OurChurch.Com has been building websites for Christian churches for over 20 years.
Over this time we have built websites using pre-made designs as well as custom designs.
So when considering a church website design, which is better?
Let’s look at the details, pro’s, and cons of each:
- Custom created design: Create a design from scratch, then turn that design into a working website. This process requires a designer to create the design and developer to code the design into a working website.
- Pros
- Design is unique
- Client can get exactly what they want in a design
- Cons
- Requires a designer and developer to be involved in the project (most designers are not developers and vice versa)
- The process is very long
- Very expensive because there is quite a bit of skill and time required by both the designer and developer
- Pros
- Pre-made design: If using WordPress as your website platform, there are many design companies that create designs (themes) that can be purchased.
- Pros
- No designer or developer required to create the design
- Many design options to choose from
- Very quick process
- Much less expensive than creating a design from scratch
- Most designs have many features and options that would require additional development if building the design from scratch
- Cons
- Design is not unique (though with thousands of pre-made designs available, most churches will not be using the same design)
- Sometimes themes conflict with other plugins used on the website
- If you have issues with the theme, you must contact the theme developer to resolve them
- Pros
I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things. -Lindon Leader
I believe that there is a time and place for using both a custom design and a pre-made design. However for most churches, especially small – mid sized churches who are on a limited budget, pre-made designs are the way to go.
You can check out a bunch of websites we have built by going to https://www.ourchurch.com/web-design-portfolio. All of these websites are using a pre-made design.
What is your experience in using either a pre-made or custom design? Post your comments below.
If you are interested in talking about a new website, please contact me here!