Does your company need a new site design? Can’t decide on the best option - customized design or a pre-made template? Even though it may not seem like it at first, in perspective, the choice you make will significantly impact your company’s digital advertising approach. Therefore, you should plan for the future when you decide whether you should use a customized web design or a template for your site. To make your decision easier, we will conduct a side-by-side comparison of the two, providing you with details on the advantages and disadvantages of each option. Once you finish reading this article, it will be clear which option is the best for your business.
Advantages of Customized Website Design
You can create the design from the ground up, ensuring that all your company’s requirements are met.
It allows your site to be distinctive in how it looks and operates, ensuring that it’s dissimilar from the sites of your competitors, thus making it memorable for the user.
A customized site is better for search engine optimization because it can be built in line with your company’s SEO practices.
As you create such a site to resonate with your brand’s design, it will also add to your brand recognition and identity.
It is infinitely more adaptable to further changes, providing you with the option to build upon your web resource as your company evolves.
Such a site will be safer than the one made with a template as it will match your security requirements.
You can always get help when needed.
Disadvantages of Customized Website Design
A design made from scratch will cost more and take longer to finish.
You will need an expert team of web designers, quality assurance specialists, developers, and marketers to complete such a project.
What You Get With A Pre-Made Template
With a template, you receive a ready-made website structure that you can use to base your site on. When you opt for a site made on the existing platform, you can work with pre-made elements and features. Such sites are made using templates. As opposed to a template, a site design from scratch means that you don’t have any such functionalities to help you. With a pre-made template, all the design components are ready to use, you only need to set up your site and you are good to go. You don’t need to be a coder to create a site design with a template. That said, if you choose to go with a pre-made design solution, you will be constricted if you decide to revise your design down the line. If you are looking to work with design templates, these website-building platforms will facilitate it:
WordPress
Wix
Webflow
GoDaddy
Squarespace
Both WordPress and Webflow have numerous free and paid themed design templates you can use. If you need a site based on a specific theme, you can reach out to any website development company and they will help you with such a project. When deciding what website design solution to use, look at your company’s needs. A basic website may be exactly what you require. So, a themed site is a better option if you don’t need any special features for your website. By using a template, you can limit your spending and website production time while developing your web resource, which you can allocate to perfecting your marketing strategy. The latter will, in turn, secure more website visitors, successfully converting them into customers. Even so, down the line, your website may take longer to load and encounter other difficulties. Be mindful of the fact that certain website design agencies don’t provide post-purchase help (ongoing website support) if you opt for a template, since they may not have experience with the used code. In spite of this, let us consider the advantages and disadvantages of working with pre-made website-building solutions.
Advantages of Pre-Made Templates
They allow you to create and launch a site swiftly and easily.
Templates are more affordable than a customized website design.
Pre-made design solutions work with external applications.
They come in numerous themes that you can pick from based on your industry.
Disadvantages of Pre-Made Templates
The site you create with templates will have a set look that doesn’t support much personalization.
Certain pre-made templates are not adaptive to different screen sizes.
Template-based sites are typically not as individual and professional-looking as the ones created from scratch.
Post-production website maintenance can be difficult. Making edits and updates can take more time and be trickier than with a custom-created website.
If you introduce any external solutions and integrations it can result in site loading difficulties.
Template-based sites can be more susceptible to web threats.
What To Opt For: Customized Web Design or Pre-Made Template?
Customized Site
If you have enough time and no budget restrictions, then a custom-created site may be your best bet. It may be a bigger investment initially, but it will allow for better personalization, improved SEO prospects, expandability, greater safety, stronger brand identity, and a more adequate UX. All this can help you limit your spending down the line.
Pre-Made Template
If your company is pressed for time, can’t allocate many resources to the website design project, and has no special requirements for your site, it may be wiser for you to get a pre-made template. Lack of coding knowledge and experience may also drive you to go for a template instead of a customized site, especially if all you need is a simple web representation for your company. However, remember that even though template-based sites are more cost-effective and simpler to make, they can’t match the personalization capabilities you will get with a customized site. They will also likely require additional upkeep and external addons to work correctly. Moreover, premade design solutions can be restricting when it comes to showcasing your brand, providing useful features, and even scaling your business. Therefore, even though they may appear economical from the get-go, they may demand more resources from you down the line.
