A question I get asked a lot is, “I want to put up my own website. Should I have it designed from scratch or just get one of those free templates?”
There isn’t a right or wrong answer here. It all comes down to several factors which I am going to cover in this article. Ultimately, the decision of which way to go is up to you. I’m simply going to point out the pros and cons of each. [google_bot_show][/google_bot_show]We provide medical website design and other professional websites. But before you choose, it is important to consider the following factors first.
Factor 1 is your skill or funds availability. The reason I have lumped these together is because you have 2 options for getting a custom site done. You can do it yourself, or you can get somebody else to do it for you, obviously.
Doing it yourself is going to require you to have the skill to create your own website from scratch. If your HTML skills are good, this may be an option that you want to explore. However, if you don’t know HTML from STP Oil Treatment, then you might want to hire somebody to do the site for you. In this case, there is a cost factor and it’s not a small one. Web design is not cheap. You could be charged thousands of dollars for a website, depending on how complex the site is going to be. So if you’re lacking in the funds area, or don’t want to pay that kind of money, outsourcing your website design may not be an option for you.
Going with a template removes both of these problems to a degree. With a template, you’re still going to have to make some minor modifications to some of the design features if you want to customize them to your particular site, but even if you can’t do this yourself, this kind of service should be relatively inexpensive. The point is, going with a template relieves you of the burden of having to design a site from scratch and also of having to pay out exorbitant web design fees.
Another factor to consider when deciding to use a template or designing your site from scratch is the time factor. If you’re in a rush to get a site up, for whatever reason (it’s a time sensitive niche, you need the money fast, etc.) then you probably want to go with a template as website design is a lengthy process. Sites can take weeks or even months to make, depending on how involved they are. However, if you have the time, and money is not an issue, or you can do the design yourself, then you probably want to go with a custom design.
The main reason to go with a custom design over a template is because most templates, quite honestly, don’t look all that great, Plus, if it’s a freely available template, then there is a good chance that the template is being used by a number of people and thus your site isn’t really going to stand out from the crowd.
It all comes down to what you’re going to use the site for. If it’s in an area, such as simple Bum Marketing, where you just want to get a quick article out there and make a few bucks fast, then a template is fine. But if you want to build a membership site that stands out from the others, then a template probably isn’t going to do it for you.
Sit down and decide what you need and what it’s for. You’ll come up with the right answer to the question, “Template or Custom?”
