Is it better to make something unique or use a template? That is the question you must address when deciding what style of website to create for your company. Many people are tempted to utilize a template because it is less expensive and easier to just download a theme. But, as we all know, you get what you pay for, and you don’t want your company to come across as cheap.
If you’re attempting to figure out which one is ideal for your company, consider the following:
- Do you want your company’s internet presence to be professional?
- Do you want potential customers to have a positive first impression of your company?
- Is it important that your peers take notice of your nice fancy new website?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, a custom-built website might be the best option for you.
We’ll take a deeper look at WordPress themes and templates, as well as customized choices, so you can pick the website design that best represents your company.
What are the differences between WordPress themes and templates?
A content management system (CMS) allows you to edit website material without knowing how to code.
WordPress is a popular CMS since it allows for the integration of common websites’ designs. The site may take on any appearance, and each section can be set up to be updated by content producers using WordPress – fast and easily.
A WordPress theme or a WordPress template is the design of a website that uses WordPress to preserve and display its content. Both pre-built templates and custom themes have variables to consider. However, these templates can be customized to give your website a very professional look without a lot of additional costs.
Themes and templates are quite often used in many website designs you see out there representing businesses. This, if anything, is a great place to start to give you an overall “look and feel” that you are going with. Quite often these offer sitewide customizations that allow you to make all font for the headers to be one size and style and then the content to be another, for example. These sitewide customizations allow your website to have its own look and feel, just like you find in a completely customized website.
What Benefits Can Pre-Configured WordPress Templates Provide?
Download a pre-built theme from a WordPress theme library if you need a website up and running next week. It may not be precisely what you had in mind, but having anything up is preferable to having nothing. You can then take some time to customize it as you’d like, later down the road. This wouldn’t be lost time or money as it would at least be something to get you started. Just be sure that you purchase a website from a company that also specializes in SEO (Search Engine Optimization), or your new website might not ever be found for those looking for your type of services or products.
The following are some of the advantages of using pre-built WordPress themes:
- Not as costly as custom websites
- You’ll be able to finish it quickly. (Many sites may be up and running in under an hour with no coding required.)
- It is simple to use and virtually anyone can do it.
What Benefits Do Custom WordPress Themes Provide?
Because it isn’t a cookie-cutter design, a bespoke WordPress theme will reflect you. It’s something you created for your company, not someone else’s. Here are a few more advantages to think about:
There are no restrictions.
You’ll be limited in what you can do if you use a template for your website. You can put objects where you want them, look at more fonts, and have more graphic components to pick from with a custom theme. If you have a clear vision of how you want your site to look, this is really useful.
However, most themes and templates also don’t have many restrictions. As long as you are the WordPress platform you should be fine with either option.
It Can Be Scaled
If you’re just getting started, you might not need or desire a lot of bells and whistles on your website. As your business expands, you may find that you need to add additional goods and functionalities to your site to make it more appealing and user-friendly. You can do this using a custom website. However, you can do this with a template or themed style website as well. Keep in mind, just because you use a template doesn’t mean that you cannot customize it to your liking in all sorts of ways using WordPress.
Updates are simple.
A customized website or a template website will be updated on a regular basis. When you or the team you hired is in charge, they can check on your site on a regular basis to see if any improvements are required and ensure that they are completed. This is done all the time and is called “website maintenance” for most design and SEO firms.
It’s not all about the looks when it comes to custom websites. You should also think about functionality.
Here are some things to think about when it comes to the functionality of your website.
A website should be simple to use. Even if a website is built using WordPress, the content on a page may not be straightforward to modify. If a website is constructed correctly and with proper training, anyone in the firm may easily edit the material on the site. While you might want to edit your content, most businesses leave this up to the website design house to do. Either way is fine with those of us at The SEO Chick. We will be happy to show you how to post your own blog posts as that is the most common area that business owners like to be in charge of. This area will, at times, need to have proper modifications to allow for SEO. We will discuss this with you and come up with a plan that works for you.
Your Website Should Be SEO Optimized
The website should be search engine optimized (SEO) for search engines. This is how your website will be found by your potential clients. Most businesses focus on Google but there are Bing and others as well. People will go online to find services and products they want by searching. The first page will display the best-optimized websites, not necessarily the best products or services. SEO-friendly websites have lean code, adhere to SEO rules, and load quickly. The SEO Chick is knowledgeable in this area and offers practical SEO services for all types of different businesses.
Only a few high-quality plugins should be loaded on WordPress. WordPress has a stable foundation, and plugins expand the capabilities of a WordPress site. Many websites, for example, require a contact form, and there are contact form plugins that make creating one simple. For a website, there are dozens of WordPress plugins to choose from. Plugins are frequently updated, and if multiple plugins are installed on a site at the same time, they may conflict and cause the site to go down. Using a few high-quality plugins will ensure that the site stays up and running, as well as the features that the plugins provide.
A long-term solution for a firm that wants to showcase its personality with a durable, SEO-friendly, and easy-to-update website is a custom-developed WordPress website.
If you are in the market to improve your lead generation and are looking at website design, The SEO Chick would be happy to help. We take into consideration where you are in your business and what features would best suit you. We understand that not all businesses need huge and expansive websites to start out with but simply something affordable that can grow over time. Call today!