If you’re just getting started with a website, you might be wondering how long it takes to build one. Depending on the scope of your project and the complexity of its features (and your own learning curve), building a website could take anywhere from a few days to several weeks or even months. So, there’s no one-word answer to “how long does it take to build a website.”
Actually, there are many factors that contribute to the time it takes to build a brand-new site. These include the size of your business, the industry you operate in, and any previous experience you have with web design. If you’re just starting out and don’t have much technical knowledge or resources available to you right now, expect to spend at least several weeks—if not more—on your first site. But what exactly goes into building a website? What factors decide the time it takes to build a website? And above all, what can we do to accelerate this process? Let’s find out!
What is the Overall Process of Website Development?
It is possible to build a website for every DIYer. Large businesses, however, recruit freelancers or professional web developers to guarantee the dependability and usability of their websites.
What goes into building a professional website? Are you really done with a few pages, menus, toggles, links, and some content? Well, not really! The interface of a website you see is not as straightforward to put together as it looks. Underneath it, a whole knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP, Java, and other computer languages has been employed, whether by a website builder tool or a professional website developer.
If you want a full-fledged professional website, you’ll need to hire a website developer. The whole website building process, in this case, takes place in the following steps:
- You specify your goals for building a particular website.
- You conduct a resource analysis. (These include your financial and human resources).
- You must first explain your needs to the website developer you employ. They create a workable plan, which needs your approval.
- You look through a bunch of website design mockups. Either you accept one or you ask for changes.
- The lengthy phase of web development begins, which you must fund. The developer is fully responsible for the programming process.
- Then, a final round of revision is carried out to make sure everything is perfect and meets your requirements.
How Long Does It Take to Build a Website: Time Allocation for Each Step
Given that there are so many variables involved in the process of developing a website, it can be difficult to anticipate how long anything will take. Still, we’ll give it a go here. On the basis of our own observations, we will provide you with some nearest numbers about how much time each process will take.
1. Digging into Resources (2 weeks at maximum)
The first stage in developing a website is digging into your resources. You need to put in some effort to determine your website budget and choose the best developer for your website’s requirements. Depending on the size of your business, this phase of website development may take one or two weeks.
A small and simple website that promotes your brand and message online, for instance, can be created with a small budget and less manpower. So, choosing your budget and the developer you want to work with will take you at most 4-5 days, or one week.
However, if your company is bigger, you will need at least two weeks to complete your budget preparation. Similarly, you’ll need more personnel because there are various management levels to attend to. In the beginning, you’ll have to select a web development company with a proven track record of delivering projects on time and within budget. You’ll need additional time for this so that you can compare several web development service providers and select the one that most accurately represents the vision of your brand.
2. Making a Plan and Communicating Your Needs (2 to 3 weeks)
What comes next after you’ve made the decision to collaborate with a specific website development company? Things will become problematic if they merely start working on your website without clearly understanding what you want. Even if you only want to construct a small website, you must be careful. Therefore, it will take some time for you to comprehend your needs, share them with the developer, and come up with a viable plan. It saves you from wasting a lot of time (and money) later on.
Many individuals are surprised by the length of time needed before a developer or agency even begins to code. Yes! Understanding your needs and communicating them to your developer may take two to three weeks. You will need to give careful consideration to the type of website you want to create, your target audience, and the many features that it requires. Not only that, but you’ll also need to create a workable plan with your developer so that you can turn your thoughts and dreams into a functioning website.
3. Deciding on Your Website Design (1 to 2 weeks)
After you’ve discussed your plan and needs, the next step is to decide on your website’s design. You’ll receive mockups or wireframes from your website designer. Actually, these mockups depict a greatly simplified representation of how your final website will appear. These provide you an idea of the fundamental scale of various elements, such as text, images, graphics, buttons, and supplemental content, their placement on your website, and even how your website will look on mobile devices.
Of all the possible mockups for your website, you need to pick designs based on your specifications. Request complete mockups of each page and, if necessary, request changes. Additionally, it’s essential to keep taking part in the process, as well as to be the first to offer questions and seek modifications. This entire process can take one to two weeks.
4. The Major Period of Development (1 to 2 months)
The most important phase of website building is development, which is entirely done by developers. It is the longest step in building a website when your developer will turn the approved mockups into a fully functioning website with all the content you’ve given the go-ahead for. A small website will need a month to complete this step. Large e-commerce websites and those with built-in databases could take two to three months or longer.
Sometimes, things may not go precisely as you’ve planned. Therefore, some developers factor in extra time to ensure that your website is as precise as you’ve always wanted. Remember to keep in touch with the developer during this phase so that you remain updated on the project. Even if there are a few minor delays, it’s better than having to take your entire website offline after it launches because the issue wasn’t resolved in a timely manner.
5. Reviewing (1 to 2 weeks)
Your website must pass through one last round of revision after it has been built and before you can declare it to be complete. You should carefully examine each component of the website to ensure that it adheres to the strategy you and your developer outlined at the start of the development process.
According to our experience so far, adjustments—whether more or less—are always necessary. Especially if the size of your website is large, you should expect some problems which may cause delays. However, the fact that adjustments are required doesn’t portend poorly for the web development service providers.
The majority of the significant problems are usually discovered during the early inspections. There should only be minimal adjustments left at this stage, but these may vary depending upon the size and complexity of a particular website. In any case, anticipate this process to take at least one to two weeks if there’s no critical issue.
The Average Duration of Building a Website
When you Google “how long does it take to build a website,” you will get different answers for different people. It also depends on how extensive your website needs to be. If you are looking to launch a simple blog that has a few pages and posts, then the answer would be much shorter than if you have plans to launch an e-commerce website or anything of similar complexity. However, the general consensus is that it takes between 1 to 4 months to build a standard website, depending on its scope.
How to Build a Website Quickly?
If you want to build a website quickly, you’ve got three options:
- Build a simple and straightforward website that requires fewer features and subsequently fewer revisions and modifications.
- Employ a professional web developer or a web development agency. Ensure that the one you hire commits to your timeline.
- Use a website-building tool to build a DIY website with the best website hosting services. These tools work much faster as they have advanced significantly over recent years. Moreover, you don’t need any technical knowledge of website development to use these automated tools.
In the Nut Shell
It may take a few weeks to four months or more to build a website. The total duration for building a standard website depends upon several factors, like the size of the website, the complexity of the website, the range of features you want to include, and the expertise of the developer you work with. On average, it takes between 1 and 4 months to complete all the steps. But, if you want to take the process at a higher pace, you may go for a simple website or use a website builder for this purpose.
