Before You Pay a Website Designer Thousands, Read This...

Thinking about spending thousands of dollars on a custom website design? Read this before you send the deposit.

There’s a good chance you’re about to pay someone to design or develop things Elevated X websites can already do, and in many cases, things we would have done for you for free.

Worse, your expensive custom design could make future upgrades more difficult, if not impossible altogether, leaving you stuck choosing between the design you paid thousands for and keeping current with always-changing tech and media delivery trends and new functionality your business actually needs.

Most Designers Are Not Web Developers.

And most website owners don't discover why that matters until after the designer has been paid.

Many designers have “some” coding capabilities, but that often ends with basic HTML and CSS, or AI-generated static code. Unless someone is also a front-end or full-stack developer, they may not have the skill set needed to implement their design within a CMS, storefront, membership, or other forward-facing software.

Why Does It Matter? 

Because a beautiful design is only valuable if it actually works with the system running your website.

A Beautiful Website Can Become an Expensive Problem

We routinely see site designs created with little forethought about whether they can actually be implemented within the software being used.

Layouts are created. Features are proposed. The client loves it.

But someone has to actually build it and make it function in a way that maintains the look and feel while incorporating functional features, AND ensure it all works perfectly across all platforms and devices, from big-screen TVs to outdated smartphones.

That’s usually when the client discovers that certain elements aren’t supported at all, require extensive and costly custom development, or that their site will need to be completely recoded whenever their backend software is updated. In the case of Elevated X, which is the industry’s only “enterprise-level” software (like Google, Apple, Microsoft, etc), all the sites it powers run on the same codebase for software architecture; a new software update is pushed out to all clients the first week of every month. Sites unable to receive updates are quickly left in the dust of yesterday while competing producers remain focused on tomorrow.

Over the years, we've seen hundreds of content producers stuck choosing between abandoning a beautiful custom design they paid thousands for or keeping it and remaining in the stone age because upgrading means rebuilding their custom design from scratch. Without exaggeration, with our volume of clients, every week we receive support requests from someone who has a site with features and media formats that are outdated by upwards of 10 years. It’s not difficult to imagine what this does to a site’s income or growth rate.

A good website design shouldn't just look good today. It should allow your website to evolve easily and efficiently without requiring major expense or large-scale projects to make it happen.

“If your custom design prevents you from upgrading your software, it isn’t an asset anymore. It’s a liability you paid thousands of dollars for.” - AJ Hall, Co-Founder, Elevated X

The Hidden Cost of Holding Onto an Outdated Custom Site Design

Another trend we’ve seen repeatedly across the thousands of websites we’ve worked with over the past 20+ years is site owners continuing to reuse the same custom template long after it has become antiquated. 

It’s understandable. They made the initial investment of paying for it and perhaps weeks or months to have it implemented with programming code. It works. It’s familiar. It’s comfortable. And implementing something newer feels like an unnecessary project when they can simply keep using what they already have.

But convenience comes at a significant cost. 

Producers often continue using custom designs that look and function like websites from a decade ago rather than implementing new Elevated X site templates when we release them. Consistently over time, they’re operating a business without modern functionality, improved content presentation, better user experiences, and features their competitors are already using.

At that point, the money originally spent on the custom design isn’t the biggest expense anymore, and the revenue that’s been lost due to complacency has greatly surpassed the cost of keeping a website current.

A custom design should NEVER become the reason you stop improving the product your customers are paying for. 

Designers Design for Clients.
Your Website Needs to Be Designed for Consumers.

Designers want happy clients. That's understandable since you’re the person paying them.

But what makes you happy isn't necessarily what's best for the performance of your website or what your customers prefer.

Look at Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Apple TV, or virtually any major media website (including those of top industry studio brands), and you’ll notice one thing they all have in common:

Their designs are almost boring. 

Function comes first. Content IS the design.

There’s a saying in fishing that baits and lures are designed to catch the fisherman, not the fish. Or if you prefer auto racing - the paint job and decals don’t make the car run faster. 

Website design can work the same way. If it looks cool, someone will pay for it. Others will complement you on it, and some may even copy or emulate it.  Customers don’t care - what they want is quality, modern convenience features, speed of access, ease of access, reliability, and ease of use across multiple devices. Elaborate custom designs may help a designer attract clients and command a higher premium, but that doesn't automatically mean they're what's best for your business or your customers.

Here's What Elevated X Clients Need to Know

For years, we've heard versions of:

• “Elevated X is complicated to work with.”
• “You need a developer.”
• “You need a webmaster.”
• “You need NATS affiliate software or some other addition.”

None of these statements has been true for a very long time.

And with the introduction of our Core template framework in 2025, design implementation has become easier and faster than ever before.

What designers, developers, and website service vendors don’t want you to know:

ELX Core templates allow global site-wide changes through a single CSS file, while its built-in design editor supports everything from colors and layout elements to animated logos, header videos, rotating image carousels, and more.

Many of the aesthetic and layout changes designers once sold as “complex” or unique can now be implemented by Elevated X in-house, often in a matter of hours and at zero cost to our clients.

In fact, many of the highest-performing websites running Elevated X software were customized entirely by us in-house, completely for free.

Before You Hire a Designer

For the best results:

• Talk to us first. Show us what you're trying to accomplish. You may not need to hire anyone - or you may only need to pay them for specific graphics or layouts we can implement for you easily at no cost.
• If you do hire a designer, make sure they're designing within the Elevated X framework, not creating something custom or rogue and expecting it to work later.
• Ask us about functionality before approving a design. We'll tell you what's already supported and what would require custom development. We’ll also tell you, based on 20+ years of experience and more than 10,000 websites, what’s critical and what can or should be omitted for best financial results. 
• Show us your design ideas, mockups, and sites you like. We will tell you how close we can get you to that without you spending a penny, and what elements would require customization beyond what your software already does.
• Think beyond launch day. Your design should allow you to take advantage of ALL future Elevated X updates without having to start over.
• Use designers where they add real value. Logos, branding, graphics, promotional assets, and other creative work are very different from paying someone thousands to redesign an entire site.

Before You Spend Thousands, Ask Us

We're not saying talented designers don't have value or add value.

Before paying someone thousands of dollars for something you may already have access to, please talk to us. Open a new support ticket, and let's have a quick 10-minute exchange; we may be able to save you thousands of dollars and weeks or even months of wasted time.

You might also be surprised by how much we can already do for you - and how much of it we do for free.