When a template starts holding your business back

There's nothing wrong with a template. For a brand new business, it can be exactly the right choice: quick, affordable and good enough to get going. But as a business grows, the thing that helped it start can quietly start holding it back.

Signs it may be time

• Your site looks much like your competitors' sites, and customers can't tell you apart
• You've bent the layout so far to fit your content that it no longer feels coherent
• Pages are slow, especially on phones, because of features you don't use
• Simple changes need workarounds, plugins or a call to someone else
• Your site doesn't reflect the quality of the work you actually do

What changes with a custom site

A custom site starts from your business rather than from a layout. The structure follows how your customers make decisions, the design grows out of your brand, and the code includes only what you need. That usually means a faster, clearer site that's easier to look after.

It doesn't have to mean starting from nothing. Often the best path is to keep what's working, such as your content, your search ranking and your customers' habits, and rebuild around it.