A well-designed website is essential to a business’s success. It helps build a great first impression and ensures a seamless experience for site visitors.
However, choosing a custom web development solution isn’t always easy. It may be more time-consuming and slightly costlier than a pre-built template. Here are some important considerations when choosing a custom development solution:
1. Cost
Setting a budget up-front with your chosen web development company is essential so everyone is on the same page. This will help prevent misunderstandings and disagreements should unforeseen complications arise during the project’s development process.
Building a unique website at a reasonable cost with custom web development is possible. However, it’s also important to consider other costs impacting the overall project budget, including recurring hosting, theme, and domain name fees.
A custom-built website is more expensive than a template-based site, but it’s worth the investment for an exceptional user experience. Choosing a custom solution ensures your website is built to your specifications and can be tailored for future growth. For example, you may want to add third-party integrations or dynamic e-commerce pages.
These features will allow you to streamline the customer journey and reduce extraneous steps that could lead to visitor drop-off. Doing so can increase your conversion rate and ultimately grow your business. With a customized solution, you can dictate every visual inch of your design and functionality to meet these needs.
2. Scalability
A bespoke solution is needed when you require specific digital functions unsupported by an off-the-shelf product or where the depth of your requirements cannot be met using a pre-built package. It is also the ideal choice when you need to build an e-commerce platform that will support the growth of your business or when you want to achieve a unique look and feel.
Template-based websites are excellent at meeting basic website needs but need more flexibility for future growth. They are also difficult to expand if your business requires a more complex web application. Choosing a custom web development solution means your site can scale up to meet traffic influxes without slowing down or suffering performance issues.
A one-of-a-kind web application gives your brand a competitive advantage that will take a lot of work for competitors to replicate. It will help you maintain a high user experience, and improve ROI and customer satisfaction. For example, social media influencers had to issue apologies when exciting a new product release because their sites crashed due to too many orders in the first 20 minutes. This wouldn’t have happened if their websites were scalable.
3. Security
Security is vital for any website, especially websites that conduct online transactions. These sites must be secured on both the front and back ends to prevent malware, viruses, and hacking. This is why many companies hire a web development company specializing in security measures.
A custom web development solution will have the latest standard security technologies and other security measures, making it harder for hackers to breach your website. This reduces the risk of having your website hacked and having to pay for expensive repairs and lost business.
Another benefit of using a custom web development solution is that the code will be unique, meaning no other websites can copy it. This is important because a single hack can compromise the entire web community.
For example, if a malicious actor hacks a website, it can spread viruses to every other site on the same server or design platform. This will damage the reputation of every website on the server and cause it to lose business. This is why working with a local company is beneficial for both parties.
4. Functionality
Choosing the right web development solution means ensuring it has all the necessary functionalities. This can include everything from third-party integrations and dynamic e-commerce pages to fillable forms and custom user experiences. It also means designing your website to be as efficient as possible, helping your business achieve its goals rather than harming them.
This separates a custom web development solution from a pre-made template, which often has limited functionality and can look like all other websites. If you’re looking for a unique online presence and want to grow your credibility and market value, you need a custom solution that speaks to your business objectives.
When choosing a web development company, ask about their experience with different integrations, scalability, and maintenance and how they can help your business grow. It’s also important to know what they have to offer, so ask about their free and paid support packages, ongoing maintenance and upgrades, and more. This can give you a good idea of how much they value long-term partnerships.
5. Design
Choosing a company that can provide a custom design that will help your business stand out from its competitors is essential. A unique website will draw more attention and build a brand’s reputation. A website tailored to your business will also be more accessible for customers to find and understand.
Template-based websites look similar to others and may not be able to meet your business needs. A custom solution can ensure your website has a unique design and offers you more space for original corporate branding. Choosing a custom development company with experience in developing fast-loading and responsive solutions is essential.
They should be able to provide you with a list of front-end and back-end technologies they use in their projects. It would help if you also asked about their communication process and how often they update you on the status of your project. A good web development company will provide daily or weekly updates to keep you in the loop. Also, they should have a dedicated person to communicate with you and address any concerns that you might have.
