I’m sitting here looking out my window at the drab gray skies beyond the leafless trees and remembering last spring. There was this beautiful, blue-skied day and I was watching this little bird check out a birdhouse I had just put up. It kept flitting to the birdhouse door and going in, then flying out to the nearest branch again and again. It was like he was trying to decide whether or not to make it his home. He simply needed to decide and then bring his soft-ness to it.
The thing with bird houses is they come to the yard already created for the bird. The size, color, location…it’s all pre-determined (by me!) The bird flies up and can move right in.
Of course, the larger bird watching enviously (do birds get envious?) could always fly off and find a great tree to build it’s nest in. He’s perfectly capable, right? Find the perfect branch, spend all the time scouring the yard for sticks and twigs and build the nest stick by stick.
Website Template or Not?
It’s sort of the same thing with websites. There’s no right way. One person gets a website template and can plop their content right in and be up and running. Another person can work with a designer or build it themselves from the ground up. A lot of different factors are at play when you think about what way is right for your business.
The person using the template could be new to business, have a limited budget and just need to get up and running quickly. That’s fine for the stage they’re in, although I’d still recommend they invest in at least spending time to figure out what makes them different than their competitor and use that to help them stand out as unique.
But, for all we know they are struggling to figure out how to make that template work for them. That template might be super frustrating for them, forcing them to bend to it’s parameters when they really need something built just for their needs. (Maybe a custom one page design that they can build on would have been a better choice…)
Some start with a designer
The person working with a designer is likely a little further along in their journey. I don’t mean that they already have money to invest (maybe they do) but rather, they already know what sets them apart. They already have experience working with clients as an expert…They’ve already reached the stage where they know a template is not the right fit for their business. Kinda like the bird that knows a bird house with its pre-built size and shape won’t work for its mate and babies when the bird is too big to fit in through the door in the first place rather than trying to fight its way in.
So even though you see others building their website, their ‘online home’ from a template, that doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for you.
Be an individual.
Think through your needs and mold the website to your requirements, not the other way around. You’ll make a more professional impression that way.
I’m here if you’d like to talk! Hop on over to my facebook business page…
(Oh, and the bird decided not to make the little house its home. It quickly dropped to the ground and started collecting sticks. I never saw it go into the little birdhouse again. I like to think it built it’s dream nest and had lots of room for little baby birds and a wife.)
