22 Mar The Importance of a Custom Website
Brands are always looking to increase awareness, sales and growth. You should know by now that, if you’re ignoring the online space, you are losing valuable business. A professional and informative website combined with an active presence on social media platforms help to communicate your value to potential customers.
Unfortunately, many brand managers don’t understand the difference between custom and template websites. This post will provide an in-depth exploration of the 2 alternatives and identify the advantages and disadvantages of both.
Template Websites
A template website is a layout that is used to display content and information for a simple website. It acts as a foundation on which you build your own content.
Affordability
Template websites are a great resource for brands with low budgets that are looking to get up and running as soon as possible. However, while it would appear that using a template would result in shorter development time, this is not always the case.
Restrictions
When using a template, you will be limited in the features you can and cannot customize. Without any specific technical knowledge or coding skills, you will need to spend the time learning or spend the money to hire someone in order to get the right look. Some templates are laid out in a very specific manner. If you wish to display your own graphics or include extensive content, there’s a chance the template won’t allow it.
There are also going to be many others out there using the very same template. If you find the template appealing, there is a chance that hundreds of others thought the same. Moreover, if the template design is relevant to your business, there is a chance that your competitors may be using the exact same one.
Unless you pay for exclusive rights to the template, the provider is going to continue to sell it to anyone who comes knocking. And even if you choose to pay the price, there are others who have bought the template before and still retain the right to use it.
Custom Websites
Custom websites, unlike templates, are built to your specifications by a web designer of your choosing.
A Unique Design
A custom website has a unique design that is created for you and you alone. Because your website is different from anyone else’s, it will help distinguish you from the competition and stand out in the crowd.
A unique design means that your website will be more adaptable to your brand’s unique needs. You are not limited to the offerings of a template. You are free to integrate a blog, include your social media feeds, incorporate sign-up forms and add other custom extras.
Don’t worry if your current budget doesn’t allow all your dream features to be implemented from the start. Simply set a few priorities and give your designer an idea of what to accommodate in the future.
Optimization
Having a great-looking website is only part of the package. When potential leads run a web search, results appear, sorted by relevancy, which match their search criteria. When delivering results, the search engine will present those websites with the highest SEO value first.
Hiring the right web designer means that your website will be built with SEO in mind. Custom websites improve your SEO value, bringing more visibility and awareness to your brand.
Control
Think you’d have no control over a custom website? Think again. Content management systems (CMS) can be very comprehensive and user-friendly. Although they come at an additional cost, a CMS will allow you, as the client, to access and modify all content pages, form submissions, blog posts, traffic analytics and much, much more.
When deciding whether or not a custom web design is the way to go, keep in mind that potential customers go to Google before they come to you. You want your brand to stand out among the rest and you need a website that answers the most important question “why me”.
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