How long does it take to get a website up and running?
The short answer is, it depends!
There are a few steps to getting your website up and running, depending on how prepared you are. Here are the things you need to think about before your web designer can rev up their Mac!
Do you have a visual identity (logo, colour scheme etc) which your designer will apply to your website? If not, you will need to get this designed first. This is a really important step in building a successful business, online or off. Your branding should not be overlooked!
Do you have photography or illustrations prepared for your website? If you don’t have the visual elements of your website prepared in advance, the web design project will be delayed until you do.
Have you written or website copy, or hired a copywriter to do it for you? Most web designers are not copy-writers, even if we do give advice if we see something that jars or doesn’t seem quite right.
Have you done your keyword research? This is often a step left til after the site is built, when in fact it should be done beforehand. Your keyword research will impact your copy and page headings, so it is best to do this research before you start writing your copy.
Once you have prepared all of the above, then your web designer can get started. Some designers may agree to start working before copy and images are finalised but trust me, this will lead to a much longer design period because there is less pressure on you to finalise the content.
I do not begin designing my clients’ websites until I have all the copy and imagery ready to go. I invite my clients to upload this content to a shared Google Drive folder a few days before I get started. We then review everything together, usually on a Monday, and by the Friday of that week my clients get to see their site for the first time. Pretty quick, eh? This is possible when I have the all the content to hand. If I am still waiting on content, then I cannot be so efficient. We then spend the following week making any edits or changes that re required. The goal is to go live by the Friday of the second week.
So, I have a two-week design process, but the advance prep work could take months. That’s why I say ‘it depends’, when asked how long it takes to get a website up and running!
What about setting up an online course? Again, if all the content is ready to go, it doesn’t have to take more than a week. But the content can be quite considerable - the copy and imagery for your sales page, copy for a thank you page and welcome email; a course visual identity perhaps, the course content itself (videos, pdfs, on-page text and so on). This is what takes time, planning everything in advance. Once that hard work is complete, the design and build of the platform can be relatively quick.
