4 Reasons Why You Need A Custom Website Design

Contrary to what Joe Rogan has to say, our experience shows us that Wix and Squarespace fall short in four key areas:

Why bother with a custom website design?

We get it, Squarespace and Wix are cheap, easy solutions that are totally suitable for spinning up small websites. Podcast hosts like Joe Rogan are constantly telling you that you don’t need a custom website (which they are getting paid handsomely to say, I might add). But is that convenience and cost savings really worth it? For most companies, the answer is a resounding “no.” Here’s why:

1. Creating a custom website design is a branding exercise

Meeting with Missoula Media Company over the course of the website design process is a chance to discuss your brand, goals, and vision with professionals who have helped over 100 startups get off the ground. We have also helped countless established brands take their online marketing presence to the next level. We can offer guidance and insight that extends far beyond what you get from your average website designer, and that collaborative process ultimately helps us collaborate with you to produce a website that performs.

Simply put, you are not getting that branding exercise when you start building your website on Wix or Squarespace.

2. Consider how an improved conversion rate will impact revenue

On one of our recent website design projects, we designed and developed a custom Shopify site that improved our client’s conversion rate by over 6X. For projects of that nature, prices often start in the $7500 range for a custom eCommerce website built on a custom design. Seems like a lot?

Well, consider the fact that an eCommerce site doing $208.33 in revenue per month will increase monthly revenue to $1,250 if they increase their conversion rate by 6X. At that rate, they will pay for the cost of a $7,500 website in 6 MONTHS. So does $7,500 still seem like a lot?

3. Improved user experiences

Picking a random theme out from Wix or Squarespace just because it looks good isn’t necessarily going to result in a great user experience. Think about it – how many times have you arrived at a website that looks good but is confusing as hell and frustrating to use? We are willing to bet that a large percentage of those websites were built with little thought or attention to the user experience.

All of our custom website design projects start with a custom UI/UX design, which allows us to organize how users will navigate your site, how we will funnel them to key areas, and to make sure that your new website is built on a solid blueprint. The meetings where we present and collaborate on UX/UI wireframes cover key topics like buyer personas and conversion goals, and we then translate these collaborative efforts into a website that is built in an easy to navigate and engaging manner.

4. Opportunity cost is real

Many of the business owners who opt to build on Squarespace and Wix are likely building their first website instead of performing the other important tasks they need to be doing to run their business. The time (resources) they invest in building their website is getting taken from somewhere, and that is considered a form of opportunity cost. Most business owners are better off using their time to train employees, set up their shop, manage their B2B relationships, order new product, and most importantly, delegate tasks to the best people for the job.

Just because you CAN build your own house, does that mean that most people should? Why would building a website – a critical component of any successful business – be any different?