A custom website is one that is designed and developed specifically for a business, and by extension, their users. There are many reasons a website owner would choose a custom-made site over a low-cost, pre-made template or a DIY website builder. The biggest advantage is that the website is tailored specifically to what will motivate users to buy or take a step forward in the buying process. But there are many more reasons to consider going this route.
Opting for a custom website ensures that your pages look polished and professional and incorporate all of the features and functionality that you need.
A web design agency can bring your brand and business to life. Hiring a web developer means custom solutions for your exacting needs that templates or builders simply cannot.
Today, we will take a look at some more of the most important reasons why a custom website is a far better investment for your business and your brand than opting for a template or automated website builder.
7 Reasons why a custom website outshines a premade template.
While you may be debating whether it is worth spending the time and the money to create a custom website for your business, the overwhelming evidence shows that it is a jump worth taking, with many benefits.
1. Improve your business’ credibility.
Buying a pre-made WordPress template or using a DIY website builder to create your business’ website is a great way to save time and money, but often, what you save can be lost in missed sales or leads. Pre-made templates, by their nature, are very generic so as to be appealing to as many industries as possible, and this can make your website look uninspired, basic, or worse, like your competition. Not only could it be embarrassing for an accounting business to learn that the daycare down the street has the same website, but a generic, one-size-fits-all website could cost you revenue opportunities if it fails to inspire the trust users need to feel to use your business.
On the other hand, a custom, professionally-designed website is a great way to demonstrate credibility, since it is tailor-made for your business and it is designed to be compatible with all browsers, devices, and operating systems. Template designers often overlook these crucial steps so the viewing experience for people viewing your website on a phone or tablet may not be a positive one. It’s important that no aspect of responsive design is missed so your business conveys that itself as trustworthy, modern, and professional for users of all devices.
2. See exactly how your website will look with your content.
One of the greatest benefits to a custom website is that your designer will show you a mockup of how your website will look with your content in it. This way you can make tweaks and revisions before the site is built.
With a premade template, you only see the demo version of the template with their perfectly-crafted-to-fit content. In reality, the real content never fits as nicely and the template quickly loses its professional appearance, or worse you must adapt your message to fit the template. So while you’ve saved money on the template, often you pay the difference in the amount of time you spent trying to adjust your content and the website to look good together.
3. More control over the development often means more security, a faster site, easier learning curve.
With a custom website you have more control over the features and plugins rather than what the template developer wants to sell you. Templates often come with a ton of bloat and features you don’t need resulting in plugins you don’t even want that could incur annual fees when those plugins need maintenance. In addition, these unnecessary plugins can result in slower load times and potential code conflicts.
Security also becomes an issue because more plugins mean exposure to more security risks as you’ve got more back doors open to more people that you have no control over (and no trust with.)
With a custom website, it only has the features and plugins you need so the learning curve is often much lower. You also have control over what page builder is used and that can mean a world of difference into how easy the site is to edit as well as how mobile-friendly those website edits are.
4. A custom website often means a longer life span.
Template developers can abandon their templates at any time. Once this happens, the template is no longer receiving updates, and these updates are often closing identified security issues that crop up from the ever changing online environment. With no developer monitoring the security of their template, your website could become a target for hackers. With a custom website you’ll never have to worry about abandonment issues as it was created specifically for you.
5. Design and strategy specific for your users, now and in the future.
A custom website is tailor-made to engage your users as much as possible. More engaged users = more trust = more likely they will convert or become a client. When you hire an agency to create a custom website for you, a good agency will begin the process by getting a thorough understanding of your business: products and services, as well as understanding who your clients are, and what are the pain points they’re experiencing.
In using a generic template for your website you may not be hitting the mark when it comes to demonstrating that you really understand your visitors’ needs, and you may even be risking not being taken seriously if your site feels generic or simply misses the mark in tone and feel for your audience.
A tailor-fit website is designed to grow and change with your business needs and therefore, it is easily scalable when working with a competent, experienced web design agency. Your website is your greatest marketing tool, so invest in making it your best brand ambassador and reap the rewards on your investment.
6. Convert more leads to sales.
Generic DIY templates—if they fail to inspire the trust users need to feel confident in your business—may not generate desired conversion rates, and you may not experience the level of success you could from a customised website. Many website templates are not SEO optimised, and as a result they simply don’t lead to the kind of sales and marketing metrics that a more specialised, targeted site does. This lack of optimisation occurs because these generic templates are created to appeal to a broader audience, and there isn’t necessarily a clear path to conversion with the one-size-fits-all tools and elements built into them.
However, having a customised website built for your exacting business needs comes with custom tools to optimise your site, increase your conversion rates, and hone your pages to attract your target audience through market research and tailored website development.
7. Your website grows with your business.
There is a reason why many businesses outgrow their website so quickly – generic website templates, especially those on proprietary DIY frameworks are limited in the features they can offer and they can soon become incompatible with your business. For instance, if your business needs ecommerce features, they may simply not be available on a generic website template (and definitely won’t be optimised for your specific needs).
In this case, you will either be faced with creating a new website or foregoing the features you want (and need) in your online store for a suboptimal user experience — an unenviable ultimatum. Scalability is a primary concern for successful small businesses, and ensuring that you have the tools you need to grow means less time spent on fixing what already doesn’t work and more time attracting, engaging, and converting your audience into loyal customers.
Build a Custom Website for Your Business
A custom website is a big investment, especially for smaller businesses, the overall benefits and the long-term value of a custom build website is unparalleled.
Over the years, we at HPX Media have worked tirelessly with numerous business owners, and we pride ourselves on our approachability and professionalism. We spend time getting to know our customers to give them the best possible experience and results.
If you would like to find out more about how we could work alongside you to create your perfect website, contact us for your free consultation today.
