Building a Business Website

A builder is right when the site is a handful of pages that rarely change and nobody on the team writes code. A developer is right when the site needs specific functionality, integrates with other systems, or is central to revenue. Budget matters less than how often the site will change.

A builder site can be live in days. A designed and developed site is typically four to eight weeks, and the delay is almost always content rather than development. Having the text and images ready shortens it more than any other single thing.

Indexing usually takes days to a few weeks once the site is submitted and linked from somewhere. Ranking for anything competitive takes months. The gap between the two is where most new site owners assume something is broken.

Unoptimized images first, then too many scripts, then insufficient hosting resources. Images are the most common cause and the easiest to fix, which is why it is worth checking before spending money on a bigger plan.

A clear statement of what you do, proof that you do it, a way to get in touch that works on a phone, and pages that load in a couple of seconds. Everything else is refinement of those four.