A typical business website with five to fifteen pages takes three to five weeks from the first meeting to launch, whether the business is in Canada or anywhere else. The first week goes on understanding the business and agreeing a written plan, the next on design, then about two on building and filling in content, and the last on testing and going live. Larger sites, online stores and custom features take longer. What most often stretches a project is not the building but waiting for content and approvals.
Week one: the plan
A conversation about what the site is for, who it is for and what a good result looks like. Then a written scope: the pages, the features, the content needed and a timeline.
Nothing should be built before this is agreed. Most projects that run late went wrong here, by starting before anyone had written down what finished means.
Week two: design
The main pages are designed and shared as something you can click through, not just a picture. You react to the real thing rather than a description of it.
One round of changes is normal. Two is fine. If you are on round five, the plan in week one was not specific enough.
Weeks three and four: building and content
The design becomes a working site on a private preview address you can visit at any time. Pages go in as they are ready.
This is where your content is needed: the text for each page, the photographs, the logos, the details for the contact page. Content that arrives late is the most common reason a launch date moves.
Week five: testing and launch
The site is checked on phones and computers, forms are tested from start to finish, speed is measured, and the basic search setup is confirmed: titles, descriptions, a sitemap, and redirects from any old pages.
Then the domain is pointed at the new site. Done carefully, visitors never see a gap.
What makes it longer
Content that is not ready. Write it while the design is being done, not after.
Several people approving each step. Name one person who can say yes.
Features added halfway through. Keep a list for a second phase instead.
Online stores with many products, custom booking systems and links to other software add weeks, and a good plan says how many before work starts.
Questions people ask
- Can a website be built in a week?
- A very simple site can, if the content is ready and decisions are made quickly. Most business sites take longer because the planning and the content take time, not because the building does.
- Does website development in Canada take longer?
- No. The timeline is the same for a Canadian business as for one anywhere else. The parts specific to Canada are small: registering a .ca domain needs a Canadian connection, and it is worth asking for invoices in Canadian dollars. The weeks above do not change.
- What do I need to provide for my website?
- The text for each page or the information to write it from, photographs, your logo, and the details that appear on the site such as address, hours and services. Access to your domain is needed near the end.
- Will my old website go offline while the new one is built?
- No. The new site is built on a preview address, and the old one stays live until the moment the domain is switched over.
We do this
If you would rather have it done than do it, this is the part of what we offer that covers it.