Custom Web Design vs. Website Templates
Your website gives every new customer that comes your way that all-important first impression about your business. And as you only get one chance to make a first impression… it needs to be the right one.
Which isn’t quite as easy as it sounds these days, given the extraordinary expectations of the average consumer. If it isn’t perfect, polished and professional in every way, it’s game over in their eyes.
When the time comes to build or overhaul your business website, you’ll have the option of custom web design from scratch, or the use of website templates. Both certainly have their points of appeal, but when it comes to genuinely outstanding business website, there’s a clear winner between the two.
Custom Web Design
While custom web design will usually be the more expensive of the two options, it is nonetheless an approach that has several distinct advantages.
These include:
- Unique Design
A website designed from scratch for your business will be 100% unique, distinctive and unlike any other website in the world.
- Total SEO
If you work with a team of expert web designers, your website can be built from the ground up with powerful yet seamless SEO elements woven into its very fabric.
- Flawless Fit
Rather than having to work with what the template chosen provides you with, custom web design means having the whole site crafted to fit the needs of your business with total perfection.
- Scalability
In addition, a custom website means benefiting from total scalability – i.e. a website that can be expanded, altered, shrunk and modified in infinite ways as your business progresses.
- Aesthetics
As the website is being designed specifically for you and your business from the ground up, you can have any kind of visual aesthetic you desire. You are free to bring your creative vision to life, rather than working within the confines of a template.
Website Templates
As for website templates, there are two distinct advantages that accompany this approach.
- Websites built from templates are easier and faster to construct - meaning you could be up and running with a website in just a few days.
- As there are minimal design and development costs, a website built from a template will often carry a cheaper price tag.
But while you may save money working with website templates, there are some disadvantages you should consider. These include:
- Lack of Uniqueness
There is every chance that hundreds, maybe even thousands of other businesses may already be using the exact same template. As such, you run the risk of your website looking generic.
- Customisation
It is also likely that you’ll find yourself limited with regard to customisation, as you will only be able to work within the confines of what the template allows.
- SEO
Not all prefabricated website templates are designed with high quality SEO in mind, meaning it may be more difficult to ascend the SERP rankings.
So while it’s not to say that website templates do not have their own value and advantages, they may not necessarily represent the best choice for the modern business.
Depending on your requirements and budget, Say Web Design can create a custom website or can implement a template. We can also adopt a hybrid approach of taking a template and customising elements of it to suit your needs.
