Hi Greg,

Well, it all depends what kind of WordPress template you are talking about. If it’s one of the thousands of free templates that are available all over, I’d advise them of the risks involved. For one, security would be a major concern for me. Also, you never know how well the theme has been coded and how often it will be updated. After all, it was free, so the client can’t expect much from it. Ultimately you get what you pay for, so I’d never recommend a free theme in this day and age where quality and security are great concerns. I’m not saying there aren’t good free themes, but it is not so easy to evaluate them long term. Also, the client can expect that thousands of other websites will probably look the same as theirs.

However, if you’re talking about a premium theme, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. If a client likes a particular premium theme, and it’s of a decent quality and well maintained, we’ll usually purchase it for them, and then customize it to suit our needs. No point in re-inventing the wheel, especially if the client is on a tight budget. This is one of the best ways to save money and rather invest it in other important areas such as SEO, content and marketing etc.

Good quality premium themes generally won’t lack anything if you choose well, except uniqueness (there might be hundreds of other websites using the same theme), although this often wouldn’t be an issue for many clients.

I hope this helps.

Brendon

Thanks