When should I choose a bespoke WordPress website over using a premium theme?

When discussing a potential project with a new client, one of the key questions we like to ask is, ‘what is the budget available?’ For some people, this can be a difficult question to answer, the main reason being is the potential client doesn’t want to make us aware of a budget which could be substantially higher than what is needed, with the client believing we will quote the exact price of their budget.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. A good analogy is if you were to walk into a car dealership and the salesman asked what your budget was, would you say, ‘I don’t have a budget’? It is rather unlikely, often when we are caught in this scenario, we provide a quote and then hear ‘Sorry, that is outside of our budget’…. the irony ???? Firstly, if we know your budget, we then know whether it is reasonable. Secondly, depending on your budget, we can find a solution to best fit your needs.

The reason we ask for the budget allocated to a project is because there are several different ways we can achieve the functionality to launch your online business. Below are the two key ways for us to build your website and how they will affect the overall price of your website build.

Use a Premium Theme to build your website

WordPress is open source, this means anyone can develop themes or plugins which can work using WordPress as a content management system. There are several awesome websites which provide an incredible number of premium themes which can be purchased and used for your own project. A premium theme can be an excellent option if you are requiring a brochure website made up of a few pages, largely written content based. You can also find some superb themes that can be used for a WooCommerce website.

The reason why using a premium WordPress theme could be the best option for you is because a large part of our work has already been carried out when creating the website. Premium themes are professionally designed and to be sold on a marketplace, the coding is of a high standard and scrutinised before being made available for public purchase.

Because of this, it means we can create the website for a better rate than if we were to design and develop the website from scratch. The main bulk of our time is spent branding the theme to match your company and integrating the content to fit the predefined layouts of the theme.

Pros

• 1000’s of themes to choose from giving you a vast array of options in regards to design and layout.
• Premium themes are relatively cheap to purchase, varying from free to $300
• Free support is usually provided by the theme developers for a set period if you run into any issues
• Lower start up cost to get your website up and running
• Usually quicker to launch as no development is needed

Cons

• Restricted to the layouts of the theme
• Can be awkward to add additional functionality if we are required to edit the theme
• This results in to further costs achieve the exact requirements
• Unnecessary features and ‘bulk’ which can slow the website down

A bespoke design & a custom built WordPress website

Personally, we love to build bespoke websites rather than use a premium theme. The reason being, a bespoke build allows us to create a fully customisable website which matches your requirements exactly. Our UX design team will work with you to firstly design the website and once agreed upon, development will begin, which will be done from scratch.

By building a bespoke website, we only use trusted plugins and only use them when deemed necessary. This lowers the size of the website and ensures it is easier to manage in the future when updates are released. Due to the custom nature of the project, this does mean it requires more time to complete, but not dramatically. Because of the additional time required towards the project, the budget does tend to be higher if you chose a bespoke website.

Pros

• Dedicated UX designer to create a bespoke, designed website
• Custom built website with no limitations of functionality
• Themes can be overwhelming with the amount of options, bespoke websites are built with solely the functionality you need
• Website optimised for speed to the best of WordPress’ capability

Cons

• Costs are higher due the custom nature of the website
• The process can take longer as it is a bespoke project

Overview: What should I choose, a premium theme or a bespoke build?

Deciding between using a premium theme or a bespoke website and be a difficult decision. The premium theme option can be a great choice and can most certainly achieve your online business goals. If you do decide to use a theme for your website, the key thing to remember is to work within the theme’s functionality and layout. Not doing so can result in additional costs and before you know it, the price of the project is creeping towards a bespoke budget.

For smaller informational websites or for start-ups, a theme can be an excellent choice to get you online. If you are a larger company, have a niche product or are looking for your business to significantly stand out, then a bespoke package is certainly more suitable for your needs. The website will look completely different from your competitors, something which can sometimes be hard when using a theme and we have unlimited freedom to create the website you need with custom features.