When it comes to building your very own website there are plenty of choices. Especially if you know how to write your own code. But the fact is most of us that need a website don't know how to code and as you know from one of my previous articles hiring a web designer will never work because you won't be able to react quickly enough to your audience.
There are legions of a website builders out there and all of them claim to be the easiest, all of them claim to let you choose from hundreds of great looking themes or templates. But there's one problem -- using a template for your website doesn't work. Here's why..
1. Lost in the crowd
When you use a template to build your website it's difficult to convey the value of your product and service. In marketing the goal is to stick out, not blend in. By using a template you're pretty much guaranteeing your website will be lost in a sea of boring templates being used by hundreds of other businesses.
2. You look cheap
When I go to a website I can almost immediately tell whether it was built with a template or not. If it was built with a template I think "Why weren't these people willing to spend the time and money to build their own website?". The answer is --- they don't have the money to spend creating a unique website. That make me a lot less likely to do business with them.
3. Google doesn't like you
It costs Google money to rank websites. If you want good search engine position you need to produce something original. When Google see's the same website that many others are using they assume it's duplicate content and put your to the end of the line when it comes to search ranking. Google knows it doesn't make sense to spend their money re-indexing pages that can already be found through their search engine. Don't let Google mistake you for a clone.
4. Customers lose confidence
You can spot a website built with a template from a mile away. Today's customers are savvy. If you use a template to build your website people are going to see those characteristics and assume you're not serious about your business and go elsewhere.
So what can you do to make sure you don't fall into the template trap? Sign up with a company like WebStarts that let's you tweak everything about your website. WebStarts was designed from the ground up to help you create a truly unique web design that conveys the value of your products and services. Even if you don't have a great eye for design there's something genuine about a website the owner makes. It says there's a real person behind the website and boosts confidence.