MYTH: Custom Websites Cost More

You probably already know about the free Do-It-Yourself (DIY) website builders, such as WIX and many others. And there are just as many DIY companies that offer cheap templates to build your own website, such as Squarespace.

It's true that you can build a website yourself for free, or for very little cost using a free or cheap template. How can templates be offered for free? If you look at the source code of any DIY template, you’ll see hundreds of URL links that are added for mandatory advertising which cover the costs of providing you free services. This means visitors to your website will have unwanted advertisements imposed on them. Have you ever visited a website looking for (example) a camera, and then shortly afterwards ads for cameras start following you all over the internet?

As stated in my Blog, "Custom websites vs. Templates", the popularity of DIY templates attributes to the surge of non-tech types with no design skills seeking easy money and claiming to be experts on web design – individuals who don’t know HTML and have never written a line of code. They can get a free or cheap DIY template, upload photos, and copy/paste text into the template - so simple that a 10-year old could do it (no joke). But the worse thing is, many of these scammers are charging the same price as a custom website designed by trained professionals. DON'T GET RIPPED OFF!

Custom websites can cost a big chunk of money for companies requiring a large e-commerce website with a back-end database to store a ton of product and customer information. In this case, they would be better off hiring a big web development company that staffs a team of web developers to code such a robust website in a timely manner. Overhead costs for office space and personnel are calculated into the cost of developing the website, so naturally it would cost more.

But for small businesses or individuals who don’t require a mega website, a custom coded website designed by a professional freelance web designer is much more cost effective than hiring a team of web developers since there are no overhead costs. Your website will be completely tailored to your business needs with an attractive design, optimized for SEO, and with much better quality and security. And there are no overhead costs.


Related blogs:

• Custom websites vs. templates
• Hacking Hazards of DIY Templates
• SEO is better in custom-coded websites

Custom Websites vs. Templates

You may have already done your research and have read a dozen articles about how pre-fabbed Do-It-Yourself (DIY) website templates are generic, limit creativity, your website will look like everyone else's and yada-yada-yada. I'll spare you from hearing it again. That might be true for free or cheap templates, but there are some beautiful and dynamic templates out there that make me green with envy and they deserve a hats off. They are customizable (to a certain extent), however they are at a premium cost, and just as a rocket needs a rocket scientist these robust templates need the coding skills of an experienced web developer, otherwise the website will break over and over again. But it's not these outstanding expert web developers you need to worry about when it comes to DIY website builders.

DON'T GET RIPPED OFF! The popularity of DIY templates attributes to the surge of non-tech types with no design skills who offer quick and cheap websites – individuals who don’t know HTML and have never written a line of code. They can get a free or cheap website template, copy and paste text into it and upload some photos, therefore they don't even need to know HTML or be trained in web design whatsoever. Your 10-year old could do it. (I'm totally serious.) It's about as simple as a Word document - type some text, choose a font and insert a few photos. Sounds like the best thing since sliced bread, doesn't it? NO!

Tragically, a lot of these non-tech people are seeking easy money and claiming to be experts on web design, and even worse, many are charging the same price as custom websites designed by trained professionals who put a lot of time and labor into building your brand image and hand-coding your website. It not only devalues their training and expertise that they’ve spent years developing, but it rips people off – YOU by providing a quick “shortcut” way to throw together a lackadaisical template-based website without a lot of work, skill, or creativity.

A custom website expresses your own personality and individuality. Your branding will stand out when a website is designed to fit you, rather than trying to fit you inside the constrictive walls of a template. Custom websites have no limitations on graphics and functionality, unlike templates that limit the number of graphics and text that can only be placed on designated spots of the template. Custom websites can be coded to do whatever your imagination can dream of! They are flexible and can change with you. In the future you might want major changes to the design and/or functionality. If your website is built with a template, you may have to start over with a completely new template. It’s much easier to change the layout and functionality of a custom website.

It’s disheartening when a client hires me to redesign their website that had been thrown together with a template, with no design flair and a gob of spelling errors. Even worse – they paid $1,500+ for it (more than what it would have cost for the same-sized, custom designed website), unaware that it was built with a template that required so little time and by someone with so little or no skill.

My final words on this subject - it will be hard to impress potential clients with a cheap template. Be careful who you hire. Don't buy a hot dog for the same price as lobster (or pink radicchio if you're vegan). Whether you decide on a custom website or a template make sure your website is built by an accredited professional web developer.

Related blogs:

• Hacking Hazards of DIY Templates
• MYTH: Custom websites cost more
• SEO is better in custom-coded websites