Custom web design is when a website is created using customised functionalities and design.
Is it really necessary to pay for a customised WordPress site when we have AI to build websites for us? Often, an AI-built website looks great!
What business owners do not take into account is that the way an AI design is prompted is often imperfect.
It might be the user journey, the text content, or the true understanding of human need. Often that code is heavy and unnecessary for the design at hand. The pages become code-heavy. It may become insecure when not looked after correctly.
And that’s why custom web design from a true expert remains valuable today.
Almost anyone can now use AI to install WordPress, which is great for start-up businesses or companies not looking to scale. However, web design encompasses much more than just that and is crucial for a company’s growth.
Professional web designers possess the skills and experience necessary to create designs that meet specific requirements. We must consider not only the design itself but also the coding and the user journey.
The skill of a website designer lies in perfecting a website’s design, layout, and optimising it for search.
Here’s what every small business should think about when commissioning a website designer for custom web design.
Website Logo
The website logo is used at the top of a website. It brands the site. A logo remains in a customer’s mind and is often the only thing they remember. Branding is really important in building a business online.
A website logo should not be different to the one on business cards. The company logo should be the same across the board; that way, people can instantly recognise the brand.
Logo Size and Shape
The size and shape of a company logo can have a huge impact on how a web design ultimately turns out.
For example, a round logo with text inside may not fit well on a website with a horizontal header. The logo would have to be made very small, which would make it illegible, especially on mobile.
It is quite common to use a responsive logo, a secondary logo that can be used as an avatar on social media or forums. It should be recognisable and follow the corporate look.
Website Font
The font used throughout the website is incredibly important. The right font can make a site look modern or traditional, instantly impacting the audience.
When the body font looks weak against the website logo, the website can look messy and inconsistent.
Website Content
I’ve often been provided sparse content to include on a web page. This can be because the business owner cannot write or because they prefer the website to be visually impactful. Photographers are guilty of the latter.
Content is SO important for search engines. No content means your website cannot do its job: to be found and to gain business.
Pages must be informative and helpful to your target audience.
It is worth hiring a content writer experienced in optimisation who can save time by using AI.
Websites Built To Be Found
To work hard, a website should be built for search engines, around key terms. From the ground up, an SEO web designer will build with search engines and AI engines in mind.
Pages have to be created with optimised URLs, titles and content if they want to be found.
Images should be saved according to content, and alt tags added. SEO can be improved later, but a page will lose its rank if its URL changes and must start climbing again.
Website Photographs and Images
Thought should go into quality photographs or illustrations. A bad photograph can truly bring the website’s standard down.
You can’t increase a photo’s DPI, so take photos at high resolution, even with a smartphone. Send the designer the original, without resizing it or compressing it. Low-quality, pixelated photos look terrible.
Professional photos can make all the difference to a polished business website.
Landscape or Portrait Photos?
When taking photos, consider the site’s design and where and how the photos will fit. Should they be landscape or portrait?
Landscape format is when an image is wider than it is tall. Portrait format is when an image is taller than it is wide.
Ask a professional photographer to take both landscape and portrait. That way your web designer can position different versions within the site.
A hero image is a large banner image that spans the width of the site. Portrait photos likely can’t be used as a banner image, so keep that in mind.
How Much Does Custom Web Design Cost?
It is difficult to answer how much a website design should cost, as it depends on the design, pages, payment facility and functionality. And there are many kinds of web designers, each with different skill sets.
Website designers can offer ‘off-the-shelf’ solutions or cheaper website design for start-ups.
However, if you want the website to attract more visitors, invest in an experienced web design agency to do the job properly. I often see businesses spend more money having a website fixed, moved or improved.
For a custom website design, a business will be looking at a starting price of around £3000.
Much less, and the creator is not spending enough time properly building a website.
