The steps from a first call to launch
In short
Every project runs the same way: a short call, a written plan that lists the work and its weeks, the build in small pieces you check as they land, then launch. Nothing starts before the deposit clears.
The plan is where the timeline is set. It lists what gets built and in what order, and it states the weeks for your scope, so you know the date before you pay anything.
During the build you see the work as it lands and answer as you go, which keeps a small question from turning into a late surprise. Launch moves the site live and points every old address at its new page with a permanent redirect.
| What happens | What can slow it | |
|---|---|---|
| Call | We learn what you need and which tools you already use | Finding a time that suits everyone |
| Plan | A written scope with the weeks and the price | Decisions about what the site must do |
| Deposit | Work starts once it clears | The payment itself |
| Build | Pieces land for you to check | Late text and photos, and answers that wait |
| Launch | The domain moves and the redirects go in | Nobody can find the login for the domain |
Swipe sideways to see every column
What makes a website take longer
In short
Delays tend to come from waiting rather than building: text and photos that arrive late, and decisions that sit unanswered. Scope that grows mid-project is the other cause, and it goes through a change order with its own price and weeks.
Our prices assume you supply the words and photos. A site can be built around placeholders, but it cannot launch on them, so the day the last page of text arrives often sets the launch date more than any line of code does.
Access is the quiet delay. The login for the domain, the old hosting account and the business profile each belong to someone, and a launch waits until they are found. Gathering them in the first week saves the scramble at the end.
A new idea mid-build is welcome, and it is handled in writing: a change order prices it and says what it adds to the weeks, and it is built only once you approve it.
After launch: how long search engines take
In short
Launch is not the end of the wait for search. Google says crawling can take from a few days to a few weeks, and a rebuilt site whose page addresses change can take a few weeks for most pages to move over.
Google's documentation says crawling can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, and that asking for a recrawl does not guarantee that a page will be included in results, instantly or at all. A sitemap submitted in Search Console is the way to point it at many new pages at once. Bing and several other engines also accept IndexNow, a notice a site sends when a page is added, changed or deleted, which they share with one another; Google is not among the engines indexnow.org lists.
When a rebuild changes page addresses, Google says a small to medium-sized site can take a few weeks for most pages to move, and that its visibility may fluctuate during the move before it settles. It recommends permanent redirects, such as 301s, from each old address to its new page.
What this means for a small business
In short
Plan backwards from the date you need, and have your text, photos and account logins ready before the build starts. Ask for the weeks in writing, and for what happens to the date if a decision runs late.
If a date matters, such as a season, an opening or a sale, say so on the first call. The plan can put the pages that date depends on first and launch them, then add the rest as a second step.
A business opening a new location in the Los Angeles area, for example, can meet us on site in the first week, when the photos, the hours and the logins are easiest to gather in one visit.