Broken: Cookie Cutter Web Site Templates

Many web design firms offer a very low-cost option for small business websites. How do they do it? By using a standard template and "plugging in" your business name and vitals. The upside is the cost. But the downside can be devastating for your brand identity.

Many web design firms offer a very low-cost option for small business websites. How do they do it? By using a standard template and "plugging in" your business name and vitals. The upside is the cost. But the downside can be devastating for your brand identity.

generic.jpgYou find them all over the web: Templates you can use to get a website off the ground fast. Very often, web design firms will also use these common templates to make cheap "starter" websites for customers. The more adventurous firms will even make their own templates for reuse.

The reason for this is cost. It takes less time for the design firm to create and deploy your site, therefore it costs the customer less money for the product. But is it worth the corner cutting?

At Heideldesign, we never use a cookie-cutter template to design a client website. Why? The answer is simple. Our clients are unique. They work very hard to differentiate their products and services from the competition. They deserve a website with a look that emphasizes their brand and strategy. Our clients need websites with custom functionality that cannot be pre-determined. These base-level templates do nothing to elevate the status of our clients in their field. In fact, it can often do more harm than good.

Reason to stay away from web site templates:

1. Quality of design.
Generic templates focus on the lowest common denominator. They need to house spreadsheets or photographs as easily as prose. To do that, they are often very simple designs with little to no room for customization.

2. Brand reinforcement.
Companies work very hard to have a unique, easily recognizable logos, tag-lines and printed materials. Why dilute your brand with a website that doesn't have the same level of thought and consideration? Do Gateway and Dell have the same website? Of course not. With cookie-cutter templates, you and your competition might have the same site. Having a custom website is a sure-fire way to distance yourself from your peers.

3. Professionalism.
Generic, template based websites are not a professional representation of your company. Cost should never be the only factor in developing a web presence. Plan ahead, save the necessary funds, and have the site designed by a professional. You and your clients will immediately recognize the benefit and impact of a custom website.