{"id":6310,"date":"2015-07-03T08:27:58","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T08:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dental-media.co.uk\/marketing\/?p=6310"},"modified":"2015-07-03T08:30:52","modified_gmt":"2015-07-03T08:30:52","slug":"wordpress-template-fails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dental-media.co.uk\/marketing\/content-management\/wordpress-template-fails\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a WordPress template a cheap way to a good website?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The unseen risks of template web designs.<\/h2>\n

\"WordPress\"There is a growing trend in the dental web design business for suppliers to provide clients with websites based on pre-built templates. This is particularly prevalent with those companies who offer WordPress designs and who leverage on the vast array of templates which are available for \u00a350 or less.<\/p>\n

The advantages for a design company are quite apparent; firstly they can secure a professional looking site design for very little money and then sell it on with some relatively minor modifications, potentially for thousands of pounds. Secondly, there is an ever increasing source of new templates meaning that the hardest part of the process, the conceptual design, is done for them. Thirdly, there are numerous off-shore, cheap web contractors who will customise WordPress themes for relatively little money, so outsourcing is pretty straightforward.<\/p>\n

So for a web design agency who wants to push out “production line” designs with limited effort, the WordPress route is quite attractive. However, does the client actually get something which is equally slick and convenient or are there downsides to consider?<\/p>\n

Where WordPress templates go wrong….<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

The first and obvious problem is that lots of templates look very similar; indeed you can spot a template site quite easily. They tend to be rather sterile with an over-reliance on huge images and confusing page elements. Some look quite pretty but fail badly when it comes to ease of use. Technical aspects, e.g. load speed for mobile devices, often tend to be implemented poorly, despite the range of caching plugins which are available to help.<\/p>\n

We have been approached quite regularly by dentists who have a dental practice website built<\/a> on WordPress and who wish to transfer away from their existing dental designer. Unfortunately this is not always an easy transition due to problems with the WordPress site and lack of easy support and upgrade path. Almost always, this is down to the supplier choosing the easy template route for the original design but failing to make sure it’s easy to maintain and update. So what are the typical mistakes we see:<\/p>\n