Website design isn’t rocket science, but it’s not exactly a cake walk either. This fact is particularly true for small and medium size enterprises (SME) which suffer from chronic shortage of resources, and are always apprehensive about spending money on developing their online presence. More often than not SMEs take off-the-shelf templates and modifying them to create their own website – a habitual practice that doesn’t always pay dividend.

A website is set up to attract prospects, and turn them into paying customers either online or offline. A website’s design plays an important role in converting website visitors into paying customers. In fact businesses can only ignore the importance of design at their own peril. Website design is especially critical for SMEs, which are also competing with big budget, big-guns for market share.

This is where tailor made web design comes in. If you are proprietor of an SME, then a custom web design can give you a unique and distinct online identity, and thus help you stand out. But what are the principle advantages of going for a customization website design rather than a simpler, cheaper template based solution. Let us give you a few pointers:

• The best thing about customized site design is that it enables you to set up extremely detailed and functional sites as per your requirement and need. Moreover a customized design, layout and style enable you to stand aside from the clutter, and highlight your offering to the fullest.

• Custom designs offer you the chance to chalk out a plan for you website, and make it easier for you to incorporate changes in the future. Planning can have a significant impact on your site’s ROIs, especially in the long run.

• Templates only let you to tinker with basic design, layout, and colour scheme of your website; a tailor made design on the other hand enables you to pick not just the aesthetics, but also the principles features and functionality of the site – so you don’t have to cut your feet to fit the shoe.

• Most custom design solutions include professional corporate logo design, which give you a powerful brand presence, and offer you a lasting product which can be used in the virtual as well as the real world for a long time to come.

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can make or break a website. Search engine optimization isn’t just a off the counter software with the function to boast your site’s ranking on SERPs, it’s instead a complex art which involves elements of web design, development and internet marketing to work together to produce results. Custom designs permit you to tweak your site’s structure, content and format to significantly improve SEO performance, especially with regard to on-page solutions, which are critical for SEO success.

A good website and Logo design company, can take your company vision, your mission, your image, your logo, and design a site that captures the essence of your brand, in the truest sense of the word. Only a custom website design can add value to your brand and help you differentiate your offering from that of your close competitor.

John Kennedy is a web designer and developer based in Manchester, UK. He has worked on numerous projects associated with graphic and web design, and is an active blogger on custom web design trends and opportunities targeted at small and medium size businesses.