Yes its worth it. My blog template purchased at $2000 last years. For me its worth it coz it show the superiority of my blog if compare to other turnkey template blog.
If you don't know anything about HTML or coding sites, I would suggest getting your own custom template, but on the other hand if you do know something about how to make websites, even a little bit, I would suggest expanding your knowledge and saving yourself a couple hundred dollars.
For the Worth or Not question, if you want to it to be optimized to a greater extent, it is really worthwhile. And when you look back, you 'll find it was just a small investment but highly returnable.
If you get a REAL custom template you can have it design just the way YOU want. If you buy a pre made custom template you are usually just buying a modified template someone will change some colors and the header and call it “customâ€. That’s not worth much. It takes hours to build a real custom template from scratch by the time you are done with graphics and fixing all the browser quirks revisions etc 40-50 hours can easily be spent on a complete custom template.
If you're just starting a personal blog, you probably don't need a custom template. If you are starting a blog or site that will be used for business, you will want to be able to brand yourself. Using a custom template can help you do that. When you request a custom template from a designer, you can choose the colors, fonts, graphics, and features of the template. You can also design the menu navigation system and site map, which can actually affect your SEO and how easy people find it to navigate your site. Averyz makes a good point that it can take up to 50 hours to design one from scratch - asking $200 for 50 hours of work is not asking too much.
Custom tempates are typically exclusive, regular templates can be sold over and over - hence the reason custom templates are more expensive.