WordPress now supposedly caters for 50% of CMS (content management system) powered websites IN THE WORLD, that’s over 20 million websites. With good reason too, being easy to use and due to having easy to install/enable plugins for almost everything. Due to its popularity – WordPress’s online community is huge! The amount of themes available, and the ability to create powerful custom-built themes is also a massive plus.
This raises the question: what is the best option for you? There are pros and cons for both pre-built and bespoke themes, so let’s consider them.
Pre-built themes
Cons
Well, if you want something different – then don’t go for a themed site. One of the most popular themes on Themeforest.net has 450,000 sales – so if you were to use that same theme then your site will look the same as almost half a million other sites out there. When your website is the front page of your business, is that really what you want? Or do you want to stand out?
As these themes have to offer such customisability (which is actually one of the pluses), it comes as a cost – in performance. So often we see theme sites load incredibly slow, due to the sheer amount of bloat that they come with. Sometimes they also come pre-packaged with plugins, that, if not regularly updated, can become vulnerable to hacks in time.
Take a look at the performance comparison between our sister company’s website, and the same theme mentioned above, demonstrating the difference in load times:
Pros
Let’s start with the main thing that is on everyone’s mind: cost. Pre-built themes can be had for $30 – $50, and there’s always some which are specific to whatever your business is.
There’s also the customisability of these themes (as long as you get a decent one). They do allow you a lot of flexibility in terms of the look, and the ability to build a large host of pages made up of any number of elements. However, limitations are still in place in terms of the user interface (UI). In reality, these factors are the only pluses of pre-built themes.
Bespoke themes
Cons
Again, the main thing on everyone’s mind is always cost. When you get a website designed and built by hand – 100% custom – the cost will inevitably increase. The amount of time involved in respect of the labour to actually design and build the site demands a higher price bracket to pay. To achieve a bespoke, standout website made tailored to requirements, the old-age adage “you get what you pay for” tends to spring to mind.
Pros
When a website has been crafted to your needs, preferences and business requirements, you will have a statement piece that works perfectly for you. That’s what we take great pride in: our design process is based on your desires and wants, coupled with our extensive knowledge. On top of that, our development team carefully, faithfully and accurately convert these designs into real, feature-rich websites that are a joy to view and navigate. You simply don’t get the same amount of consideration or any flexibility when you choose to have your website designed and developed on a pre-built theme.
Here are some examples of our award-winning websites you can find in Our Work section.
We use our own custom “page-builder” system to allow the website manager to carefully craft their own pages using any element that has been designed and coded up. This offers you the same flexibility as a pre-built theme, but without the bloat, and ensures that whatever you publish will look great, and in keeping with the rest of the site and branding.
Our bespoke themes are coded with optimisation fixed firmly in mind, ensuring that the site is as lightweight as possible, as well as utilising a number of technologies available to ensure a speedy load – especially across mobile devices.
What is the right choice for you?
When you take all things into consideration, you do need to think about what is best suited for you and your business. You may have a very limited budget, in which case a pre-built theme is really the only way to go. Even then, UP Hotel Agency can work with you towards creating something that looks effective and works as well as possible.
If you are looking towards a site which will benefit and future proof your business for a longer period of time, then a bespoke designed and built WordPress theme is no doubt the way to go. As previously mentioned, your website is the first impression for your business, so it needs to blow people away! Get in touch with UP Hotel Agency today to discuss your requirements! And who knows, your site could be the next award-winning site our team develops!
