Most website redesigns take six to twelve weeks from kickoff to launch. A larger project, like an online store with a big product catalog or a site with dozens of unique pages, can run three months or more. If you’re still deciding whether your site needs a redesign at all, the signs it’s time for a redesign cover that question. If you’ve already made the call, here’s what goes into those weeks, broken down by phase, so you can plan a launch date with confidence.
The Redesign Timeline, Phase by Phase
A redesign breaks down into four phases, each with a predictable range of time attached to it, and each one sets up the next.
Discovery & Planning (1 to 2 Weeks)
This is where your goals, your current site’s strengths and weak spots, and the new sitemap, all get mapped out together. It’s also when we start collecting what the new site will need to launch with real content on day one: photos, copy direction, and product or service details, rather than leaving that gathering for later in the project when it would hold up finished pages. This phase is mostly conversations and planning, so it moves fast, and it’s the easiest phase to be part of since there’s nothing to approve yet, just decisions to make together.
Copywriting (1 to 2 Weeks)
We write the copy for every page, based on your initial client interview, so it meets your goals and does a good job showcasing your services. Once that content is finished, it moves into design and build, and pages get built out around it.
Design & Build (3 to 6 Weeks)
This is the longest phase, and the one where most of the project actually comes together. A business site’s pages will need a variety of distinct page layouts, and design starts with the homepage and expands from there, usually with a round or two of feedback before every page style is locked in. From there, every page gets built and connected to the tools your site runs on, from your content management system to booking or payment tools. Most of the development side happens behind the scenes, so it’s the part of this phase that requires the least day-to-day involvement from you.
Curious who handles which piece of this? See the difference between a web designer and web developer.
Launch & Testing (A Few Days to a Week)
The last step is checking links, forms, and page speed across devices before the new site goes live and the old one comes down. By this point, most of the real decisions are already made, and what’s left is making sure everything works the way it’s supposed to.
What Affects Your Timeline
Two things move the number more than anything else: how much of the site is changing, and how quickly the project moves from one phase to the next. A simple five-page site updates faster than a fifty-page site with an online store, since there’s simply less to design, write, build, and connect. Beyond size, keeping approvals moving at a good pace keeps even a larger project close to the shorter end of its range.
For a typical ten-page business site with updated branding and no major functionality changes, eight to ten weeks from kickoff to launch is a realistic planning window. A larger project, like a fifty-page site with an online store and custom booking or scheduling tools, is more realistically twelve to sixteen weeks. These are planning windows, and a real project landing a little outside one doesn’t mean anything went wrong.
If you’re working toward a specific date, like before a busy season or a company anniversary, say so at the start of the project. Flagging a deadline early changes how the work gets scoped and scheduled, and it’s a lot easier to hit a date you planned for than one you’re racing to catch up to at the end.
What to Expect From Us Along the Way
A custom website design project can feel like a lot to track on top of running your business day to day. In practice, we set the schedule up front, tell you exactly what we need from you and when, and check in at each phase so you’re never left wondering where things stand. Most of what’s asked of you comes down to a handful of short conversations and prompt replies on proofs and drafts, not ongoing oversight on your part. The phases above are our side of the work. Your side of it is lighter than the phase list alone makes it look.
What Keeps a Redesign on Schedule
A few simple habits keep a project moving at a good pace for everyone involved. Getting us your photos, logins, and any specifics about your products or services during onboarding keeps that gathering from turning into a mid-project scramble. Looping in everyone who needs to sign off from the start keeps approvals simple. Turning proofs and drafts around within a few business days keeps the whole schedule moving the way it was planned. None of this takes extra meetings or a formal process, just steady replies as each phase comes up. On our side, that means clear deadlines for every review and a heads-up well before anything is due, so neither of us is guessing what comes next.
Ready to Start Your Redesign?
Every redesign is a little different, but a free marketing consultation with Imagemark gets you a real project timeline and quote based on your actual site, not a general range. We’ll look at your current site, talk through your goals and your target launch date, and map out a schedule that fits both from the very first conversation. Imagemark works with businesses across Jefferson City, Columbia, Lake of the Ozarks, and the surrounding Mid-Missouri communities to plan redesigns that fit both the budget and the calendar, with a team that keeps you posted at every phase along the way.
Contact Imagemark at (573) 636-3815 to get started.