When marketing your business online, it’s critical to give potential customers a feel of what your company is like.
Your website is the face of your brand and you should think of it as a shop front. It needs to attract the right people to your business.
Your brand is not just your logo. It also includes the ideals and values that your business represents. Even the colors and image will need to evoke the right emotions of your potential customers.
On average, it takes 5 seconds for people to form an opinion about your website. That’s how much time you have to make enough of an impression to have them take an action on your site.
Templates limit your unique first impression.
Website templates are fine for when you’re starting so that you can get focused on testing your offer. They are convenient, readily available, and easy to set up. You can put your focus on getting your offer right.
The problem with templates is that – they’re templates. Lots of people use them, so you risk having the same website design as many other businesses, even potentially your competitors.
You have about 5 seconds to convert a hit into an engagement – you can’t afford to look boring or look like everybody else.
Templates have hidden costs.
Templates can seem like a cheap option – but not all templates are created equal. Some templates work beautifully. Other templates LOOK beautiful – but can fail when you try to use them.
A template that fails when you try to use it to collect information, build a substantial blog library, or sell products can end up seriously expensive.
You can save on the upfront cost of setting up a website yourself, using a template. However, a poor-quality template that constantly breaks can cost you precious time. Worse, it can lose you the precious business because when a site breaks, visitors leave.
The Internet changes – templates don’t change with the times.
You’re not buying the look of the website when you buy a template – you’re buying a piece of software. As operating systems and search engines change, the template has to change or die.
When the creators make updates, there’s a good chance that the plug-in components you’ve used with it will also need updates – or even break – causing you headaches. The older your website gets, the worse this is likely to get.
Alternatively, a well-designed and well-built custom website can grow and evolve as your business grows and evolves. it’s not static and there are NO restrictions on what is possible. If you think it, you can do it with a custom website. We recommend building your website on the Genesis framework to ensure that it’s future-proof.
You never get a second chance to make a first impression.
You only have 5 seconds to turn a visitor into an action taker. If you have an offer that converts, then a custom website is well worth the investment to build your business faster.
A purpose-designed website will build trust with new prospects. It will give visitors an idea of who you are. It will explain what makes your company unique and how you can solve their problems.
Make sure you understand the risks and hidden costs of using the wrong template – an average look and faulty functionality can hide how unique your business is and it can ruin your reputation!!
