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10 Reasons Not to Buy a Custom WordPress Theme

by Melanie Peterson
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No one denies the popularity and flexibility of WordPress!!

Its’ frequency of security updates, extensibility, ease of use amazes everyone!!

From all the best elements it attains, the availability of a large number of themes has tremendous strength. Whether you need to convert PSD design to responsive WordPress or build a new WP website, you can do this by using theme.

However, getting the custom WordPress theme is not a bad choice even!!

But, it is not just cost-effective, but not an effective solution as well. Without wasting your time thinking the same, here, we are giving you many reasons not to create a WordPress theme for your website.

Different Reasons for not Buying a Custom WordPress Theme

Not every WordPress website is built uniformly. In case, when you have no choice but to fulfill all your website requirements, you need to create it from scratch.

It is estimated that in more cases, the custom is not required. To make it more clear to you, below we are giving you the reasons, check it out!!

1. Creation Takes More Time

It is known that it takes time to code and include all the features and templates to the theme. Hence, the custom WordPress theme hits a long waiting time. This overall procedure includes several steps before commencing the coding part. Undeniably, each step can consume several days, weeks, and months, of course, it varies according to your requirements.

When you are assured about all the credentials you require then, the initial mockups and project scoping will take weeks to complete. And, in any case, you have a blurry vision of the same, then, you need to wait for three to eight weeks to achieve the things on time.

We have examined that most of the custom WordPress deployments take at least two months and a maximum of a year to complete. So, how can one wait to get the things in place for so long? Do you find it worth waiting for? Even though, in the end, the choice is all yours!!

2. Non-economical

When it is about customizing the theme, how much do you think is the approximate cost? Some thousands of dollars? No, you have the wrong idea, then!!!

While creating the WordPress theme from a scratch, you have to pay a five-figure amount (in USD). A number of the custom websites have been noticed that have a starting range of $10k upwards.

It must be known to you that WordPress themes take more than fonts and colors. These are managed in the CSS only. 

While monitoring everything in-depth, the theme has to include more items. Like, the genuine template where you will put the content has to be mapped out individually and then, created in PHP, then later, uploaded to the WordPress install. Several non-custom themes already have things in-built, however, a completely custom theme needs it all to build.

In addition, you need to pay for the development time to create the theme options you require. Now, you must have the image that if you want a fully custom WordPress theme with every essential theme, then get ready to pay at least $20K.

3. No Regular Updates

No one can overlook the significance and the problem of regular updates of the custom WordPress theme. The accessibility of these updates is not accessible as part of your initial license or purchase.

This simply implies that – 

  • You need to spend not only on the ongoing support plan but, also, on the extra hours to update the theme when the issue occurs.
  • When developers consider or extend the registration for updates, determine their own identity.
  • Mostly, it is seen that the businesses purchase the likable custom theme. The developers stick to those things for some six to seven months. The company gets bored in providing ongoing support and firing the WordPress developers. That said- you have to go through a lot of chaos and that makes everyone frustrated. 

Hence, here, we advise you to either get the new theme or interpret that the developers have done in the coding section.

4. Needs Regular Support to Control

Indeed, when it is about buying the custom WordPress theme, there is a hitch. Even, you can take assistance from the professional PHP developer to maintain the contract or the staff, but you need some experts.

It is examined that the businesses that offer the themes also need ongoing support for customization that is required on time. They may also need support, hosting, or some additional services.

Yes, ongoing support is exceptional, but it will charge you. You not only have to sign up for the several dollars as the initial cost but, also, you have to accept the ongoing fee for running the fierce things. 

5. Issues with Plugins

It is one of the influential reasons for examining latent theme developers. There is a possibility that the custom WordPress themes cannot be compatible with mainstream plugins.

Like, when you hold the new, classic, and high-quality website, and you include the plugin for SEO optimization, suddenly the CSS crashes. Then, you move it to some other SEO plugin and then, the navigation crashes.

Certainly, it can happen assuredly. Hence, when it occurs, make sure you have the best support plan and the best developer who can correct every issue.

6. Security not Assured

You are spending your money on updates and security in case of a theme license from the commercial theme developers. All of these updates are important for assuring the website security. 

Because the security issues are known, the developers start updating the code to set the errors. These errors either be minor or major.

In the case of the commercial themes, the developers are paying for updating the codes on a quick basis to fix the errors. But, when there is a custom developed theme until you are spending to check the theme code errors on a regular basis, there are more chances that these are not checked or updated.

8. Does not Coded Well

In the case of commercial themes, the report is presented on a timely basis. Those developers who have run the theme knows every bit of it and are known to theme’s code and usually, get in touch with the theme developer in case of any errors.

Besides, when it is about the custom-built theme which is used on the WordPress website solely, the one examining the theme code is you or the others who helped you out in the theme coding part. In those situations, many errors can move by cracks and affect the website by website performance, malware, or both.

7. Core Updates may Break Them

Several times, the customer complains that on sudden, many issues pop-up on the website that was a custom build. 

Many of those problems are defined below:

  • Navigation displays on the desktop twice; one in the hamburger menu and other in the dropdown menu that can be created for the mobile views itself.
  • Vanishing of pages.
  • Many images crash and do not load.
  • 404 error occurs because of the internal links even when there is a destination page.
  • Several page templates do not load the way they have to and the formatting is all around the place, like, in the colors, margins, fonts, etc.

9. Errors and Maintenance

Every single element of the website needs to be error-free and the custom theme is not an exception.  Experiencing any sort of error in the theme is not just a waste of time, but it hurts the website’s credibility as well.  

When it is about the custom theme is that it lacks in checking out the errors and maintaining itself. The disadvantage of custom themes is setting up with the new features that come with WordPress. Templates (advanced templates) enables us to have WordPress developers that fixes the bugs and maintenance issues. Hence, it is crucial to have a strong relationship with the developers to eradicate the errors. 

10. Lack of User Community

The custom theme when built does not possess the developer’s community with the knowledge of working on that theme. It implies that every time the theme needs the developer, you have to pay for their time they have to spend on looking out the theme.  

But, when it is about the commercial theme, several developers in the WordPress community know about it and can easily create customizations for the theme as they know how it is created. After some years, the saved money can be used to hire WordPress developers with the theme knowledge.

Concluding Remarks

Surely, you will like the superior custom website. However, here, our advice is to avoid the custom WordPress theme when possible. You can divide the difference between understanding what you need and saving money/time and evading hassles via continuous support.

Check out the above points and know-how not buying the custom WordPress theme is not a good choice.  

We, hope, you got our point and keep them in mind in the future. If you are still in a dilemma , then share your opinions with us in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading!!

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