It’s pretty easy to get a website up and running nowadays, even if you don’t know your HTML from your CSS. Off-the-shelf designs mean that you can be adding content within a couple of minutes of set up.
If you are serious about your business, however, you’ll at some point consider a custom web design.
Here we take a closer look at what this is, why it takes longer to build and what the advantages are for businesses and organisations.
What is a Custom Website?
A custom web design is one created to meet the exact needs of your business. It is individual, developed from scratch by a team of web design specialists.
Off-the-shelf templates, on the other hand, are predesigned and ready to go. You simply upload the template and you can begin creating content.
Custom Vs Pre-Built
If you are on a tight budget and can’t afford a custom design, a pre-designed template is the next best solution. There are certain advantages namely the lower cost and the wide range of designs available.
There are, however, some notable disadvantages.
The first is that many templates have a bunch of extra coding that isn’t required by your business and this can slow pages downloading and have a general impact on your search engine ranking.
Off-the-shelf templates, like any other piece of software, need to be updated. Some developers are good at doing this, others are not. That could mean you have chosen a product that leaves your business and any data you collect vulnerable.
The other problem with pre-built web designs is that your business looks like everyone else. It can be difficult to stand out from the crowd.
Custom web design does take longer and will cost more initially because you are creating a site that is unique to your business. It does, however, deliver a strong ROI as you begin to grow and become successful.
Typically, a design team will get to know your business in detail and then begin to build templates for your site based on what you require. There may be several iterations as the site is developed before you are finally ready to go live.
The Benefits of a Custom Web Design for Your Business
You get unique features that are closely tailored to your business needs and that of your customers. You are not tied to any limitations that a pre-designed web site might have and you can actually dare to dream.
Your site will be fully optimised. That means pages will download quickly and it will look great whether being viewed on a laptop or mobile phone. Template sites often have too much coding as they are trying to be all things to everyone. This isn’t an issue with a custom design.
Your website will be exclusive to your brand. Of course, you can add your logo to an off-the-shelf solution. But branding is so much more than this and you have all the scope you could want with a custom design.
You will also have a more secure end product because you are working directly with a team of designers who can update and protect your site at any time.
You have complete freedom to make changes, something which you are extremely limited with when using standardised template designs. For custom designs, scaling up as your business gets more successful is a lot easier.
While off-the-shelf designs are getting a little smarter, they are still far behind custom websites that are faster, more relevant and better designed to optimise performance, deliver what visitors are looking for, keep your business highly secure and be flexible enough to meet the changing needs of your business.