How long it takes to build a website in Wordpress really depends on you. There are many ways to go about it and lots of options to confuse you even more than you might already be. Before I get into the details, there are some important things you should know and ask yourself before creating a website that will help inform your next steps.
I won't go over all of them, but here's a decent list of the things you should know before you make a website in Wordpress:
- Do you plan to make it yourself or hire someone?
- What's your budget?
- Do you have a logo & colors picked out?
- Do you have text content written out?
- Do you have images or video?
If you answered "No" or "I don't know" to any of those, you may not be ready to build a website. You may want to plan a little bit more before you start making anything. Though, those things aren't required and we often find that clients get us content when the site is complete.
This is how long it takes to build a website in Wordpress
For our agency, it takes 6-8 weeks to build a website with Wordpress. It really depends on how quickly our clients get us the things we ask them for. And it almost always comes down to content. They always get stuck on content. You don't need to have all the content planned out before you make a website, but you need to write or create it in a timely fashion so your web designers don't get mad at you :)
If you don't have the content, you can still make a website but it will take longer whether you pay someone or do it yourself. If you're having trouble with the content, definitely let your website builder know and they can help get your creative juices flowing.
On average, our Wordpress websites take 6-8 weeks but that also depends on how complicated your website is. For a basic informational site that you just want to get up and running quickly, it’s not going to be that long. If you’re interested in building a more complex site with lots of features and functionality, then you can expect it to take more time.
We do work with our clients in cases where they need something faster. As you can expect, this means that we need to increase budget expectations.
If you plan to make your Wordpress website yourself, it could take anywhere from a few hours to a few months to make it perfect to "never gonna happen, I'm just gonna pay someone". DIY website builders, like Wordpress, make it very easy to make a website, but you still need to have a good understanding of the web and how things work.
WordPress is the most used CMS and has a lot of things built-in to make using it as easy as possible. It also has a lot of themes that are free and easy to install. There are a lot of tutorials on how to do this online, or if you want a more hands-on approach, you can get a book from O'Reilly called Wordpress For Dummies.
I’m not going to lie, creating a website is a lot of work. I’ve created tons of websites over the last 20 years and I’ve learned a lot along the way. The main thing you need to know is that every website is different and what works for one person doesn’t always work for another and that's why the time it takes to build a website in Wordpress can vary widely.