Guide · Website
A new website step by step: how to get from idea to launch
A new website goes through eight steps: goals, content, brief, choosing a supplier, design, development, testing and launch. A standard business site typically takes 6–12 weeks and costs DKK 15,000–40,000 with an agency, while larger bespoke sites run DKK 50,000–200,000 and 3–6 months. This guide gives you the timeline, the budget and a checklist you can send straight to suppliers.
12 min read · Updated 1 October 2026
The marketing manager gets the task at a management meeting: “We need a new website before summer.” There is no brief, no budget and nobody quite knows who owns the domain. Three weeks later, three quotes sit on the table at DKK 12,000, 65,000 and 180,000, apparently describing the same thing. That confusion is normal, and it almost always comes from skipping the first steps. With the right order, both the quotes and the result become comparable.
Here is the answer in brief. A new website takes eight steps, and the first three happen on your side, before you talk to a supplier. A standard business site of 8–20 pages typically takes 6–12 weeks from kick-off to launch. The biggest delays typically come from copy, images and approvals.
How do you get a new website? The 8 steps at a glance
1. Goals
What should the site deliver: enquiries, bookings, applicants or sales? Put numbers on it.
2. Content
Review the current site: what works, what goes, and what is missing?
3. Brief
Put goals, audiences, pages, features, integrations and budget on two pages.
4. Supplier
Get 2–3 quotes on the same brief and compare scope, ownership and running costs.
5. Design
Structure, wireframes and visual design on mobile and desktop. Approve before code.
6. Development
Build, CMS, integrations and content entry. Follow progress as it happens.
7. Testing
Devices, forms, speed, accessibility and redirects.
8. Launch
Switch DNS, monitor Search Console and fix the first issues within days.
Step 1: What should the new website achieve?
“It should look more modern” is a starting point, but it is hard to measure. Good goals describe what the site should get people to do. Write down two or three goals with numbers, and check what those numbers are today. Then you know afterwards whether the project paid off, and your supplier knows what to prioritise when choices have to be made.
- More qualified enquiries: from 10 to 20 form submissions a month.
- Fewer repetitive calls: prices, opening hours and delivery times findable in 10 seconds.
- Online booking: 40 % of bookings coming through the site within a year.
- Recruitment: applicants able to see jobs and apply from their phone.
- Visibility: ranking for the five most important searches for your services in your area.
The numbers in the list are examples of how a goal can be phrased. Use your own figures from analytics, your CRM or call logs.
What should you have ready before contacting a web agency?
Steps 2 and 3 are about gathering what a supplier needs to give a precise price. It does not have to be a long document. Two pages answering the points below is enough for three agencies to price the same thing. If you need a template, use our requirements specification template.
- Goals: two to three measurable goals from step 1.
- Audiences: who visits the site, and what are they looking for?
- Sitemap: a list of the pages you expect, marking the ones with traffic today.
- Features: contact form, booking, newsletter, job listings, login, webshop, multiple languages.
- Integrations: CRM, accounting such as e-conomic or Dinero, booking system, payments.
- Content: who writes the copy, and are there images and video you are allowed to use?
- Design: logo, colours, any existing brand guidelines and two to three sites you like, with reasons.
- Technical: who owns the domain and hosting today, and who has access?
- Timeline: a target launch date and any fixed deadlines.
- Budget: a range. It saves everyone from quotes that miss completely.
What does a new website cost?
The price depends on three things: the number of unique page types, the number of integrations and how much design is created from scratch. The table shows typical ranges in the Danish market. We go deeper into what drives the price in our guide to how much a website costs.
Typical prices for a new website in Denmark in 2026. The range comes mainly from the number of page types, integrations and how much is designed from scratch.
| Type | Typical price | Typical timeline | Fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple site with a freelancer | DKK 5,000–15,000 | 2–4 weeks | Sole trader with a few pages on a theme |
| Standard site with an agency | DKK 15,000–40,000 | 6–10 weeks | Small business with 8–20 pages and one integration |
| Bespoke site | DKK 50,000–200,000+ | 3–6 months | Several languages, many page types, several integrations |
| Webshop | DKK 10,000–80,000 (standard) | 4–12 weeks | Online sales. Custom or B2B runs well above DKK 100,000 |
A worked example: 12 pages for a 15-person company
A plumbing firm with 15 staff wants a new site with a homepage, six service pages, cases, about, jobs, contact and online booking of service visits linked to their calendar. That is roughly six unique page types and one integration. With an agency it typically lands in the upper part of the standard range or just above, because booking has to be designed and tested properly. Add 15–20 % of the build cost per year for hosting and maintenance, and set aside internal time for copy: realistically 20–30 hours.
For comparison, the same project with us would fit our Medium package at DKK 36,000 plus DKK 900 a month, which covers 24 features and 2 integrations, with hosting, updates, support, security and backups included in the monthly price. See all packages on pricing.
How long does it take to build a new website?
Typical timeline for a standard business site. The content phase runs alongside design and is most often the one that pushes the launch.
| Phase | Duration | Your task |
|---|---|---|
| Goals, content and brief | 1–2 weeks | Write goals, review the current site, assemble the brief |
| Quotes and choosing a supplier | 1–3 weeks | Hold meetings, compare quotes, check references |
| Structure and design | 2–3 weeks | Give consolidated feedback within days, approve |
| Development and content | 3–5 weeks | Deliver copy and images, test along the way |
| Testing and launch | 1 week | Test key tasks, approve redirects |
What makes projects fast is a decision-maker who replies the same day, copy that is ready when the design is approved, and a scope that is fixed. What makes them slow is feedback from many people at different times and new wishes in the middle of development. The latter can be handled perfectly well, but treat it as a phase two after launch.
How do you choose a supplier and platform for the new website?
Get two or three quotes on the same brief and compare more than price: who owns the code and the domain, what running costs look like over three years, and who actually does the work. Our guide to choosing a software company has a scoring table you can use as is. The platform is the second big choice, and these are the two main routes.
Theme and plugins (e.g. WordPress)
- Quick start and low price for small sites
- Many developers know the platform
- Plugins need updating and can conflict
- Speed and design are limited by the theme
Built from scratch (e.g. Next.js)
- Designed precisely around your content and goals
- Fast pages and a small attack surface
- Integrations are built straight in
- Needs a supplier who can handle hosting and further development
We build in Next.js ourselves, so weigh our view with that in mind. We happily recommend WordPress to clients where it fits best, typically small sites with many editors and a tight budget. The full trade-off is in Next.js vs WordPress.
Who writes the copy for the new website?
Content is the single biggest cause of delayed launches. The design gets approved, development starts, and then everyone waits for copy that has to be written alongside the day job. Settle from the start whether you write it yourselves, hire a copywriter, or have the agency deliver it. Either way, someone who knows the customers must be involved, because nobody from outside can invent your best arguments.
What do you need to remember when the new website goes live?
Launch day is when years of built-up visibility can be lost if old addresses end up on an error page. The key points are below. The full 50-point list is in our website launch checklist, and if your URL structure changes, read website migration without losing SEO.
- 301 redirects from every old address with traffic or links to the best-matching new page.
- Analytics and conversion goals set up and tested before DNS is switched.
- A compliant cookie banner and an updated privacy policy.
- Sitemap submitted in Google Search Console and robots.txt checked.
- Every form tested to real inboxes, including confirmation emails.
- A backup of the old site, so old content can be found again.
What happens after a new website launches?
The first 90 days are a measurement phase. Track the goals you set in step 1, look at where users drop off, and fix the small things quickly. Plan a review after three months where you decide what to improve. Remember running costs too: updates, security, backups and hosting typically cost 15–20 % of the build price per year, and that belongs in the budget from day one. We go through the agreements in our guide to website maintenance costs.
Which pitfalls should you avoid with a new website?
- Starting with design before goals. Then taste decides every discussion.
- Comparing quotes based on different briefs. Send the same brief to everyone.
- Letting the supplier register the domain and hosting in their own name. It belongs in yours.
- Forgetting redirects. It is the fastest way to lose traffic.
- Postponing the copy. Content is the most common cause of delay.
- Leaving running costs out of the budget. A website is an ongoing expense.
- Letting ten people give feedback separately. Collect comments with one person.
With us, a project starts with a written fixed price within 24 hours, and you follow the whole process from design to launch in our client panel. If you are unsure whether you need an entirely new site, read signs you need a new website first. If you are ready, you can get a fixed price for your project.
Questions about getting a new website
Should we keep our domain name?
Can we build the new website ourselves in something like Wix?
Who should be on the internal project team?
How many pages should a new website have?
Do we need to tell Google we have a new website?
Can we get a grant for a new website?
Want us to build it for you?
You get a fixed-price proposal within 24 hours.
