Custom Web Design: Top 10 reasons to get a customized website


With many free templates readily available on the Net why spend money on a customized website? It will take more time to build it plus cost you money.

Top 10 reasons to get a custom designed website

1. Brand your business

If you’ve watched the Coca Cola commercials on television you’ll notice they constantly push their brand with unique advertisements. A unique website that is tailored to your business will help brand it in the minds of your customers.

2. Clean html

Code that validates correctly helps search engines to easily index your web pages. Free templates are often full of html errors and/or contain proprietary code inserted by the company that designed the template. The average site owner has no idea what’s contained in the code.

3. Fast load times

Visitors want web pages to load within a few seconds otherwise they’ll leave and go to competitors’ sites.

4. Search engine friendly

If your business can’t be found in the search engines it may not receive any traffic. No traffic means no sales. When hiring a web designer make sure they know how to optimize your site for the search engines.

5. Clean navigation

Many websites use javascript or images for navigation. Even though it may look pretty the links can’t be indexed by the search engines because they only read text. Website navigation should enable visitors to easily navigate all areas of your website.

6. Website structure

How the structure of your website is developed will greatly affect how the search engines will spider your web pages. Visitors should be able to access any part of your website within 3 clicks from the home page.

7. Customized look and feel

A good web designer will customize the website to reflect your business by coordinating the colors, page backgrounds, images, navigation and content.

8. Design flexibility

A custom design allows the customer to add his or her own personal preferences into the design. Even when the website is completed the customer can simply contact the designer to make any changes.

9. Ability to add special features

Many scripts are available to enhance your website. For example you may wish to add a forum, business directory, pop-up subscription form, google analytics, etc. A good web designer can quickly and easily install, configure and customize any of these scripts to improve the functionality of your site.

10. Technical support

What if your site gets hacked and becomes unavailable to your visitors? You will lose many sales and experience great frustration finding a person to fix your website…and it will probably be very expensive. Ongoing technical support from your designer is crucial if you need to make changes, add scripts or consult for advice.

Don’t take the easy way and get a free template for your online business. It may save you a few cents at the beginning but you’ll regret it later on. A custom design sets you apart from your competitors by providing a professional online appearance. It’s the first view your visitors will have of your business that helps them decide if they’ll do business with you.

***************************************************
Get a custom web design by visiting:
Maryland Web Design

Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW)
owner and author of http://www.iSiteBuild.com