Free Magento Theme or Custom Magento Web Design: What Is It that Your Business Needs?
You are planning your ecommerce website redesign and you type Magento website design in your search engine. What appears next on your screen is a string of links that direct you to absolutely free yet classic Magento themes.
It’s only natural for our jaws to drop when we see beautiful things tagged with the label “FREE”. And when it comes to free and elegant Magento templates and themes available on the web, you just can’t help but have one of them represent your Magento business online. However, this is not always the case.
What if you bump into a Magento theme that is classic but doesn’t seem to suit your brand or business style? How do you go about choosing a Magento template when you know you have specific needs and customisations to adhere to? The dilemma of choosing between a fine looking free Magento theme and a sophisticated custom design is what ecommerce business owners often get into when deciding on the right look of their online store.
Amidst many decisions that an online business owner has to take, the appearance of their ecommerce website has an indispensable role to play. How your website appears and feels to your visitors and potential customers undeniably forms their first impression, which in turn shapes their buying decision. So, it becomes important to choose the most suitable design for your store, the one that can influence the look and feel of your ecommerce store.
Now, the question is how does one go about deciding if it’s custom design or website template that will work well for their ecommerce? With an extensive miscellany of free, intriguing Magento themes online, it’s hard and challenging for ecommerce owners to turn their eyes away and look around for custom design options around. Well, you don’t necessarily have to avoid design templates as they are less professional or choose custom ones as they come with professional support. Both Magento themes and custom web designs have their own benefits and the downside that should be considered to have the right Magento solution in hand.
So, without further ado, let’s take a glance at some pros and cons of both custom design and free Magento Theme.
Why Free Magento Themes?
The word “Free” itself makes one point quite obvious here that is you don’t have to invest money at all. It’s good, especially for small businesses and ecommerce start-ups, to go for readymade themes that are fine looking and work perfectly online. Ecommerce businesses have big investments to make when starting up and getting a free Magento theme for their start-up that not only looks fine but works well is an extreme help.
Another benefit with themes or templates is you simply eliminate the significant web design and development time and stress that tailoring the design to your brand takes. As it’s a ready-made theme you pick up from the web and download, you don’t need to wait for the design to get finished and use it.
So, a Magento template isn’t a bad idea if you want to go for something fine yet cheap, actually free, at the same time and wish to go online with your ecommerce business instantly.
Sound too good for your business? Before you jump to a conclusion, here’s the downside of it.
Why Say “NO” to Magento Themes?
A visitor or customer can easily spot if you’re using a free theme, which may make your business questionable to the visitor instantly. Magento themes that are available for free online are often believed to be unprofessional. And, this unprofessionalism gives rise to a number of questions in your visitors’ mind that affect your business’s credibility and accountability.
- Should I really purchase from this company?
- Would it be safe to make credit card payment on this website?
- Is there a genuine company behind this online website?
- Should I trust them with my personal or debit card details?
Online Buyers look for ecommerce stores that look professional and can be relied on for small to big purchases. Any business that cannot invest in tailoring a web design to suit their brand and reflect its style and identity can give a bad impression of uncertainty and unprofessionalism to its visitors.
Another snag along the road is the professional Magento support that goes missing when you pick a free theme. There is no professional(s) involved; you select a theme, download it and use it to represent and operate your business online. Now, it’s when things go wrong online and errors starting showing up in your Magento theme that you realise you have no one to turn to.
In addition, there are constant upgrades and new features from Magento ecommerce that many templates or themes might not keep up with, thus losing opportunities to improve your customers’ experience.
Also, some themes or templates are designed and developed keeping conversion rates in mind and their optimisation completely depends on their specific target audience. A theme that gives one business outstanding conversion rates might not be good enough for another.
With all these pitfalls associated with using a Magento theme, you would want to certainly look for a custom design for your business.
A Custom Design Goes a Long Way…
It goes without saying, a custom Magento design is a go-to option for most ecommerce owners and works wonders for almost any online store or brand. Here’s how a custom design can be a far far better choice than a free theme.
- There are countless ecommerce stores growing the online competition and making it difficult for each other to survive and buyers to decide whom they want to purchase from. In such a competitive ecommerce world, it is crucial for a business to stand out. Having a Magento design customised to fit your brand and reflect its style would help you have a unique identity and help your prospects and customers identify you among the crowds.
- Going for a custom design for your ecommerce website would let you have complete control over not just your design but your Magento website’s functionality. You can have the design tailored to look and function exactly how you want.
- Since you hire a professional or team to develop your brand a custom design, you get both customer and technical support throughout your project and even after its completion. From keeping the e-commerce website up with new Magento features rolling out every now and then to fixing potential bugs to dealing with specific modifications, you’re are assured that constant support and professional help is available whenever required.
Cons of Having a Custom Magento Design
Still looking for it? All the aforementioned points clearly explain how advantageous and constructive it could be for a business to get a custom Magento design for its online representation rather than picking up a free theme.
However, for businesses with a tight budget or start-ups, the only reason to not go for a custom design could be high costs that come with hiring an experienced firm or Magneto professionals for web design and development. Also, maintaining a custom website would require you to put in some extra bucks that might not suit many businesses.
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Wrapping Up,
While it is justified that a custom design will go a long way to keep your business up and running smoothly, it is necessary that you only invest in a professional yet experienced firm or specialist to get your development successfully done.
Hiring a firm for it cheap prices might land you and your business in serious trouble. So, before your find a Magento partner for your development needs, consider doing extensive research and choose only the most reliable one for your ecommerce business.
Free Magento Theme or Custom Magento Web Design: What Is It that Your Business Needs?,