Why Should You Spend Extra Money for a Custom Website?
Website design has become a huge and expensive industry as companies compete to attract the online consumer with the best website possible for their money. Many companies have chosen to purchase templates where they need only add their own content and the website is ready to go live. However, there are several reasons that a company should consider spending a bit of extra money in order to get a custom website instead of relying on a packaged template that many other companies could also be using.
Benefits
- Originality and Professionalism - The first reason to go with a custom website is that because templates are created to be mass-marketed and sold to many companies, they tend to have a very rigid look and aren’t easily changed or made different from each company. Therefore, companies who use the template will end up with a website that looks very much like the site of anyone else who also uses the template. This loss of originality is often noticeable to a consumer and a template tends to look much less professional than a custom website.
- Fast Buildout – Companies often believe that the use of a template will allow them to more quickly create a website and get them into the competitive marketplace that much faster. However, companies that choose instead to contract with a web design company for a custom site may find that the process actually goes much more smoothly and quickly than the use of a template.
Web design companies will typically have many designers on staff and can devote those resources to focusing solely on the design of your custom site. They will also have the necessary and top of the line software applications to make the best website for you. Companies trying to use a template to create their own site will not only have the learning curve of how to use the template and graphic design software, which they will have to purchase often at very high prices, but also will have their energy and time pulled in multiple directions as they also have to focus on the many other needs of the business and responsibilities of their position.
- Graphic and Technical Expertise - The consulting company has the expertise in website and graphic design and in knowing what makes a successful site. This knowledge and experience can allow a company to create a much stronger and more professional looking site than they could ever hope to achieve by using a template. The consultant can help the company identify their target audience, what they want the outcome of the site to result in (increased awareness, purchases, donations, etc) and how to get those results through the website that is created.
Paying for a website is the price of admission to the global economy. And with an estimated 8 billion web pages, racing to simply establish an online presence isn’t enough anymore. As internet surfers become more sophisticated, companies that invest in quality, custom web design set themselves apart in the sea of competition. Impressions count in cyberspace even more than on the streets: it takes much less time to click “back” on your browser than it does to leave a poorly merchandised retailer at the mall. Yes, custom design services are pricier than templates, but the return on investment justifies the sacrifice. Consider a few reasons to invest in custom web design:
- Uniqueness. Variety is the spice of life. It’s also a key ingredient to projecting a quality image on the internet. Even with the plethora of websites, frequent internet users recognize when companies share a design template. A template communicates to customers a lack of willingness to invest in creating a unique environment for them. Even if they don’t recognize your website as a template, there are other drawbacks: templates don’t give you exactly what you want, just something in the ballpark. You’ll likely be sacrificing desired graphics, menus, color scheme, and layout. Custom design gives you the uniqueoptions you seek, not just the best available option.
- Flexibility. Custom web design = adaptability. Most templates are copyrighted and don’t allow you to make adjustments to the design. If they do, the process can be complex and time consuming. With a professionally built site, you get to choose the copy, the graphics, the color scheme, and you decide how it is arranged. You also have the flexibility of adding shopping carts, secure log-ins, or other applications as needed.
- Professionalism. Back to the point about making impressions count: Custom web designs tend to be more professional looking. They also allow for higher-end technology such as video/audio streaming and flash and animation. Research indicates that visitors take as little as four seconds to make an aesthetic judgment about a site. This determines whether they will stay, read the content, and ultimately, whether they come back.
- Savings. It seems contradictory, but you actually save money by investing the extra money for a custom website. Remember Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, and his idea of the divisions of labor? Basically, people with more specialized skills create greater value than a generalist. Think Henry Ford and the assembly line. Your time is valuable. Instead of investing weeks and months to learning about computer code, effective web design, the internet, etc., you can make more money by continuing to put your specialized skills to work (be it sales, marketing, conceptualizing, planning, accounting, etc.) to create value for your business. Professional website developers will save you the time and trouble. They also help down the road with updates and problems and allow you to make money doing what you do best.
- Quality. If you’ve ever shopped for a new car, you know appearances can be deceiving. The same holds with websites—while some may look quite nice, they also bear a look under the hood. Inappropriate uses of tables, lack of cascading style sheets, or poor taxonomy are just a few of the bugs that cause a website to run poorly.
- Searchability. Having your website buried on the twentieth page of a Google search or not even register at all on search engines doesn’t help your business. A lot of free templates are database driven, so they’re not even on search engines’ radars. Custom design companies not only build the site, but many, such as MWI in Utah, also offer search engine optimization services. Using SEO techniques, you can effectively bring your website from the nosebleed section of the internet to first-page courtside seats right in front of your customers.
- Assistance. When you invest in a custom website, you also purchase professional advice from an individual or team. Having a dedicated resource in one place makes updates easier. A quality designer will also make sure your site stays current of the latest code and other necessary updates.
- Friendliness. Custom web designers will ensure that your site is user friendly—
it should load quickly and be easy to navigate. Even if you have amazing content, visitors will never know if they get lost in a maze of pages or if they impatiently leave the site while waiting for your flash animation to load.
Custom web design companies can help in other important ways, in addition to the actual building of the site. They can assist you with the creating a strong company brand identity and design, search engine optimization, and application development, such as for event or content management, email newsletters or even a completely custom application that is needed for your particular company or industry.
These are just a few of the reasons that a company needs to seriously consider spending a bit of extra money upfront to create the most professional and quality website that they can. The added expensive of a custom site just makes good business sense in the end.
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