Choosing a CMS for your website: custom design website VS Pre-Built

Choosing a Content Management System

Over the last few weeks in the office, we have had one recurrent problem. When designing new sites for clients we had to decide whether to go for a pre-built CMS (Content Management System) VS a custom design website. This problem crops up again and again with eCommerce sites but it can happen with any kind of site. The question we all want an answer to is ‘What kind of website should I go for?’ and of course, ‘Why?’

The answer is not as simple, we can’t simply make a few measurements and decide which of the two suits our business better, no. There are a lot of important factors that we must take into account before making this decision…

Limitations…

Let’s face the facts. Pre-Built CMS (content management systems) are very customisable yes, however, you can’t push them forever. You can create some gorgeous things with them, especially if you find the right developer & graphic designer. Even with the best team, you will find a wall sooner or later that you won’t be able to bypass. Custom-built websites have no limits, the only limit here is defined by your imagination and the technical skills of your developers.

This can perfectly be compared to building a house. We can buy a house that’s already been made. It can be lovely, and it will do the job, but it will never be as good and as personally designed one as one that you have built from scratch.

Flexibility…

While a Pre-Built website is limited by the code already created, it can bend but only up to a certain level and once that level is passed, the site won’t be able to handle it anymore. This may mean that you have to leave out some of the features that you wanted to include. A custom design website can be pushed and bent as much as you want within reason as there is always a possibility to turn it around and squeeze in as many features as you want.

Furthermore, we can’t just think about this as a short-term thing, your website must be an investment and a long-term investment at that. Websites are a long-term game. Custom design websites age much better and you can constantly add new features as well as change the design as often as needed.

Let’s put it this way, a Pre-Built CMS is a wooden stick, you can bend it but eventually, it will break. A custom-built is like Play-doh, you can bend it, tear it, push it as much as you want and it will never break.

Budget…

We are aware that budget is a major problem for the vast majority of companies out there. It’s needless to say that a custom-built website can cost up to 3 or 4 times the price of a Pre-Built website, but you will also get a 3 or 4 times better website that will be totally malleable. As said before, you must think of your website as a long-term investment that will be showcasing your business for a long time to come, So by spending the money you’d be surprised as to how much money it will return to you in the long term.

A Seat Ibiza can do the trick, but most of us would prefer to drive around with a Ferrari, wouldn’t we? The image that we give externally is very important, and in most cases, your website is the first thing that people look at and certainly, after making up their mind they won’t change easily. You need to look good, your website needs to look like a Ferrari, that way you will attract more and more people.

CMS

Up until now, we have seen the most important factors to take into account when making this difficult decision, but, what are the benefits and pitfalls of using one or another?

Benefits of using a Custom-Built Website:

  • You will have the ability to build your website looking to meet the exact specifications to support your business.
  • Your website will most likely have as many advanced features/functionalities as you possibly want.
  • Your website will be much more flexible both at the moment you decide to build it and as time goes by
  • Your website will be built from scratch, security will be much higher.
  • Your website will integrate in a much easier way any third-party applications (EPOS(point of sales) systems, payment gateways…)

Pitfalls of using a Custom-Built Website:

  • Your website will be more expensive.
  • The development process will take a little longer
  • Your dependency on the agency that has developed the code will be higher (although you won’t depend totally on them)

That’s fine but… Which one should I go for?

There is no simple answer to that, it will all depend on what you want to achieve with your website, what are you looking for and what image you want to give to people about your business. In general, if you are only a small business or you are just starting and are not sure whether your idea will take a fly or not, or you really don’t care about custom functionalities and custom design, you just want to get going and to have something to show your clients then I wouldn’t hesitate to tell you that you should aim for a Pre-Built CMS based website.

The lines start to get blurred when you want to incorporate high-profile graphic designs and custom features, and they get even more blurred once you start thinking about creating a B2B system as well as the typical B2C one and it’s even worse if you think about integrating your website with back-office systems or third party apps. In these cases, I’d much more likely go for a custom design that will catch the essence of your business and give your online presence the exact touch that you want.

Needless to say that this is not an exact science, there will be cases where these lines can be followed word by word and some others where it won’t. Each and every client/website is different and depending on their needs for website technical support services and ideas this can change totally. If you’re still struggling to decide what type of website is more appropriate for you we will gladly help you. This is not an easy decision to make and most of the time it won’t be a decision to make on your own, we can advise you.

We can help your idea of an ideal website come true, one of the things that we enjoy the most here is doing the pre-build brainstorming (client & developer) around what the website should be like and what features will it have and based on that decide which way is best to take.

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