You have an amazing business idea, an appealing product or service, and a good eye for design – so why isn’t your website performing the way you imagined it would?
In the digital world of SEO and web design, it’s unfortunately not always enough to have those above foundations for success. The reality is it that there are many great products out there in the world and, although you may have found a unique angle or niche market for your product, it’s still unlikely that you’re the only one trying to market toward it.
This is a common issue we see with quick-and-easy website templates, where the desire to get a website online often means compromising on the important aspects that make it discoverable, useable, and memorable for customers. Today, we’ll take an impartial look at why these websites sometimes work, but often fail to generate lasting success.
Templates versus custom-built: what’s the difference?
There are a number of website builders and templates available online – not all of them are built equal, and some serve a specific function better than others. If you want to quickly create a blog that you plan to share on your personal Facebook page or Instagram, then you won’t need to invest in building a one-of-a-kind website to draw in potential readers.
If, on the other hand, you’re hoping customers will find your website through organic search, and need to incorporate e-commerce functionality, then a messy site will ultimately hinder your success. With the number of people now shopping online – including the number of well-designed websites available – customers have limited patience for a site that’s hard to navigate, overcomplicated, or missing vital components or security certificates.
From an aesthetic point of view, a template site is also a generic site – many other individuals and businesses will be creating something strikingly similar to your own, and while this can work in a few instances, for the majority of customers it indicates a level of untrustworthiness. Essentially, your website is a reflection and representation of your business, your brand, and your product or service. If it’s generic and malnourished in design or content, then it’s likely to give the same impression about your business.
However, there are positives to using a template site – they’re often cheaper and faster to develop than a custom-built website. This is why, for someone creating something simple, they’re perfect. But for a business wanting a site that works on all manner of different devices, is SEO-optimised and friendly, can support additional technology and has ongoing support, a custom-built website is almost always worth the time and money.
The benefits of a custom-built website for a New Zealand business
As a major part of our service revolves around creating beautiful, unique websites for our clients, it would be easy to say that we’re not being impartial in our assessment of templates versus custom-built sites.
While we’ll always be great champions of custom-built sites, one of the main reasons we love creating them for our clients is the positive effect we see as a result. It’s our history in meeting with people who are struggling to be discovered in search, or aren’t experiencing the conversions and customer engagement they know they should, that encourages our team to create solution-based websites both our clients and their customers will love.
This is one of the crucial aspects to this discussion that is often overlooked: custom web design isn’t just about the customer or the client, it’s about creating something unique that benefits both sides. A custom-built website can incorporate a company’s branding in a way that embodies the values of a business without overwhelming the customer, can be reflected through the colour schemes and objects on a page, and is adaptable based on the growth of your business.
From a search-engine perspective, custom sites are built to work across all browsers, on all devices, to meet the changing demands of search-engine algorithms and best-practice guides, and are often accompanied by ongoing support that you simply can’t find with template builders.
Media Giant build unique websites with immediate and lasting appeal
At Media Giant, we strive to offer a different type of digital marketing service to New Zealand businesses. Our ultimate goal is to see you succeed, and use our team’s diverse skill set to get you there. Whether this be through direct marketing campaigns, ongoing content, social strategies, or ads, the foundation of that success starts with an effective and appealing website.
If you’d like to learn more about our services, or to discuss how we can help you take your business and website to the next level online, get in contact with one of our team today. We make it easy for your customers to find you, and easier for you to create lasting engagement – we’d be happy to guide you on your digital journey.
