Custom web design: How to get what you want and save a bundle
Posted on 06-02-2008 by Peter and filed under web 101, web design
(Watch the 3:40 minute video below) One of the most difficult things in building a website or re-designing a website for your business is the design. You can go looney tunes (official description) with design decisions and spend yourself silly in the process. I can’t tell you how many times a design firm has created what they thought was a masterpiece of design only to have it shot down by the client, and have to start from scratch.
You can go about design a few different ways:
- Get a free template (freecsstemplates.org, WordPress, Drupal, etc)
- Buy a template (MonsterTemplate.com)
- Customize an above template
- Design from scratch
They are all valid ways to go depending on budget, but if it’s a business you are promoting your entire budget might be $2000 - $5000… and spending $1000 - $2000 on design is pretty easy to do.
Remember you also have to spend some money on things like search engine optimization, email news, content creation, call to action items, etc.
Go with the value proposition (#3 above): customize a premade template. If you hire a pro to work with an existing design they will brand it and make it yours. Watch the video below that illustrates how our company transforms a template into a finished website design that looks custom (and please feel free to leave a comment!):
Listen to the audio track:
#3 is for sure the best method. I am currently working on two sites. One I started Friday, and one I started a month ago. Using a template that the client had already picked out the site I started Friday is almost done. The site that I have been working on for a month wants a totally custom site. After nine layouts we are no closer to being finished than day one. Just this morning I finally got them to say, “I want that layout”. Now I can finish it.
Really appreciate people writing quality articles like this, many thanks!
#3 is for the best method that I am currently working on. The first one I started Friday, and the second was started a month ago. Using a template that the client had already picked out the site I started Friday is almost done. The site that I have been working on for a month wants a totally custom site. After nine layouts we are no closer to being finished than day one. Just this morning I finally got them to say, “I want that layout”. Now I can finish it.
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