One of the more common questions clients ask about website design involves the use of stock website design templates. It’s very easy to locate stock website design templates, which are either sold at a very low cost, or sometimes given away for free.
Should you use a stock website design template?
One of the critical aspects of branding is having a look and feel that customers and potential customers uniquely associate with your business. That “look-and-feel” quality isn’t something that appears only on your website. It is worked in throughout your business. With a truly unique branding effort, you’ll see the same design elements carried through the website, onto business cards, letterhead, signage, advertising and more.
Committing to a stock web design template means one of two things for your business; either you’ll need to reproduce this stock design for the other visual elements of your brand, or your website will have a different look and feel than the rest of your brand does. With stock templates, you also run the risk that you’ll be working with a design company that simply drops your information into a stock template design, or pigeonholes you into choosing from among a small number of stock templates that may not be appropriate for your business or that may be used by all of the designer’s clients!
Either way, the approach is counter to developing the quality of uniqueness that you’re attempting to create with your brand. If a stock website design catches your eye, chances are pretty good that it’s caught someone else’s eye, too. The design might be so “catchy” that your customers recognize it as being used elsewhere, too. While leaving an impression on a customer is certainly important, you want to be sure that the impression you leave is one you control exclusively.
Grantstreet Creative specializes in unified website design and branding that creates a unique look and feel for your business. With our website design services, the visual appeal of your website can be carried through to the other elements of your brand. We can reproduce the website design elements on letterhead, business cards, advertising, marketing materials and other visual elements that identify the unique strengths of your business.
But what about cost? While it’s true that you can find low-cost templates for your website, you may find it more difficult (if not impossible) to transfer the look and feel of your website template to other important public-facing aspects of your business. Further, you may find that while a website design template works for awhile, it may not be as accommodating to change as you would like when it comes time to update or extend your website. In the end, a “low-cost” website design template may actually cost more, or fall well short of meeting your business branding needs.
Contact Dave Ramsell at Grantstreet Creative for a consultation on website design, and learn how the elements of your website design can be used to create a very unique, attractive look-and-feel for all aspects of your business.
