Reply to thread

I agree that consumers may enjoy a consistent experience, but we also have statistics to show that non-templated sites CAN rank higher than templated alternatives, even with very similar content. The issue with templates to me is not that they're templates, it's that the templates are limiting in other ways. If the template and CMS don't allow me control over everything, it's restricting me and all others on the platform in the same way.

On the flipside, you take one of those clients off the templated system, give them full control over everything they want and now they can tailor their site to their customers which still maintaining a similar style if they wanted.

For me and my team, it boiled down to a choice between offering your current consumers the consistent experience they were used to or building something that worked better organically and attracted more consumers. I'm more than content with the direction we went.