Custom Theme Development or Page Builders? An important question that any brand must consider before creating a new website. Page builders like Elementor and Divi would appear more convenient on the surface, but ultimately limit the potential of your digital presence.
Your brand’s website will most likely utilise the WordPress content management system (CMS). This is what uploads your content to a server. However, WordPress begins as a blank canvas that needs to be built out with a theme, for design and functionality purposes.
You can customise your theme manually, using web coding, or make use of page builder tools that perform this job for you. Below, we discuss both in greater detail.
Page Builders
You may have heard before of tools like Elementor and Divi. These are the most popular WordPress page builders, powering millions of websites worldwide.
Page builders are visual, drag-and-drop style page builders that allow users to create workable websites without needing to know any backend code.
Page Builders for WordPress websites are very useful for those who want to create a website and have no previous knowledge of coding.
However, there are downsides to page builders in that they are known to add unnecessary weight or bloat, slow down a website’s speed, negatively impact search engine optimisation (SEO), and may even leave behind a mess of codes that need cleaning up, should you choose to change your page builder.
While there are some key advantages with using page builders, such as an initial lower purchasing cost, ease of use for beginners, and quickness of the drag and drop process, here are some of the main disadvantages associated with page builders:
Drawbacks of Page Builders
Function Limitations
While some sites designed by these page builders can be visually appealing, it is sometimes hard to add different sorts of content. This can present varying issues such as time pressure, which may negatively impact your business and website.
SEO Implications
Page builders are not always careful when it comes to their code. Their themes allow you to pick and choose from a wide variety of options, however, even inactive page builder code bloats your site which slows down your page speed – a key factor of SEO that determines your brand’s overall search rankings.
WordPress Plugin Compatibility
Post and page templates are built using models. Content is locked within those models, which makes it hard for popular plugins such as RankMath or Yoast to analyze.
If you decide to construct your website using a visual composer, make sure to understand which plugins work and where more configuration is needed.
Custom Theme Development
Custom Theme Development is a great option if you are looking for a new design for your current website, or even if you are building a completely new website
Nowadays, it’s simply not enough to just have a website. Your digital assets must meet the design and functionality demands of the modern-day consumer and add value, delivering a positive user experience (UX) in order to keep them engaged. According to HubSpot, 39% of website users will leave your website if the design is considered unattractive.
With this in mind, here are the reasons why Custom Theme Development is the best option:
Benefits of Custom Theme Development
Full Customisation
By using custom modules and directly editing the code of the site, a WordPress developer will be able to unlock the full potential of WordPress. The backend can then be customised to integrate plugins with existing business systems and resources such as inventory management systems, CRM’s, call centres, social media management, and many more.
Greater Speed & Loading Times
A custom WordPress design will more than likely have better speed and performance because only the exact functionality that’s needed is included. This streamlined process reduces the number of plugins needed to operate a website. A premium theme builder usually seeks to appeal to a broad range of potential users, which can, as a result, bloat your website with unnecessary features.
Unique Design for Branding
If you are looking for more premium design elements that will closely match your brand’s standards, a custom WordPress theme is much better suited to you. This is particularly relevant when developing the look of a website around current graphics and existing content. Overlapping elements featured media and subtle animations are just some of the modern elements that are more easily applied with custom theme development.
Design for Business Needs
Conversion rate optimisation is one of the primary elements of web design. However, these are very difficult to achieve through page builders. Conversions are unique to each business, and through Custom Theme Development your web developer can focus on improving these rates, along with user experience targeted at a specific audience
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
The greater flexibility of Custom Theme Development brings with it a wealth of SEO benefits. Custom themes do not have any excess source code (that negatively affects page speed) and will be leaner as a whole. The ability to use headings (like H1, H2, etc. tags) and lower dependence on plugins makes it so that your website will perform better on search engines.
Higher Security
One of the biggest drawbacks to blanket technologies like page builders is that they often have blanket flaws. However, custom theme development with WordPress does not have the standard limitations. They are designed with high security and improved performance in mind. If there is a problem with a Custom template, it is an easy fix to prevent it from affecting user experience (UX) or website performance.
Scalability
Unnecessary code and features are the enemies of scalability. Custom theme development of a WordPress site will scale better because it comes with the exact resources you need. If your WordPress website is easier to manage, it will ultimately scale better. Additional scalability options include more plugins, fewer features, and limited support.
We hope that our insights have proven useful as to the reasons for using Custom Theme Development in WordPress over the likes of Page Builders.
Why not read some more of our insights here, or view our project portfolio here.
Do you need help with your website? Contact us today to get your project started.