Pre-built Website Vs. Custom Website: Which Is Best For You?

Imagine this: you are just starting your business, and you are ready to go online. You set out on the quest of finding a freelancer or a company that will create your website.

You look at different gigs on Fiverr and multiple Facebook pages; they all have the same two choices to choose from pre-built website and a custom website. You’re confused; which one is better?

Which one suits your budget and your needs? I, Taylor Lewis, will guide you through the options, so you can make the best decision for your new business!

Pre-built vs. Custom: What is the difference?

Custom Website:

A custom website is pretty much what it says in the name. When you get a custom-built website, you tell the designer or developer everything about your business and what your goals are. They will ask for information like your audience, what your business is about, what your products are, and more.

Only a detailed report of your target market and business goals can lead to the company/freelancer giving you an effective website to achieve your specific business goals.

Everything is done from scratch when creating a custom website. Hence, it can be very time-consuming and expensive.

Pre-built Websites:

Now let us look at pre-built websites. You might have heard of WordPress: the content management system you can use to build your website.

With pre-built websites, the company or freelancer that you have hired gives you a ready-made website of your choice, which you can use on your hosting account and customize yourself.

Your website then, of course, is not made for your specific company. It was designed already and made for your business type with built-in features you will need based on your type of business model.

Pre-built websites are made available to you in less than 24 hours in most cases and at a fraction of the cost.

Which one to Choose?

That is a tough question. Fortunately, my own experience as a WordPress web designer gives me a unique perspective.

Pre-built Websites for Entrepreneurs Starting Out:

After countless web design clients over the years, I realized a very simple fact: not everyone needs a custom website. That’s the truth. If you are just starting a business and still figuring everything out, pre-built websites are for you.

If you need a website up, but a website is not that high up on your priority list yet, pre-built is for you too! Why should you choose a ready-made website, you ask?

For starters, you save money. Pre-built websites are much less costly than custom-made websites because the designer already made the website, and you are not paying for the designer’s time upfront. Think of it as more of a cost-share with other business owners.
You will not need to hire a developer or designer every time you need to make a change. Most pre-built websites include training on how to update every part of the website, so you are empowered to make the changes yourself!
You are just starting your business and might not have fleshed out your offer yet. You might bounce from idea to idea until you find the right business model for you and your lifestyle. Building custom websites for each business idea is time-consuming, stressful, and incredibly expensive.
If you get the right pre-built website or template, you will not need to know how to code to make any changes. Most of them are built to be extremely easy to update.
It is a fantastic learning experience. When you update and maintain your WordPress website, you get the opportunity to learn new skills.
You do not have to worry about time. Since the website is pre-made, it is given to you completely done in less than 24 hours.

As a web designer myself, I saw how inefficient and expensive it was to hire a designer or developer when you are in the beginning stages of your business and still working out all the details.

I wanted to empower business owners to get over the obstacle of launching their website and provide the opportunity to be able to continue the maintenance and updating themselves.

This realization pushed me to establish my own express web design company, Designs By MOT, which exists solely to provide business owners with the easiest pre-built WordPress websites to implement for their business.

They are fast, mobile-friendly, fully responsive, and completely customizable. We install the website, walk through how to customize it on a call, and give you step-by-step video tutorials.

Customizable Website for Established Businesses:

When you have established yourself as a profitable business and have received proof of concept, it begins to make more sense to go with the custom website option.

When you have a good number of clients and are ready to really start scaling, a custom website begins to make a difference in your overall marketing efforts. What are the advantages of getting a custom website?

The developer or company will tailor the website to your exact needs and business goals. Your business, product, audience, and the market will be the driving force behind the design! Making the website extremely appealing to your customer and you.
As your business grows, your site will need to change to keep up with the new demands. When you want significant changes to your website you can use the same developer or designer to easily incorporate a new feature or two.
If you use a web designer or developer with SEO experience they can improve or implement an SEO strategy that is either included or added to the price of the website design package. This allows you to rank higher in search engines ultimately producing more traffic to your website!

Look at the infographic below that covers the Pre-built Website vs. Custom Website: What Is The Best Fit For You?

pre-built-website-vs-custom-website-011 — Source: Chetu – Web development

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