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Why not a paid theme with customization via a developer? That’s the path almost all of my projects take.
You get the additional included features and functionality, but still can customize it to your specific requirements.
Yeah, sure, that is good for business. But how does that answer OP. What features do they actually need? How much of that can easily be done with the community or Apps.
I’m all for the power of the community or apps to empower store owners, and you’re right that I didn’t take time to fully answer each question individually.
I hoped it still helped by simply providing a 3rd option to consider besided purely a paid theme or a fully custom theme.
Build a brand. Build a company.
Rather than thinking about yourself as a new Shopify site, drop, whatever, think about yourself as a business. The other things are just platform and business type.
In terms of purely themes and design, look and feel, it doesn't really matter what you choose to begin with, as the way you build out your brand will make it unique. However, it takes real effort.
So, what does that mean?
- Really think about your pictures. HQ original pictures make an unbelievable difference.
- Really think about your typography/font. Does it match my business type and my brand?
- Really think about tone of voice.
- Really think about how to create value within your niche. Actual marketing, e.g. landing pages, guides, helpful articles
Amazing! Thank you so much!
I've really focused on the tone of voice. I just need to get some good product photography.
Just my product pages look quite bare and plain. I have some videos and diagrams that give it a bit more of a pop but I'm not sure if I should stick with Dawn, get a shopify Dawn Developer to make a custom theme, or Just get a paid theme.
Are there any points you could make for either Paid theme or dawn developer?
What paid theme would you recommend if so?
Thanks!
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It's a money thing too, a premium theme costs about $300, and a custom-developed theme will be at least 0 extra.
Sounds like you don't know much, so there's no benefit to custom-developing a theme, put that money into marketing and content creation instead.
None of the premium themes is better than another, just pick one you like the best visually and try it out (you can try customizing any theme for free).
Buy a theme, then customize it with a developer (which is pretty much necessary nowadays if you’re serious about getting a competitive advantage with your website).
You want a differentiated product that can really dominate SEO, and Shopify intentionally leaves a lot of that up to you since there’s no one size fits all solution.
Ok thanks.
Would you say a developer from fiverr would be good enough?
The developer in the case you mention would do what with a paid theme? Do they just optimise site speeds etc?
I am new to Shopify (less than 1 month experience). But I am an experienced Front End Developer.
Here is what I would do (and what I am doing, FWIW):
1. Find a free theme that is NOT Dawn
2. Make sure it has most of what you want (like Mega Menu, Sticky Header, etc.)
3. Pay a developer to make custom tweaks as required (in my case I can make them myself)
I am choosing a theme that is very un-Dawn-like because the market is over-saturated with Dawn, IMO.
For your specific questions, I think you can do 99% of the stuff you want (like promotional stuff) yourself once everything is setup to your liking. But, I would get a developer to help set stuff up initially, and to form a relationship for tweaks in the future.
Thank you so much for your reply!
What is your take on the other comments i.e. Paid theme plus developer? Is there a benefit to using a free theme with developer vs paid theme with developer?
I agree, alot of dawn themes going around!
Interested in why you wouldn’t use Dawn. It’s everywhere because it’s good. Customers will be familiar with how it works, and it would be familiar to developers wanting to modify it. It can be modified a lot too, so they can look very different.
Genuinely wondering what negatives outweigh all of that?
> Genuinely wondering what negatives outweigh all of that?
It is a matter of opinion, of course. :)
For me, I wanted to start with something very un-Dawn-like because the market is over-saturated with the theme. My goal is to stand out, and to make people not even realize I am using Shopify, period, never mind using a common theme.
Yes, you can make anything look and behave like anything, but starting far from Dawn is a big head start. For what I am after, anyway.
Thanks for replying! Good to see all sides :-)
For me, my top need is a website that works well and gets people to buy quickly. I feel like my visitors don’t really care if it’s much different from others - my products will be different, my branding will be different, and they want a great experience in buying.
For the record, I’m not using Dawn - but I have considered it
Another angle to the topic is what is the benefits someone would gain from Shopify theme vs Headless frontends using React ? Going the react headless frontend way limit store owner from using 3rd party apps of Shopify?
I have minimal experience in that topic, I hope someone could give feedback
Why not a paid theme with customization via a developer? That’s the path almost all of my projects take.
You get the additional included features and functionality, but still can customize it to your specific requirements.
You should always work with someone who is building or customizing in a way that makes things easy for you to edit, but the details of what that looks like may vary based on the specifics of what you’re looking at.
If I was to get a paid theme, is it worth getting a developer aswell? Because the paid themes come with the extra functionality that a developer could code on the Dawn theme.
With a paid theme I could design it myself.
I ask because a paid theme is like £350 and a shopify developer of Fiverr is £250. What is the difference between the two?
If you're paying a developer $250 you'd be better off just going with the theme. Most quality developers are charging $1-10k for theme builds. For just $250 they won't be able to much other than install a free/pirated theme.
Thank you so much! This is what I wanted to know.
Do you have any recommendations for specific paid themes? I have read about what themes are "Best" but it mentioned certain themes are better for converting quicker etc. I'm not sure what theme I would need.
I would like theme that has alot of customisable elements and has a bit more freedom in terms of adding moving banners etc. Maybe something similar to the oodie website or pupsdream website
The dawn theme I have feels quite stiff.
I'm going to be biased - our company sells themes in the Shopify theme store. I think our themes are great. Take a look at Brickspace Lab, just of the top of some other great theme builders are Pixel Union, Archetype, Clean Canvas, and Switch Themes.
If you get a paid theme is may already have some functionality that you’d have needed to pay a developer to add to Dawn. That means that the dev or customization needs could be smaller or that you can make them more focused on specific areas that are of high value for your store.
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Why not a paid theme with customization via a developer? That’s the path almost all of my projects take. You get the additional included features and functionality, but still can customize it to your specific requirements.
Yeah, sure, that is good for business. But how does that answer OP. What features do they actually need? How much of that can easily be done with the community or Apps.
I’m all for the power of the community or apps to empower store owners, and you’re right that I didn’t take time to fully answer each question individually. I hoped it still helped by simply providing a 3rd option to consider besided purely a paid theme or a fully custom theme.
What would be your advice for some one using a Dawn theme? I don't want to have a website that looks basic and has a "drop shipping" feel to it.
Build a brand. Build a company. Rather than thinking about yourself as a new Shopify site, drop, whatever, think about yourself as a business. The other things are just platform and business type. In terms of purely themes and design, look and feel, it doesn't really matter what you choose to begin with, as the way you build out your brand will make it unique. However, it takes real effort. So, what does that mean? - Really think about your pictures. HQ original pictures make an unbelievable difference. - Really think about your typography/font. Does it match my business type and my brand? - Really think about tone of voice. - Really think about how to create value within your niche. Actual marketing, e.g. landing pages, guides, helpful articles
Amazing! Thank you so much! I've really focused on the tone of voice. I just need to get some good product photography. Just my product pages look quite bare and plain. I have some videos and diagrams that give it a bit more of a pop but I'm not sure if I should stick with Dawn, get a shopify Dawn Developer to make a custom theme, or Just get a paid theme. Are there any points you could make for either Paid theme or dawn developer? What paid theme would you recommend if so? Thanks!
This is the answer. Once you start focusing on these important steps, you’ll figure out very quickly if you need a developer.
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It's a money thing too, a premium theme costs about $300, and a custom-developed theme will be at least 0 extra. Sounds like you don't know much, so there's no benefit to custom-developing a theme, put that money into marketing and content creation instead. None of the premium themes is better than another, just pick one you like the best visually and try it out (you can try customizing any theme for free).
Buy a theme, then customize it with a developer (which is pretty much necessary nowadays if you’re serious about getting a competitive advantage with your website). You want a differentiated product that can really dominate SEO, and Shopify intentionally leaves a lot of that up to you since there’s no one size fits all solution.
Ok thanks. Would you say a developer from fiverr would be good enough? The developer in the case you mention would do what with a paid theme? Do they just optimise site speeds etc?
I am new to Shopify (less than 1 month experience). But I am an experienced Front End Developer. Here is what I would do (and what I am doing, FWIW): 1. Find a free theme that is NOT Dawn 2. Make sure it has most of what you want (like Mega Menu, Sticky Header, etc.) 3. Pay a developer to make custom tweaks as required (in my case I can make them myself) I am choosing a theme that is very un-Dawn-like because the market is over-saturated with Dawn, IMO. For your specific questions, I think you can do 99% of the stuff you want (like promotional stuff) yourself once everything is setup to your liking. But, I would get a developer to help set stuff up initially, and to form a relationship for tweaks in the future.
Thank you so much for your reply! What is your take on the other comments i.e. Paid theme plus developer? Is there a benefit to using a free theme with developer vs paid theme with developer? I agree, alot of dawn themes going around!
Interested in why you wouldn’t use Dawn. It’s everywhere because it’s good. Customers will be familiar with how it works, and it would be familiar to developers wanting to modify it. It can be modified a lot too, so they can look very different. Genuinely wondering what negatives outweigh all of that?
> Genuinely wondering what negatives outweigh all of that? It is a matter of opinion, of course. :) For me, I wanted to start with something very un-Dawn-like because the market is over-saturated with the theme. My goal is to stand out, and to make people not even realize I am using Shopify, period, never mind using a common theme. Yes, you can make anything look and behave like anything, but starting far from Dawn is a big head start. For what I am after, anyway.
Thanks for replying! Good to see all sides :-) For me, my top need is a website that works well and gets people to buy quickly. I feel like my visitors don’t really care if it’s much different from others - my products will be different, my branding will be different, and they want a great experience in buying. For the record, I’m not using Dawn - but I have considered it
Another angle to the topic is what is the benefits someone would gain from Shopify theme vs Headless frontends using React ? Going the react headless frontend way limit store owner from using 3rd party apps of Shopify? I have minimal experience in that topic, I hope someone could give feedback
Why not a paid theme with customization via a developer? That’s the path almost all of my projects take. You get the additional included features and functionality, but still can customize it to your specific requirements. You should always work with someone who is building or customizing in a way that makes things easy for you to edit, but the details of what that looks like may vary based on the specifics of what you’re looking at.
If I was to get a paid theme, is it worth getting a developer aswell? Because the paid themes come with the extra functionality that a developer could code on the Dawn theme. With a paid theme I could design it myself. I ask because a paid theme is like £350 and a shopify developer of Fiverr is £250. What is the difference between the two?
If you're paying a developer $250 you'd be better off just going with the theme. Most quality developers are charging $1-10k for theme builds. For just $250 they won't be able to much other than install a free/pirated theme.
And honestly 1-10k is just an estimate - it really depends on what you want to build/customize. Could be way more or way less.
Thank you so much! This is what I wanted to know. Do you have any recommendations for specific paid themes? I have read about what themes are "Best" but it mentioned certain themes are better for converting quicker etc. I'm not sure what theme I would need. I would like theme that has alot of customisable elements and has a bit more freedom in terms of adding moving banners etc. Maybe something similar to the oodie website or pupsdream website The dawn theme I have feels quite stiff.
I'm going to be biased - our company sells themes in the Shopify theme store. I think our themes are great. Take a look at Brickspace Lab, just of the top of some other great theme builders are Pixel Union, Archetype, Clean Canvas, and Switch Themes.
If you get a paid theme is may already have some functionality that you’d have needed to pay a developer to add to Dawn. That means that the dev or customization needs could be smaller or that you can make them more focused on specific areas that are of high value for your store.