Hello, I would like to get a website done that uses Wordpress as CMS and I am fairly new at this. Now I've come to realize that many options exist. I was wondering witch of the following solutions is best : 1) Buy a theme and pay someone to customize and install it to my website 2) Get a theme fully designed from scratch and install it to my website 3) Buy PSD files and get them customized and transferred to WP Now this raises other questions - Where can I find the best people to do that at a reasonable cost - we're a new business with a low budget, so we can't afford big costs. Last but not least, how viable is each of these methods? Thank you for your time guys and hope to hear from you From a newbie to the designing world
Hi Those questions fall into the "how long is a piece of string" category. Does your company already have unique branding that needs to be considered? Buying a theme off the shelf can be really good if it's a good theme from a good designer and it's really hard to know that ahead of time. Getting a custom theme can give you a substandard product for a premium price if you don't pick well. I'd avoid buying a psd and getting it made up. If the guy doing the design doesn't cut the code too then they don't get to grips with the complexities of making it work and can give you some cool design elements that don't translate into a good, responsive, website.
Hello Sarahk, Thanks for your reply, our company is actually a creative agency. So you would guide me towards a marketplace theme? If so, do you have an example of a quality theme so that I have a reference for choosing my theme. Also, what distinguishes a great theme from a ok theme. Concerning the custom made theme, how would you pick your designer - What should I be looking for? How do I spot those traits? Thanks a lot Sarahk
I've got a guy I work with based on convenience and quality but there are many good designers here and on other marketplaces. #1 be prepared to pay for quality. You'd want to be paid appropriately, so will they. Believe it or not that mentality doesn't always follow. I'd start by looking through the sites that sell premium responsive themes - they have names like themeforest and you can usually hire the designers to make further modifications - check before you buy though. If you are a creative firm then you should probably look through the themes then site down and "wireframe" what you'd like to be able to do and then revisit the themes you liked and see if they will bend to your expectations. Some will, some won't. Your need to be seen in a particular light will be different from a company that sells widgets that just needs to be able to showcase their products.
@sarahk already gave you some good advice, to further elaborate on this. Go to the marketplace and look under "creative agency" themes, read the comments, a lot of the theme developers will answer your question and even (for a small fee) get it up and running for you, ask questions before you buy, I find that themeforest has a lot of WP stuff. They're cheaply priced in my opinion, between $40-60. For now, if your budget is low then I'd buy a theme...they usually well documented and you can be up and running in no time. There's really no point in going for option 3.
You can find number of market places that sell themes and web designs. But I would suggest http://www.afilioplace.com for best quality web designs and themes at fairly low and reasonable prices. Just try it and you will be happy with what they offer.
Your best bet is to purchase a premium theme from themeforest or another theme marketplace. If you pick the right theme, it will have enough options and features to be customized for your business and needs. I would hire a designer to customize it, especially if you are new to WordPress and setting up websites. But, that is still much cheaper than hiring a designer to create a custom theme from scratch. $40-$50 for the theme and another $50 for someone to set it up or customize it real quick. Pick a theme that is close to what you want so you don't need to make a bunch of changes to it. I get a lot of clients that need help setting up their premium themes because all the settings, shortcodes and features overwhelm them - so be prepared to put in time if you haven't done this before.
Free WordPress could have impressive design as per your desire but that may lack functionality. I would suggest a custom design rather than a free template .. custom design always work work perfect you can add sections and functionalists as per your desire