Whether you’re a small business owner, a serial entrepreneur, or anything in between, you will eventually reach a point where your business requires an online presence to grow. A website is an essential component of any successful business, and while the process of developing one may be guided by its ability to solve a problem, or achieve a business objective, you should also consider how your website will develop as your business grows with changing needs.

With this in mind, you need to decide whether you’re going to take the custom web development approach or use a website builder. Both options will get the job done, but depending on your use-case, the custom web development approach might offer unique benefits. “What’s the difference?”, you may ask. With a custom website you need to hire a web designer/developer to build it from scratch, whereas a website builder provides drag-and drop features that require no coding skills, meaning you can design the website yourself.

So which one do you choose?

Before you decide whether a custom website or website builder is suitable for you, you need to be clear on what exactly it is that you expect your website to do for you. If you want to sell your products online, there are several plugins or applications that you might want to integrate into your e-commerce solution. A typical example of these would be a payment gateway, content management system, and an e-mail marketing API. Although some website builders allow you to integrate these, most don’t offer you much flexibility in terms of cost and availability. Essentially, you’ll be limited to vendors that are supported by a particular website builder, and as the complexity of your website increases, you might find that there are certain features that cannot be implemented.

In the given scenario, hiring a web developer to build your website is a no brainer. However, if you’re a photographer, blogger, or just starting out, you’re probably looking for something simple to establish your online presence, and you’re not too worried about having a generic looking website. In this case a website builder would most likely be more suitable for you.

Now that you’re familiar with your options, let’s break down the pros and cons of each so that you can decide on what works for you.

Custom website

Pros

Unique and consistent brand identity
A brick-and-mortar business will have a well-established brand identity and personality. Ideally, your website should be an extension of your business, providing a familiar but unique user experience. A custom website will give you more freedom to accomplish this, compared to what most website builders offer. Hypothetically speaking, there is no idea that is impossible to implement.
SEO friendly
Having an online presence means that you can be found by search engines. Most website builders don’t do very well with SEO, making it harder for you to rank above competitors. So, if the success of your business relies on its ability to be found online, a custom website is always a better option.
Completely off your hands
Another huge advantage of a custom website is that you don’t need to worry about the technicalities of having it developed. Although no coding skills are required with website builders, you are responsible for the entire design process, and maintenance of your website.
Ongoing development and support
Web development, as the term suggests – is a continuous process of keeping your website up-to-date, secure, and in line with changing business needs. A custom website allows you to focus on growing your business, while the development team focuses on improving your website.
Flexibility
Perhaps the most significant benefit of a custom website is that it is developed purely based on your requirements. You can create a website with a limitless level of complexity and custom features that define your business and allow you to establish your brand more successfully. You are only limited by your creativity.

Cons

Requires more time to develop
A lot goes into developing a website from scratch - visual design, back-end development, testing, hosting, security, search engine optimization and web analytics. Whether you hire a full-stack developer or a team of specialists, it will always take longer to develop a custom website as opposed to using a website builder.
It can be expensive initially
With so much involved in developing a custom website, the upfront cost in most cases is significantly higher. But in the long run you end up saving because you don’t have to rely on the limited and expensive plugins that website builders offer.
Getting the right team can be difficult
A full-stack developer can handle most of the work that goes into developing a website. However, for larger and more complex websites, you’ll need to hire a team. This isn’t really an issue if you’re working with a web design agency, but if decide to handle the hiring yourself, building a team with the right chemistry and expertise to complete your project can be extremely difficult.

Website builder

Pros

Budget-friendly
The primary reason why small businesses opt for website builders over custom websites is the cost. Popular website builders such as Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify, will cost you anything from R0 to R500 per month on their basic plans. However, with these types of plans there’ll be a lot of limitations in terms of features and available templates. But still, if you’re starting out, the price point makes website builders a winner.
Quick and easy to setup
Another huge advantage that website builders have is that they require no design or development experience. You could have a website up and running in less than an hour, assuming you have some basic knowledge of web technology and are comfortable around computers. But of course, this isn’t true for everyone, and you might already have your hands full and don’t have time to learn how to use a particular website builder.
Maintain your website whenever, wherever
Websites designed with website builders also need to evolve over time. Content might need to be updated once a month, and because these builders are cloud based, you can make changes whenever and wherever you are. All you need is an internet connection and web browser. You therefore don’t need to wait for a developer to respond to your email requesting changes to your website.

Cons

Your website is not unique
Website builders use pre-designed templates which make it quick and easy to setup. However, each template can be used by an unlimited number of people or businesses. Not only will it be difficult for you to stand out from your competitors, but the same template you see fit for your business may be used by one of your competitors. Yikes!
Limited features and capabilities
This is one of the biggest drawbacks with website builders. The idea you have in mind might not look like the final product because you are limited by the capabilities of your chosen website builder. Though, it is worth mentioning that some website builders have come a long way to provide features that allow you more freedom to design your website as intended. These are called hybrid website builders.
You don't own the website
All website builders are provided as a service, meaning that your website, domain, and hosting, are on a lease paid for on a monthly basis. For the amount you pay, you may realise after some time that you’ve paid way more than you would have had you developed your website from scratch. Worst of all, if you decide to host your website elsewhere, you’ll lose your well-established domain and website.
Poor customer support
This isn’t really an issue with premium website builders, but if you opt for a free one (there are a few), customer support won’t be as impressive as your cost savings. So, if you encounter a technical issue, you’re pretty much on your own. You’ll have to rely on online forums for advice or hope that you get a response from the support team. But to be fair, you get what you pay for.
Slow loading time
While the visual appearance of your website does a lot for your credibility, it isn’t everything. You only have a few seconds to make an impression, so you also want a website that will load quickly. Unfortunately, free website builders take a while to load, which kills your lead generation.

Conclusion

Although a custom website offers many benefits, there are situations that may call for you to use a website builder. Perhaps a website isn’t your main priority right now, and you need a quick and easy way to have an online presence. Or maybe you’re just starting out and can’t afford to build a custom website. In these situations, we still always recommend consulting a web developer and marketing specialist before deciding to use a website builder. They may be able to build you a theme or template-based website that is fully customisable and owned by you. This is a much quicker and more affordable alternative to developing a website from scratch, while maintaining a higher level of quality and customisation than a website builder.

Now that you know what your options are and how each one will benefit you, you have no reason to be without a website. So, give us a shout and we’ll take your business to the next level.

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