How long does it take to design a website?

Wondering how long it will take to design a new website for your church, school, ministry or business?

In this Website Design Frequently Asked Questions (Web Design FAQs) video blog, I address the question How long does it take to design a website? by looking at  5 things that impact website development time.

(The article below is a summary of the video, but you’ll get more details and examples if you watch the video.)

5 Things That Impact How Long It Takes to Build a Website

1) Will the website use a custom-designed theme?

The website theme determines the look, the layout and style of the website. Having a new theme developed specifically for your website will give you exactly the look you want, but it will add significantly to the development time (and cost). Downloading or purchasing a theme from a theme developer, will save time.

Fortunately, we work with so many really good theme developers, that we can almost always find a theme already created by a developer that meets our clients’ needs.

2) The number of revision cycles in the design process.

Often, when a new website is created in-house by a staff member or volunteer, there isn’t a clear revision process. The developer builds the website… their boss or other stakeholders request some changes… the developer makes the changes…. more changes are requested… those changes are made… and the cycle continues for months.

We have discovered that providing two sets of revisions is almost always sufficient to get a custom designed website just right.

Sometimes when we include this in a website development proposal, a prospective client will voice a concern that this is too restrictive, saying, “What if after the 2nd set of revisions we want more changes?”

We we reassure them that we can always make additional revisions for an additional cost. But by having 2 sets of revisions included in the project, it challenges them to focus and be thorough with the first set of revisions, and use the 2nd set of revisions for a handful of minor adjustments. This dramatically speeds up the completion and launch of the website.

3) Amount of content / pages

The number of pages created by the developer will impact development time.  Obviously,  creating a 50-page website, is going to take more time than a 5-page website.

But the biggest way we see the number of pages impact the website development schedule is in how long it takes the client to provide the content for all those pages.

We have seen website projects stall for over a year while waiting for the client to write the text for their web pages.  No exaggeration!

So, starting in 2025 we now include our content writing service as a part of every website development project we do. We schedule a call, ask you questions to draw out the information needed for each page, and one of our skilled copywriters crafts all the text for your website in a matter of days.

4) Developer response times

Does the website developer have some a goal or required turn-around time when it comes to responding to your e-mails or your phone calls?

We here at OurChurch.Com, we strive for a maximum of one business day turn-around time. Usually, it’s less than that, often within a few hours.

But it’s good to know and it’s good to find out if the developer is committed to responding back to all communication within a certain timeframe.

5) Client response times

In our experience of developing hundreds of custom websites, the biggest factor that affects the launch date and the overall website development project time is how quickly you, the customer, respond back to the developer.

We understand that often the website is not the number one priority of our point-of-contact.  But if you want to keep your website project on track, the most important thing you can do is respond to emails and phone calls  within  days instead of weeks.

I hope that this has been informative post and helps you understand how long it takes to create a website

I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things. -Lindon Leader 

Want to know how long it will take to build YOUR website?

In this article and video we had to answer the question, “How long does it take to design a website?” by explaining general website design principles. But if you want to know exactly how many weeks it would take build and a launch a new website for your  business, nonprofit or church or if you have other website related questions, we would love to talk with you. 

Compete the form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop) to schedule a friendly, no obligation call.

Comment and discuss

• What was your  biggest takeaway when it comes to how long it takes to design a website?
• What other questions do you have about website development time?

Read or watch more Web Design FAQs