Custom WordPress design solutions provide multiple advantages over the pre-designed WordPress templates available out there today. The customization and other capabilities created through the use of customized WordPress design really do make a difference.

A WordPress template that is pre-designed can serve as a bridge in the beginning stages. But in working with a template, the design and branding options often times become a limiting factor. As the brand begins to explore its own identity, developing a strong awareness for the type of message it wants to present, the custom WordPress solution becomes more of a necessity. It’s difficult to achieve the level of branding desired through the use of a standardized template. The template can only do so much. When a company decides ultimately on how the brand is to be represented, the custom WordPress option becomes the best option.

The template also presents a challenge for version upgrades. It is common for individuals to download a template from a site that is quite close to becoming obsolete. Because the WordPress platform continues to change and update regularly, the use of the template can present a problem for a blog. When a version of WordPress issues an upgrade, the template in use must work in harmony with the newest version of WordPress. If this does not happen, issues with the plug-ins and loading errors can occur. This could diminish the user experience, so it is best to get a customized template from a resource that can be adapted and modified as needed to perform consistently between the different types of upgrades.

Impressive templates appealing to the eye may not function well in different browsers. Because users surf the internet with a variety of different types of browsers, the template must perform consistently. In working with a template, some may find that it works with one particular browser best. In using the pre-made design, one may have to encourage the users to view the site through a particular browser. Individuals who prefer viewing certain websites through a particular browser could decide to go to a similar site without such restrictions in place. When the custom design services are used, the expert tests to make sure that the templates work across all browsers in a number of settings.

There are also plug-in considerations worth exploring. Many of the plug-ins provided through WordPress are made to work specifically with certain types of templates. Some of the plug-ins are upgraded frequently while others are not. This presents a problem for those working with templates. Because the templates aren’t maintained or tested often enough beyond the initial version, an individual may find it impossible to use the plug-ins that they want. One of the best ways to ensure that all of the preferred plug-ins are available to the user is to work with a custom designer. This means that the plug-ins selected aren’t dictated by the template itself, but rather the individual’s preference.

Advantages of working with a custom design include improved branding and functionality which become paramount to a business trying to take things to the next level. More latitude, more flexibility and more options are available to the person utilizing the custom template. The user experience is improved, and the performance is guaranteed with each subsequent upgrade.

About the Author

This is a gues post by Rodney Warner – A full time SEO & Denver WordPress Designer.

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Today I’ve received an email that made me think about this subject. Somebody asked me to confirm that a design agency that I’ve never heard of before, has done the design you see on Blogsessive. Obviously, I replied and told him that Blogsessive is a custom design done by yours truly, and any agency (with one exception) that would proud themselves with Blogsessive’s theme would be a fraud.

After hearing the price for which that agency was going to create something similar, the following thoughts started taking shape:

• Why would you proud yourself with the work of someone else?
• Why think these things would not surface?
• Why roll out a low-ball quote for something that’s worth much more, or that you cannot deliver, but still state you can.

Before getting a custom design for you blog, here are some things you should consider.

Do you really need it?

You know my view on this one. I personally like having a unique looking blog, but than again, I’m a happy case. I can do my own designs.

Those who cannot have to relay on the skills of people like me and many others. In this case, there are some things you should base your decision on:

1. Can your budget afford a custom design?
2. Will this design generate profit? (Profit can be either traffic, awareness, money…)

If your answer is ‘yes’ to both questions, than you should go ahead with the design. If you answer with ‘yes’ to the first question only, then it’s only a matter of personal choice and willingness to invest in a hobby. The choice is obviously yours.

Looking for quotes

If you’ve decided to go ahead with the design, make sure you write down all the things you need. Otherwise, the quotes you’ll receive won’t reflect the reality.

Ask around for quotes on site like Elance, Get a Freelancer or Rent a Coder or simply contact the owners of the blog’s that you like and ask them to recommend you their designer.

Choosing the designer/agency

You’ll probably receive quite a bunch of quotes. Some will be very low, some will be too high. The ones that are too high will be pretty easy to identify, but the lower ones can be pretty attractive, considering the restrictive budgets these days.

The best advice I can give you is: Don’t be fooled!

From my whole experience I can guarantee you that there’s no such thing as a bargain when it comes to a job well done.

We all know that – for example – Darren Rowse’s blog, Problogger.net is an excellent design incorporating so many custom areas, like the Job Board, custom archives, best of zone and so on.

If Darren’s blog is such a hit, then you’d probably want something similar in terms of structure and accessibility (bare in mind the design is not everything and Darren is a great blogger, theme aside). Would you expect to get such a well done job for $300, or $400, or $500? Ask a real pro and the answer will be ‘no’. But then again, there are those people quoting these amounts, claiming they can get the job done.

The good: It fits your current budget.
The bad: Lack of professionalism in communication. Delays in delivery. Lack of attention to details. Bugs, and the list can go on and on.

Some of you would probably say I’m wrong, but consider this. A really well done premium theme sells for $49 to $99. Multiply this with the total sales and see the real price of that really well done design.

Fitting the project into your budget

Forget the bargain, start the negotiation. At this point you probably don’t even need all the features that Darren (Problogger.net), or Brian (Copyblogger.com), or I have on our blogs.

Does your traffic and exposure justify a job board? Do you really need so many custom page templates?

Instead of trying to fit everything into a tight budget and probably getting low-quality works, why not fit the custom concept along with the most important features into it. Negotiate.

Let’s say your budget is indeed $500, but a good agency will ask you for $800. Instead of picking the lowest quote, rather extend the deadline. Taking pressure off the agency could result in a lower quote.
Cut down on the features. Will also reduce costs.

I assure you that you blog will grow naturally even without that job board, and when the time is right and the blogging income will allow it, add that too. Take it step by step and don’t cut on the overall quality.

Rather put a smaller budget at work to get real results and build on that, than throwing your money out the window on something that will require constant fixing and attention and in the end, a whole lot of extra money to get done.

This is not the view of a designer. This is what I’ve concluded based on previous experiences, folks coming to me to fix work they previously had done as bargains. It’s not worth it.

Free PDF eBook: Corporate Blogging Guide by Blogsessive

By popular demand, I decided to publish a short tutorial on how to add your own logo to the Simple Balance WordPress theme.

So, in order to achieve this we’ll walk through the following steps:

1. The logo image guidelines and instructions;
2. Files to update;
3. Code explanation.

The logo requirements

In order to achieve the best implementation quality of your logo, you should consider saving you logo with a transparent background. A .gif file will work well, and if you’re using a software like Adobe Photoshop to edit your images, when saving the image (File > Save for Web & Devices…), setting the Matte to white would be good. This will ensure that the margins of your transparent background logo will look good on Simple Balance’s light background color.

As you can see on the live demo, I’ve used a .gif image for logo, and basically, this is what you are about to achieve with your own blog too.

Once you’ve saved your image, upload it to the “img” folder inside the Simple Balance theme folder (wp-content/themes/simplebalance/img). From here, we’ll link to it later.

Quick tips

1. Save your logo with transparent background;
2. Save it with a white matte;
3. Keep the width below 200 pixels, as that’s the maximum space reserved for the logo;
4. Write down the size of the image (width and height), as we’ll use them later.

Adding the logo in your CSS stylesheet

Now that you have uploaded the logo on your FTP, it’s time to add it to the design. There’s only one file you’ll need to update, and that is style.css, which is located in the root folder of the theme.

Open the file with a text editor (a basic Notepad should suffice) and look for this lines of code:

.topLogo h1 a, .topLogo h2 a {
	text-decoration: none;
	color: #d90202;
}

Select the whole block and replace it with the following code:

.topLogo h1 a, .topLogo h2 a {
	text-decoration: none;
	color: #d90202;
	display: block;
	width: 156px;
	height: 42px;
	background: url(img/name-of-your-logo-file.gif) no-repeat;
	text-indent: -9999px;
}

Be careful

… and don’t forget to replace the values in this new block of code with the real values of your image, as follows:

width: 156px;

The ’156′ value should be the actual width of your image. ’156′ is only a width I used as an example. Do not delete the ‘px’ text as it defines our measuring unit.

height: 42px;

The ’42′ value should be the actual height of your image. ’42′ is only a width I used as an example. Again, be careful with the ‘px’.

background: url(img/name-of-your-logo-file.gif) no-repeat;

Replace ‘name-of-your-logo-file.gif’ with the actual name of your logo file.

The ‘display’ and ‘text-indent’ properties are meant to ensure the correct display of your logo, so you should not worry about those, but keep them. They are important.

Once you finish the editing, save the file and reupload it to your server. Et voila, the logo should be there the next time you check you blog.

A good idea…

…would be to go to the Simple Balance Control Panel (WP administration > Design > Simple Balance 2.1/2.0 CP) and uncheck the box that displays the blog description. Of course, only if you think it affect the design, or the new logo in a bad way.

If you have any questions, i’ll be happy to answer in the comments section of this post.

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