How long does it take to build a website? A small business website with up to five pages can go live in about two weeks once the content is ready. Building it is the quick part. Gathering the text and photos, and giving feedback on time, is what decides whether it takes two weeks or two months.
My own target is to launch within 10 business days once your content, access and first payment are in. Those days follow the five steps below, and a few more things happen after launch.
- Brief
- Plan
- Design
- Build
- Launch
Five steps: brief, plan and quote, design, build, launch.
Before the clock starts: the brief and the quote
Day 0. You send a brief. A few answers about your business, your customers and what the website should help people do. A rough idea is enough.
Within one business day. I reply with questions. What you sell, who you sell to, what you already have and what's missing.
The plan and the quote. We agree on the pages, the price and the timing before any work starts. This can take a day or a week, depending on how quickly we settle the details.
The 10 business days start once three things are ready: your content (or the decision to have me write it), access to your domain if you already have one, and the first payment.
Week 1: design
Days 1 to 3. The first design. I plan what goes on each page and design how it looks on phones and computers, using your real text and photos wherever they exist.
Days 3 to 5. Your feedback, round one. You review the design and tell me what to change. Clear, specific notes ("move the prices higher", "this photo doesn't feel like us") keep things moving.
Week 2: build, second round, launch
Days 6 to 8. The build. The design becomes a working website: pages, contact form, editor, analytics, and the setup so Google can read your business details.
Days 8 to 9. Your feedback, round two. You test it on your own phone and send the last changes.
Day 10. Launch. The site goes live on your domain, I connect Google Search Console and submit your sitemap, and I show you how to edit your text.
What I need from you, page by page
The fastest projects are the ones where this list is ready before day 1:
| Page | What to send |
|---|---|
| Home | One sentence on what you do, for whom and where. Your logo, if you have one. |
| Services or menu | Each service or dish, a line about it, and the price or starting price if you share it |
| About | A few lines about you or the team, and a real photo |
| Contact | Phone, email or WhatsApp, your hours, your address or the area you serve |
| Everywhere | Ten or more real photos, reviews you have permission to use, and the questions customers ask you most |
If you run a restaurant, the menu page does most of the work. Restaurant websites have their own page.
If writing is the blocker, say so early. Copywriting is a $750 add-on in my plans, and it usually saves more time than it costs.
What slows a website down
- Missing text. The most common delay. If writing feels hard, decide early whether you'll write it or pay someone to.
- Missing photos. Real photos of your work, place or team matter more than people expect. Stock photos are a last resort.
- Slow feedback. A design waiting four days for a reply adds four days to the launch.
- Changing the plan halfway. Adding pages or features after the design is approved means new design and build time.
- Domain access. If someone else registered your domain, getting access can take longer than the whole build. It's one reason to keep the domain in your own name.
After launch: showing up on Google
Customers usually start finding you on Google a while after launch day. Two things take time on Google's side:
- Crawling. Google has to find and read your pages. According to Google's guide to recrawling, crawling "can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks." Submitting your sitemap in Search Console helps it find them.
- Rankings. Google's SEO starter guide says some changes take effect in a few hours and others take several months, and suggests waiting a few weeks before judging whether your work had an effect.
Once the site is live, it needs regular maintenance too.
If you also set up a Google Business Profile, verification is reviewed separately. Google's verification help page says reviews take up to 5 business days, and the owner has to complete the verification.
Bigger projects take longer
The 10-day target is for a site of up to five pages. Each of these adds time, because each adds design, setup and testing:
- More pages, especially pages with their own layout.
- Online booking or payments, which connect your site to another service and have to be tested end to end.
- An online store, with products, stock, shipping and checkout.
- Two languages. Every page, button and email exists twice, and both versions need checking.
- Writing the text for you, if it isn't ready when the project starts.
None of these rule out a quick launch. A common approach is to launch the core pages first and add the rest in a second round. Redesigning a site you already have takes about as long as a new one; here's how a redesign works.
How long a website builder takes
If you build it yourself on Squarespace or Wix, a simple site can be live in a day if you already have the text and photos. In practice it takes longer, because you're learning the builder, writing every page and making every design decision yourself, around running a business. Plan for a few weekends rather than a few hours, and leave time to check it on your phone before you share the link.
How long the other options take
| Option | Typical time to launch | What decides it |
|---|---|---|
| A website builder you run yourself | A day to a few weeks | How many evenings you have, and how fast you write |
| A freelancer | A couple of weeks to a few months | Their workload and the size of the project |
| A studio with a fixed process (mine) | About 10 business days once content is ready | Your content and feedback |
Questions people ask about website timelines
Can a website be built in a week? A simple one, yes, if the text and photos are ready and feedback comes back the same day. Most delays aren't in the building.
How long until my business shows up on Google Maps? That depends on your Google Business Profile, which is separate from your website. Google reviews a verification in up to 5 business days, and the owner has to complete it. Starting it early, even before the website is ready, saves time.
What if I'm late with my content? The launch date moves with it. I'd rather agree a new date than launch a site with placeholder text.
Does a website need to be finished to launch? No. A clear home page, your services and a way to contact you are enough to start. A gallery, a blog or more pages can come after launch.
What you can do this week
- Write one sentence about what you do, for whom and where.
- List the questions customers ask you most. They become your FAQ.
- Take ten real photos: your work, your place, you.
- Find out who controls your domain, or pick one.
- Claim your Google Business Profile so verification can start early.
- If the business isn't registered yet, here's how to register a business in Florida.
If you're also working out the budget, here's what a small business website costs, and the full small business website guide.
