How long does it take to build a website?

Most small business websites we build go live one to two weeks after the first call. Online stores and larger sites take longer. The build itself is rarely what holds things up. Waiting on content, logins and feedback usually is.

What happens in those two weeks

Here’s how a build runs with us, start to finish.

1. A free 15 minute call. We find out what the business does, who the customers are and what the website needs to do.
2. A fixed quote. You know the price before anything starts.
3. A 20% deposit, then the build. We plan the pages, write or tidy the copy, design the site and build it.
4. Your review. You go through the site and tell us what to change. We make the changes.
5. The balance, then launch. Once you’ve approved it and paid the balance, the website goes live.

Steps one and two usually take a day or two. Most of the time sits in steps three and four.

Why online stores and larger sites take longer

An online store has more moving parts: product pages, payments, delivery options and testing every step of the checkout. A larger site has more pages to plan, write and check on a phone. Neither is slow because of the design. It’s the amount of content and testing.

We give you a realistic timeframe with your quote, so you know what to expect before you commit.

What slows a build down

Waiting on content

This is the most common hold-up by far. A website needs text, photos, a logo, and answers to questions only you can answer, such as your service areas, opening hours and prices. If those arrive in dribs and drabs, the site waits.

If you don’t have a logo yet, sort that first or do it alongside the website. Our logo and branding work can run at the same time as the build.

Missing logins

To put a website live, someone needs access to where the domain is registered and where its settings are managed. If nobody knows the login, or the domain is in a former developer’s account, that can take days to untangle.

Email is the other one to check. Your website and email often share the same domain settings. On one recent build, the client’s email ran through Microsoft 365, and that’s also where the domain settings lived, so the website records had to be added there. Finding that out early saved a lot of back and forth.

Slow feedback

A review round that should take a day can stretch to a week if the right person is busy. Pick one person to give feedback, and set aside an hour to go through the site properly.

How to keep your website on track

• Write down the questions customers ask most on the phone. Those answers become the core of your pages.
• Gather your best real photos of your work, your team and your premises. Send the original files, not ones that have been through Messenger.
• Find your domain and email logins before the build starts.
• Decide who gives feedback, and book the time in.

Ready to start?

If you’d like a realistic timeframe for your website, get a free, fixed website quote. We’ll tell you how long it will take and what we need from you. You can also read how much a website costs in Australia, or see the websites we’ve built.

We build websites for businesses in Bendigo, Albury, Wodonga, Shepparton, Wangaratta and Benalla, and right across Australia.