When considering a website for your business, the question immediately arises whether to have a custom-built design produced. You also need to decide whether to use a content management system (CMS) like WordPress and an existing premium theme as a base and then redesign that or to create a completely bespoke, standalone solution.
In this article, we look at why a custom-built website is likely to be the better option.
A brand with a Unique Image
Brands need to stand out in the marketplace. When using a pre-designed premium theme, the site just looks like thousands of other sites that are using the same design too.
While an agency might try to convince you that that’s the way to go (because they “design” that way by only tweaking a few things), it’s a bad plan.
Brand representation is critically important. An agency like VUDU understands that clearly, which is why they believe that every client site must have a unique design that’s unlike anything else.
Endless Possibilities, Instead of Just a Few
When accepting a fixed design that’s pre-existing, you’re limited to what’s already on offer. The agency is cutting corners by just offering what’s built into the theme or works with it already.
When you have a custom-built website, there are endless possibilities as to what you want and how it can be pulled off. You’re only limited by budget restrictions, not imagination, and their technical prowess. Most companies would prefer it that way compared to having their hands tied.
Security Improvements
Whether using WordPress, a CMS, as a platform and then building a site out from there or tailoring a unique website starting from a single line of code, it’s possible to keep the website more secure.
When using someone else’s free template design or free WordPress theme that hasn’t been updated – or may suddenly stop being updated – it creates a potential future security hole. Just like with mobile apps that seem to need frequent updates to resolve bugs and fix discovered security holes, using someone else’s code leaves the site vulnerable to unfixed bugs and potential hacks.
Also, there’s something to be said for avoiding using a CMS like WordPress too. It’s grabbed 30% of the market share, so it’s a constant hacking target using automated bots to do it. Bespoke sites have few such worries by comparison.
Site Loads Faster
Many website solutions built by other people and relying on existing concepts or designs aren’t fast loading.
Why is this?
Because they weren’t built for speed from the ground up.
Designing a new site for speed means making the key decision early about platforms, technologies, and code libraries to use (or not!) that affect loading times. When you need to get a high rating to avoid failing next year’s Google Core Web Vitals checks, bespoke sites are often quicker. Even a new theme built for WordPress using only a few plugins is likely to be load faster.
A custom-built design is worth investing in if you care about your brand standing out from the pack, the site loading in a snap, or being safer in a world of active infiltration attempts.
