Website templates, why we avoid them with our clients

Something we notice to be an industry norm is the common use of website templates.

Often in the form of WordPress templates, many developers look for off the shelf all-in-one solutions that will meet their client's needs.

We have experience with these templates, whether it may be in our own personal blogs or as a result of working to modify a clients existing pre-purchased template, we are familiar with the benefits, they offer with little to no entry.

However, we are also very familiar with the caveats of using a pre-built theme. In this blog post, we will cover a few reasons we opt to create bespoke solutions, over quick fixes.

One size fits all?

Every business we work with is unique.

Every business we work with has a different set of needs, each requiring a bespoke solution.

We understand that finding a website template online will not help our clients achieve their goals and grow their business.

This is because they often approach us with a specific set of requirements the website must meet.

Even if you do find a solution that solves the current business problems, you'll have a hard time maintaining the codebase, which brings us on to our second point.

Unfamiliar codebase

As developers, we take pride in our code.

Not only that but we are often quick to respond to clients requests, whether it's a change in font family, updated brand colours or advanced functionality implementations.

Working with an unfamiliar code base, developers can take hours, maybe even days to become somewhat familiar with the project architecture.

Even worse, most themes contain poor documentation that has been run through Google Translate, if provided at all!

Having a codebase owned by an agency,  created from the ground up allows for quick customisation and allows for quicker turnarounds on a project change.

Bloated website templates!

It should come at no shock that website templates often have a tonne of bloated code.

This may not seem like a problem to everyday content creators and business directors, but the bottom line is it hurts your marketing!

Google ranks websites with quicker load times higher than competitors.

Not only that, but aside from algorithms dictated by Google, consumers are less likely to have a pleasant customer experience with your website.

47% of Users expect a maximum of 2 seconds loading time for an average website.

As a result, sale opportunities will be dropped in favour of competitors that offer quicker products and point of contact.

Conclusion

We could rant forever about the difficult experience we've had in using templates. We're not here to dishearten those who seek affordable solutions.

The honest truth of the matter is that it's not a terrible idea to use website templates or website builders as a temporary solution for your business.

Any website is sometimes better than no website at all.

However, if you are serious about marketing your business and want to see a growth in customers, or to provide a more authoritative and trustworthy brand then we suggest hiring professionals to design a perfect solution for you and your customers.