In recent years, the gig economy has taken off. More people are finding online work opportunities to support themselves. As a result, do-it-yourself website platforms have become increasingly popular. While this may work for some, we want to highlight the benefits of custom website development. A custom website supports your business in a way that a template typically cannot. While it’s a more expensive option, custom dev gives control to the business owner. It’s worth considering and can help you improve your online presence.
Stand Out from the Crowd
The Internet provides the tools necessary for anyone to start an online business. This offers a low barrier-to-entry, so business owners must work to stand out from the crowd. Your services and offerings are important–but so is your brand. Work with custom website developers to create a unique design that best represents your business. A professional website helps position you as an expert, signaling to others to take you seriously. Seek guidance from a marketing consultant to establish your website’s branding goals. Rather than use a pre-designed, pre-built site, work with a team who can build a site for you and your specific audience.
Build UX for Your Customer
We’ve mentioned the importance of creating a website for your customer. Your UI/UX should support how you do business, which is best accomplished through custom dev. Your site is a platform for meaningful interaction with current and potential customers. For example, perhaps customer experience and service are top priorities of yours. Professionals can develop easy-to-navigate FAQs, chat bot messaging, and other opportunities to connect. Consider the side effects of negative UX that doesn’t align with your goals, such as a lost customer. When you work with professionals, they can spot problems and opportunities you don’t realize exist.
Create a Search Engine Friendly Site
In addition to positioning and UX, you need an SEO strategy to distinguish yourself from competitors. Custom website design helps with this in multiple ways. For example, your website team can build a site flow that’s easier for both users and search engines to understand. Custom dev provides more control over page structure and markup, allowing for leaner, easier-to-index pages. It can also increase the ratio of content vs. layout code and identify layout or content with proper element tagging. For better SEO results your website should load quickly, which requires lean code base. Pre-packaged site themes may load options you don’t use, thus slowing load times.
Yes, it’s possible to design a website yourself using a template. However, consider your needs and how you want your business to grow in the long run. A custom website is built for you–it’s not the same structure and design used by thousands of other businesses–so it stands out and offers unique benefits suited to your specific business needs.
We hope this post helps you consider custom dev and the opportunities it provides. Feel free to connect with us with questions — we’d love to chat.