Which is Better in 2022: WordPress Theme or Custom Built-Site?

What value does your website hold in 2022? A website is your company’s identity; it defines your business, educates your potential customers about offerings and also helps you generate new leads. A good website can be the deciding factor for turning a lead into a customer. In fact, it has become absolutely essential to build an intuitive, dynamic, and appealing website to get an edge over your competitors.

For years, WordPress has been at the forefront of creating a dynamic website as it offers a vast range of services and customisation for customers. Launched in 2003, WordPress, the world's most widely used blogging platform, has significantly impacted the internet world. A recent study confirmed that WordPress powers 43% of all the websites on the internet. WordPress provides critical building blocks to create a high-quality website using a premium WordPress theme or custom suites. But before diving into the debate about which is better - WordPress theme or custom design in this day and age, it is necessary to understand the differences between WordPress themes and templates.

The primary distinction is that while the WordPress theme controls the website design, the templates are a pre-created document defining a single web page's layout. Registering the difference between themes and templates is easy as long as one remembers:

• Themes keep the feel and look of the website consistent.
• Templates tell a business how to lay out the information on each page.

Pros of a Pre-Designed WordPress Template

The pros of a pre-designed WordPress template will hopefully help settle the debate about which is better: WordPress Theme vs. Custom?

• Faster and cheaper: A website can be configured and installed within seven days if the content is ready. The best part is that there are both paid and free themes available. Businesses with budget constraints can easily have a professionally installed website by utilizing pre-designed templates edited to suit their needs, like changing colors, adding a logo, and setting up the widgets.
• No requirement of coding knowledge: A vast majority of WordPress users don't have programming or coding skills, and they have been using this platform for years. Most templates have a clean code and fit the business requirement very well. Manufacturers can customize a pre-designed WordPress template by adding third-party plugins at an additional cost.
• An array of options to choose from: In 2021, WordPress reportedly had more than 7,000 themes. Some of them may have more configurable options than others. Keep in mind to pick a pre-designed theme that offers various pre-built headers and footers. Using templates with good support is strongly recommended, such as Elegant Themes, StudioPress, and Woothemes.
• Frequently updated by designers: Highly skilled designers develop and design these themes for a living. They then sell it on marketplaces, like StudioPress, Creative Market, and Theme Forest. Most of these are generated by what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) editors, helping users see changes live. In a nutshell, they help non-tech savvy people manage content hassle-free.

Cons of a Pre-Designed WordPress Template

While it's exciting to pick a theme from the vast repository that WordPress provides, it also has its cons:

• Code practices aren't the best: A WordPress template with heavy code and plugins can prevent the website from loading quickly.
• Security risks: Occasionally, free themes have dirty code that may place harmful security loopholes in a website. These can land you in trouble because they will allow easy access to hackers.
• Less personalization: Pre-designed themes often come with a set number of configurable options. Do check in advance if the theme comes with header configurations for the brand logo, full-page width, and sidebars.
• Standard SEO practices not followed: Pre-designed WordPress templates are not responsible for making a manufacturer's website SEO-friendly. They don't affect things such as site architecture.

Pros of a Custom WordPress Template

By using a custom WordPress template, businesses can make their websites as unique as they want them to be. At the same time, they can also integrate specific functionalities and features for branding that may not be possible using a WordPress pre-designed template. Let's look at some of the benefits of a custom WordPress template:

• SEO-friendly design: A custom web design is more search engine friendly, which means that it can rank higher. This trait is significant for businesses that want to get website traffic and generate leads.
• Easy accessibility: A custom site can grow with the brand. If manufacturers make any changes to their brand, they can simultaneously modify the style sheets, colors, widgets, and sidebars.
• More control over design requirements: By incorporating the branding into the website design, the company can make the site stand out from the competitors and meet 100% of its design requirements.
• Support from designers: If any bug occurs, a professional developer or web designer can fix it in a jiffy. In addition, they work with the marketing and branding team to draw up the website's design.

Cons of a Custom WordPress Template

However, all customizations come at a cost. Here's why:

• More time is needed from concept to launch: A developer may take loads of time to customize a website and update everything systematically. Creating a custom website naturally takes more time than developing it using a WordPress pre-designed template.
• Expensive custom designs: Websites built from scratch are costly because they require professional expertise. They also have to be customized as per a company's needs.

Final Word

WordPress theme vs. custom? There's honestly no clear winner. An eCommerce company's choice of a WordPress theme depends on several factors such as time, budget, brand, and support, making it a tough decision to take. This is where Amura Marketing Technologies comes in.

As the top digital marketing agency, Amura Marketing Technologies specializes in expert WordPress solutions for big, medium, and small eCommerce businesses. With its years of expertise in website development and digital marketing spaces, Amura Marketing Technologies can help you build dynamic websites regardless of the industries you cater to.