When building or redesigning a website, the biggest dilemma we face as businesses is deciding whether to have our sites custom built, or use off the shelf solutions (provided by sites like Shopify or Wix). Both offer strong advantages, however custom web development provides benefits for businesses to thrive long term. Read on to hear about advantages of custom web development, and discover why many organisations prefer a tailored approach to meet their online needs.
Tailored to Your Businesses Unique Needs
The beauty of custom web development is that you get complete freedom for developers to create exactly what you need, ensuring that your site aligns with your business model, brand identity and customer journey. When you choose an off the shelf platform, features and options are limited, which disallows your business goals to be fully captured/supported.
What can be achieved with customer development:
- As your business grows, your website can adapt to new needs without being restricted by the limitations of pre-designed templates.
- You can easily design workflows, features and interactions specific to your audience.
- Custom functionalities allow for integration with third-party services (such as CRMs or inventory management) seamlessly.
Superior Branding and Design Freedom
Custom web development offers creative freedom to design a site that fully reflects your brand identity without the limitations imposed by templates. Off the shelf platforms often restrict brand customisation to their pre-built styles and options, limiting your ability to create a truly unique look and feel. In contrast, custom development empowers you to create unique on brand visuals and layouts that sets your business apart from competitors. This approach enables a tailored user experience that resonates with your audience, enhancing engagement and loyalty. It also allows for seamless alignment with brand guidelines, ensuring consistent branding across every page and interaction.
Long Term Cost Efficiency
Yes, although off the shelf solutions do have an initial lower cost, hidden expenses add up over time. Costs for plugins, premium themes, and resources needed to manage ongoing updates and security patches can become significant.
The long term cost efficiency of custom development includes:
- Minimize site maintenance and compatibility issues, which can save time and resources.
- Reduced need for third party plugins or software, cutting ongoing subscriptions costs.
- The potential to save on extensive redesigns, as a custom website is built to evolve with your business needs.
Future Growth (And Scalability)
Many businesses begin with an off the shelf solution for speed and cost efficiency. However, as they expand, the limitations in scalability mean these platforms may hinder growth. In contrast, custom web development provides a scalable foundation that can grow with your business.
Advantages of custom web development for scalability include:
- Ability to handle increased traffic users and data in absence of performance issues.
- Easy expansion to incorporate multi-language support, advanced e-commerce features, or complex workflows, as and when required.
- Flexibility in adding new features.
Enhanced Performance and Speed
Custom built websites are designed specifically for your target use, ensuring optimised performance. In contrast, off the shelf platforms often come with additional code or plugins, which can slow your website down.
Benefits of Custom Development for Performance:
- More responsive website, which positively impacts user experience, and search engine ranking.
- Custom hosting configurations and fewer plugins, further boosting your site speed.
- Code that’s optimised only for the features you need, reducing load times.
Improvements for Security
In an age of increasing cyber threats, security is a top priority for businesses. While off the shelf platforms can offer some security, they are frequently targeted by hackers due to their widespread use and standardised code. As an alternative, custom web development offers enhanced security through the use of a unique customised code, making it far less predictable and therefore harder for hackers to breach. Additionally, custom development allows security protocols to be tailored to meet specific industry standards, such as HIPAA for healthcare or PCI-DSS for e-commerce, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. This approach gives you complete control over the storage and management of user data, which is essential for building trust with customers.
Having to choose between custom web development and and off the shelf solutions comes down to understanding your businesses unique needs, long term goals and resources. Off the shelf platforms are useful for small businesses or startups with basic website needs. However, if you aim to scale, prioritise security, or create a highly optimised, tailored user experience, a custom website is a worthwhile investment.
Need a provider for a custom web development solution for your site?
How Our Team of Experts at GAIN LINE Can Help You!
GAIN LINE has been creating website and software development solutions in Manchester for over 20 years with our tight-knit team of thinkers and creators. Our clients unlock maximum value through insight-led, intelligent development solutions for the future.
Our clients describe us as a partner and somebody to rely on. We’re very proud to work with them year on year and for many years to come.