So do any of you guys say these are templates or lead them to believe they are custom websites? How do you state it in the contract/proposal?
With thousands of really great quality templates out there, it almost seems like a waste of time to do 100% custom designs for low paying clients (under $3k).
They are a custom website. You will be customizing the website for them. I do not agree that of you charge someone for a custom DESIGNED website that you pass a template or theme off as one. But any time you take something and customize the content, it is a custom website.
When you buy a custom home, you can buy one of the model homes they have, and have it customized to fit you needs, or they can bring in a architect to provide you with a custom DESIGN, and you can pay to build that. Guess which is cheaper.
Remember that in the real world there are designers, developers, and coders.
The designer designs the site for the client, the developer develops the features and the coder builds the thing.
I usually just work in the conversation that I have a number of proven formats that I use for small businesses. This limits the amount they can customize the website, but avoids bringing n a designer (and the associated costs). I offer to provide a designer if I cannot find a format they like that is good for SEO, at their expense, and invite them to check with other designers for their rates, as I am happy to work with any designer they choose.
It only takes one quote or phone call to a designer for them to see the value in a template or theme.
I point out that for most small businesses, an effective online presence is more important than a visually stunning website. The prettiest website you can build with award winning content will lose out to a more properly optimized website every time. It may not convert, but it will rank.
Needless to say you must adjust depending on what they do. A dentist does not need a work of art for a home page, a photographer does.
I, for one, avoid WP like the plague, with the exception of an attached blog. I build them if someone insists, but only after the fight.
Wordpress is a time consuming nightmare, and it gets worse as time goes on. It must be maintained, and if someone whose theme you re using does not update it, your customer is screwed. A misbehaving plugin or theme, or an un-updated installation can cause the whole site simply to display blank pages, and unless you check the site every day, you will not even know until you see the traffic and conversions fall off..
Add the general problems that come with WP, heavy serve resources, hackability and security issues, no real freedom in the design, the SEO nightmare it can cause, it is just a poor choice for a business website, unless you need a blog.
WP is a blogging platform, it has this one capability built into its core. Adding functionality to it with plugins is simply forcing it to do something that it was not desogned to do, and every plugin can have its own problems.
I have one idiot that insists on leaving comments turned on so his customers can communicate with him. He gets spammed to hell and back, and for some reason peiople use the comment box that he never checks when they want to contact him instead of going to the form. I quit doing his SEO over this, and I bet he has thousands of comments waiting moderation, along with a dozen missed customers, because he hasn't a clue what they are or how or what to do about it.
I honestly do not see why you would burden a customer you want to keep with such a beast unless they actually need it, nor why you would build systems that needs that much maintenance if you are the one who is going to have to do it the maintenance with an SEO contract.
There is one thing that has not been addressed here.
Give your customer what they need. Some businesses need a custom designed website to fit their business model. Some businesses need an online billboard to list hours and services.
If you customer needs an e-commerce site and you build it in WP,you have not delivered your customer what they need, you have delivered them the best you can come up with, which is a poor substitute.
I turn down or refer out the work rather than do that.
