In today’s fast-paced world, pre-packaged themes seem like the best option for getting a website fast and cheap. This decision can be quite dangerous, while initially pre-packaged themes seem like a great deal, in the long run they will slow you down. For this reason custom themes are better for your business.
They slow you down, driving visitors (and potential sales) away
Did you know that 40% of visitors leave if the website if not fully loaded in 3 seconds or less?
Using pre-packaged themes can slow down your website with extensive JavaScript files that come with them. Since pre-packaged themes are one-size fits all, they come with a lot of JavaScript features and all these files pile up and slow down your website. If you, any member of your company, or potential clients have a slower internet connection, your website will be a major inconvenience. Nobody likes a slow loading website, and with pre-packaged themes you should prepare for the complaints from anyone who needs to use your website. However, with a Custom Theme made specifically for your website, you get only the features you want; your site will be optimized and tailor-made just for you, and you will not have to worry about all the extras slowing down your website.
They update too often, without your needs in mind
Pre-packaged themes will require several updates throughout the year, these updates can potentially reset and changes or modification back to its default leaving you back to square one. The people who create pre-packaged themes are constantly changing and trying to improve their themes so that people will continue to purchase them. Due to this, updates have their theme in mind and not your business’ branding. With a Custom Theme, all the updates that will be required throughout the year will be made with your website in mind, they will not break your website, only improve them.
Hackers love them
Pre-packaged themes slow down your website and require heavy maintenance but they are also known to be more unsafe in terms of hacking. It is much more cost-efficient for hackers, spammers and viruses to infest themselves through a Pre-Packaged theme than a Custom Theme made for the company. Hackers will want to get more birds with one stone, if they learn to hack a theme they can hack more people. Your company needs to be extremely careful for this and will have to be sure to find good anti-spam plugins to protect the website if a pre-packaged theme is used.
They may be made for you, but they’re not made for your business
Pre-packaged themes are not made for your website only, they are made for several, they do not cater to the corporate identity of your company. The overall aesthetic and functionality of a theme can change without warning so it is not the best option for serious companies with strong corporate branding. There is only so much you can do with a theme as well, unlike building your own website you have to settle for the theme dimensions and how it looks as opposed to having everything where you want it to be and how you want it to work.
Get a fully-functioning Custom Theme today with WebCakes
Pre-packaged themes are an easy way to make a website, and are cheaper, but are they really better for your company? When you take everything into consideration, choosing a pre-packaged theme over a Custom Theme website is more trouble than it’s worth. Building a custom theme may take longer, but specialized web agencies takes your branding, target audience, and business goals into account when creating a solution custom-tailored to your needs. If you decide to take the safe option and employ a web development agency, be sure to choose WebCakes. WebCakes specializes in covering all bases when creating a custom theme fully tailored for your business.