When it comes to your company or organization’s website, a big question arises. Do we build it ourselves with an existing template or hire a web development company to create a custom WordPress theme for us?
Though there are pros and cons to both, in this article I’d like to discuss the benefits of custom WordPress theme development.
1. Speed – A Custom WordPress Themes is Faster
If you want a WordPress theme designed by a development company, you’re losing all the bloat that comes from using ready-to-go themes.
Theme development businesses must create themes that will be bought at a high volume for them to succeed. This means they are making every feature their customers might want and consequently, your website slows down.
With WordPress agency themes, you can ensure that only the features you require are included in your theme, in contrast to when you use WordPress themes built with WordPress agencies. Less code and less bloat mean a faster website. This is an important consideration because Google rewards faster websites.
2. Attraction – Custom WordPress theme designs aren’t “cookie-cutter”
When it comes to WordPress, custom theme design is a significant way to distinguish your business and create attraction value. Although the design is still extremely important,
When it comes to buying a high-volume, premium theme, the problem is that it can be extremely difficult to go without the original look and feel. You are boxed in and the existing design has the power to stifle creativity.
When purchasing a theme, you must instead ask, ‘What kind of look can be achieved with our theme?’. A solid WordPress development company does not care about these limitations, as long as you provide what you want.
There are very few restrictions you’d need if you have a professional WordPress theme designer and developer on your website.
3. Scale – Custom Theme Development is More Scalable
Scale is a slight part of the benefit of scale. The bloat on purchased WordPress theme designs, however, gets in the way when you scale your website.
When you buy a premium theme, you get a lot of WordPress setting pages, shortcodes, and custom fields with them, but you might not be using them. It makes matters worse if your website already has a lot of custom or complicated features. A scalable website should not have unnecessary code and features.
A custom WordPress theme will scale better, in contrast to a custom WordPress theme. You won’t have the features you need, in addition to having a more streamlined WordPress website. Furthermore, your WordPress developer can create custom interfaces for your content, such as staff profiles, case studies, and services. If your WordPress website is straightforward to manage, it will inherently scale better.
Additional scalability considerations:
- More Plugins: Purchased themes may require you to rely more on plugins with additional unneeded functionality
- Fewer Features: Strangely enough, though premium themes are built to have a wide array of features, you may find that your premium theme is lacking the features you need.
- Limited Support: More to come on this below, but if your purchased theme doesn’t have good support, this can be a huge impediment to scale.
4. Focus – Working with a WordPress Agency will keep You Focused
When you choose to work with a WordPress development firm, you get something in return: your focus. Here are a few of the things you would do if you created your WordPress site:
Layout frustration: Creating your WordPress website can be difficult if you don’t want to deal with the frustrations. You either have to 1) perseveringly work through the frustrations or 2) settle for designs that you’re not proud of.
WordPress or PHP bugs: Even the best WordPress developers can take hours to find certain kinds of problems or errors. Don’t forget that even professional WordPress developers may take hours to find certain kinds of problems or errors. Is there anything better to do with your time?
Your website goes down: Are you willing to risk having your website developed using a non-existent theme? Using a specialist WordPress theme development company on contract, you can avoid catastrophes and remain on the right track.
Distraction: Even though you are heavily involved with your website, it is still a big part of your life and your career. What else could you be doing if you were solely concerned with your strengths?
5. Support – A WordPress Agency can Afford Better Support
Do you prefer hiring a WordPress theme development company or an agency that provides additional services to your business?
Is it better to work with a premium theme company that has millions of customers or a top-quality WordPress design agency with 10-15 active jobs?
You should do your research, make phone calls, and choose a reputable firm before you decide on a firm to employ. After you’ve found a winning firm, support will be better. Premium theme companies can’t compete. How much incentive would you have if you were paid $50 two years ago?
Conclusion
Here is what I mean: The top 5 advantages of going the custom WordPress theme route are speed, attraction, scale, focus, and support. At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself: “What are the hidden costs of attempting to do our website in-house?” If a premium theme is your only option, great. However, if your company has a budget, a custom-tailored WordPress theme is worth serious consideration.