Web Site Design

Custom Website Design - The Opposition
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dustin_Schwerman]Dustin Schwerman

What is a custom website? I would say it is one designed with your business fully in mind. It's the classic process of optimization, but not only for the search engines, not only for your visitors. Naturally, these are important parts of the process, but they are not the parts that have to do with making your website unique. A truly original website is one that is optimized for your business.

This means, above all else, that templates are not an option. There is no such thing as a custom template. There are custom layouts that can then be used on every page of a given site, but by its very nature, a template is generic. It may be visually impressive, it may even suit your business nicely, but it is not designed specifically for you.

Adding your own text, applying your own graphics, does not fix the limitations of the template. This is not to say that a template cannot make an effective site; it is to say it cannot make a custom site. For that, you need unique graphics. You need a layout intended for your audience. You need a linking structure that suits the structure of your business.

Stock images, ready-made layouts, pre-designed programs, are all very useful for establishing an on-line presence quickly and cheaply. That’s the point. The aim there is a nice look without a lot of effort, a functional design without a notable cost. You don’t need a web designer, you don’t need a graphic artist. Just drag and drop your text and images, and in a few easy steps, you have a presence on the Internet.

But not a customized presence. Not a presence optimized for your business. For that, you need a web designer, either one as part of your team or a hired professional. This is important to note, because there are web design companies that provide template options. These can be impressive, with their variety of pre-made, easily adaptable layouts and designs.

I would argue, however, that if you plan to hire a web designer to create a custom site, you should avoid and ignore the term template. There are plenty of places to get layout templates on line, and many of them are inexpensive, free, or included with other services such as web hosting. Naturally, if you favor ease over novelty, you should take advantage of these inexpensive options.

If, on the other hand, you want a custom website then you should take advantage instead of the skill and experience of professional web designers. Naturally, it isn’t as quick; it isn’t as cheap. There are benefits and hindrances to everything, and the cons of customization are additional cost in money, time, or (most likely) both. But the benefits are having a site created with your specific business in mind. Graphics and links, text and programs, all specifically created to communicate the essence of your product, service, or idea. Anyone can establish an on-line presence. The goal of custom website design is to give your business an on-line personality, and to make it exactly the personality that you wish to convey to your visitors.

Copyright © 2007 Dustin Schwerman.

Dustin Schwerman is the primary web designer at [http://www.trulyuniqueweb.com]Truly Unique--Affordable Custom Website Design. Truly Unique specializes in impressive, custom sites designed to capture the essence of the businesses they represent, as well as creating useful web-based programs to improve and simplify some of the tasks of running a business. Their goal is to provide these services at affordable, pragmatic rates based on effort involved, rather than arbitrary costs based on number of pages or hours.

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