In short
This website project management template breaks a typical small-agency website build into seven phases: discovery, sitemap and wireframes, visual design, content, build, testing and launch. For each phase you get the tasks, deliverables and client sign-off points, plus example timings to adjust to your own work. Follow it as it is, copy it into the tool you use, or build it as your own template in Rinse.
Who this website project template is for
This template is for freelancers and small agencies building brochure-style or small business websites for clients: a handful of page templates, a CMS and a contact form. Use it as a website design project plan template if you build sites regularly and want a plan that doesn't live in your head.
It's an example plan to follow or copy. Larger builds with ecommerce or big content migrations need extra phases, but the shape stays the same.
Phases in this website project management template
- Discovery and scope: agree goals, pages and who supplies what.
- Sitemap and wireframes: settle the structure before anyone thinks about colours.
- Visual design: turn approved wireframes into finished designs.
- Content: gather or write copy and images, alongside design and build.
- Build: develop the site on a staging server with the real content.
- Testing and client review: check everything, then let the client test it.
- Launch and handover: go live, check nothing broke, hand over.
Tasks and deliverables
1. Discovery and scope
- Kick-off call covering goals, audience, competitors and must-have features
- Written brief and scope: pages, features, integrations and what's out of scope
- Agree who writes content and who supplies images
- Name one decision-maker on the client side
- Deliverable: signed-off brief and scope
2. Sitemap and wireframes
- Sitemap showing every page and how pages connect
- Wireframes for the key page templates, such as home, service and contact
- Agree navigation and the main calls to action
- Deliverable: approved sitemap and wireframes
3. Visual design
- Homepage design first, then the other key templates
- Show desktop and mobile layouts
- Plan feedback rounds as their own dates, not an afterthought
- Deliverable: signed-off designs ready for build
4. Content
- Content plan listing every page, its owner and its due date
- Copy written or supplied, then edited
- Images, logos and any video gathered and sized
- Deliverable: approved final content for every page
5. Build
- Set up hosting, staging site and CMS
- Build page templates and components
- Add forms, analytics and any agreed integrations
- Load real content, not placeholder text
- Deliverable: complete site on staging
6. Testing and client review
- Internal checks on phones, tablets and the main browsers
- Test forms, links, page speed and basic accessibility
- Client reviews the staging site against the agreed scope
- Fix agreed issues and confirm them with the client
- Deliverable: client sign-off to launch
7. Launch and handover
- Point the domain, check security certificates and set up redirects
- Check forms, analytics and search engine settings on the live site
- Short training session and simple how-to notes for the client
- Deliverable: live site, logins and handover notes
Website project timeline and estimates
Every site is different, so treat these as example ranges for a typical small-agency build, not averages. If you want a website project timeline template to start from, a typical plan allows the following, with content running alongside design and build.
| Phase | Example range | What often stretches it |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery and scope | 1 to 2 weeks | Too many people in the kick-off |
| Sitemap and wireframes | 1 to 2 weeks | Structure debates that belong in discovery |
| Visual design | 2 to 3 weeks | Extra feedback rounds and new stakeholders |
| Content | 2 to 4 weeks, in parallel | Copy that the client hasn't started |
| Build | 2 to 4 weeks | Late content and surprise integrations |
| Testing and client review | 1 to 2 weeks | Slow client testing and new requests |
| Launch and handover | About a week | Missing domain or hosting logins |
Base your estimates on your own past projects, not anyone else's ranges. After a few builds you'll know which phase really overruns for your clients. Rinse records planned against actual dates for each phase, so the next estimate starts from what happened.
Client approvals and touchpoints
Website projects slip at the handovers between you and your client. Give each of these a date and a named person.
- 1Brief and scope sign-off: The client confirms goals, pages and responsibilities in writing before design starts.
- 2Sitemap and wireframe approval: Structure is agreed while changes are still quick to make.
- 3Design sign-off: Designs are approved before build, so layout changes don't reopen finished code.
- 4Content sign-off: Final copy and images are approved before they go into the build.
- 5Staging review: The client tests the finished site on staging, often called user acceptance testing, and lists anything that doesn't match the scope.
- 6Go-live approval: The client gives the go-ahead, and you agree what support looks like afterwards.
How to use this template in Rinse
This page is an example plan. To use it in Rinse, you build it as your own template and plan each website project from it.
- 1Build your own template: Set up these phases, tasks and checklists as a template in Rinse's template builder, adjusted to how your studio works.
- 2Plan the next website: Start a new project from your template and fit the phases to this client's dates on the Gantt-style timeline, a chart where each phase is a bar.
- 3Share the plan: Give your client a clear timeline showing when content and feedback are due, and how the project is progressing.
- 4Run the project: Rinse keeps planned and actual dates for each task and phase, so you can see if content or design feedback ran over.
- 5Plan the next one from real history: Rinse's calibrated task lengths use your past website projects, so estimates get closer to reality as your history grows.
Features that help
- Gantt charts for agenciesPlan each client project on a drag-and-drop Gantt chart with dependencies, date locks and baseline bars, then share a read-only version with your client.
- Project estimationBase new task lengths on your own past projects, with client waiting and agreed extra scope taken out, and see planned against actual on every project.
Frequently asked questions
What should a website project plan template include?
At minimum: the goals and scope you agreed, a sitemap, the phases with start and end dates, the deliverables for each phase, and who signs off what. It also helps to say who supplies content and by when, and to keep a short launch checklist. A plan that covers those points gives you something to point back to when the scope starts to drift.
What usually delays a website project?
Often it's the client side of the work rather than the build. Content arrives late, feedback comes from several people who disagree, or someone new joins at the design stage and reopens decisions. Missing logins for hosting or the domain can hold up launch too. Setting dates for content and feedback in the plan, and naming one decision-maker, prevents a lot of this.
Can I use this template for a website redesign?
Yes. Add an audit of the existing site to discovery, so you know which pages, content and search traffic you're keeping. Then add redirect mapping to the build and launch phases, pointing each old page address to its new home, so visitors and search engines don't hit dead links after the switch.
Who should sign off each stage of a website project?
Agree one named decision-maker on the client side before work starts. Other stakeholders can feed in, but their comments should reach you through that one person as a single set of feedback. On your side, have the project lead review each deliverable internally before the client sees it, so the client only reviews work that's ready.
Is Rinse available yet?
Not yet. Rinse is still in development and nobody can use it yet. Join the waitlist at rinseapp.io/waitlist to hear when it opens.