 hours per week. There were no “ready-made” templates in his site, and it was completely original. 

Farris Harbi is a web developer that shared his professional experience in website building. It takes him 1 to 3 hours per page when the website is programming-wise. It can take him 5 to 15 hours to finish a 5-page website. It’s important to note that the bigger the website, the more time to build. 

Harbi suggested starting with the website files and structure before moving on to the front end and then completing the website with some back end. This applies when you want to build a website from scratch with HTML, CSS, JS, PHP, and MySQL.



Hemanth is a Software Enthusiast who shared his insights in determining the hours when creating a website for those who will do coding. The answer depends on your previous knowledge and to which extent you’re planning to learn. It can take 1 month to completely settle with HTML and CSS. It can take 15 to 30 days to learn JavaScript. Learning and settling with Jquery and Ajax can take up to 2 to 3 weeks.



M Bhandari is a Fullstack Developer who responded that the timeframe when creating a small business website depends on the website type and requirements. It can take 2 weeks to 3 months to build a static website. It can take 1 month to build a simple company website when you use existing templates. It can take 3 months to create a website with complete UI/UX design and wireframes. 

For a CMS website, it can take 2 to 3 months, depending on the number of page types required. It depends on your client’s requirements for how long it would take to create web applications.



What Are the Essentials to Creating a Website for a Small Business?

Mobile-friendly design 

Having a mobile-friendly business website design is essential for a small business because it gives convenience to potential customers. Most people would spend their time using their mobile phones to look for products or services, especially for emergency purposes. A mobile-friendly design allows customers to have the option to give your small business a direct call or communicate through chat support. 

Easy navigation 

A website that has easy navigation should be intuitive and user-friendly. Website visitors don’t want to spend their time staying on a website that takes too long to load and some features or buttons aren’t working. Placing the most important items in the footer of your website is also accessible aside from putting them in the upper main navigation. When a website visitor scrolls in long pages, like articles and other information, it’s better to have a second navigation. Place this in the footer so the user doesn’t have to scroll back to the top.



Clear goals 

Clear goals should focus on what makes your small business stand out from competitors. Before finishing your website, identify what you want to do with your business. Do more research on the product or service that you’ll be selling, so your goals can resonate with what your target audience needs. Clear goals also help you in staying consistent with your brand reputation, reflecting on your business website design.

Website hosting 

Your website hosting stores your website’s files by making it accessible to visitors. There are many accessible web hosting providers offering different plans that can suit your needs. 

Consider not using AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Compute when hosting your first website. AWS can be overwhelming despite offering limited free tiers. Github pages can be a good website hosting if you need to put your site in public. Github’s technical aspects of deployment are hidden from you. However, you can use Digital Ocean or Linode if you want to learn about deployment. These platforms let you create a Virtual Private Server (VPS) where your site would be served by either Apache or Nginx.



Domain name

The domain name refers to what website visitors type in their browser bar to find your website. Your domain name must align with your business name to establish professionalism and boost brand recognition.

How Much Does It Cost to Build a Website for a Small Business?

It generally costs $100-$10,000 to build a website for a small business. But it’s important to consider underlying factors like your company’s size, client needs, geographical location, needed features, level of customization necessary, and quality of the design. 

If you decide to hire a freelancer or a web development company, the cost can vary from $500 to $2,500. If your website needs more features, it can reach $10,000 or higher. Take note of additional expenses when you build a small business website. Registration fees may range from $10 to $20 annually. Web hosting can cost from $5 to $50 per month, depending on the hosting company and package. 

What Pitfalls Can You Come Across in the Process of Website Development? 

Unresponsive design. Having an unresponsive business website design can affect how a visitor views your website. They may hesitate in giving you a call to purchase your products or services once they encounter features or buttons that aren’t working or slow to load. A non-responsive website leads to a bad user experience. This can result in lower search rankings and missed opportunities to reach mobile users.



The tip to make a responsive small business website is to start small. Operate on a mobile or small screen first, since it’s easier to add complexity to the UI. Start from 320px in mobile design, then do landscape mobile widths.



Security vulnerabilities Security vulnerabilities can harm your customer’s data security and hurt the functionality of your website. To prevent hacking attempts, ensure your website is built with strong security measures to protect user data. 

You can spot potential security vulnerabilities through hidden directories. File upload avenues that can cause code execution and see if the web servers are vulnerable to attacks like heart bleed or shell shock.

Content shortcomings. Content shortcomings include irrelevant and poorly written content that can cause disinterest and boredom to website visitors. Make sure to avoid writing general and common topics, depending on what your small business is all about. Instead, focus on producing content that talks about how your small business stands out from competitors. Include customer testimonials, factual sources, and other creative ideas to make your blogs enjoyable to read. 

Usability snags. Usability snags consist of unclear calls to action, slow-loading teams, and confusing navigation. This can frustrate website visitors, causing them to leave your website. Make a user-friendly website consisting of intuitive designs and clear functionality. 

Inadequate testing. Inadequate testing happens when bugs and errors in the code can slip through the cracks and make it to the live website. This can cause broken layouts, non-functioning features, and site crashes. 

There are various testing tools and techniques with different cost-benefit analysis. Maybe you’re doing your tests wrong if you’re struggling with your team’s testing. It’s possible that your code isn’t written with good testable patterns, or you’re using a difficult and outdated toolset. Keep in mind that automated tests guarantee the functionality of your software, and not doing them is pure negligence.



How Long Does it Take to Design a 10-Page Website? 

It takes 2 months to design a 10-page website. However, it’s important to consider different factors like complexity and hiring people to do the job. If your website requires more complexity depending on your brand, it will take longer to build it with unique functionalities and animations. But if you just want a simple business website design, it can be designed quicker, as it only consists of limited features. On the other hand, hiring an agency or freelancer to make your website may take a long time due to communicating your ideas for your website. The good side of this is it enables you to do your usual day-to-day duties instead of building a website.

Highly custom websites can also take up to 5-6 months to design, depending on client needs. If you’re a web developer or you hired a web developer, try to prioritize quality over speed. Depending on complexity, a single page could take over a week. With coding knowledge, you can speed up the web-making process through code reuse and 3rd party libs. Remember to enjoy the process, and the end results will work out better.

How Long Does it Take for a Designer To Design a Website?

It would take 2-4 weeks for a designer to design a website. However it’s important to consider several factors that influence the timeframe in creating a business website design. If you’re part of a team that already has years of web development experience, the actual design process may take only 1 day for 2-3 good concept designs. If you turn the concept art into a functional website, it can take 2-7 days depending on a client’s comments and complexity.

Before jumping into the website designing process for a small business, communication with your client is important. Communicate with your client and determine their goal. Once you note what the client needs, do some research and a mood board to present to them. Make a content and strategy block then also present it to them before making 2 styles that are open for suggestions. Providing 2 designs to a client can help them figure out which is aligned with their goal.



Why Should I Select a Website Builder Instead of a Custom Website for My Small Business?

You should select a website builder instead of a custom website for your small business if you want a website that’s simple, easy, and cost-effective. A website builder already provides a variety of ready-made templates and layouts for you to style your website. You don’t need to hire a freelance web developer to create the website you need. If you’re just a small business starting and you’re tight on budget, start your website builder journey with Snapps.ai! This is a drag-and-drop website builder that offers customization tools like Snapps widgets to create a website aligned with the goals of your business. Snapps.ai offers a mobile-friendly design, migration options, domains, SEO analysis, and personalization rules to help you create a website that aligns with your brand and target audience.