There are pros and cons for both side of the coin here but ultimately it’s about how you would like to position yourself in the market and how you wish to be seen by your target market.
In some cases, the website is purely a reference point, an online business card that doesn’t provide any lead generation and is just a trust mark. Websites like this may rarely be seen by the potential client as most clients come to the business via word of mouth or referral. You may find a template based website works perfectly well for you, pick one you like and if you don’t have a need to update the style of the site and keep content updates to a minimum this could be the most suitable choice.
If however your website is a tool for lead generation; remember in a lot of cases the website is the first impression the user gets of your business. If you are trying to provide a service or product that is in a competitive market having a unique website that showcases your individuality might just be the trigger for people to contact you or choose you over your competitors. A custom design will allow you to grab your user’s attention within a few seconds which is all it takes for them to sum you up!
You require a website that allows for user interaction. If your website is a tool to engage your customers and to entice them to interact with the website then a template based solution will probably not suffice. You may want them to fill out a 3 step form or if you want to give people using your ecommerce website the ability to customise the shape and colour of the products they are selecting then this would require a custom application.
Competitive Analysis. Check out your competitors, if they are quite clearly investing in a quality web design, keeping their content updated, blogging and staying abreast of technological advancements such as responsive design, a template website may just not give your online brand enough credibility.
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