There is a business concept I recently encountered, called ‘phantom deliverables.’ The idea behind this term is that a business can deliver a product or service that the client never asked for and did not even know they needed. For instance, many of our clients come to us for a beautiful website. What they actually get is a beautiful website with custom development. This makes for easy-to-update websites that are targeted towards a company’s unique clientele.
Custom Websites vs Website Templates
First, it is important to clarify what is meant by custom development.
The face of a website is its design. We view images and read content and we think of those elements as ‘the site.’ That’s the same as saying that the clothes and makeup on a woman are the ‘person.’ The website is actually the coding that runs beneath the outer dressing and drives the functionality of the site.
When you commission a web designer to build a website, you will receive one of two things. Either you will receive a custom website or a website template. A website template is built by a third party and sold to be the ‘base’ of many websites. The outer dressing, the colors, and style can be changed, but the underlying structure is the same for all the sites that use it.
A custom website is constructed from scratch to meet the needs of one customer. If you have a true custom site, there will not be another like it anywhere on the web. This applies to the surface design and to the coding on the backend.
Coding a Custom Website Design
Whether you have a custom website or a website template determines how your web design is put together.
There are basically two ways to design a website. You can start with the design and code around it OR you can write the website code and fit the design into the template. You might think that with a custom website the coding comes first. But, that is not the case. When you build a custom website, you actually start with the design or look of the website.
- The web designer determines your needs and also those of your clients.
- Then they turn those needs into a picture (the website design).
- Web developers write the code around the design to create predetermined elements.
- You only have to update those ‘elements’, not the code that created them.
If you use a website template, the backend shows lines of garbled code that make it difficult to update. On the other hand, a custom site is built according to a series of steps that result in clean, easy-to-update websites.
Because there is no need to understand coding to maintain or change your site, you will receive another phantom deliverable, cost savings.
Easy-to-Update Websites Save You Money
One of the ‘invisible’ benefits of a custom website is that it saves you money. It’s true that custom sites might cost more during the design phase. However, the savings you realize over the lifespan of the website can more than compensate for it.
For instance, consider the price of paying a skilled employee $X.XX for several hours each month to maintain your website. Over time, that cost can add up.
But what if you owned a custom site where you did not need to know coding to make changes?
You can realize quite a savings if an employee is spending only a fraction of that time working on a custom site where coding knowledge is not necessary. It’s also possible to save money because you won’t need to hire someone with programming skills.
These savings of time, money, and energy makes up some of those phantom deliverables that were referred to earlier.
Custom Development Results in Easy-to-Update Websites
This concept of phantom deliverables sets Ericks Webs apart from its competitors. On the service, we design beautiful websites, custom-made to your specifications. Apart from that, you also receive custom coding, which can save you time and money. Our easy-to-update websites keep our clients coming back time and again.
Another thing that sets us apart is our Free Mock-Up of your new custom website. We will create a custom web design tailored for your company, in seven days. There is no risk or future obligation. Contact us today to find out how you can get a new website that is both beautiful and easy-to-update.
Web Design
