Website Templates VS Custom Design

A professional-looking website is a crucial asset for any business. A business owner is often trying to save money, but at the same looking for the best way to generate an online presence and make their business profitable.

There are a few choices you have to make during the process of setting up your website - do I want a website designed from scratch or should I use a pre-made template? Many people have misconceptions, and do not truly understand the differences between the two options. When approaching a website designer, it is very important to know the benefits of each to best fulfill your business’ needs.

Custom Design

This is generally the first option clients want to explore with their website designers. You want to build a custom, professional looking website that will provide your visitors with a unique experience.

Pros

The main advantage here is that you have full control over the design and functionality. There will be no other website that has the same look and features – the sky is the limit.

A custom designed website provides adaptability and scalability - do you have any interesting ideas that you may want to implement in the future? Your web designer will take that into consideration when choosing from the vast amount of technologies available to build your website, ensuring all your features and requirements are able to be implemented.

 Another benefit of getting a custom designed website is that it is very easy for your developer to perform SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on a website made from scratch. Making your website search-engine friendly is your objective as a business owner since ranking well in search engine directly translates into a larger online presence.

Cons

However, there are some things to consider when choosing to build a custom designed website. 

• The amount of development time needed to design and develop a website from scratch specific to your needs is significantly longer than using a template.
• You will need to start from scratch and brainstorm the exact details of your website with your developer.
• You do not have any initial inspiration for the design and colors (a good website designer alleviates this problem), and you will not be able to see how your website looks at any stage during the developmental process.
• The best you can hope for is a good mock-up of your website that you like, and that the final product looks just as shown in the mock-up. You will not actually be able to see the site itself until it's done.

Website Templates:

Website templates usually tend to have a lot of misconceptions. The most popular one is the fact that you are not able to have much customization because mostly everything in the template is already set in stone. This could not be more further from the truth.

Pros

There are countless different templates out there that vary in looks that can be chosen for your specific needs. Even afterwards, a skilled web developer will be able to make significant adjustments to the template to include all of your desired features. Since you already have an existing template, you will be able to initially see the outline of your website. You and your developer can see the template and adjust the various elements until you're satisfied. You know exactly what you're getting, and you can count on the fact that the final output will be exactly the same. Development from website templates also have a significantly shorter development time, which of course translates into a lower budget.

Cons

There are however some technical limitations. Once the developer chooses the technology and a certain template for your website, it is set in stone. It is very difficult for a developer to make drastic changes to the website during the developmental process. If you elect to build your website from a template, you should have a clear vision for your website and know exactly what features you wish to have implemented.

In conclusion, there are pros and cons for both of the options. Website templates are a good choice if your budget is limited, and are great for startup companies that need to quickly generate some web presence. If you have some money to spend and want to create a unique website that will stand out from your competition, then making a custom designed website would be a very good investment.