Malau Digital builds WordPress websites for small businesses in the San Gabriel Valley. This post is for business owners in Baldwin Park, Pasadena, Covina, and surrounding SGV cities who are thinking about hiring someone to build their site and want to know what the process actually involves before they commit.
If you’ve read the earlier posts in this series, you already know what a small business website needs to do and what the price range looks like in 2026. This post covers the part that comes next: what happens after you say yes.
Most business owners I talk to in the SGV haven’t hired a web developer before. They’ve either built something themselves or had a friend handle it years ago. The idea of working with someone on a website project feels vague, and vague makes people hesitate. So here’s what the process looks like from your side.
What you'll be asked for
Before any building starts, a good developer will ask you for a few things. Your business name, address, phone number, and hours. A description of what you do and who your customers are. Photos if you have them — of your storefront, your team, your food, your work. And some sense of what you want the site to accomplish: more phone calls, more foot traffic, a way for people to book online, or just a place that looks professional when someone searches your name.
You don’t need to have all of this perfectly organized. That’s part of what you’re paying someone to help with. But the more you can gather up front, the faster the build goes. The biggest delays I see on projects aren’t technical. They’re content delays — waiting on photos, waiting on copy, waiting on a decision about what the hours page should say.
What the build looks like
The typical process runs in four stages.
First is a conversation — sometimes called a discovery call — where the developer asks about your business, your customers, what you want the site to do, and what you don’t want. This is where the scope gets defined. How many pages. What features. What the timeline looks like. At Malau Digital, this is also where I explain what’s included and what isn’t, so there are no surprises on either side.
Second is the build itself. The developer puts the site together on a staging server, which is a private version of the site that only you and the developer can see. Nothing is public yet. You’ll get a link to review it as sections come together.
Third is revisions. You look at what’s been built and tell the developer what needs to change. Good developers include a set number of revision rounds in the contract — at Malau Digital it’s two rounds for a Starter build, three for Standard. Revisions are for adjustments, not redesigns. “Move this section up” or “change this photo” is a revision. “Actually, can we start over with a different layout” is a new project.
Fourth is launch. Once you’ve approved the staging version, the site goes live on your real domain. The developer handles the technical side — DNS, SSL, caching, search engine submission. You get a walkthrough of how to make basic content changes yourself if you want to, and a clear answer on who to contact if something breaks.
How long it takes
A five-page site for a local business typically takes one to two weeks from the day content is received. An eight-page site — or a slightly larger site with the same kind of scope — typically takes two to three weeks. The variable is almost always content. If you provide your photos, descriptions, and business details within the first few days, the project stays on schedule. If those trickle in over weeks, the timeline stretches with them.
What to watch for
A few things that separate a good experience from a frustrating one.
A written scope of work matters. Before you pay anything, you should see a document that lists the number of pages, the revision rounds, the delivery timeline, and the total price. If someone says “we’ll figure it out as we go,” that’s a red flag at any price point.
A clear payment structure matters too. A 50% deposit before work begins and 50% on delivery is standard. Be cautious about anyone who asks for full payment up front or who can’t explain when the second payment is due.
And after launch, you should know exactly what happens next. Who updates the site? Who handles backups? Who do you call if the contact form stops working at 9 PM on a Tuesday? If the developer doesn’t have a clear answer to that, the relationship probably ends at launch — and that’s where most of the real problems start. The services page explains how I handle that at Malau Digital, including what the maintenance retainer covers.
The short version
You provide the details about your business. The developer turns that into a site. You review it, request changes, and approve it. It goes live. Then you decide whether the same person maintains it going forward.
That’s the whole process. There’s nothing mysterious about it, and there shouldn’t be.
If you’re an SGV business owner ready to get a real site up — or just want to ask a few questions before deciding — I’d like to hear from you. You can reach me through the contact page or email me directly at hello@malaudigital.com.