Out of the box websites

I have always been curious on how we (nopun.com) could make websites more affordable.

I believe the desire is there, I think because prospects see that there are so many companies online it must be a piece of cake to get their business online.

However, that's not the case, through a "proper" process, a website design can range from 5-10,000 and up! Depending on the complexity.

With that said I wish there was a solution I could offer those that simply can't afford that.

I recently was given the opportunity to do a WordPress project for a client so I will now have an opportunity to get my hands dirty with WordPress, I am hoping in the back of my mind, that I can maintaing the custom branding approach with a much simpler ease of getting a site online, in order to make the cost of web development go down.

The reality may lie in that custom statement, because anything is possible clients tend to want to see every possible option, making the custom design part the most time consuming part.

As a professional graphic designer you may think I would say no way to "templates" they are bad, you need a fully branded custom website, but that isn't the case microsites that are too low on priority for custom branding deserve to look good to and using these templates in a way that can extend the overall branding of the company could prove to be beneficial...

Site themes could never replace a custom job from a dedicated design and coding team. However, I could see many situations where they make more sense. Maybe a brick-and-mortar store wants to entice local customers, or an employee wants to run a company soccer league bulletin. You can get these kinds of sites online right away with the perfect theme.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/169076/Cheap_Website_Themes_Are_Ready_OutoftheBox.html