Our Portfolio
From First Chat
To Launch Day…
One of the most common questions we get asked is “how long will my website take?” It’s a fair question – you’re excited to get your new site live, and you need to plan around it. So, let’s walk you through our process and give you a realistic timeline for a custom WordPress website project.
Getting Started:
The Perfect Brief
Before we even touch a keyboard, we need to properly understand what you need.
We’ll arrange to meet you at our meeting room at Avon House in Solihull, or if you’re not local, we’re more than happy to jump on Google Meet, Teams, or any video call platform you prefer.
Sometimes we nail the brief in one session, other times it takes a couple of conversations to really get under the skin of what you need. We’ve found that meeting face-to-face tends to speed things up – there’s something about being in the same room with a display screen and coffee that helps ideas flow. But don’t worry if distance is an issue; we’ve successfully briefed projects entirely over video calls, globally.
Once we’ve got all the information we need, we’ll go away and put your quotation together.
The Quote:
More Than Just a Number
Your quote isn’t just a price – it’s a detailed roadmap of your entire project.
We take the time to make sure it covers everything your website needs, completely tailored to your requirements.
Here’s what you’ll find in there:
- Bespoke Functionality – Any custom features your site needs that go beyond standard WordPress capabilities.
- Plugin Requirements – Based on our knowledge at the quoting stage, we’ll list any third-party plugins we anticipate needing.
- Custom Content Modules – These are the “areas” of your website. Think Team sections, Services pages, Case Studies, Portfolio items, or any other collections of content that need to be grouped together and managed easily.
- Hosting & Ongoing Support – We’ll detail hosting costs and our WordPress HealthPack, which is our ongoing support and maintenance package to keep your site running smoothly.
- Timeline & Responsibilities – For larger projects, we’ll include a more detailed timeline and a breakdown of who’s responsible for what, so there are no surprises down the line.
We’ll also cover deployment plans and training, so you know exactly how you’ll learn to manage your new website.
The key here is making absolutely sure we understand your brief and that you feel confident everything you need is covered before we move forward. No hidden surprises, no “oh, we didn’t include that” moments later on.
Stage I:
Initial Design & Aesthetics
Estimated Timeline: 2-3 weeks (for a standard project)
This is where your website starts to take shape visually.
We’ll work on the overall page layouts, navigation structure, and the look and feel of your site. It’s about establishing the aesthetic direction and making sure the user journey makes sense.
We’ll present you with a first draft of the design for your feedback. This is your opportunity to tell us what you love, what’s not quite right, and any tweaks you’d like to see. Once we’ve incorporated your feedback and you’re happy with the direction, we’ll finalise the design and prepare everything for development.
This stage is collaborative – your input shapes the final result, so we encourage open and honest feedback.
Stage II:
Development
Estimated Timeline: 4-6 weeks (for a standard project)
Now the magic happens behind the scenes. This is where we take those beautiful designs and turn them into a fully functional WordPress website.
- Website Build – We build out all your pages, functionality, and features according to the approved designs.
- Responsive Build – We ensure your site looks fantastic and works perfectly on every device, from large desktop screens down to mobile phones.
- WordPress CMS Customisation – We set up your custom content modules and make sure the backend is intuitive for you to manage.
- Testing, Testing, Testing – We put your site through rigorous browser testing and device testing to catch any issues before you see them.
- Website Demo & Training – Once everything’s built and tested, we’ll walk you through your new website and show you how to manage it. This is hands-on training tailored to your needs.
Stage III:
Population & Deployment
This is the final stretch before launch day!
- Start Writing Your Content Now – If you’re serious about your website project, you should have started writing yesterday. Website copy is one of the most important stages, and your beautiful new website is useless without it. Don’t wait until design or development begins – start gathering your thoughts, writing your copy, and preparing images now.
- Plan Your Content Journey – Think about your copy as a journey, not just a collection of pages. Give it a logical flow that guides users from one page to the next with purpose. Where do they start? What do they need to know next? Your website should have a clear roadmap, leading visitors naturally from discovery to action.
- Content Population – If you’ve chosen our content population service, we’ll transfer all your content into the new website for you. If you’re doing it yourself, we’ll have already trained you on how to do this during Stage II.
- Deployment – The big moment! But before we flip the switch, we work through our rigorous 30-point launch checklist on the day of deployment. This covers everything from final functionality checks to security, performance, and SEO settings. Once everything gets the green light, we’ll migrate your site to the live server. Your new website is now live for the world to see.
A Little Note on Timescales
We want to be upfront with you – these timescales work best when we’re all working together smoothly.
If we need feedback, approvals, or content from you during the project, getting those back to us promptly helps keep everything on track. Life happens though, and we totally understand that sometimes things take a bit longer on your end.
Also worth noting that timescales are based on our workload at the time we quote. We’ll confirm your actual project start date once we’ve received your commencement payment, and we’ll keep you updated throughout.
We’re not being difficult – we just want to set realistic expectations and deliver your website when we say we will. Communication is key, and we’ll always be transparent with you about where we’re at.
Ready to Get Started?
So there you have it – from first meeting to launch day, a typical custom WordPress website project takes around 10-12 weeks, depending on complexity and how quickly we can work through the stages together.
Every project is unique, and we’ll always give you a timeline specific to your needs in your quotation. If you’re ready to talk about your website project, get in touch and let’s arrange that first meeting.
Written by Chris Woodley
Posted 4 months ago
