The time it takes to create websites such as homepages, online stores, etc., can range from a few days to several months.
Typically, for company promotional websites or online stores, it may take around one month to complete.
The production process involving personnel from various fields
Websites are typically created collaboratively by professionals in different fields such as planners, designers, publishers, programmers, etc., with a sequential workflow.
That is, planning is done first, followed by design, then publishing or programming.
Therefore, in website production, involving professionals from various fields sequentially contributes to the overall production time.
At each stage of work in each field, results are produced, presented to the client for feedback, and further modifications are made based on their input.
The time taken for client feedback holds significant weight in the overall production period, and accurately predicting it can be challenging.
Creating a website using a pre-existing platform
Websites and online stores generally have similar functions and structures.
Platforms, frameworks, and templates are pre-built to have common features and structures that can be customized for use.
Examples of these include WordPress, GnuBoard, Cafe24 Shopping Mall, Naver Smart Store, Bootstrap, along with various themes and skins that support them.
Platforms and frameworks are widely used for website development due to their effectiveness in reducing costs and shortening timelines.
Additionally, they receive regular patches and upgrades, are validated by numerous users, and in some cases are integrated with hosting services for convenient maintenance.
For example, if you create a shopping mall using the Cafe24 platform, you can immediately use the basic form of the shopping mall and the administrator page with just a free membership sign-up.
Connecting a domain, integrating electronic payments, and optimizing for search engines are also convenient tasks.
While you might need to redesign the shopping mall, you can purchase pre-made skins or entrust this task to a website development agency.
By creating a shopping mall in this manner, you can greatly reduce costs in planning and programming, as you do not have to define functions and appearance in detail or develop them from scratch.
Contract and planning
If a suitable platform is determined based on customer inquiries and reference sites are provided appropriately, estimating the cost can be done in a few hours.
The contract can be finalized through phone calls, emails, registered mail, or in-person visits, often depending on the scale of the contract.
Upon signing the contract and making the down payment, the planning phase begins.
For larger projects, a storyboard detailing the layout and functionalities is created.
However, for smaller projects, a prototype can be developed directly based on the design draft.
Planning involves gathering additional resources based on client collaboration, content creation, production outputs, schedule management, and customer feedback.
Prototype development and customer feedback
Based on the concept design reflecting customer preferences, a prototype is developed through the coding work of publishers on the chosen platform or framework.
This prototype is then used to gather more specific client requirements, leading to further refinement and modification.
For small-scale projects, the time taken to complete the prototype after contract signing is typically around one week.
During this period, time is allocated for client collaboration, gathering basic materials such as logos or product photos, and finalizing the prototype.
Website development and inspection
Based on the completed prototype, full-fledged design, coding, and programming work commences.
This process typically takes around 2 to 4 weeks.
Of course, for a simple site where all content fits on a single page, a few days may be sufficient.
Conversely, if significant changes are needed in the platform's basic structure or functionalities, the production time may be longer.
Once the production is complete, the client is asked to inspect the website, and modifications are made based on their feedback.
If there are no major changes in the client's decisions or serious defects in the project deliverables, the modifications resulting from the inspection typically take around one week.
Other factors that influence the production period
Domain registration, hosting setup, and installation of SSL security certificates typically require a few hours.
However, in cases where a site redesign involves transferring ownership of the domain and hosting from another party, the process can take more than a few days.
When redesigning a website and changing platforms, waiting time may be necessary for support from the relevant platform service provider concerning data migration.
For example, if transitioning from GODO Mall to Cafe24, tasks like transferring data that are difficult to perform independently will require you to apply for support from Cafe24 and await assistance.
When applying for a new electronic payment system during the creation of an online store, the submission of documents and review can usually occur when the site development is at a certain stage. The separate assessment by card companies typically takes around 2 weeks to complete.
To expedite the process of selecting a company and comparing quotes:
When requesting quotes from multiple companies for website creation, it can be challenging to make decisions when the quotes vary significantly, leading to time-consuming evaluations.
Quotes typically range from a few hundred thousand won, but can also vary from tens of thousands to several million won.
These differences in quotes arise because each company calculates their quotes based on different development environments and the number of personnel involved.
Even if the sites appear to have similar structures, the development language, server system, and the number of personnel involved in the production process may vary.
Additionally, larger production companies tend to have higher overhead costs beyond just the production personnel costs, such as management expenses.
Providing appropriate reference sites
If you want to receive a more accurate quote from the start, it's beneficial to clearly provide "reference sites."
Reference sites should ideally allow the service provider to understand the layout or design style you desire, as well as grasp the menu structure and quantity of pages needed.
Having one ideal reference site that meets all criteria would be great, but if not, selecting two to three reference sites should suffice.
Ideally, it's best to provide reference sites that are similar in size to your client's company, or websites of competitors or benchmark targets.
If you choose well-known services such as Naver, Kakao, Coupang, major corporations, or government websites as reference sites, it's advisable to specify the particular aspects you want to implement in detail.
