By Anubhuti Shrivastava
Introducing and maintaining a strong web presence for your business isn’t easy at all. But no need to worry as the market has several alternatives to help you out in this tricky situation. Let’s explore what’s the best way in which you can do this task as efficiently as possible.
What Options Do You Have In Your Hand?
First, you have to brainstorm what options you have to help you in creating a tailored website for your business. Either you can hire a web development agency or work on your own and build a customized digital platform by using different online tools.
But one point to be noted is that even if you take help from the professional designers in setting up your custom website, you will be needing one of the best Content Management Systems (CMS) in order to manage it.
WordPress is a well-known CMS used for building custom websites with seamless scalability and functionality. According to w3techs.com, at present, WordPress has a content management system market share of 59.4% and is used by 31.9% of all the websites. This platform facilitates the development of vibrant and well-designed websites. It does provide users with two key alternatives:
- Create tailored WordPress websites to reap the benefits of custom development.
- Build sites by using free or paid WordPress themes to leverage ready-made templates and creating web solutions swiftly.
Now the question is which one should you choose to power your business web presence? Let’s walk you through each of these platforms and decide which can be the best by evaluating their features.
Creating Custom WordPress Sites Tailored To Suit Your Specific Business Requirements
In this case, you partner with experienced web designers who create a website from scratch in accordance with your specific business needs and market scenario. Also, they do product strategic roadmapping and build samples of custom web pages identify what’s working best for your business.
They use default WordPress themes as starters to provide them with the basic code and build the rest of the site elements on the basis of the custom-fit design crafted considering your unique requirements. These basic themes are responsive and follow the best practices of WordPress development.
These websites can be easily modified in the future to add new features and are free of unnecessary lines of code. Also, custom WordPress sites are built by keeping SEO in mind so that to help your business improve its visibility and establish its name in the marketplace.
Custom WordPress websites are easier to upgrade to the latest version of the platform without making the design chaotic or losing any basic element. Twenty Seventeen is the latest WordPress default theme. Tailored websites built with WordPress are equally beneficial for SMBs as well as industry key players.
In spite of several benefits, there are a few things that should be considered on priority before choosing to build a custom WordPress website for your business. Such websites are a bit more expensive and take more time to set up. Also, in order to create these websites, you will be needing experienced designers who have a wealth of knowledge and skill of working on similar projects and accomplishing them successfully.
Leveraging Free or Paid WordPress Themes to Build Websites Quickly
In addition to multiple default themes, this platform does offer a diverse range of free and paid pre-built themes that facilitate quick development. These are ready-made solutions that work on the drag-and-drop principle.
You can use these pre-designed frameworks and easily add content to it in order to come up with a functional website. Also, these themes are blessed with numerous plug-ins from which you can pick the one which works the best with your chosen theme.
Using free or paid WordPress themes let you get started and running quickly and are the best alternative for building temporary projects, basic sites, portfolios, etc. Moreover, there is no need for hiring a professional designer as these themes have pre-built layouts which can be easily customized without much coding.
Free themes are the best option for projects with little to no budget. But they provide users with limited flexibility to customize the design as per their specific requirements. In case you are ready to invest premium themes might be the right option for providing quality, automatic theme updates, and great support. Cyberchimps is one of the most popular free themes offered by the platform in parallel with Uncode, Bridge, and The Core which are some of the best premium options.
If you don’t want to burn a hole in you pocket your should purchase the right premium theme by discussing with an experienced partner or contacting a reliable theme developer after doing your homework. Themify and StudioPress are considered as the two best premium WordPress theme shops.
Before finalizing to work with a theme shop, make sure that they give you access to their support forums so that you can get help. Also, answer the questions below so that to pick the best theme for you:
- Is there a need for a professional and sophisticated theme or a basic one is fine?
- Do you have the ability to solve all the issues on your own?
- Is it essential to have a theme with lots of features and other functions?
In a nutshell, free themes can be your true companion if you have financial constraints. But be prepared to deal with limited flexibility and support which is required for creating an influential online portal. You can use these themes if you are beginning with your family website or personal blog.
In contrast, premium themes are the best if you are into a small to midsize businesses. But remember you might end up spending a fortune and getting stuck with a solution which is overflowing with too many features. Therefore, before choosing this option make sure that the vendor has a proper return policy in place so that you will be able to return the product in case it’s not in accordance with your demands.
Both the above alternatives are good but don’t pick any of these blindly as each of these has its own merits and demerits. Therefore, it’s advisable to take help from an efficient web designer who can help you in determining the perfect fit for your business.
Anubhuti Shrivastava is a content crafter at Arkenea and Benchpoint. She is passionate about writing articles on topics related to design and the software development industry.
WordPress stock photo by BigTunaOnline/Shutterstock
