January 20th, 2012

5 Reasons why Custom Web Design is a better choice

You start a new business and need a website - the big question is - should you have a custom designed website or should you go for a pre-built low cost website template? There are many advantages to having a custom designed website. While some clients find the cost of a custom web design high, this article will show how opting for website templates could be risky.

Read on to find out 5 reasons why as an long-term investment in your business it is recommended to have a custom designed website:

1. A custom designed website is unique

It allows your company to stand out against the competition with a unique and memorable design. Website templates are used by thousands of businesses, therefore, if you use a website template to build your website, you will likely find that your competition has used the same template as well. This makes it difficult for customers to distinguish between you and your competition, because the websites look so similar and you might be losing business to your competition.

2. A custom designed website will incorporate your company branding

Your web designer can choose layout and colours for the website that match your logo and company branding. Website templates come with their own styling and with specific layouts, so if you wanted to add your own graphics or different sized content you could break your template. To change it, you would need to hire a web designer unless you know how to change the backend code. By looking at the objectives of your business a unique design will fit the purpose of your website and will help to fulfil its goals. The design should also meet the expectations of your target audience to ensure that the website is successful. 

3. A custom designed website improves SEO

SEO experts believe that by creating a unique site, rather than using an off the shelf solution, ensures good SEO and will make your site stand out. When designing and developing a website, a professional web designer will make sure that he uses the latest techniques to ensure that the website will be search engine friendly and that all the relevant keywords are in the right place. Yes, sites like Wordpress and Blogger allow one to host and to set-up a website quickly and free of charge, but pre-built templates are not as search engine friendly. For a user who is does not have any knowledge of SEO and coding it will be difficult and time consuming to optimise and edit a template accordingly.

4. Custom designed websites are scalable

They adaptable to your needs and grow with your business. Your web designer will know your business and objectives and will have an idea of what features and functionality you would like on your site now and in the future and will plan for it and use appropriate technologies.

5. Custom designed websites are standard compliant

The web designer creates code that is standards compliant, which means it works in all browsers. One thing to watch out for with website templates is really old code that is not all-browser compatible.

Conclusion: 

It seems that if you did opt for a website template to save money or development time, you would still need to work on it to make it search engine friendly. A web designer can help you with the web development as well as the design and make your website a perfect fit. The extra time you would need to put in in making the website template work would be time that could have been spent in marketing your business instead and could end up costing you more than a custom web design.

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By Onika Staas | Posted in: Web Development , Web Design Tips | 0 Comments