Are custom themes necessary to be taken seriously?

DarthHazard Level 1

July 9, 2017, 3:18 pm

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Are custom themes necessary to be taken seriously?

Custom themes can be quite expensive especially if you are a start-up. But the benefit is that your website could look a lot more professional if it has a custom and unique theme that no other business or website uses. I notice this a lot with smaller web hosting companies. They tend to all have similar themes that can all be found on ThemeForest for around $40-$50. This does make them look a bit unprofessional because you would think that they do not have the funds to get a proper unique theme and that makes you wonder if they can be trusted with hosting your site. Does this come into your mind when browsing through websites?

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lordrenly

lordrenly

Yes, I think if you are doing it for a startups and if you think you will have a good amount of people who go to your website in the long run, then I think getting the customized themes is the better option. I personally pay attention to websites of businesses and the ones that don't look professional can be off putting sometimes. I think custom themes are great investment for your website.

7 years ago

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iamawriter

iamawriter

I have a slightly different thought on this. I would not bother so much about the get up of my website or blog but the contents therein. A good attractive name for my blog or website will want visitor to stop by The faster a page opens the less impatient will a visitor be. And this from my own experience. When colourful images and stuff are loaded on pages they take a long time to open and then i just go past those pages and search for something that is reliable and opens fast.

Therefore I think simpler a theme better will be viewership.

7 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

Same. But it doesn't mean you don't have to put any theme at all. It doesn't matter if your theme is only the basics or the presets, as long as the contents are top notch. Do not put a lot of images or high res designs on your website or blog, not all visitors around the globe have faster internet connection.

7 years ago

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iamawriter

iamawriter

I have not said that there should be no theme at all but suggested that it should be simple. But, yes, there should be a theme but the themes that we choose should not delay opening of our pages. I am not aware of others but in my case I prefer those that are quick to open but with great information.

7 years ago

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galegatling

galegatling

Right. That seems to be a one of the problems on most of the forums or blogs/sites. But maybe they are just assuming that everyone who uses the internet has fast connections, since its 2017.

7 years ago

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Neiltarquin

Neiltarquin

Not really, I myself look intobthe content of the forum or site that I'm about to join. For me, themes are just for show.

7 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I think custom themes add your own flavor. You can see that for wordpress, most of the themes are reused too much. And they bring no new brand feeling for some sites. And that is the case where people are going to use the custom themes. So you can think of it in direction where you are building custom themes. That can add more of brand feeling as well.

7 years ago

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PedroP

PedroP

What about creating your own custom theme? I did that on my blog. Grabbed an image from Google, customized it to my liking. No fancy stuff, just some paint, and photoshop. Sure some people might recognize it but until I have money to pay for a more expensive stuff I think it's looking good.

7 years ago

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overcast

overcast

Yes you can do that too. In fact if you want to stand out as a brand, then that is recommended. You can see that there is a reason why wordpress has so many theme builders. And many are making their own site unique. You can see that with custom themes many business can establish their own identity this way. At the end you may pay for some stuff here and there anyway.

7 years ago

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PedroP

PedroP

Oh aye, once more money starts pouring in I definitely plan on investing on the appearance. Content is the key but I might hire someone to help me with that as well. The key is creating a unique experience for each visitor, one that sticks. Whenever they think back to my blog they should have the memory of good content in a beautiful display.

7 years ago

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overcast

overcast

I agree. It takes time for appearance and the content to work properly. I guess that's where the money comes in quickly. Customers just need to see both to get loyal. I guess not all the type of the customers would like custom theme. but some brand loving one I am guessing may do. You can see that some of the custom themes designers can make it really good if you prefer branding.

7 years ago

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Tronia

Tronia

I have always supported the custom, paid themes over the free ones. You want your customer to feel special while using your site and it can't be any theme that he has seen before... you can confuse them with it. If he sees ten pages using the same theme, believe me, he won't remember you at all or rate you as a ''quality'' site. I think that generally speaking, themes really aren't that expensive considering how effective they can be and how much they can improve your overall image. I'd always buy the custom themes.

7 years ago

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vinaya

vinaya

I have a half dozen websites and I am using free themes for these websites. I have never paid a dime to get a premium theme. I don't see any point in buying a theme for $40-$50 when you can find a good theme for no cost. I would prefer ti use that money for business development instead.

7 years ago

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DenisP

DenisP

I would say that it really depends on how common the theme itself is. A big factor when it comes to attracting potential users or customers on the internet comes down to uniqueness. As a lot of people will tell you, it is only logical that you need to stand out from the crowd if you want to get noticed. If you have a theme that dozens of others are using, people have practically zero incentive to assume that you are any different from your competition. On the other hand, having a unique theme that hasn't been seen before lends a sense of professionalism, that you are willing to go to distances that others commonly will not. People like seeing that, and it is what is going to attract them.

7 years ago

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arachnophobik

arachnophobik

Yes, I do think it does. I've seen a lot of websites with themes that look good, but at the same time, they look too common as a lot of other websites use them. The only con in custom themes is that if you make them yourself, it might end up looking worse, so you would need to have a pretty decent background in web design.

7 years ago

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coolavender

coolavender

I've been using free themes and am still l experimenting on which theme will best present my brand and website. Free themes have limited customization possibilities, unless you yourself know the technicalities of changing the HTML and CSS files for styling, but even that can be limited. Sure you can add your own logo, photos, and decide where you place your menu, but having your very own logo and photo is not the end all of customization. You would want to optimize your site to enable it to show ads on the best places on your blog post and to give your readers the best experience. A lot of premium themes offer more customization features and support which makes it easier for bloggers to tweak their website.

7 years ago

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Eggy216

Eggy216

I think a custom theme is important to being taken seriously, but it's certainly not the "be all, end all" of having your site taken seriously. Even if you're using a theme that is widely available in other places on the internet, having positive content that people are legitimately interested in reading will convince them to come out and take part in/enjoy your site. On the flip side, just having a good appearance isn't enough, anyway - without that kind of content nobody's going to stick around. It's important to find a proper balance, and while a custom theme helps I'd say you should go after the content first and foremost.

7 years ago

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Kharyode

Kharyode

Ranking:
The higher your website is ranked on search engines, more people will take a look at your website and most probably will also link to it.

Makes your website to have high Quality And Uniqueness and
You get assistance from Professionals.

So, selecting custom website gives a lot of advantages and perks to any business owner who are seeking to build a unique web presence. Custom website developers can skillfully tailor website for your unique business needs.

7 years ago

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cmoneyspinner

cmoneyspinner

I don't think custom themes are necessary to be taken seriously. I think customizing themes that are already popular is a good thing to do. Granted, nobody wants to look like everybody else. But getting a ready made template and then adding your own “personal touches” works just fine, if you know how to do that.

Besides … people who design templates have to make a living too! When you use their themes, it displays in the footer who designed the theme you're using. Cut 'em some slack! Send some business their way. We're all out there hustling trying to make an honest living.

7 years ago

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ajlancer

ajlancer

Hi there,
Thanks for your nice query. I should agree with you premium theme very necessary for any website. If you say as costume theme. It is really worth invest who specially tend on professional website. It is very easy to purchase custom them via online and it is also not much. As your mentioned by $40-$50 you can purchased a good looking theme from themforest or some other. I always anti free theme. There has too many limitation. If you really want to build money site, customer them must be needed for your site. On the other hand google also not much insist on free site as search ranking factor. By custom them you also able to make unique your site on internet.

Regards by Ajlancer

7 years ago

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jeiss

jeiss

It depends on individual preference the way I see it. Premium themes could be taken seriously if you're the type that likes already made stuff. Most of them already have the necessary features to make a website look professional.

The thing is, you might not find one that meet your specific needs. So what happens then? You could opt in to build a custom theme more personalized just the way you want it to appear. If you're not a web programmer you'll probably require the services of one to do you bidding.

7 years ago

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clara1993

clara1993

A website theme give the site or blog a good looking and the more professional it can be the better attractive and unique it will be and uniqueness is nessary to attract customers and make them differentiate one website to another, so I think if web hosting is offering only the same theme You should go for the hosting that offers to insert and renew your own them :-)

7 years ago

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jpyy

jpyy

No, I don't think so and comically someone wrote something similar on a forum I own. He was saying that just putting up a rinky-dink WordPress site wouldn't impress people. However, though, a lot of WordPress themes are quite impressive, or at least, they can be modified to be so.

Anyway, what really makes visitors unimpressed? Well, they might be scared by the lack of experience and also bad and/or little material on the website.

7 years ago

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Corzhens

Corzhens

For a startup of a small or personal website I guess that amount for the customized theme of the website is exorbitant. There are other elements that you have to focus on like the hosting package is it needs an upgrade of perhaps the tweaking of the colors but not the theme to look professional. I understand that for a small website the looks also matters but the budget is more important.

6 years ago

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