Hello.

 

Im looking for a new theme/design for my photography website.

 

What websites are recommended for purchasing word press themes?

 

Thank You.

 

 

Places like Themeforest, Cyberchimps or elegant themes.

 

If you search for WordPress themes in a search engine there are loads of sites that offer them.

Yep, Themeforest is a good place - http://themeforest.net/category/wordpress

Make sure there is provided support, the TF guys are usually brilliant.

Thanks guys.

 

Yeah, I used cyberchimps before

If you plan to use a theme as is then the suggestions above are good.

 

If you want to start writing your own code then a pre-made theme isn't the way to go. It's best to start from scratch or from a boilperplate template if this is your intentions.

I seem to keep finding myself using free themes as a starting point. I find that until I have played around with a theme for a bit, I don't know whether I like it or not and I don't want to pay to have to do that.

Here are some free ones I've had a quick play with and thought looked OK - with my comments to myself (so may not make much sense to you).

 

Hello.

 

Im looking for a new theme/design for my photography website.

 

What websites are recommended for purchasing word press themes?

 

Thank You.

 

Everyone here seems to be giving you the advice you want but none of the advice you need

 

As you are a photographer and this is a professional business for you, I can only assume that you would want a website that will actually do your business some good and promote your services in the right way, a pre made theme cannot do that, changing the theme of your current website will make zero difference to your profit, sure, it might peak for a few weeks, even a few months, but that's where it will stop.

 

A business website is a window into the business itself, it's a view of how the business is ran and what it is you do, throwing up any old 'pretty' theme is not going to achieve those goals so you would be far better off paying out a little more to have something that will do your business some good, to fill a need instead of a want.

I think it's fair to say that "theme" is not the same as "website" and getting a good looking theme is only a small part of website design.

 

For what it's worth, we've used the GeneratePress theme here: http://www.focusedphotographers.com/ with the Meta Slider plugin for the slideshow.

 

eta: Sorry if I shouldn't have linked to that - please remove if it's not allowed.

Edited January 6, 201511 yr by Jane B

I think it's fair to say that "theme" is not the same as "website" and getting a good looking theme is only a small part of website design.

Not quite 'Getting' a theme has nothing to do with website design, 'creating' a theme has, if you create something with a purpose and understand how to create something for a purpose (not just throwing stuff up because it looks nice) then it's suitable for the job in hand, simply purchasing a theme does not do that

Everyone here seems to be giving you the advice you want but none of the advice you need

 

As you are a photographer and this is a professional business for you, I can only assume that you would want a website that will actually do your business some good and promote your services in the right way, a pre made theme cannot do that, changing the theme of your current website will make zero difference to your profit, sure, it might peak for a few weeks, even a few months, but that's where it will stop.

 

A business website is a window into the business itself, it's a view of how the business is ran and what it is you do, throwing up any old 'pretty' theme is not going to achieve those goals so you would be far better off paying out a little more to have something that will do your business some good, to fill a need instead of a want.

 

This is generally true, it depends on the ability of the OPs coding & design skills. If he has a strong ability then something custom will obviously be better than a pre-made theme. However if the OP doesn't have much experience then he'd have to pay somebody to do this. Does he have the budget to pay for it?

 

A website is very important to a business but not as important as cashflow. nice website or not, you run out of cash your buisness fails. A pre-made theme could work well for somebody starting out on a tight budget. They can always pay a professional to build a more professional site when the time comes.

There are many hugely sucessful business that started out in this kind of manner.

Edited January 6, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

This is generally true, it depends on the ability of the OPs coding & design skills. If he has a strong ability then something custom will obviously be better than a pre-made theme. However if the OP doesn't have much experience then he'd have to pay somebody to do this. Does he have the budget to pay for it?

 

A website is very important to a business but not as important as cashflow. nice website or not, you run out of cash your buisness fails. A pre-made theme could work well for somebody starting out on a tight budget. They can always pay a professional to build a more professional site when the time comes.

There are many hugely sucessful business that started out in this kind of manner.

A bad website is worse than no website because of the impression it gives, if you cannot afford an F1 car, you don't go racing with a Mini but you could watch from the sidelines (social media)

 

Using social media as a tool is far better than creating a website that gives the wrong impression to your clients because it does not destroy image or reputation.

"Get" does not mean "purchase", necessarily. You could get a theme through the process of creating it, IMO. Probably I used the wrong word.

 

"[with object] Succeed in attaining, achieving, or experiencing; obtain:"

Edited January 6, 201511 yr by Jane B

There are thousands of highly sucessful busnisses with terrible websites, some thrive off this -- Ryannair being one. Your logic with regards to racing drivers doesn't make any sense, do you really think that's how they became sucessful F1 drivers? They practiced and raced in inferior vechicles as they gradually rose through the ranks, pretty much the same in business.

 

A brands reputation is built on far more than the website. The product is THE most important thing, next comes customer service. The website isn't as crucial as you are making out.

There are thousands of highly sucessful busnisses with terrible websites, some thrive off this -- Ryannair being one. Your logic with regards to racing drivers doesn't make any sense, do you really think that's how they became sucessful F1 drivers? They practiced and raced in inferior vechicles as they gradually rose through the ranks, pretty much the same in business.

 

A brands reputation is built on far more than the website. The product is THE most important thing, next comes customer service. The website isn't as crucial as you are making out.

Any graphic design is as crucial as I am making out, online or off, the overall brand or impression is the business, if that gets screwed up then people lose trust in the business closely followed by its products.

Having a website is not essential, but if you do have one it must be correct and right for your business.

 

Brand can change the opinion of a product, an example of this is the 'I heart New York' logo, the brief was to improve New York as at the time in complete disarray, that one logo completely inverted New York from a virtual lawless 'no one wants to visit' place to where it is today, if one piece of graphic design can do that imagine how fast it could destroy a business if the website was wrong.

 

Graphic design, whether online or off, whether an image, a product or a website is the most powerful coercion tool ever, it can destroy countries or raise hope, get it right and a single item could change everything, get it wrong and your hopes and dreams can crash just as quickly.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-features/8303867/Milton-Glaser-his-heart-was-in-the-right-place.html

 

As for Ryanair maybe their research found that layout to be the most profitable ( as something does not have to look pretty for it to be suitable and work) or they simply chose bad designers but I doubt that is the case because they would have changed it if it was not working for them. Design is not stuff that looks good, it's stuff that works and if in that case it's working for that business then it's good design but I bet they would never buy a pre made theme to do it bacasuse it won't bring the same results

 

If you cannot afford a good website you are better off simply using social media as a tool as that won't ruin reputation (unless you say something stupid)

 

In regards to my analogy, it's the perfect way to put it because in a race with mini's you cannot use a bike, in a race with bikes you cannot walk, in other words if you want to keep up with the competition you have to use the same or better tools, a website is a tool, would you continue using a hammer that has no handle?

Well we're not going to agree here,

 

But in the position of the original poster he is a photographer not a multinational business owner, he doesn't have a recognised brand. There's nothing that states a well chosen theme cannot be a better option for his business than a Facebook page - which as studies have shown is not very effective at all for conversion. Not all themes are terrible, many are but with a theme you can at least personalise things a bit more than a Facebook page. That in iself will help him stand out from photographers who only have a facebook page.

 

An established brand that people recognise need, as you describe a good website or risk tarnishing that image. It's far less important in this case.

 

Most photographers, especially those starting out don't have amazing websites, they simply cannot afford it. A half decent site will bring in more custom than a social media page and there are plenty of half decent themes around. Once the business has grown then a more professional custom solution can be built.

 

At the end of the day as a business owner you have to be turning over and driving paying clients to your service is the primary goal. A website without question does this better than social media. People rarely go on social media to search for a photographer. They use Google. Social media just helps - a little.

 

You'll also find the sucess of a sole trader won't be down their website it will be their service, and or product they provide. a photographer or plumbers reputation would not get tarnished from a poor website. I couldn't care less how good the website is of a photographer I am going to hire, it gives me an initial impression, but the equipment he uses, testimonials and seeing his work would have a much, much greater influence on my decision. I wouldn't simply jump to a competitor because he had a flash website.

Edited January 6, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

I'm sorry but you have no understanding of brand if you state that he has no brand, his brand is his reputation, his customers and his work, if you don't show that in the right light, that's the brand that will be destroyed, every business has a brand, whether set in purpose or not but personally I would rather control that brand than make a mistake that could cost me my business

 

Social media is more than just Facebook, as you well know there are many methods of social media, then you have social in general, networking with locals for example, this is marketing territory really but there is an overlap between marketing and graphic design.

Yes but his website is not his brand. He is the brand, so the only way that brand could be tarnished is by giving a poor service, not from a poor website. And still you're assuming that a WP theme would automatically give him a worse brand image than a FB page. Quite simply it won't - he'd have to choose a very, very bad theme to do that.

 

The only brands that get tarnished by having poor websites are where the website is the brand and the business is wholly online.

 

What about Coca Cola, probably one of the biggest brands on the planet. Do you think people would stop consuming it if the website was terrible? would it damage the brand image? Not a lot.

Edited January 6, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

A website is not a whole brand, it's a part of it, get a bad experience from the website you have a bad experience with the business, coke cola is a huge brand, if they created something bad they have been going for so long and already have years of branding behind them, one website would be noticed by the news but won't hurt their bar and because they already have that set standard with their clients and it would be pretty hard to damage that, the OP does not have the luxury of being set and being able to make mistakes that could harm the business.

 

His website is a part of his brand, everything to do with your business is part of your brand from your logo all the way to how you respond in letters or talk to people over the phone.

 

As I already said, Facebook is not the only social network, but using will not harm your brand because most businesses these days are practically expected to have a social networking presence.

Ok then explain to me why a wp theme would hurt a brand? Consider he chose one that was at least half decent.

 

Note: Im not debating a wp theme is great, it isnt. But its gonna generate more business than social media pages. And unless the theme gave a terrible user experience, i cannot see how it would be in anyway detrimental to the brand image.

Edited January 6, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

Chose a nice looking theme now.

 

Thanks guys.

 

Looks like I started some argument, sorry

Chose a nice looking theme now. Thanks guys. Looks like I started some argument, sorry

Lol not an argument, just a creative discussion

 

Ok then explain to me why a wp theme would hurt a brand? Consider he chose one that was at least half decent.Note: Im not debating a wp theme is great, it isnt. But its gonna generate more business than social media pages. And unless the theme gave a terrible user experience, i cannot see how it would be in anyway detrimental to the brand image.

What you refer to as 'half decent', you are looking at not as a designer, but as a developer, from a designers point of view it's far from being even half decent, in fact it's completely innopropriat.

 

As for generating more business than social media, that's debatable, there are many forms of social media and many ways to use them.

Lol not an argument, just a creative discussion

 

 

What you refer to as 'half decent', you are looking at not as a designer, but as a developer, from a designers point of view it's far from being even half decent, in fact it's completely innopropriat.

 

As for generating more business than social media, that's debatable, there are many forms of social media and many ways to use them.

 

I agree they are not perfect in terms of design and designing for the brand, but then neither are the social media pages. I think a theme is a step up from a social media page, at least you have more control over the appearance. And then a professionally designed and developed solution being the best but with a much higher cost.

@@Beavy as has been said this is a discussion not an argument, we are merely putting our opinions forward.

I agree they are not perfect in terms of design and designing for the brand, but then neither are the social media pages. I think a theme is a step up from a social media page, at least you have more control over the appearance. And then a professionally designed and developed solution being the best but with a much higher cost.

@@Beavy as has been said this is a discussion not an argument, we are merely putting our opinions forward.

Social media (although what you say can count towards a brand) is not about image impression as everyone knows if you are on Facebook or Twitter for example you have to use their template no matter what, although both allow limited customisation it's not something you have full control over so the judgement of whether it's suitable for your business needs boils down to what is exchanged and not impression of using social networking.

 

A step up from social media is implying that you have more control over a design, but with most who purchase these themes they have no control, sometimes even less, it's implying that whether you have control over a website by having the knowledge to control that website is how you would define that a website is suitable to fill a need? Also if that's still the case, social networking gives you content control like any other cms, that's aside from their lack of understanding of design in the first place so them choosing a theme, if they don't understand branding, need and design principles they stand no chance of choosing something suitable, graphic designers may be able to but we never would because you would never find a theme that completely fills a businesses needs as every business is different.

 

It's the old needs and wants discussion again lol

I understand what you are saying and it's a very good reason why business owners should try and get a custom designed and built website.

 

I can also get why a social page won't give any negative impression on brand, but as a small business owner turnover is even more crucial than brand, I'd take a very slight hit (if any) on my brand recognition by using a WP theme if I couldn't afford a custom solution. Why? Because a website converts better. As I've said already people don't go on social media to buy things or find services, they search on Google. I'm not saying the OP shouldn't use social media, he should use that in conjuction.

 

The website could be as simple as a point of contact and maybe a gallery of his work. The most important thing is to get paying customers, that trumps everything else so it makes no sense not to use one of the most reliable methods of finding clients (or more them finding you).

 

The faster you can make money the sooner you can afford a custom built website. You can also use the initial website to collect valuable information of your users and their interractions with Google analytics & use this data to help plan the custom build. (might not be the best information but it's still information that can still be useful)

 

In a perfect world we'd all have huge wealth so if we start a new business we can just get a better website than our competitiors, but we don't so we have to make the best of what we have available at that moment, and getting more cash is THE most important thing. no cash no business.

Edited January 7, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

I understand what you are saying and it's a very good reason why business owners should try and get a custom designed and built website.

 

I can also get why a social page won't give any negative impression on brand, but as a small business owner turnover is even more crucial than brand, I'd take a very slight hit (if any) on my brand recognition by using a WP theme if I couldn't afford a custom solution. Why? Because a website converts better. As I've said already people don't go on social media to buy things or find services, they search on Google. I'm not saying the OP shouldn't use social media, he should use that in conjuction.

 

The website could be as simple as a point of contact and maybe a gallery of his work. The most important thing is to get paying customers, that trumps everything else so it makes no sense not to use one of the most reliable methods of finding clients (or more them finding you).

 

The faster you can make money the sooner you can afford a custom built website. You can also use the initial website to collect valuable information of your users and their interractions with Google analytics & use this data to help plan the custom build. (might not be the best information but it's still information that can still be useful)

 

In a perfect world we'd all have huge wealth so if we start a new business we can just get a better website than our competitiors, but we don't so we have to make the best of what we have available at that moment, and getting more cash is THE most important thing. no cash no business.

You know what, I can't really argue with much of that, some of it, especially the social media parts I am simply not qualified to answer, I don't know enough about it to comment, think I will just leave this conversation in the grey and reserve judgement ;-)

Well. only just joined and already found this useful post, i do use themes for blogs but never known about cyberchimps, looks interesting

 

I have recently helped to set up woocommerce for someone, its totally free too, well i only installed it, they did all the set up, but its a great theme

Here is a different angle on the whole "theme or not" discussion:

 

A [quite] possible scenario - a theme is purchased and the business owner/s start modifying it. The theme looks OK and works fine to start with, they've added text replaced images, etc. Then they have a look at it, possibly their relatives, friends, etc. have a look and since they can modify the theme themselves, why not change the colour here and there, change the font to Comic Sans (OK, not Comic Sans maybe, but you get the idea), add a nice low-res photo of a kitty, because you know everyone likes kittens (OK, OK, that's too much, but illustrates my point). If the owner knows a bit of HTML and CSS or knows someone who does, it gets even better

 

Before you know it, the site turns into a monster, looks hideous and breaks or doesn't work as expected.

 

That's why I understand Fuzzy's point, in this case site like this will damage the business.

 

However rbrtsmith is also right - if it's a startup business with no budget for a proper website, and providing they don't completely mess up the theme, this could be a good cost-effective solution. In some cases.

I think that any designer who agrees with or promotes pre made themes is cutting their noses off despite their faces, please be my guest and read my dissertation, posted on here that argues both sides of some of this, not themes in general but towards business understanding of design, I posted it because I am very interested in your thoughts on both sides of the argument (it's not just a sneaky way to get feedback) http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/topic/81889-my-disintation-how-do-small-businesses-choose-their-designers/

 

Please bear in mind though that in all it will be 9000 words and all that is there is 3500 so the argument is still taking shape, it's because of that I have been so forward in some of my posts, in order to gauge real reactions through participatory research methods.

@@teodora, you can stop them messing with the theme quite easily, Just set them up with a user and restrict that user from accessing the areas you don't want them to touch, you can remove dashboard menu items for particular users from the functions file.

 

Again if budget allows you -- build them something custom. But a lot of new startups don't have the 4-5k to pay for that. We no longer take on these kinds of clients, but there is a market there for them, hence the popularity of things like Wix, and we have had clients that have grown their business successfully despite being on Wix, then we just aided them to further expand through a tailored design and build. They didn't arrive to us with a tarnished brand image, they did arrive with a decent budget - revenue generated via the Wix site. However since we launched we have massively increased their traffic and conversion %. Their approach has worked well for them.

 

There's no black and white, one solution fits all with this industry we have to take a different approach with every client depending on many factors and more often than not budget is one of the largest factors to consider. We build websites to generate clients revenue and profits, a pre-chosen theme can still do that when compared to having no website, but a custom build, if done correctly will outperform a pre-made theme.

Edited January 19, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

@@teodora, you can stop them messing with the theme quite easily, Just set them up with a user and restrict that user from accessing the areas you don't want them to touch, you can remove dashboard menu items for particular users from the functions file.

 

Again if budget allows you -- build them something custom. But a lot of new startups don't have the 4-5k to pay for that. We no longer take on these kinds of clients, but there is a market there for them, hence the popularity of things like Wix, and we have had clients that have grown their business successfully despite being on Wix, then we just aided them to further expand through a tailored design and build. They didn't arrive to us with a tarnished brand image, they did arrive with a decent budget - revenue generated via the Wix site. However since we launched we have massively increased their traffic and conversion %. Their approach has worked well for them.

 

There's no black and white, one solution fits all with this industry we have to take a different approach with every client depending on many factors and more often than not budget is one of the largest factors to consider. We build websites to generate clients revenue and profits, a pre-chosen theme can still do that when compared to having no website, but a custom build, if done correctly will outperform a pre-made theme.

Just curious, you state that more often than not budget is one of the biggest factors, how do you know? Please read my dissertation, it covers this in a fair way, part of the problem is the assumptions that we believe are true and refuse to look deeper because of that.

@@teodora, you can stop them messing with the theme quite easily, Just set them up with a user and restrict that user from accessing the areas you don't want them to touch, you can remove dashboard menu items for particular users from the functions file.

 

Yes, that's a great way of doing it, I usually provide my clients with very restricted admin

 

In my example, though, if someone get a theme and install WP, it comes with access to all areas, therefore, they can do what they like and that sometime doesn't end well

 

 

There's no black and white, one solution fits all with this industry we have to take a different approach with every client depending on many factors and more often than not budget is one of the largest factors to consider.

 

IMO, that's the thing to remember, every business is different and every project needs different approach, there isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.

 

I think that any designer who agrees with or promotes pre made themes is cutting their noses off despite their faces, please be my guest and read my dissertation, posted on here that argues both sides of some of this, not themes in general but towards business understanding of design, I posted it because I am very interested in your thoughts on both sides of the argument (it's not just a sneaky way to get feedback) http://www.webdesignerforum.co.uk/topic/81889-my-disintation-how-do-small-businesses-choose-their-designers/

 

Please bear in mind though that in all it will be 9000 words and all that is there is 3500 so the argument is still taking shape, it's because of that I have been so forward in some of my posts, in order to gauge real reactions through participatory research methods.

 

I must admit I didn't read it, just downloaded the PDF and had a glance. Looks interesting, I'll have a read tonight

Edited January 19, 201511 yr by teodora

Just curious, you state that more often than not budget is one of the biggest factors, how do you know? Please read my dissertation, it covers this in a fair way, part of the problem is the assumptions that we believe are true and refuse to look deeper because of that.

 

Based on the fact I've worked with over 60 clients in the 18 months that I've been there, every single one of them have a budget in mind and an absolute ceiling.

 

Should go without saying that companies have to budget for things, otherwise they won't be in business very long. I do agree that we often do make assumptions on things and budget can certainly be one of them, but I'd say it's safe to assume every company has a limit on what they can sensibly spend on a website.

 

I'll take a read of your work when I get a bit of free time, I am sure there will be some good points in it. Just bear in mind that while theory is great, some of your opinions may well change once you leave uni and go and work in the industry for real. I feel my learning hugely accelerated once I stopped studying and actually worked with real clients every day, and with that my perceptions changed. (Not trying to sound condescending btw )

Edited January 19, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

Based on the fact I've worked with over 60 clients in the 18 months that I've been there, every single one of them have a budget in mind and an absolute ceiling.

 

Should go without saying that companies have to budget for things, otherwise they won't be in business very long. I do agree that we often do make assumptions on things and budget can certainly be one of them, but I'd say it's safe to assume every company has a limit on what they can sensibly spend on a website.

 

I'll take a read of your work when I get a bit of free time, I am sure there will be some good points in it. Just bear in mind that while theory is great, some of your opinions may well change once you leave uni and go and work in the industry for real. I feel my learning hugely accelerated once I stopped studying and actually worked with real clients every day, and with that my perceptions changed. (Not trying to sound condescending btw )

Sorry to surprise you but I have been in the web industry for at least 12 years, I have worked for a few web firms as well as worked as a freelancer ( I am 33 after all), I wanted to learn more at uni and I learnt more than I ever thought. Any assumptions in my disertation are backed up by researched based theories, there is a bibliography at the end so you can see the same research I used.

 

The only thing I can really say is that it's not complete, I do have a lot of research to go through but one of the things I establish in there is that graphic design is misunderstood by businesses and as such if you dont understand something and don't realise what it is or what it is about would you put more money in a pot to have something done that when you don't realise it's benefits, it's not that most don't have the money, this is most of the time (not all, but most) not the deciding factor when creating a budget for graphic design and web. If they simply knew more about it and understood it better they would soon suddenly find the cash to increase their budget (something I am looking into as a theory at the moment for the second part)

Sorry to surprise you but I have been in the web industry for at least 12 years, I have worked for a few web firms as well as worked as a freelancer ( I am 33 after all), I wanted to learn more at uni and I learnt more than I ever thought. Any assumptions in my disertation are backed up by researched based theories, there is a bibliography at the end so you can see the same research I used.

 

The only thing I can really say is that it's not complete, I do have a lot of research to go through but one of the things I establish in there is that graphic design is misunderstood by businesses and as such if you dont understand something and don't realise what it is or what it is about would you put more money in a pot to have something done that when you don't realise it's benefits, it's not that most don't have the money, this is most of the time (not all, but most) not the deciding factor when creating a budget for graphic design and web. If they simply knew more about it and understood it better they would soon suddenly find the cash to increase their budget (something I am looking into as a theory at the moment for the second part)

 

That is indeed a surprise. I don't doubt that your work will be worth reading, and I do hope you put it up for us to read once it's all completed. I still stand by my statement though that budget is a large factor, I don't discount that design and branding etc are not important, but I can categorically say that they are not more important than cash. getting a good graphic profile and so forth might not be worth getting into debt for. It all depends on the circumstances and the financial health of the company. But it is always good to challenge them on their budget because you are right that many do not understand the power of branding, we should do so in a sensible manner though, all businesses have a ceiling of what they can realistically afford at any given moment.

That is indeed a surprise. I don't doubt that your work will be worth reading, and I do hope you put it up for us to read once it's all completed. I still stand by my statement though that budget is a large factor, I don't discount that design and branding etc are not important, but I can categorically say that they are not more important than cash. getting a good graphic profile and so forth might not be worth getting into debt for. It all depends on the circumstances and the financial health of the company. But it is always good to challenge them on their budget because you are right that many do not understand the power of branding, we should do so in a sensible manner though, all businesses have a ceiling of what they can realistically afford at any given moment.

That's a fair answer, I do hope my disertation will persuade you to think a little more about what my research says could be the real reasons, as although money Can be a factor, if the choice was clearer the money would be less of an issue.

In my humble opinion the quality of a website have to reflect your business model and the chosen positioning strategy for your product or brand.

I don't have the same level of knowledge of design and front end development as Fuzzy and Robert but I do know a little about marketing.

If your selling point is low cost it does not matter if your website (or other elements in your visual identity) stands out. People will buy your products anyway. If you target a niche audience with a special developed product it also might not be important to stand out because of a low level of direct competition.

If you on the other hand try to add value to your brand with Emotional or Unique selling points a unique visual identity will be crucial.

Edited January 19, 201511 yr by Nillervision

In my humble opinion the quality of a website have to reflect your business model and the chosen positioning strategy for your product or brand.

I don't have the same level of knowledge of design and front end development as Fuzzy and Robert but I do know a little about marketing.

If your selling point is low cost it does not matter if your website (or other elements in your visual identity) stands out. People will buy your products anyway. If you target a niche audience with a special developed product it also might not be important to stand out because of a low level of direct competition.

If you on the other hand try to add value to your brand with Emotional or Unique selling points a unique visual identity will be crucial.

Some good points, I would argue that in those cases if the product price is too low people might lose trust and decide not to buy simply because of this, unless the product is already established to work or be of good quality etc it would be very difficult to start a business without good feedback of that product which is where design steps in.

 

The only other way might be to crawl on your hands and knees for a couple of years to bring an unknown product to market, but if it's that cheap then unless it sells in mass it will take a long time be a business (assuming we are talking product and not service)

Some good points, I would argue that in those cases if the product price is too low people might lose trust and decide not to buy simply because of this, unless the product is already established to work or be of good quality etc it would be very difficult to start a business without good feedback of that product which is where design steps in.

 

The only other way might be to crawl on your hands and knees for a couple of years to bring an unknown product to market, but if it's that cheap then unless it sells in mass it will take a long time be a business (assuming we are talking product and not service)

I understand what you are saying but unless you really need your brand to stand out, a readymade theme will always be better than nothing. They are not all crap they are just not unique. Surely it's better to have some way to present your products and interact with your audience than none at all. You also want to be listed in Google eventhough their font does not match your visual branding ideals.

I have read studies where some companies have increased prices and as a result saw an increase in sales, directly correlates to the preception of quality, branded clothes do this very well. But I imagine at the same time the website can also add or subtract from this perception of quality. At the same time companies can also do well from being known for low pricing Ryannair, Aldi etc. It's all very interesting stuff.

Edited January 20, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith