Owning a website is crucial for most businesses no matter what their size. It is one of the most vital financial investments your company can make, with most customers likely to go to the internet to look for products and services close to home.
However, a poorly designed or difficult to navigate website could be doing more harm than good, and as a result you could lose out on sales to rival companies. If you are looking to re-design your website, or looking to start a new one, you have two options, “ready-made” or bespoke. In this article, we will look at the benefits of bespoke web design over the “off-the-shelf” alternative.
Bespoke versus “ready-made”
Bespoke web design means you get a site that has been tailored to your specific business, whereas a “ready-made” option is a standard template that has pre-built features and is designed for use by as many users as possible. What follows are just some of the advantages of bespoke web design.
1. Social media and SEO optimisation
With bespoke web design, you can have social media and SEO readiness included from the beginning, with the site’s code being designed to consider those factors that can influence search engine rankings. This may include such things as mobile-optimisation, ease of navigation and page loading times.
2. A website tailored to your business
For ultimate success online, you will need a website that meets the unique requirements of your business, and bespoke web design will give you the flexibility to add new systems and features as your business grows.
3. Gives you an advantage over your competitors
Bespoke web design can give your business the edge over your competitors by allowing you to set yourself apart from others with innovative, unique and improved user experiences. An example of which is the addition of a detailed e-commerce system that will allow you to sell services, products or even vouchers. Such a system would then impress potential customers as they will have everything they need in one place, whereas a “ready-made” website would limit you to the software that is available at the time.
4. Better customer service
A bespoke website can be fixed quickly if and when any issues arise or are reported to you by customers. This means your website will be back up and running in no time at all, whereas having a standard template website could mean dealing with the delays that come with having to wait for a software update or plugin.
5. Better security
Your bespoke web designer will code the website so you will know exactly what is in it, whereas using a template website will often mean using third-party plugins, which could leave your website vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Summary
These are just five advantages of choosing bespoke web design over an “off-the-shelf” alternative, but they are the ones that matter the most. Your web designer in Essex will be able to guide you through the process of bespoke web design from start to finish, leaving you with a functional and secure website for your business.
