by Sabrina Sampson

Created on: November 05, 2009

If you own a business and decide that you would like to market your product or services online you have a decision. You have to decide if you would like your website to be a template design or a custom design. Both types of design can accommodate a business but you need to decide what format and features would be best for you. Your website needs to portray a professional image so that you can prove that you market a credible service or product. A template design and a custom design have substantial differences in cost so this can also help you decide which design best works for you.

Template Design

A template website design is a good choice if you have a small budget. You can use your template website design to help gives you some ideas on page layout, colors and features. These can be up and running a short period of time and they are very affordable. Even though template designs have rather basic designs there usually are many styles to choose from.

The benefits of a template design are:

Short set up time

Ideal for small budgets

You can decide to upgrade your template so that no one else can purchase it and thus limit the amount of people who have the same design

Helps give you some ideas on good layout, features and colors

The downfalls of a template design are:

You won't be the only one with the template

You'll have to learn how to code a web page

You won't be able to customize your website

The template may not be search engine friendly if the correct background coded is not embedded

Custom Design

A custom website design is a good choice if you want your business to be more marketable and different from what people may be seeing from other businesses in your industry. Investing in a custom website can be costly but if you do the proper research and develop a good website plan you can be assured that a customer website will be worth investing in. A custom-made website will ensure that you'll have an original, well-designed website and this is what you need if you plan to market your product or service to a large market. The cost will be much more than a template design but the final product will be worth the cost if you are fortunate enough to find a reasonable priced web designer that can actually fulfill the features that you are looking for.

The benefits of a custom design are:

There won't be another website like yours and it will be tailored to your specific business

Your customers will have a more enjoyable experience because the website will cater to their specific needs

All of the proper coding such as HTML and CSS will be embedded for you which will make you're your website more search engine friendly

The downfalls of a custom design are:

Will cost a lot more than a template design

Usually takes longer for it to be completed

You only get to see the final product

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