Chances that you've already pondered about using web design templates to build your small business website are high. Such option has gained popularity in recent years as one of the most smart and novel ways to launch an attractive and professional-looking online presence. 

Plus it cannot be denied that compared with custom-designed web presence which require hiring a web design professional or a web agency, web templates are affordable. But is it really all these good. Let's count the ways why website design templates has its own downsides too.

No. 1 – Customization

While it is true that you can tweak one or many features of your chosen website design template, it certainly comes with a limitation. Depending on the standard templates you purchased, the fact remains you can only change a little less based on what you need. Some features that are impossible to change include space available for text or images. So that's one of the few practical reasons why you should get away from web design templates.

No. 2 – Uniqueness Factor

It's impossible to achieve uniqueness and distinctive look and feel when what you thought to be an exclusive design for you is already shared by a bunch of businesses like you who all aspire and dreamed of saving money. In the end, it becomes difficult to ind one that is originally-looking and reflective of your brand personality and individuality.

The hefty price that comes when you purchase exclusive rights to a specific website template design is also limited. Because how sure are you that you are the only one who downloaded a particular exclusive website design template?  Hence, it would be advisable to invest and hire a company who can develop a custom website for you.

No. 3 – Image Optimization

When it comes to optimization of images and text for search engines, website design templates offer a few challenges for you. Those with no photo-editing skills or understaff will have to contend with a poorly-optimized image. Worst, you will need to call or hire an experienced web developer that will only increase the cost of your operational expenses.

No. 4 – Customisation Requirements

Website design templates offer simply customization and some software like Microsoft Frontpage are readily-available at the disposal of the developers. However, there are sometimes more intricate and complex requirements that advanced programs like Dreamweaver can be utilised to perform the task. As a result, you or your staff will need to get the right training to acquire the required skills to customise your template. Again, this will drag down your budget when such requirements call for you to hire a professional or expert in this aspect.

These are only but few limitations when using website design templates. Again, you must make a judicious and careful planning when deciding which web building approach to take.

Website design templates may seem like the practical and least expensive option for you. However, if all these means is too much complications and limitations that the amount you saved will then have to be allocated to training and time, software and all, then paying a little more for custom website design may actually be the best move in small business website.

After working like a slave for more than ten years now you are decided about what you want to do with your life – to be your own boss. With little savings in your bank account, you thought you are ready and your chosen career path is to become an entrepreneur and owner of a web studio. With this article, get your free ticket in to an absolutely low-budget way how to start web design firm.

Be A Master of Your Skills

Learning your stuff and web design skillsets are the first things you'll ever need to be sure of in this trade. By now you should already know how to purchase and select an effective domain name, be familiar with hosting and have a full grasp of database, and content management system and more. It takes more than these of course around how to start a web design firm, but at least for someone starting a low-budget enterprise, these are website building skills that you need to master in a couple of months. Did you know that with a couple of Google search, you can learn and find the right resources and tutorials to study the trade? Don't let these opportunities by pass you, be determined.

Starting out

Now it's at this juncture of your startup that you need to keep your initial investments pay off around how to start a web design firm. It is important that you set a target of ten (10) clients in a span of 2-3 months which you can then use to amass portfolio to show your next clients. Initially you will discover that you are not making profits but that is normal. Remember that an additional goal for you is to make sure that you have your expenses covered to break even. Initially you can go with small businesses with low-budget projects for you. Grab it because they are easy to complete.

Billing Clients for Projects

Usually the price of a website building project really depends upon the features, specifications and staff that will be allocated to work for your project. A custom website is more expensive than a website template project because the required labour are much fewer with templates than with a custom-designed site. Consider asking as well the other requirements of the project like photography, software development, content management and more.

Just remember that a potential client who asks for a custom-designed web presence that is unique to their sector will have to pay for an amount that is higher compared with website templates. Usually, the pricing at this point can dwell between mid to high-budget projects and if you have the skills and human resources, you can go for it.

End Notes

An important and final note on this guide how to start a web design firm, start only with a project once you receive the downpayment of at least 20% of the total cost. Some clients would just change their minds mid-way and leave you. As a business owner, this is painful when you already paid your designer and developers the full sum of their contract fee for working for you. With a downpayment, you can purchase what you will need for the initial phase of design and development, including downpayment for your designers. Just tell your clients that downpayment is non-refundable. 

Some say that it is no longer difficult to find a suitable web design firm because there are now a plenty of them offering service catering to the different needs of businesses belonging to a particular market or industry. 

However when faced with all these options, you must find the task tedious and challenging even if it feels like window shopping. To find and review the best ones, we'll focus on a few important questions to ask your prospective agency and see if they'll pass the test of truly good ones. 

1. What type of clients have they served?

Sometimes the website of your prospective firm already provide you the clues with whom they have worked for in the past and what connections they already established.  To get a sense of their clientele, look for their portfolio. 

If there are case studies, review how they provide solutions to client problems with their former websites and brand in general. Find also data supporting claims that their design has been successful in driving traffic and converting page visits to actual transactions completed. 

2. Are you impressed with their creativity?

Judging creativity is subjective but not all agencies are created equal. Some may be great in coding but not in design and vice-versa.  But the true test here is to see how well they have designed and still delivered a web page that is neither clunky nor non-functional. 

If they exhibit the latter, then it's an exercise in futility. The competition on the web is too tight that to accept anything less than an elegantly-designed web design page with functional navigation and features is risky on the profitability side of your business and the reputation of your brand in general. 

Even if you some really good content but if they'll read it in an unaesthetically-designed page, chances of losing them is high.

3. Are they marketing savvy with expertise in research, planning and branding?

Designing for the web must be matched by marketing savvy and understanding that their priority must be about pleasing the audience. To evaluate if your prospective web design firm meets the criteria, ask them if they understand calls to action. 

What is their branding experience? Have they developed new brands or have they worked to improve brands of other companies? Do they offer additional services like copy writing and illustration?

4. Are you philosophically aligned?

The weight of entering into a working relationship with a web design firm cannot be downplayed as unimportant. There must be a fit, even not perfect, between your business philosophy and ethos with your selected agency. In other words, you must be compatible as if a match made in the high heavens to work on a higher purpose. To test your compatibility, carefully analyse your design agency's manifesto or statement of purpose that they include on their site. 

Remember, these are just a sample of questions you need to ask yourself when deciding a design agency to develop a website for your business. So feel free to be guided and our wish is always for your best. May you find the right web design firm.

There is no more contest that custom web design can ensure businesses with far many advantages than the usual web templates. One fact about opting for a custom-built website design is the uniqueness your brand can achieve by spending a little more than acquiring a web template. As well as you'll achieve a pretty amazing website feel, you will be more than satisfied when you get the design you desired it to be. The second is that you only pay for the features and specs that you need. When a customer buy the template, however, he or she bought the template as a whole, including all the unwanted features, which makes custom design a more cost-effective strategy.

To have your dream custom web design within budget, here are some points to consider:

1.      Have a detailed conversation with the developer. When you talk your requirements to your designer and developer that gives them a whole view of the project. It is a great help simply by letting your web development company know what exactly you need from them to accomplish, what features are needed for that particular project.

2.      When you bring to your developer's attention what you need, the developer will ensure that your custom web design will be one that is easy to maintain. The developer who is keen about the the listing of requirements will keep in mind the technical knowledge and experience of the person who will eventually manage the site, hence the developer will plan the back-end management accordingly.

3.      The cost that it will take to develop a custom web design will surely vary, especially when the aspect of the technology used for the project is factored. It is the obligation of the developer to inform the client of the best technological options and which of these tools can give best performance, ease of maintenance and at a reasonable cost. Different tech platforms have varying degree of cost and technicality. Choose wisely together with your developer what technology you will use in developing your site's back-end.

4.       Look for developer you can offer you the best possible quality under the set budget. If you are the customer wary of spending so much for nothing, you must conduct further inquiries with other suppliers to compare which one give you the best quotes to choose the one who offers the best deals. Some design company offer beauty, elegance, uniqueness together with right technology but at a very hefty price. So better look for one that offer all at a pretty affordable pricing.

5.      Some disasters are unavoidable. But there is a way that you can do to avoid falling into this misstep. Look for the past credentials, references and portfolio of different types of projects done by your prospective web design custom developer. It always happen that you already spent a lot of money on your site but the final product leaves much to be desired, meaning your actual requirements were not met. The money is just wasted and such can happen in many conditions.

Keep these points in mind when going for custom web design service, but remember to do it right with the right developer.

Web design is definitely different for small and large business. And it is important to why what factors differentiate the former with the latter. A designer working for an established brand can getaway with some hiccups here and there. The aura of the brand often make way for what would otherwise require the attention of the visitor. However, the case is wholly different with small business web design. Since you are small, the expectations that you deliver a better-looking online presence is paramount.

First, companies of varying shapes and sizes are bound to have very different needs and requirements when it comes to web design. Thus, the design work becomes even more challenging. Here are a few other reasons why designing the website of a small and large company differs.


A small business may start off with a website with few pages to provide their visitors with the company's basic information and emphasises call to action that their visitors request from them more information. A big business may have a website with hundreds of pages. If they offer a web store, the site allows for secure online transactions. This only means to show that the appearance of the website will vary depending on the size and type of company.

Remember that your online presence must not depart from your adopted total advertising and marketing strategy or plans. Often, the advertising and promotions campaign will definitely be different between a smaller and bigger-sized companies. Both will use different media channels, use different media campaigns and even the budget for such effort will not obviously be the same. The bottom line here is that small business web design and large company web design will have two different race tracks to use. The difference in their needs and desires will dictate how they will go about satisfying the in wholly different ways.

By knowing these differences between what website design will suit a small and large business, you can either match or adapt your expertise and specialization to the needs and requirements of the business. If you are a web designer, you can adapt your skills and capabilities to companies that are like yours. Small business web design is less demanding than building one for larger enterprises. But you are likely to produce an excellent web design if you are already familiar with the industry.

Whatever you choose, the web design will surely reflect the business reputation and your status. A websites is an important component of your brand marketing efforts so it is not a stand-alone project. With the ever-increasing importance of the Internet and mobile, small business web design or large business online presence will reflect a large piece of your brand. As such, your approach to web design must be consistent and seamless between your offline and online brand representation.

Therefore, the whole debate about web design and the difference between what's required by small and large enterprises teach us that there really is a wide difference. The difference goes beyond merely on the amount of pages each party require their online presence to present. So whether it's a small business web design or a web design for larger enterprises, what matters is the services you provide, as well as the image or style you project with your digital presence.  To help you reach your goals, look for a web designer who have the expertise and experience working with companies of the same size as yours.