With WordPress one of the key questions you have to ask yourself is should I have a custom theme built for my website or should I use a premium theme that I can purchase?
My answer depends on a few things:
Depending on your answers, I can come up with an option for you.
Type of Business
I always think people in creative fields should lean towards more custom themes. For instance, I look at some website designer’s website and I see a purchased theme, to me that doesn’t seem quite right. I mean if your selling your creativity, you should at least show you are creative, right? However, for many professions, or small businesses, a premium theme is fine. There are thousands, and with some customizations, you can make it your own.
Time to Market
If you are in a rush to get a site done, then your answer is simple, go with a nice premium theme which will cut the time down by 60-70%. If you have months, then you can consider a custom design. As the design process takes a couple of weeks on average, and building a custom theme can add a few weeks, you can see where time to market is considerably longer.
Budget
If you have a small budget, then go with a premium theme. If you have $2000 and up you can consider the custom design route. The reason is that having designs created takes time and money. And coding a custom theme can take weeks, which is where the cost adds up.
So, I know you are going to ask, what do I prefer? Well, in a perfect world, a custom, unique theme is what I prefer. But in reality, the things we spoke about come into play. Budget and time to market are so important. Whichever way you go, you can have a great site. If you aren’t sure, then ask me. I am happy to help you decide.
Sometimes it amazes me how incomplete many company websites are these days. Case in point, I wanted to have my daughter’s car detailed for her this week. Like most people I turned to Google. I found a few places in my area and decided to check out their websites. Well, believe it or not I found some things that just stunned me.
Here are a few examples:
So, I am sure you’re asking yourself: Why is this? Why so incomplete? Well, I can only guess, but I would say it’s because companies pay somebody to build the website and that’s it. They have no ongoing service and no way of updating the website. This results in the website being the same after two years as it was on day one. Incomplete and pretty crappy user experience. This is why we rarely work on websites we don’t support afterwards. I’d rather say no to a potential client (that doesn’t choose support) then see them go down a path that only can end in failure.
Find out more about RooSites Website Management Plans.
