Why having a website has become necessary and important for almost every type of business and profession owner? You and I probably know the answer well. We live in the age of e-commerce, shopping sites and Google. An age where most people when they want to buy something either search it on Google and come to a business that offers that product or go directly to sites like Amazon.
Of course, all the sites in the world are not stores. There are different types of websites. Content sites, educational sites, news sites, banks’ sites, government institutions’ and ministries’ sites, hospitals’ sites, and social network web applications are all websites that we visit at least a few of them every day. In today’s world, everything has a site.
So, should website design be easy? That is, a business that wants a website finds a website design company and orders it. Yes, web design in general has become easier and faster. But in the first step, businesses should choose whether they want a dedicated site or a ready-made site.
What is Custom Web Design? What competitors does it have? Why should the choice of someone who wants a site for any reason be a dedicated site? In this content, custom web design is discussed and questions are answered.
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Custom or exclusive website design
Website design and development is an important and popular subject and profession. The history of website design shows that the more the use and demand for having a website in the world increased, the more technologies, tools and software for web design were created. Making the site design and development process easier and faster is the common denominator of all developments in that field.
One of the most important developments that made site development very revolutionary, easy and fast; the introduction of software or content management systems was from the mid-80s. Before content management systems, there was only one way to develop a site: writing a site from scratch with HTML & CSS. The overall structure and all the details of the site had to be formed by coding. That means the site designer had to write thousands of lines of code. It goes without saying how time-consuming and tiring it is to write a website from scratch.
Content management systems are actually pre-made and ready-made but empty sites. If I want to show the difference between site development from scratch or dedicated web design and content management systems, I must say that designing and developing a site from scratch is like building a mansion, and designing a website using content management systems is like filling an empty mansion. It is with the equipment that the owner of the house wants.
Of course, developments continued and after content management systems, it was the turn of web builders. With site builders, anyone can create a site for themselves without needing a single line of coding and a site designer. So, if someone or a business wants to have a website today, they have 3 choices. That is, first, it should be determined which of those 3 models is the best and most economical choice for a business.
What criteria should be considered to choose between custom website design and ready-made sites?
Websites have common characteristics. All sites should be secure, fast, efficient and user-friendly. Even a hospital and a doctor don’t want a site that is slow and hangs the user or their photos don’t display properly. But maybe not all businesses need a site with maximum speed, security and efficiency.
For store sites, especially large online stores on the scale of Amazon, all those features must always be at the highest possible level. Amazon has thousands of products and pages. Stores users’ credit card information. If it is not fast and safe, it will be destroyed. Also, if for any reason the user cannot interact satisfactorily with the website, he will leave it unsatisfied. Every unsatisfied user for a web store means loss of customers and profits for that business.
Compare Amazon to a university professor’s site where he just wants to promote his books or publish his articles. It is clear that the professor’s content site or blog does not need very high security or very special user experience design. On the other hand, that professor does not want and cannot pay as much as Amazon for website design.
So, the needs and priorities of the site owner and the budget he has for web design and development determine whether he should go for custom web design or ready-made sites.
In what circumstances is dedicated web design the best choice?
Dedicated website design is the most expensive and time-consuming choice. Because everything must be planned and designed first and then coded. Custom website design and development is the best option for a business or group that:
- There is no problem with spending a lot for the design and development of the site as well as its maintenance (investment on the website);
- He wants to build a special and unique site for his brand and use it to help branding and marketing;
- He wants the site to have special features (for example, it is powered by artificial intelligence to collect and analyze data from users’ behavior);
- He wants his website to have a perfect user interface and user experience;
- He wants to have a site full of details and complexity.
Custom web design is not the work of one person. The work of an expert, professional and experienced team. A team consisting of a front-end developer, a back-end developer or a full-stack developer and a UI/UX designer. The more complex the site or the more features the client wants, the more expensive it will be.
When is using content management systems the best option?
WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world. For this reason, it is sometimes called ready-to-use WordPress site design. WordPress is free and open source software. You download it and then fill it with the photos and content you want. WordPress has a wide variety of ready-made templates for different sites.
Because WordPress is open source, its written codes are also accessible. That is, it is possible to customize a WordPress site to some extent. Of course, customizing it requires relative mastery of coding. Of course, WordPress provides tools for customization. By using those tools, the design and design of the user interface can be changed to some extent without coding.
Designing a ready-made website and using content management systems does not mean that there is no need for a website designer and developer. Working with WordPress requires training and a very good familiarity with HTML & CSS. WordPress site design does not require a site design team and usually one person does it. So, if a business wants a secure and fast website that can be adapted to its needs to some extent and cannot spend a lot of budget on website design; Using WordPress sites and customizing them is the best option. Maybe the startup is at the beginning and because it doesn’t know if it will last in the market or not, it doesn’t want to bear the heavy cost of designing a custom website right away.
For whom are site builders the best choice?
Website builders have made it much, much easier. To design a site with site builders, coding and therefore no developer is needed. You should go to one of the sites that have site builder packages, choose a package that fits your needs and budget, pay for it, and edit the ready site online. Site editing in site builders is completely by drag and drop. It means that everything is ready and you just have to choose.
As it is known, all kinds of sites can be built with site builders. Using site builders is more economical, faster and easier compared to the previous two options. But the point is that the site owner has no other choice than the offered packages and cannot have. This option is a good choice for personal and professional sites and very, very small businesses with a limited budget.