A custom website or a template: which suits your business?

Today you can build a website in an afternoon, with a template and a website builder. It can also be a project of several weeks, fully custom. Both have their place. This article helps you choose, without sales talk.

What is the difference?

With a template you pick an existing design and fill it with your own texts and photos. Extra features come from plug-ins: ready-made blocks from other makers.

With a custom website the design is drawn for your business and the site is built around what your customers need to be able to do. It contains nothing you do not need.

When a template is fine

• You are just starting out and mainly want to be online quickly.
• Your site is a business card: who you are, what you do, how to reach you.
• You expect to change little in the first few years.

In those cases a template is a sensible choice. Anyone who tells you otherwise mainly wants to sell.

When custom work pays off

• Your website has to do something. Customers need to be able to book, request a quote, order or log in, and that has to fit the way you work.
• You want to stand out. Thousands of businesses use the same template. A design of your own does not look like your competitor's.
• Speed matters. A template also loads everything you do not use. A custom site loads only what is needed.
• You want to stay in control. The more plug-ins, the more updates, and the greater the chance that something breaks after an update.
• You want to expand later. A customer portal, a link with your accounting or a second language: with custom work you build on what is already there.

Five questions to help you choose

1. What should a visitor be able to do on your site, apart from reading?
2. Who will update the texts, photos and offer later, and how often?
3. Which programs does your site need to work with?
4. How important is it that you look different from your competitors?
5. Where do you want to be in three years?

If your answer to most questions is "nothing special", a template is enough. If you have a clear answer to two or more questions, custom work earns its cost back.

How we go about it

We only build custom websites: a design of your own, an admin area where you change everything yourself, and the features your customers need. A custom website is usually online in 6 to 9 weeks, and you get a fixed price in advance. Not sure whether it is worth it for you? In a first conversation we will tell you honestly, even if the answer is "not yet".