How long does it take to build a website?

"When will it be ready?" comes right after "how much will it cost?". The answer depends on what you're building, but mostly on how quickly the copy, photos and decisions arrive. Below are typical timelines, the stages of a website project and what usually slows it down.

Typical timelines

These timelines usually start once the agency has all the content. When copy and photos arrive along the way, the calendar moves with them.

The stages of a website and how long each takes

1. The call and the quote (1⁠–⁠3 days). What the site must do, which pages it needs, what content exists. With a website brief, this stage is shorter.
2. Structure and sketch (a few days). The list of pages and what goes on each, drawn simply. The cheapest moment to change anything.
3. Design (a few days to a week or two). How the home page and the page types look, with the business's colours and photos.
4. Build (a few days to a few weeks). The pages, forms, connections to other tools, the mobile version.
5. Content (in parallel). Copy, photos, prices, opening hours. Usually the stage that decides the launch date.
6. Testing (1⁠–⁠3 days). On phone and desktop: forms, speed, legal pages, page titles for Google.
7. Launch (a day). The domain pointed at the site, the security certificate, the sitemap submitted to Google.

What delays a website

• Copy and photos. The most common reason. A design can be ready in a week, but the site can't launch with nothing to show.
• Feedback on drafts. Every day of waiting after a sketch is a day added at the end.
• Too many approvers. If three people in the business have different opinions, every round doubles. Pick one person who decides.
• A domain in someone else's name. A domain registered by a former agency or an employee who has left is hard to recover. Check whose name it's in early: How to register a domain name.
• Payment and shipping accounts. Payment providers verify the business before enabling card payments, which can take a few days.
• Requirements added along the way. A new feature mid-project moves the deadline. Note it for after launch unless it's essential.

How long until Google finds it

The site is online from launch day, but Google has to find it. Google says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. To speed things up:

• submit your sitemap in Search Console;
• request indexing for the home page and service pages with the URL Inspection tool;
• link the site from your Google Business Profile.

Showing up isn't the same as ranking: positions build over the following weeks and months. If pages are still missing after a few weeks: Why is my website not showing up on Google.

Apps also go through store review

With a mobile app, publishing follows the build. Apple says it typically reviews at least 50% of submissions in under 24 hours and 90% in under 48 hours. On Google Play, a new personal developer account must test the app with at least 12 testers for 14 days before a public launch, under Google's rules. Apply for the company's developer accounts early, because their verification can take time too. Details: How much does it cost to publish an app.

How to launch sooner

1. Gather the copy, photos, logo, prices and business details before the start.
2. Choose one person who approves.
3. Reply to drafts within a day or two.
4. Split the site into what's needed at launch and what can come later, such as the blog or a second language.
5. Check early whose name the domain, email and hosting are in.

At Manvro you get the timeline in writing after the first conversation, by stage, so you know what comes next and what you need to send, and by when. You see a sketch of the pages first, then the site as it's being built, so you can ask for changes while they're easy to make. Details on our web design page.