As a freelancer, one of the most common challenges you might face is building small business websites with tight deadlines. Clients often need quick turnarounds, and while this can be an exciting opportunity, it can also be stressful.
Usually, if you want to build a website, you’ll need a minimum of one month. At max, you might need two months to build the site. Occasionally, developers can take up to 14 weeks to finish building the site.
Now, even the most experienced and highly-rated freelance web developers will take at least a week to build a website. For short deadlines, the key is to balance speed and quality, ensuring that the final product meets the client’s needs without sacrificing functionality.
Here are a few practical tips to help you tackle this challenge and deliver effective websites on time.
#1 Use Pre-Existing Templates or Designs
Imagine this: you’re pressed for time and you have to come up with a creative website design. Tedious, right? Not just that, it’s downright impossible given that you have a tight deadline to meet.
Under such circumstances, why not leverage pre-existing templates or designs? Yes, in the time of such a time-based crisis, Pinterest just might save your project or gig.
Rather than starting from scratch, you can focus on tweaking these templates to align with the client’s brand and requirements.
#2 Avoid Getting Too Creative with the Design
You have a website template and some idea as to what you want to do with it. Now, do you go out and get as creative as you can with the website’s design? If you have a tight deadline to meet, then absolutely not.
Yes, creativity in web design is vital, but it’s more important to strike a balance when working with tight deadlines. If you try to implement a complex design or an unconventional layout, it can eat up valuable time. That, in turn, will introduce more opportunities for things to go wrong, something you freelancers can’t afford.
#3 Use an AI Website Generator
One of the fastest-growing trends in web development is the use of AI-powered tools. An AI website generator, such as those offered by AI website builders and creators, can significantly speed up the website design process.
AI tools are designed to streamline the workflow by automating many of the tasks that would otherwise take hours to complete. In fact, as Hocoos puts it, an AI website creator will take just minutes to generate your desired website.
With an AI website builder, you can quickly create a framework for the site, generate layouts, and even populate content areas with relevant material. This speeds up the web development process and ensures that the design is coherent and functional from the start.
AI website builders and generators are particularly useful for small business websites, where simplicity and efficiency are key. Taking prompts from your end, they can easily build you a functioning website in just minutes.
#4 Prioritize Functionality Over Design
When you’re racing against the clock, it’s crucial to prioritize functionality over design. A visually stunning website is useless if it doesn’t work correctly or if it frustrates users with slow load times and broken links.
Make sure that the site is fully functional and provides a seamless user experience before worrying about adding design flourishes.
Focus on the core elements of the website that the business needs to operate effectively. For a small business, this might include a contact form, service pages, and a simple navigation menu. Ensure that these components are in place and work smoothly across all devices.
Once the functional aspects are covered, you can then add design elements that enhance the visual appeal without compromising performance.
#5 Opt for Unit Testing to Find and Deal with Bugs
The only thing worse than delivering a website late is to deliver one that’s riddled with bugs and disrupts the user experience. You can kick your freelancer ratings goodbye if this were to happen, no matter how quickly you turn in the project.
To avoid this scenario, you have got to conduct thorough unit testing throughout the development process.
Now, why unit testing? Unit testing lets you identify and fix small issues as you go, or when they arise. That means you don’t have to discover all the bugs at once.
When you test individual components of the website as you build, you can catch errors early and prevent them from becoming bigger problems. This ensures a smoother launch and also saves time in the long run, as you won’t have to go back and fix major issues.
Building a small business website on a tight deadline can be challenging, but it’s far from impossible. The strategies discussed above will help you meet deadlines while ensuring that your clients receive a product that meets their business needs.
As a freelancer, mastering the art of balancing speed with quality will set you apart and keep clients coming back for more.
Nike is the founder and editor at nameshype.com. He is graduated in English language and love to write and share information online.
Therefore he has created this unique community to give millions of people all over the world with unique, funny, cute and creative name ideas.
