A lot of users out there did not understand the difference between customizing an existing WordPress theme and building a custom WordPress theme.

It is actually not that hard to understand but the question is why should anybody care?

If you are someone who is looking forward to owning a WordPress website, you need to know the differences.

Anyone that will tell you that there is not much difference between a custom WordPress theme and theme customization is definitely lying to you.

There are plenty of web development companies out there, who would make you believe that these two are the same, in the name of custom WordPress development.

What is even worse is, they are a chance they are trying to rip you off.

So there is a need to know “what exactly is a WordPress theme design and theme customizations first”.

What is a WordPress theme customization?

A custom WordPress theme design is nothing but getting an already existing theme customized by the designer, of course, according to your requirements and suggestions.

It’s like buying a new Harley but customizing it and making it look according to your taste and use. You change the tires, add some chrome, change the leather and handlebars, and may custom wheels.

In addition, how much does one cost? Well not as much as designing a theme, which we will be talking about next.

What is a custom WordPress theme designing?

WordPress theme designing is something a little complicated than the previous version.

In the earlier, a theme is customized, but a custom WordPress theme designing is creating a new theme itself for WordPress. Hope that wasn’t much complicated.

This means starting from the scratch and not from the shelves of WordPress.

This process could be intimidating than the other but it surely has its pros competitively.

Moreover, yes, the process is longer than theme customization and it costs you a bomb at the same time.

What about the results though?

We will get to that later.

First, let us do a quick comparison

Custom WordPress theme vs theme customization

We already know the difference, but there is one key difference between the customization of an existing WordPress theme and the creation of a custom WordPress theme design.

And the answer is…Drum roll…it’s the Graphic designer.

How is that?

Well a graphic designer is someone who is trained and gains experience at an institution or by years of work experience.

But a professional graphic designer knows colors and fonts are much more than pieces of theme code. He/she would see color schemes and typography as a part of a brand identity and much more than code within the WordPress theme.

However, a graphic designer is brought into the scene; he/she will start with a blank paper and not form the wide range of WordPress theme collection. A graphic designer will work with the clients to understand their company, product or service offering, target market strategies, marketing goals and objectives and a whole lot more.

A graphic designer will make sure you would get a website, which was never created and shares no similarities with any other website on the internet and matching your needs and requirements.

This whole process can be referred to as a custom WordPress Theme design because a graphic designer creates a WordPress theme, which never existed for you.

Let’s skip to the other side which we are learning today, the process by which a professional customize an already existing WordPress theme.

Well, there is a ton of individuals out there who could do this in the WordPress platform; there isn’t an exact role for this job, which is why they are termed as individuals.

Let’s just refer to them as a customizer and not a designer, will help you modify a WordPress theme to meet your expectations according to your specifications. Yes, you need to provide the inputs on how your website should look and the customizer will work accordingly.

So this is how it works, you pick a WordPress theme and create a list of things which you need specifically let’s call them tasks. And the tasks would include things like changing the color scheme, modifying the fonts, resizing the content area and styling a plugin to match the theme.

And this my friend is what we call it as theme customization, you don’t really need a graphic designer to get this job done, because the company you would be approaching has the basic design in hand before you even went to them. Which simply requires some fiddling around.

But hey it isn’t as easy as I made it sound, you need a professional to get this job done too, and the demand is a lot higher than the theme design because it’s much affordable.

What if you are a Small Business or a Startup looking to update your Website Design?

Let’s just assume you’re a small time vendor who has been using WordPress for a while now, and your theme has outgrown the free version with which you’ve started off and it’s time for you to upgrade or update your website to give it a better look and functionality with the growth you have achieved.

On the other hand, you have a new logo and you feel you need to update it, and it looks odd on the current color scheme and fonts, which means you, need to match the fonts and the colors of your WordPress theme to match your branding. Alternatively, you just want a completely new layout, to go with the changes you’ve made to the fonts and colors.

Ask Yourself!

• Does your business need something unique? If the answer to this is yes, then you should definitely need a custom WordPress design. But if your answer is No then you should simply pick one of the readily available WordPress designs out there.
• Does your business need to highlight Call to Action and direct website visitors to take action? If the answer is yes to this, you should definitely consider a custom theme design. Why we are suggesting this? Because you need a professional, help in designing a website that has the capability to guide your visitors through the right flow and into the action you need them to take. This is a targeting design that is specific to your call to actions and this is very difficult with an off the shelf theme.
• Did you come across an existing theme, which fits your needs? If you have very little requirements and just need to pick the phone up and call you, then purchasing a stock theme might just do. This really works if you own a small restraint, or a store or a tiny brick and mortar stores.

Let’s get to the Pros and Cons of WordPress theme designs and theme customizations.

Pros

WordPress Theme Designs

There are two main pros to a WordPress theme design. The first is that you will be the only person or the company in the world or web to sport that theme, sounds cool eh!

With millions upon millions of blogs running WordPress, any theme customization is bound to be used by not just a few others but a lot of them.

Therefore, if you are choosing theme designing you have a big advantage in terms of setting yourself apart from the competition.

The other big Pro of a WordPress theme design is custom functionality. With a WordPress theme design, you can have your developers come up with all of the custom elements you’ll need to succeed in your specific niche.

Theme Customization

Theme customization also has two main Pros, which will impress you.

The first is its affordability. While some themes may be more expensive than others may, they typically stay under $100. There is no custom option available for those kinds of prices. So if you can find a WordPress theme that does not need a lot of modification and meets all your needs, you will save a lot of money.

Cons

WordPress theme designing

Quite obviously, the biggest con for someone who is considering a custom WordPress theme is the bills, which they would end up with by the end of the project.

As already mentioned, it’s not anywhere near $1000 but four times that or more. So depending on your size and budget, this could be an immediate deal breaker for many others.

With that said, it is important to invest in your online presence. Nowadays it can be a make it or break it kind of a deal for you.

The only other thing which I would suggest you look into before confirming, that you would go for WordPress theme designing is whether or not future updates, bugs, etc. are going to be addressed by the developer.

If the web development company does not agree to this, then you need to find another developer or online WordPress maintenance service that can jump into action after the project is delivered.

Conclusion

Look choosing one among WordPress theme designs and theme customizations is surely an intimidating experience, but if you could narrow down your requirements by asking yourself the questions mentioned above you can surely conclude, which is most suitable for you.

If you ask, both are a great option but getting the right website, which could achieve your goals, is important. Work on your goals first and then approach developers related to one of these options.

Author Bio: Mohit Maheshwari is Chief Strategist at NMG Technologies, a full service IT Company offering Web Development, Designing and Mobile App Development Services. He has been in the industry since 2000 and focuses on long-term strategies, intuitive user experience, and successful customer acquisition.