Today, the center of every company’s marketing focus is its website. It’s where your brand is most likely to be encountered first, given that almost all shopping and product research starts online. Your website needs to embody your brands personality and express your brand promise and positioning with clarity. If the website is the centerpiece of your marketing, the first question you have to ask yourself is – do I build a Custom Website, or Personalize a Semi-Custom Website Theme.
The advantage of custom is you can have your website designed to look any way you want. Custom websites start with a clean sheet of paper, and are designed by a graphic designer to your personal preferences. Because a custom website does not use a Pre-Built Theme there is an additional cost for the design and generally additional development cost than the customizing a Pre-Built website theme.
What are Semi-Custom Website Themes? A Theme is a Pre-Built website that embodies a predetermined design. This design is then is utilized to build examples of standard pages (Home, About, Contact, Services, etc.) which incorporates the design look across all of the pages.
Each Theme design will feature unique design elements:
- Header background color, main navigation approach, and position of the logo.
- Main page color scheme, font, and page layouts for photo, copy, and call-to-action or Read More boxes.
- Footer layout (1, 2 3 or 4 columns) and background color.
Themes can be generic, meaning not industry specific or were built with a specific industry or business type in mind. That’s why personalizing a Pre-built Theme has a cost advantage. Personalized websites start the design from a pre-built pre-loaded website that embodies a unique design look and features, that is preselected by the client or the developer. This saves time and cost because much of the creative design work and a significant portion of the development effort is completed.
Here are examples of how a Pre-built website Theme can be customized (edited, reconfigured, and as needed re-designed) to meet personal preferences for:
- Font style
- Color scheme
- Photo usage
- Button style
- Call-to-Action style
- Add your copy to the pages
- Edit the initial navigation buttons to meet your needs
- Modify the size of the main picture at the top of the page: full-screen, or make it smaller to show some of the copy before scrolling
- And if desired, modify the graphic design features to meet your personal preferences, much the way you do with a custom design
The Marketing Department, Malvern, PA, offers a family of several hundred Pre-Built Divi and Elementor Website Themes to choose from, any one of which can be modified to meet your personal taste and sense of design style.
Not sure if a Personalized Pre-built Website is right for you? Give us a call at (484) 318-8160 and we will guide you through the decision process.