Why We Built a Library of Ready-Made Websites for Small Businesses

When building websites for small businesses, we noticed that many projects begin with almost the same set of decisions.

What should the website look like?

Which pages are needed?

What structure should we use?

How will the business know what the finished website will look like before development begins?

Starting every project from an empty canvas gives maximum flexibility, but it can also add time, uncertainty, and cost.

That led us to build the DevOnSite Website Library.

Starting with a working foundation

Instead of asking a business to imagine its website from a generic template screenshot, the library provides complete professionally designed business websites that can be explored first.

There are currently 17 website designs covering industries such as:

Restaurants and cafés
Trades and home services
Retail and e-commerce
Beauty and grooming
Health and wellness
Fashion and apparel
Real estate
Events and weddings
Automotive
Legal and professional services
Creative portfolios

The idea is simple:

Browse → choose a website → personalize it → preview it → decide whether to launch it.

Preview before committing

We wanted businesses to see something closer to their own website before making a decision.

A user can choose a design and personalize it with their business information, branding, and content.

They can preview the result without first creating an account.

If they want to continue, DevOnSite can take the selected website through the production process and launch it on the business's own domain.

From template to production

We don't see the library as simply a collection of templates.

The larger idea is to provide a starting point for an actual business website while still allowing customization where it matters.

Depending on the project, the launch process can include things such as:

Domain setup
Hosting
SSL
Forms
Analytics
Search Console setup
Content customization
Additional pages
Ongoing maintenance and support

For businesses that need functionality beyond the existing designs, there are also more customized and bespoke development options.

The trade-off we're exploring

The interesting problem for us is finding the right balance between templates and custom development.

Templates make websites faster to launch, but overly rigid templates can make every business look the same.

Fully custom development gives much more freedom, but it also requires more time, decisions, and budget.

Our approach is to begin with a professionally designed foundation and customize it where the individual business actually needs something different.

Explore the library

You can browse the current website designs here:

DevOnSite Website Library:
https://demos.devonsite.com/

I’d be interested in hearing from other web developers and agencies:

For small-business projects, do you prefer starting from a proven design foundation or designing every website from scratch?