Is 100% bespoke (really) the right solution?

When you decide to create, modify or update your website, you might consider hiring an agency. This agency (such as O’Matic) will surely offer you a customised website, 100% designed to meet your needs. But is this really the right solution?

First of all, what is a 100% bespoke website?

In order for it to be defined as such, several points are distinguished at O’Matic:

• an analysis phase was carried out beforehand to define requirements
• the features were custom-developed to meet these requirements
• The design was created based on these features and is not derived from a custom theme.

All this takes time, but a properly constructed website will be more sustainable while being unique and 100% suitable.

The advantages of bespoke solutions

Whether in terms of functionality, style, or other aspects, there are numerous advantages to creating a 100% customised website.

Complete website customisation

The first, and not least, is the complete customisation of the website. After a thorough analysis of your needs, we create a website for you, like web tailors, that will fit you like a glove!

Customisation lies not only in the unique design that will be created for you, but also in the features you want! With a little bit of development, it is possible to meet all your requirements!

Would you like a customised checkout? It’s possible! A map? That’s possible too!

In short: do you have an idea or a wish? We will do everything we can to make it happen!

Optimising the user experience

By choosing to create a custom website, you can ensure that your site perfectly matches your needs, but above all, those of your users. With a personalised design, we make sure that everything is easy to find, understand and use.

Furthermore, habits and usage vary depending on the website. You do not behave in the same way on a computer as you do on a mobile device. If you are an e-commerce site with a strong presence on social media, you will have a high number of visits from mobile devices, but if you are an agency website, most visits will be from computers.

So whatever the platform, whether on a computer, tablet, or smartphone, we ensure that your website works properly everywhere!

Better natural referencing (SEO)

Think of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) as a GPS: it helps search engines find your website. If your SEO isn’t done properly, your website won’t be found and you’ll suffer as a result. With a fully customised website, rather than one with a pre-made structure or tools, you can ensure that your website has the right structure.

What’s more, a website that reflects your image also allows you to create original content, enabling you to add information in a different way and, above all, to be referenced in a different way (on Google Images, for example).

These three points are not the only advantages of creating a customised website, but it would take too long to list them all! Let us now move on to the disadvantages…

The disadvantages of a custom website

Yes, as with everything, there are downsides to full customisation…

Higher cost

One of the first is, of course, the cost. A bespoke website requires a great deal of preparation and analysis, but above all, customised development. You will have something that suits you 100%, but you will pay for the quality.

Longer completion times

Another negative point is time. Building your website with an initial analysis phase takes time, but it will enable you to address your users effectively and not overlook the key issue of user experience.

The alternative to full customisation: semi-customised solutions

Semi-custom alternatives are an interesting alternative to full customisation, but you still need to find the right solution. What may suit your neighbour may not suit you, but by adding only small custom-developed parts to your project, you can ensure greater success.

Although they offer less flexibility in terms of customisation and may resemble other websites, they can save you time and money. These template solutions can be customised to suit your business (e.g. templates created for service providers) or your needs (e.g. portfolios) and can be a very good solution for combining speed and efficiency.

If you find that certain features are missing, you can also add extensions, but be careful, as adding too many extensions may slow down your site!

Conclusion

The choice between fully customised and semi-customised therefore depends on your needs and your budget.

Full customisation offers complete personalisation, an optimised user experience and better search engine optimisation, but is more expensive and can take longer. Semi-customised solutions, on the other hand, offer limited personalisation but are less expensive and take less time to implement.

It is therefore important to carefully assess your needs before choosing between the two in order to determine the level of customisation required.

Still unsure about your website project? We offer a template specification sheet if you follow this link!