How long does it take to have a website made? Usually longer than the build itself

It is almost always the first question: how long does it take? The honest answer is a bit uncomfortable. It depends less on the builder than on what is ready on day one. Building a site is the fast part. Waiting for the text for the “About us” page is the slow part. Whoever has the texts and photos ready will get a small site in weeks, not in months. Whoever still has to write them is waiting on themselves.

This is the order, and the list that will save the most time. It’s not a promise of a fixed completion date, because I wouldn’t believe that myself.

Where the time goes

1. The conversation. One sentence: what should a visitor do? Ring, fill in a form, place an order?
2. The structure. Home, services, about, contact. More pages only if a client really needs them.
3. The content. Text, photos, logo, the correct company name and VAT number.
4. Build and testing. Form, clickable phone number, a padlock in the address bar, and a page that is readable on a mobile phone.

Step 3 is the hidden delay. If the content is missing, the build comes to a standstill. That is the usual course of events, not the exception.

A small site is not an online store

A site with a handful of pages and one language has no payment test and no product import. An online store does: Bancontact, shipping and a real test order belong in the planning. A second language means a second set of texts, and that also has to be proofread.

I explain the difference in custom online store in Antwerp. Such a process takes longer, and that is how it should be.

The list that saves time

Prepare this before the first meeting, not after:

1. One sentence: what do you do, for whom, and what is the next step?
2. The pages that are truly needed. The rest only with a reason.
3. Texts in your own words. A slogan that fits every company is not text.
4. Photos of your work or your team. Stock photos fill a gap; they prove nothing.
5. Logo, colors if you have them, and the correct spelling of the company name.
6. Address, phone number, VAT number and opening hours. The same as on your Google listing.
7. Access to the domain and the mailbox, or the name of whoever has it.
8. One person who gives feedback. Not three in a row. That’s the fastest way to make a schedule slip.

Do you sell products? Then also decide which ones go online, whether the price is shown including or excluding VAT, and whether you offer pickup, shipping, or both.

What you don’t need to bring

No twenty-page sitemap. No chosen theme. No list of plugins. That’s our job. Don’t yet know exactly what the site needs to do? Then start with website for starters. Already have a site that doesn’t bring in anything? Then start with a website analysis, not with a new folder of photos.

And then?

Online isn’t the end. What comes after that is in website maintenance. You can read more about the amount in what a professional website costs. Use that page for the price, and this one for the timeline.

In short: having a website made takes as long as the content needs to be ready, plus the build and a test. Texts and photos in advance are the shortest route.