Now that we know the content and purpose of our website, we need to decide how best to proceed with the development.
Depending on your budget and requirements you could choose a developer that offers either a template based website (which tend to be more cost effective) or a bespoke website (which look more professional).
Template websites
Template based websites are pre-built websites which allow you to select from a set of pre-designed websites and choose your colours, add your own logos, images and text. Because the websites are already pre-built by the developer it is very quick for the developer to produce and as a result they are lot cheaper than the bespoke option. There are generally two types of template-based websites. The first type of website you would provide the developer with your content, the second type would have a built in CMS (Content Management System) and allow you to upload your content yourself. The advantage of the second type being that you can maintain the website yourself, the downside is that some of these CMSs can be a bit laborious to work with.
Bespoke websites
With a bespoke website you will have a custom design produced suited to your branding, you can choose how your content is presented together with how the functionality works. As the website is produced from scratch to your requirements this type of website will be more costly to develop. The advantages are that this will allow you to have total control of your on-line brand and control over your website. You can choose to have a CMS added to allow you to update portions of the website yourself without compromising the design. The website will look more professional, you will have more control over SEO elements and future additions to the website.
To summarise
If you are on a tight budget and require an entry level website for a simple web presence then a template website would best suit your needs. If you require more from your website together with the ability to add to the website as your business grows then a bespoke website is the ideal solution and your initial investment will rewarded with a website with a longer lifespan.
