Custom Websites vs Website Templates
Do-it-yourself website builders and web templates have come a long way. They’ve evolved from simple pages to nice looking themes, and some come with with drag & drop editing and options for customization. So is it actually better to have a custom developed website, rather than a template?
Custom Website or Do-It-Yourself Template?
Why are website templates considered to be the “cheap” option? Here are some facts about speed, SEO, and user experience:
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Website Speed
Here is an example of Google’s website speed score for a website that we custom developed vs an example of the speed score for a do-it-yourself website template.
Code efficiency has a direct impact on both search engine optimization (SEO) and website speed, and website speed has a further impact on both SEO and user experience.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Our owner / developer has 10+ years of SEO experience, and has built hundreds of successful websites. We understand how important it is to generate as much free traffic as possible!
- Keeping SEO in mind throughout the whole process of design through deployment allows us to make sure every website we build is SEO optimized from the ground up.
- Considerations include optimized header counts, image names & alt tags, link text & title tags, page URLs & title text, page interlinking, keyword themes & densities, and clean code.
- It’s also important to keep up with current standards, and know what may result in penalties.
Marketing Strategy
Working directly with a professional developer will ensure that your ideas are honed into an effective end product with no missed opportunities for a great user experience.
Using a website template or do-it-yourself builder enables a business owner to run with ideas without the input of an experienced team. It often results in a site with an amateur feel, and missed opportunities to capture leads.
Cheap at the beginning is often expensive in the long run.
The Look and Feel
Even premium website templates have a more generalized look, a slightly clumsier feel at best after being filled out, and they won’t do a great job focusing attention where it’s needed.
Our custom designs showcase what sets you apart, and flow your company’s branding and personality throughout the site. This establishes credibility through a strong and deliberate feel, and enhances the user’s experience. The visitor will have a better “feeling” about your company, and you will get more calls.
This has been proven time and again through before-and-after traffic Analytics.
Your Time is Valuable
It requires learning a new platform, filling out all of the options, outlining and writing the content, creating pages, and reading through tutorials and support articles. When the result will be a website that runs slowly, has little to no SEO value, and may not look great or capture leads, is that the best use of your time?
The Future of Your Online Presence
- Online payment
- Shopping cart / ecommerce
- Social media integration
- Newsletter signup
- Photo & video galleries
- Testimonials
- Live chat
- Landing pages
- Visual upgrades
- Using subdomains
- Mouse-hover effects
- Scroll animation
- Accordion menus
- Background video
- Popups
- Directories
With our custom websites, you can do all of this and more. Your website should drive you forward, not hold you back.
These are some of the reasons that website templates and do-it-yourself builders are less effective than working with a developer. However, a halfway decent web presence is better than none at all! Templates tend to work as a temporary placeholder for companies with a limited budget, until they’re ready to invest in themselves.
But ultimately, your company website is the foundation of your present and future online presence. It is your handshake to the world – your first impression. Visitors will use it to decide between you and a competitor. It is essential to look and perform your best.