Today’s website builders offer a huge range of customizability and functionality. With thousands of website design templates to choose from, you can use the same website builders to create sites that actually stand out. The foundations are there, and you can choose to start with bare-bones or a fully-realized format. Is it ever worth creating a website from the ground up in 2023?
What do you need in a business website in 2023? The answer to this will help determine whether it is worth building a website from the ground up. For most businesses, the answer is simple. You need a website that provides information about what you do and an easy way of contacting you. If you are selling products, visitors need to be able to buy them on your site. If you are providing services, visitors need to be able to book them on your site.
In this context, all you need is an effective website template. It makes the process of setting up your online presence incredibly simple. All you need to do is input your own copy and media, product pictures and descriptions, and contact details.
However, some businesses require more than that. Let’s take a look at what kind of businesses need more, then determine whether a web design template will do.
Online Businesses
Many businesses operate entirely online in 2023. This is especially true after the pandemic made visiting businesses in person impossible. Companies around the world realized they did not need their offices and could save millions by functioning from home or shared spaces.
However, not all businesses exist entirely online. That is reserved for businesses that provide online services. For example, some businesses distribute music from independent musicians to streaming services. Some businesses provide online security tools like VPNs and password managers. There are countless streaming services.
For businesses like these, it doesn’t look good to have a stock website. Because these businesses are providing specialized online services, visitors expect them to have the tech capabilities to create their own websites.
This expectation is not necessarily reasonable. After all, an online business that uses a web builder is saving time and money. But perception makes a huge difference, and you don’t want it to appear that you do not have staff with the tech experience necessary to build a website from the ground up.
These are not the only types of businesses that might consider building a website from the ground up.
Big Businesses
The majority of businesses are considered small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These businesses are not expected to pay big for every aspect of their existence. However, people have different expectations of big businesses.
Consider finding out that a company like Cigna used a template from a website builder to create their website. It might not make a difference to the functionality or user experience. It might even work better than their current website. But the fact that they did not spend the money available to them to hire a specialist leaves a bad taste.
Again, this is not because hiring an expert to build a website from the ground up is any better than hiring an expert to build a website using the bare bones provided by a website builder. It is more a matter of perception, which makes a big difference to big businesses.
So, is it only worth building a website from the ground up if you provide an online service or run a big business?
What Web Builders Offer
Today, web builders offer more than what most businesses need. Different templates don’t just provide different aesthetics. They provide different functionality as well. If your business requires a lot of interaction with your customers, you can find a template that facilitates this interaction from the landing page. If you need to provide a lot of information on your landing page, you can choose a template that splits it up in a way that is easy to read and understand.
Some templates provide the best eCommerce experience if you are primarily selling products. And if you are providing services, some templates help you create web forms with all the functionality you need to make bookings.
If you want more customizability, you can get this too, with services like Wix’s Editor X providing tools to create a website exactly to your liking.
For this reason, most businesses certainly do not need to build a website from the ground up. If you don’t have the time to build your website yourself, you can hire someone to do so for you using one of these website builders. This will save you money when paying for services by the hour.
In 2023, it is easier than ever to create an attractive, functional website. Most of the time, it is not necessary to build a website from the ground up.
