A custom Web site or a template?
By Chad Brubaker, CEO, www.emochila.com
When it comes time to establish a Web presence for your firm, one of the first decisions you will have to make is whether your site will be a template - one that has already been designed for use by multiple firms, or a custom design - something graphically unique to your practice. In this article we will examine the various factors to take into consideration when choosing which path to take.
Template Web site: Most Web developers that are specific to the accounting and tax industry provide new clients with several different "canned" site design options. These site designs are the most economical; many providers and tax software include them at no additional cost to their Web services. Because they are pre-rendered, templates are typically the fastest and easiest sites to launch as well, as you merely have to choose one of the off-the-shelf options. Frequently, template sites do not include the ability to modify much, if any, of the header, button layout, detailed coloring, or width of the page. If the templates do allow changes, they are usually something relatively sophomoric like swapping out a general industry-specific photo. Therein lies the main disadvantage of a template in general: In order to appease the hundreds of firms which may be choosing the same template as you, there must be a somewhat vanilla standard.
Custom Web site: Unlike the template, a custom designed Web site gives you the option to graphically represent the unique professionalism of your firm. Among other things, a design specific to your practice allows you to include any existing logos, fonts, or color scheme that you may already include in your letterhead or business cards. Utilizing photos that are geographically specific (such as your hometown), imagery of your firm's offices, or photos of you and staff, can immediately allow those visiting your page to recognize the pages as individual to you. Your Web site's appearance is clearly the first thing that any visitor will see (for better or for worse) and therefore it may justify the custom design's main disadvantage: Price. Because you are not choosing a "canned" design, it is more labor intensive. The key in this situation is to choose a Web designer who has shown prowess in working independently and formulating ideas for your firm's custom look, in order to invoke "hand holding" on your end. Like so many other things in life, however, the more you put into the thought and layout of your design, the better you will find the final result.
The diminishing cost of custom Web work over the last five years has brought prices to levels acceptable to small businesses. Hence in the accounting profession, the percentage of firms opting to have a custom-built Web site has increased steadily over the years. Many CPAs and accountants have expressed that the one-time cost of a custom site which they intend on keeping for several years has resulted in more than enough business to justify the work. On the other side of the coin, the caliber of template designs has also improved to keep abreast of graphic innovations, making them less "canned" than they have been in the past. Whatever route you go, simply be sure to carefully judge your public internet presence versus the depth of your change purse, and you will come out happy every time.
The Third Option
There is actually a third option, although not all website providers will do it. Some website providers can give you a site with a custom look and feel for a LOT less than the cost of a custom site. Rather than building a custom site from scratch ask your website provider if they can modify an existing template slightly: say, for example, change out the standard header graphic with a picture you send them, like your office building, or a skyline of your city. This can usually be done VERY cheaply (a couple hundred bucks) and this small change can give a template driven site a real custom feel. In fact, the difference is so profound that many unscrupulous website providers are providing this service and selling the modified site templates they produce as "custom sites".
If, on the other hand, you want a REAL custom site, I would not recommend using the website provider to do the time consuming and expensive graphic design process.
Graphic design can't be done properly over a telephone, or even over video/remote support. Graphic design should be done in person, over a conference table, preferably with a doughnut (fine... or bran muffin) and a cup of coffee.
Hire a local graphic designer. In two afternoons, for a few hundred bucks, a good graphic designer with a laptop can come to your office and design a 1:1 mockup of exactly what you want your site to look like.
Doing multiple drafts with a graphic designer is much cheaper than using a web designer, because having a web designer re-code a page is usually much more time consuming than having a graphic designer plug the changes into PhotoShop. Once your first draft is ready for review a skilled graphic designer can literally whip out changes while you watch, and they'll be a lot less grumpy if you decide you don't like it and change it back.
Once your mockup is done all you need to do is send it to your website provider and have them code it into their Content Management System. Costs will vary depending on the complexity of the style, but for a flat html site with a simple vertical or horizontal navigation menu it should be about $300. The site will go up a lot faster and with a lot less hassle. This saves you the headache of having to do draft after draft of the site via email and phone, not to mention the expense.
Voila! You have a custom site that could have cost you more than a thousand bucks for half that price!
Again... not all website providers can do this... so ask first. And make sure if they do offer this option that they don't intend to distribute it as a template to other clients!
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