How Long Does It Take to Build a Website for a New Brand?
According to research, 56% of people won’t trust a business if it doesn’t have a website.
Generating trust is absolutely essential for any business, but particularly B2B organizations.
If you don’t have a website yet—it’s time to design one asap.
Which brings us to the question, how long does it take to build a website?
The answer depends on numerous factors. Also, there are some important things to keep in mind when comparing web development timeframes and deadlines.
Ready to get clear on how long your web design project should take? Read on to find out what factors influence web design timeframes, well as a couple of important tips around web design deadline setting.
Why a Short Web Design Turn-Around Is Not Always a Good Thing
Before we get into the question “how long does it take to build a website,” let’s first get clear on one thing. Short turnaround times for site design are not always a good thing.
Like most people, you probably want your site finished sooner rather than later. Also, it usually feels impressive when a company can promise a fast completion date. It can make them look more hardworking and dedicated to your business than the competition.
However, this isn’t necessarily the case. Very fast turnaround times can often be a warning bell.
Firstly, good web design services are in high demand. This means that companies who do stellar web development are generally booked full. Because of this, your project will need to join the queue.
On the other hand, a web design service that promises to get your site done in a matter of days or a couple of weeks probably doesn’t have many clients.
Also, if a company says it can get your site done very quickly, how much effort and thought they will put into your design? They may just be slapping up a few templated pages with a generic website builder.
Research from Stanford shows that 75% of consumers gauge a business’s credibility and trustworthiness from the quality of its website. Therefore, don’t prioritize fast web development timeframes over quality outcomes.
If you invest a little extra time into your website build, you could gain a valuable advantage, especially in B2B markets. Unfortunately, many B2B websites are not fully optimized. If you build a standout site, you can gain an instant edge.
Here Are the Factors Involved
There are a number of factors that impact how long web design takes. Therefore it’s impossible to give a one size fits all answer to the question “how long does it take to build a website.”
Let’s take a look at some of these impacting factors so you can get an idea of how long your specific site will take to build.
Client Response Time
One factor that not many people are aware of when wondering “how long does it take to build a website” is client response time.
If you hire a web design service, there will be some work involved on your side. Of course, you won’t have to sit into the night googling “how to build a website,” but you will need to do things like:
- Gather or review content
- Review deliverables
- Give feedback
- Answer questions
All of this takes time. If you have a busy schedule, this can hold up the web designers as they wait for your responses.
The Type of Site
The type of site you need also plays a role in how long it will take to build. For instance, a large online shop will take a web development team a lot longer than a simple business page.
In general, the more functions a visitor must be able to carry out on your site, the more complex it will be to design.
Content Readiness
Another big factor in the “how long does it take to build a website” equation is content readiness. If you already have all your initial content ready to go, this can speed things up by anything from 2-6 weeks.
In many cases, site content is generated by the client. Because clients are usually busy running their business—and don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to content creation, this can slow things down substantially.
It can also add extra stress to already overworked business owners who want to get a site up and running. Because of this, we offer assistance with content marketing in addition to our web development and marketing services.
Website Size
Logically, sites with fewer pages take less time to build than sites with many pages. Non-unique pages (pages that have the same structure) are quicker to create, but each page still requires things like:
- Quality assurance (QA)
- SEO tagging
- Mobile design
- Graphic design
To give you a ballpark idea of how pages impact web development time, if your site has more than 20 pages, aim to add on 1-2 weeks to development. Over 50 pages, and you’re looking at an extra 2-4 weeks. Mega sites with over 100 pages could require an additional 6-8 weeks.
Number of Unique Pages
If your site requires a lot of unique pages, this will take even more time. More than 5 unique pages can tack on 1-2 weeks to the design timeframe, and more than 10 will likely require an extra 2-6 weeks.
Number of Dynamic Functions
Another design element that takes time is the number of dynamic functions a site has. Static pages like simple landing pages and blogs are faster to build as their coding is simpler.
Dynamic functions require more extensive coding and, therefore, will increase the timeframe of your web design project.
So How Long Does It Take to Build a Website?
We’ve run through the major factors that impact web design timeframes. As you can see, it all depends on the type of site you need, your time availability, and how in-demand your web design service is.
But how long does it take to build a website, roughly? As a ballpark figure, you can expect your site to take anywhere between 12 to 16 weeks.
Do You Need Help With Your Web Design?
Now that you know the answer to the question “how long does it take to build a website?” you’re probably itching to get started with the process. Web design typically takes longer than most people realize. Therefore it’s important to begin the process ahead of time.
Looking for a reliable and competent web design partner? We are a full-service, trusted demand generation and technical CRM consultancy. Because we know the importance of good web design, we offer our clients custom solutions that drive real impact and make your B2B business stand out.
Contact us today to get the ball rolling on your web development project.
