Custom Web Design Services vs Templates

Which is Better? custom web design services vs templates

If you’re considering creating your new website with WordPress, you’ll find several options for development. The most economical approach is to use design templates, which offer a professional look adaptable to nearly any business. However, if you want a unique site that aligns with your specific goals, Custom Development and Design services, like those offered by Ksoft Technologies, provide a tailored experience. We specialize in crafting a website that not only captures your brand but is optimized for performance and flexibility, meeting your exact needs.

With custom web design, you get more control over your site’s functionality and a design that can grow with your business. Our development team utilizes the latest technologies like PHP, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, and popular frameworks such as Elementor, WPBakery, and Gutenberg for WordPress, all while optimizing for SEO and user experience. This approach may cost more initially, but it offers scalability and alignment with your brand that templates may not provide.

Wondering which option is right for your business? In this article, we clarify the differences honestly, helping you decide whether a ready-made design template or custom web development by Ksoft Technologies is the best path to achieve your business goals.

1. Web design templates for WordPress
I am sure that if you have considered making a website in WordPress you have heard about the term “template”. Maybe you do not know exactly what it is, so I’ll start by explaining it to you.
A WordPress template or theme is a set of predesigned pages and style sheets that apply to a web. WordPress templates are easily installed and managed from the WordPress administration panel itself.

Each template has a different design and functionalities. Therefore you should choose the one that best fits your tastes and especially with the requirements of your new website (yes, the second is more important). There are specific themes or templates for specific business websites. There are also free templates and payment templates.
Free templates can be found on the official WordPress website and are usually very basic and generalist.
The payment templates are more complete and are designed according to sectors. You can buy them in many places, but for its extensive catalog and its reliability, for me, ThemeForest is the best option.
When you buy a template, you buy a default layout for a WordPress website. Therefore, you must choose a design that you like and that is aligned with the needs of your industry and your business.
So that we understand each other, when you buy a template, it’s as if you bought a Mr. Potato: you have some pieces available (clip-art pages and style sheets) that you can have in different ways to create a certain Mr. Potato final (your website).
Advantages of web design templates for WordPress
They are more economical. For me, this is the main reason to choose a template ahead of a custom web design. For $60 you have very professional templates that can cover almost any type of business. It does not mean that for $60 you have the web, but a template with which to start playing and design your website. My favorite of all and the one I have used the most for years is Avada, for its great versatility and because it can be adapted for any type of business.
They are quick to install. The installation of a WordPress template is easily done through the WordPress panel as if it were a plugin.
They have a professional design. The WordPress web design templates are made by more or less large companies of designers and programmers specialized in WordPress, which ensures that certain quality standards are met, such as mobile adaptability.
There is a lot of variety. You have the business that you have, surely there is a template for you. And if you still can not find it, you have many “multipurpose” templates such as Avada, which work for all types of businesses.
Disadvantages of web design templates for WordPress
The customization can be complicated if you have design skills. Something as simple as placing your logo has to be done under certain conditions so that it looks good and there is no “goop”. Although there are templates that try to solve this problem with very friendly personalization interfaces, it takes a while to learn basic design concepts so that everything turns out to be professional in the end.
Limitations: this is the main problem for the templates for me. You have to keep in mind that a template can not do everything you want. As I said at the beginning, it has some predesigned pages and elements. Beyond that, do not expect anything specific for your business. For example: if a template has all the orange buttons, do not expect to be able to change them. Maybe you can, maybe not, and you have to count on it. If you do not specify it, you will not know until you buy it and you find it.
Website Speed: this would be the second most widespread problem. The templates include a number of features that you may never use. These features make the page load slower, heavier. And I must remind you that loading speed is one of the multiple variables that determine your SEO ranking, and its importance is growing year by year.
Who are the web design templates for?
The disadvantages that I have listed make using a WordPress web design template not quite easy for someone who has never touched the subject. Therefore, even if you have decided to buy a template, you will probably have to hire a designer to adapt it to your business.
The WordPress templates are perfect for people who have basic knowledge of web design and WordPress, but they are not for people who start in these two topics, as they are somewhat complex if you are looking for a professional result.
If you are looking for a simple and inexpensive web based on WordPress, using a web design template is surely the best option. But remember, you can not demand something personalized, you should be aware that the design of the template is what it is and that all the websites made with that template will look similar.
2. Custom web design services
The personalized web design in WordPress allows your company to have a unique website that respects the image of your brand at 100%. Unlike templates, there is nothing predesigned, the entire graphic image is created from scratch for you.
A custom web design services in WordPress is usually done with a ” framework theme “. Calm down, I know it sounds Chinese at first, but I’ll explain.
The WordPress framework themes are a set of functionalities from which a “child theme” or what is the same, the personalized design of your website is developed.
For example, in a framework theme, we will have elements such as buttons, titles, headers, menus, footers, etc. When the developer finishes his work, the result will be a web with YOUR titles, YOUR buttons, YOUR headers, YOUR menus, YOUR footers, etc.
To make a simile, custom web design services is like making plasticine dolls. You have some base materials such as colored plasticine, markers, roller, blades, molds (equivalent to the elements of the framework theme) that depending on how you use them to allow you to make multiple dolls, and all can be different.
Taking advantage of the example, and so that you can see how the results of using the same basic elements can be different: what are the following plasticine figures? I love them.
Advantages of custom web design services for WordPress
Respect the image of your brand to 100 %. The control over the total graphics elements allows you to use your fonts, your colors, your icons … everything that makes your brand your brand. That your visitors identify your mobile-friendly website as yours and do not say “it looks like this other” (and that “another” is your competitor: often you save yourself!).
Design optimization to achieve your goals. In custom web design services, the design process starts with a blank canvas. The designer is drawing your website based on the business objectives that you have communicated. It will place buttons, texts, and high-quality images where they work best, without having to worry about whether the template allows it or not. This guarantees a better return on investment results.
Freedom of content creation. You are not bound to have specific pages as with the templates. You can have pages of cases, your history, product presentation, landing pages, etc. This is important in the long run since you never know the needs that you will have in the coming years at the level of online marketing. I have found cases in which the website design template has not allowed to present the products in an optimal way to facilitate the sale, being this decisive aspect for the success or failure of an entire online marketing campaign.
Speed: the speed of personalized pages has no comparison with those of the templates. In a personalized web page, only the functionalities that you need are included, which guarantees the lightness of it. A page with custom web design services is easily 3 times faster than one made with a template. This is decisive and crucial for your SEO and so that your web visits do not get tired of waiting and go elsewhere.
There are not so many limitations. The developer will make a design proposal that will include all the elements you need. For example, if you need the services page to show comparative tables or the contact page shows a map with multiple locations. The good thing about personalized web design is that you can do a lot of specific things for you.
Disadvantages of custom web design services for WordPress
Highest initial investment: This is the main reason why most businesses discard personalized web design. We are talking about websites that, in our case, start at $1,500 and with a template this cost is easily reduced by half.
More involvement on your part in the process: well, for me this is not a disadvantage in itself, but if you want to have a web quickly, you should know that in a custom web design services the developer will ask you many questions. Precisely to achieve your goals, you must know the business thoroughly. It will also make intermediate project presentations, such as the index or product page. This will require more work and greater availability on your part. With the template, you will simply send the texts of each page or section and the images and the designer will place everything on your site.
For whom is the personalized web design
For companies and professionals who want to invest in having a great website and in an exclusive and unique image. If this is your case, you must be clear that a customized design not only requires knowledge of web design but of programs such as Illustrator or Photoshop to create wireframes, knowledge of digital marketing so that the web is also profitable and even knowledge of CSS and PHP. In short, it is not something you can do yourself with a few skills.
Customized web design requires multidisciplinary technical knowledge such as graphic design, web design, online marketing, and programming. In addition to years of experience to ensure optimal performance and faster delivery times.
If you are looking for a professional web based on WordPress that transmits your image in a unique way and work well on your sales process, the personalized web design for WordPress is for you. Do not think that having a more complex web will be more difficult maintenance, on the contrary: if you have communicated to the developer that your intention is to maintain it yourself, it will make an intuitive and relatively simple web so that you can make the changes you require.
3. Conclusion
Using templates is not a bad option if what you want is a simple and cheaper web. After several years working with both templates and custom web designs, at Ksoft Technologies we realized that what we really liked was to offer customized solutions. The results are always more satisfactory, the webs are prettier, faster and better transmit the soul of our client.

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