It doesn't matter if your business is big or small, what your niche or type of business is. In today's day and age you need a website for a powerful online presence. Your website is your only salesperson nowadays, so you need to put a lot of effort into creating a good one.
There are two basic factors that determine whether your website will be successful. First, a compelling web design. According to many studies (such as Website Design Facts by GoodFirms or Web Design Trends by Adobe), almost 50% of users decide whether a company is trustworthy or not based on its web design.
The second factor is the user experience (we talked about this in our previous article).
So how would you ensure that these two things are done perfectly? Answer is simple - by getting your website developed the right way.
Why Should You Opt for Custom Website Development?
At first glance, the custom website is a bit more sophisticated and much more customized than the regular one. Unlike a pre-made website, a custom website is tailored to the needs of your business. Every business wants to stand out and get a leg up on the competition.
You achieve this with the help of a custom website development company. Of course, there are thousands of pre-made templates that can help you create a website, but if you're looking for a well-personalized result, a custom approach is the way to go.
Custom website development offers many more benefits than using pre-made templates.
With a custom approach, you can get a scalable, interactive, user-oriented, and perfectly business-ready website. This way, your website attracts more visitors, turns them into customers, and boosts ROI.
Uniqueness and flexibility
Your website is your brand and you want it to be unique. If you're using an existing website template, you won't be the only one using it. It will blend into the sea of similar looking websites. Customers prefer higher-quality and personalized websites that are easy to use and to which they can easily connect.
Custom web development comes with a lot of flexibility. This means you can easily modify your site according to customers’ changing demands, requirements, or even your goals.
If you go for custom web development services, you can design the website according to your vision. The web developers that you hire gain a solid understanding of your company’s branding, what you want your site to look like, and what is the intended audience of your website? It means that the finished product will be personalized to fit your marketing strategy. And if you’re going to make alterations along the way, as your strategy or branding changes, a web design team will be there to help you do that.
Also if you're planning on future expansion you should consider the fact, that it can be challenging to update and maintain a website template. You may encounter various problems like page insertion and deletion. It may also be difficult to understand or update the code when you need it. Therefore, expanding your website could get problematic as your business grows.
Ask Yourself: Do you want a unique website? Do you want your website to fit well with the branding of the business? Do you want to continue to build upon the site in the future? If the answer is yes, then you should probably be better off going with custom web design.
User Experience is the key
As we've already mentioned - a better user experience has become one of the crucial factors for both search engines and customers. The better the user experience, the more it influences your customers to choose you over your competition. A custom website is always developed with your customer in mind, that's why it is more user-friendly and anticipates the user's expectations and tailor the development process accordingly. A custom-designed website is created to increase engagement while highlighting the key areas that will better understand the brand. And as a bonus, with a good UX the search engines will also put you in front of the other websites.
Ask Yourself: Do you require a website that has customized functionality and makes the user experience as comfortable and personalized as possible?
If so, then you will probably want a custom web design. If you are okay with a limited, less customized functionality, then a website template could fit your needs just fine
SEO
And since we've already mentioned the search engines, here’s a secret for you - a custom website can help you with your Google ranking. SEO often causes business owners a lot of unnecessary confusion, worry, and stress. Many templates are created to look great and are not necessarily geared towards SEO. A good development company will be able to create a site that ranks well in search engine rankings, contains relevant keywords and metadata to
assist search engines in recognizing your site as genuine, informative, and useful.When your website ranks higher, it is more likely to reach your potential audience, resulting in more conversions.
Ask yourself: Are you looking to expand your business? Are you looking for ways to make yourself free from stress, worry, and hassle and trust your business’s digital image?
Although the allure of the seemingly low price of a template can be tempting. Often you’ll find yourself paying more money than ever intended to, especially when you begin to expand a business.
Security
Security is more crucial than ever for websites. When you have a custom website, you have better security. A custom web development agency builds your website with Standard Security Technology (SSL) and various other security measures in mind, automatically reducing the risk of data breaching. This way, you have a safer and more secure website.
On the other hand, while using templates, there might be security holes in it. The template or plugins on your wordpress site might be outdated with security problems.
Ask yourself: How important is security for you? Is your website storing important data?
Custom Web Development vs Website Template: What to Choose?
Now, you have the basic overview of the benefits. But let’s see the difference between both on the basis of some key factors.
Pros of Custom Web Design
- uniqueness and company branding
- flexibility
- better security
- better seo
- best option for complex websites
Cons Custom Web Design
- costly
- takes longer to create
Pros of Website Templates
- shorter development cycle
- good for low budget
- no need to code
Cons of Website Templates
- might be the same template your competitors are using
- more difficult seo
- usually worse security
- poor support and browser compatibility
- not designed with your customer in mind (not ideal ux)
- it's difficult to build upon it in the future
