Custom-built design vs Ready-to-use templates – What’s better for your website

Building a website is no more a mountain to climb. It’s become like walking a few steps.

We live in the age of DIY solutions where website builders made it so easy to get your website on the internet.

Website creation tools like WordPress, Drupal, Wix etc. made it so fast and feasible to build a website without hiring a developer. Hence It’s obvious to have a thought that why should I pay developers a cost to develop a site when I can do it by myself?

But the role and demand for custom web development are still there. Custom-built design and website templates both have some pros and cons depending upon your business needs and goals. If you’re not sure, what to choose, you’ll be by the end of this write-up. Read on.

Custom web design v/s website templates – Know the difference

Custom built website is for which the technical team writes code from scratch. You ask your developer to customize the components and features of your website. Custom websites allow better functionality and navigation depending upon your developer’s knack.

Website templates or premade themes are ready-to-use designs that you download for free or buy to build your web pages. You can customize these templates to a predefined extent. These customizable templates don’t count as custom-built designs. However, Savvy template developers often create interfaces that make you wonder whether they used templates or built a custom design.

Benefits of custom-built design over ready-to-use templates for your website

Yes, no doubt that you can cleverly use web templates in your website that look similar to custom web design. But there are still other benefits that one custom-built website holds.

Strong brand identity

It takes less than 5 seconds for your users to make an impression about your website. Your website gives them an outlook on your field’s professionalism. Well-known templates are downloaded thousands of times. Moreover, themes and templates are built to meet the default design needs of the market, whereas custom web designs are constructed exclusively for YOUR business. So there is less to no chance it imitates other website interfaces. Your unique design helps you stand out from the crowd.

Ask your design agency to create an interface for you that effortlessly convey your brand message to your audience. Unique website design benefits your business in the long run. The extensive research capabilities of a professional team help them build user-centric websites. They understand your brand thoroughly; then they create what’s suit best for your business.

Access to technical assistance

With frequent updates in technologies, websites tend to get constant errors. Even if you get the best web hosting and in-the-market template for your website, there is still a chance you got stuck in some technical issues. Though there are errors that could be solved through self-troubleshooting, not all solutions are that straightforward. There are some problems which experts could only solve. You may need to pay for technical support at some point or other.

When we hire a technical team for our website development, they keep track of the functionality and usability of our website. So we don’t need to get worried or consult additional support. Their expertise helps us troubleshoot problems and get timely solutions. The team also assists us with dos and donts so that we get less into trouble.

Fully manageable and customizable

Templates offer customization to some extent, but not beyond it. But with custom-built designs, you can create your website’s unique look and feel. You can add favourable options, brand colours, unlimited features, icons and whatnot. Custom designs give you complete control over your website. All you need is to specify your developer about your alterations.

Moreover, custom websites allow the flow of content and elements to different areas of your website. But you do not necessarily need a developer for each regular and minor change. You can get WordPress access to even manage and alter your custom website areas on your own.

Flexible and responsive designs

Great doing websites include those whose experience is unbroken on different size screens.

8 out of 10 websites are optimized for mobile users.

These days, website builders and content management systems have the latest themes and features that are responsive and mobile-centric but still, there is a lot gap to be filled. Media placement or size and many other template elements often seem cluttered on mobile screens.

Elements of custom web design ensure it looks natural and flowable on all screens. Because your development team build everything for you after paying heed to your users. They streamline the tests for responsiveness on real devices and real fields. So that they could assure the quality of a product remain sustained for a seamless experience throughout the development process and thereafter.

Up-to-date website

Templates often get outdated with time and become more vulnerable to issues. Top CMS platforms also regularly improve their system, while template providers hardly revise their templates. In such a case, if your web pages are built with those old templates, which got abandoned by platform’s new versions, you’ll leave with no option but to run your site on old versions.

On the contrary, Developers from renowned web agencies uphold the current trends in web development. Agencies have a team of developers who occupy a grasp of new languages and use suitable frameworks. They thoroughly understand your website goals to know what will work for you in the long run.

Fewer security threats

Custom web designs get fewer security threats because you are less likely to use third-party templates, themes, plugins etc., to your site. Digital products are vulnerable to attacks and malfunctioning. And embedding these third-party products to your site can get you in big trouble. Not all templates out there are credible and safe. Even if you’re using templates or third-party plugins, make sure to use one provided by authorized providers.

Having Custom designs doesn’t promise to have zero attacks at all. But it reduces the risk of cybercrime as your website source is original. Moreover, the technical team conducts testing for vulnerabilities on a timely basis. Sometimes their expertise catches what we couldn’t identify and work on those critical points before it creates a huge risk for your website.

SEO friendly

Again for the same reason that template providers create a template and forget to optimize them with time. Custom web designs are much more credible and crawlable by search engines. Google update its ranking algorithms more than often. So it’s vital to keep your website SEO optimized every time. Web agencies and their SEO experts constantly keep track of google algorithm changes.

When we talk about SEO-friendly websites, there are many aspects to remember. It keeps going from – getting fast and secure web hosting – to – creating backlinks. Professional web developers write clean and quality code exclusively for your site, which improves your technical SEO. Technical SEO helps search engines (like Google) crawl your website. Developers also ensure that your website performs efficiently on all major browsers, making you more visible.

Templates are still not a that bad option.

Though we discussed in detail why building a custom website is beneficial. Here are yet some pros that template designs have.

Fast development

Custom development is time taking project. It takes 3 to 6 months or a year, depending upon project size. If you’re not willing to wait for soo long and planning to launch your website fast, ready-to-use themes can help you. With website builders like WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, etc., you can get your website in less than a week.

Affordable and less expensive

Purchasing templates is much more affordable than custom website designs. Templates are the best option for bloggers and other informational websites, with no such need for getting a highly functional website and too many features. After all, why would they pay hefty development costs for their limited requirements that can easily be fulfilled with little customization in readymade themes?

Self-development

As mentioned earlier, we’re living in a world of DIY solutions. The most significant advantage of templates is that you don’t need to learn web development to build a website. If you’re a non-programmer planning to launch your site on your own, purchase exclusive and latest templates, customize them according to your wants, and you’re done.

What to choose?

Not all websites are built equal. Neither all businesses hold the same goals. Therefore there is no one ideal choice for all websites. All business needs and preferences are different. For some companies (even at the startup stage), having a top-notch website to expand their network is what they desire. For some website is just like an additional home on internet land.

The general opinion says that if you’re a freelancer or your site is an informative website (like bloggers, etc.), you must go for website builders. These are cost-effective and less time taking.

If you’re someone looking to expand your business and want to have complete control over your site, Custom-built websites are best working for you in the long run.

HB Websol can help you develop your custom website design. We create innovative, efficient websites to capture your brand, improve your conversion, and maximise your revenues to help you grow and reach your goal. Get started>>