In 2020, there are as many different ways to build a website as there are to skin a proverbial cat.

At The Jamieson Consultancy, we believe that every business should have a great website, and also that it shouldn’t cost the earth.

Some client’s we’ve encountered this year have had their previous websites built with a template, page builder, or even a website builder similar to what Go-Daddy will offer you, and whilst some may have been happy with the initial result,  we often find their business needs very quickly outgrow the capability of a templated website, or website created with a builder package.

Whilst they can be an option that gets you online and also saves money, the cheaper option very often does come at a cost. The first one we’ve already mentioned. A website in 2020 is seldom used solely as a business brochure. You might want to sell goods on your website, advertise new promotions, collect surveys or form entries… you might want to integrate your website with your CRM system. Templated websites often struggle to meet these business needs. This first point alone is enough for us, and is why we ultimately advise that our client’s websites are custom built, with open-source software that enables rapid integration with the modern eco-system of CRM’s, analytics suites, sales and marketing tools.

Another reason many people will select a templated website, is so they can save money and time on the design aspect of the website. This really is the reason that templates became popular, and we don’t deny there are some good looking templates out there. We understand that it can feel daunting, handing over the keys to your brand to an external designer, the temptation to keep everything in-house because designs are expensive, or because ‘George in accounts has a graphic design GCSE’… but do you really want your website to look like an out of the box template for the sake of saving a small amount of money? Will this really help you to stand out to your target market? Your brand identity needs to be unique, and you’ll struggle to achieve this with a packaged template or website builder.

To offer some trusted theory to back up my endless monologue, let’s take a look at something called the ‘Aesthetic Usability Effect‘ – This essentially claims that users will perceive aesthetically pleasing design, as design that is itself more useable. This means that a good design will literally create a positive response in people’s brains, and may encourage people to even overlook minor issues in functionality. Templated websites are of course designed to be aesthetically pleasing to some degree…. but they’re also often limited and generic…. and this can have some real limits on the impact the web design will make on your audience. Another problem here is that what’s considered aesthetically pleasing has a tendency to change, and what might have popped on Monday, could easily look cheap and nasty by Tuesday. At The Jamieson Consultancy, we prefer to leave these decisions to our seasoned designers. We trust them to produce designs that are unique to the client, applicable to their industry, accessible to everyone… and will stand the test of time.

You simply can’t match employing a competent and confident Web Designer. Someone who knows how to make it ‘pop’. Someone who can confidently make information architecture decisions which will successfully translate into a good experience with your audience wether they’re looking at your website on a 20″desktop monitor… or a smartphone.

If you’re interested in having a Website designed for you, you can contact us using the form below.