What is a Bespoke Website?

It is challenging to get a new website. There's a lot of technical terminology and different types of websites and suppliers – most of whom will tell you their type is the best. In our view, there is no 'best' or 'terrible' type of website, just different. Some may be appropriate for your needs, and others may not be, and this may change as your business changes. We explain in this article what a bespoke website is, what makes it good and not so good, and whether it would be acceptable for your business.

In Short, a bespoke website is a special website, designed and constructed from scratch by a professional and completely customized to suit your company services, customers and goals. Usually, a designer produces a variety of graphics so that when it is designed, you can see exactly what the website would look like. Your site is then constructed and checked according to the designs signed off and made editable via a CMS. 

What are the Pros and Cons of a Custom Website?:

Pros of a Custom Website:

• You can get 100 percent of what you want with a bespoke website. You can achieve a unique and professional one-of-a-kind design that looks like nothing else. You are not limited to any limitations, other than physics, and what your designer is capable of producing. This makes custom websites great if you need to stand out or require a very specific niche. 

• A good website developer would be able to code the backend of your website so that it is friendly with the search engine. This is not something that can be assured with brochure website design – since templates are coded the same, any website that uses them will have no SEO advantage over any other. There is also a risk of outdated template coding, which means that not all browsers will be able to run it.

• Over the course of time, our company can change. This will actually happen relatively quickly, which means that your developer will also respond quickly if you have a custom design and make the required adjustments to accommodate it. You may already know or have an appreciation of the direction your company is heading, and so you may also be able to explain this to your designer.

• Of course, you're planning to grow your business, and so you'll want your website to grow with it. The ability to scale will be part and parcel of the package with a bespoke design.

• Your very own web designer will be on hand at regular intervals to service your website, and should always be there to ensure that it is updated to protect your company from cyber attacks with the latest security.

Cons of a Custom Website:

• However, the effort to create a custom website means that it takes much longer and costs a lot more. And while the highest quality types of website you can get can be tailored websites, this very much depends on the professional you choose to work with.

• Unfortunately, there can be no getting away from it, so making a custom website designed from scratch ultimately costs you more than if you were to use an off-the-shelf template.

• Of course, it will take far longer to get a website fully designed to customize specifications in the same vein as price, than it would if the developer had a prototype to work with.

• Unique doesn't necessarily equal 'better' at all. Yeah, your bespoke website won't be anything like anything that's already out there, but is that really what your users/customers want? When visiting a site, individuals have a set of expectations; they want to know exactly where the navigation tools are, how to use the shopping cart, where the contact page is, etc.

Are there any more pros and cons for our readers of bespoke design that are worth highlighting? Below, please share your thoughts.