When designing a business website, it can be tempting to purchase and download a preset WordPress template or theme from stores such as Themeforest. After all, the demos often look excellent, and you can have the bare bones of your website up and running within a matter of minutes.

However, there are several drawbacks associated with preset templates and themes, making them a bad idea for a company asset as important as your business website.

So what makes them so inadequate as an option for your business website design?

WordPress Template Themes Often Contain Bloatware

Perhaps the biggest issue surrounding these template WordPress themes is that they come with an enormous amount of bloatware – especially if they are free to download.

If you’re unfamiliar, bloatware refers to software and code that you don’t need or want. It’s usually a result of partnerships between vendors and theme developers, who reach agreements to pre-install specific software within themes in exchange for a fee.

The issue with bloatware is that it will slow down your website – quite dramatically in some cases. Given that website loading speeds are now an important SEO factor, the last thing you want is a bloated template dragging your PageSpeed scores down.

Generic WordPress Themes Often Come with Hidden Costs

Another issue with WordPress themes and website templates is that hidden costs are not displayed at the time of purchase. The biggest costs are usually tied to support, leaving you helpless if you need to change or customise something on your theme to better suit your business requirements.

If you do want ongoing support, you often have to pay a considerable monthly fee, even if you only need to email them a couple of times a year regarding issues on your site. Contrast this with bespoke website design, which is tailored to your specific needs and will come with full support included in the price when setting your site up and transparent fees for ongoing website maintenance packages.

You’re Tied to the Developer Who Created the WordPress Theme

To maintain website security and compatibility with WordPress and individual plugin updates, you’ll need to regularly update your theme to remain in line with current best practices and requirements.

However, you’re entirely dependent on the theme developer to continue releasing these patches and compatibility updates. In other words, if your theme developer goes AWOL, you will be left with a website stuck using old software and code that will become increasingly incompatible and insecure.

Not only will your business website be a sitting duck for hackers and cybercriminals, but all that hard work put into perfecting your theme and website content will be effectively lost as you’re left with no option but to start again with a new WordPress site.

You’ll Have a Website That’s Looks the Same as So Many Other Businesses

Perhaps the most significant issue with themes and website templates is that they are in use on thousands of websites simultaneously. In many instances, dozens of competitors literally use variations of the same theme.

However, irrespective of your specific sector, you have to make your online presence stand out to stand a chance of winning customers online. If your website looks the same as 99% of other businesses in your industry, that’s not something you’re going to be able to achieve.

Generic template themes and designs leave customers underwhelmed, often confused (unable to tell companies apart), and thus hurt conversion rates (the percentage of website visitors who become paying customers).

When designing and building your business website, you need to be confident that you’re making the best decision for your specific needs. In most cases, that means steering clear of ready-made templates and focusing on tailormade web design instead.

Speak to McGinn & Dolphin Regarding Your WordPress Website Today

At McGinn & Dolphin, we build all of our client websites from the ground up. We offer a guarantee that no template or themes are used as part of our bespoke website design services.

As you can see from our website portfolio, our focus is on delivering unique and effective website designs that will help your business to stand out from the competition.

If you’re interested in learning more about our website and WordPress services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch or book a discovery call. We would be more than happy to discuss your specific needs and see how we can help you create an online presence that really works for your business.