ASSESSMENT
If you are considering making your new website with WordPress you will have
seen that there are several options to develop it. The most economical is the
use of design templates that offer a professional design that you can adapt to
practically any business. On the other hand, you have web design companies
like ours that sell custom web design services. What differences are there?
Which option is the one that your business needs? In this article, I clarify
the doubts with total sincerity.
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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