With 180,000,000 active websites currently online, is it now futile trying to stand out in an overpopulated world?
First things first, you’re not competing with 179,999,999 other websites. Of that number, only a fraction will be in the same industry as you, and a smaller percentage still will be based in the same geographical area as you.
The fact of the matter is, as the web evolves, the way people use it is changing. On mobiles especially, people don’t have time to wait for fancy page effects to load, they want quick and easy access to the products and services they’re searching for. They want instant access to the people they want to connect with.
But at the same time, people have come to expect a certain aesthetic from their online content. It needs to be readable, it needs to be easily followed through with clear links and calls to action, and it needs to be quick.
If you’re considering a new website for your business, you may see shortcuts to these results. Companies like Hibu will knock you up a website in a day. But look at these examples of Hibu websites:
What about creating your own with a free site builder? Great idea – it’s free and it almost certainly won’t look like your competitor’s website. That’s because (as well as being ignored by search engines) your website will look something like this:
So what about a low cost template website? These templates are normally professionally designed so they’re high quality, and they’re usually responsive to screen size – unlike the Hibu templates discussed above.
You simply hire a low cost web designer to customise the template to your business and job’s a good ‘un. Well….that’s the theory. But how would you feel if your skincare company website was exactly the same as a local football club’s? Miffed I bet.
Imagine if every high street store used a template for it’s shop front?
The only way to truly stand out there on your own two feet is to have a website built specifically for your organisation. A bespoke designed website adds value to your brand, showcases what’s important to your customers, cuts through layers of pointless fluff and creates envy amongst your competitors. Before signing up to a template web service, talk to us about creating something both truly unique and worthy of your brand.
Web design isn’t dead. Nor is it likely to die any time soon. But homogenised websites will always lose out to standalone creations in the weary eyes of the world’s online population.
