When building a new website – whether you do it yourself or hire a professional website designer, there are a lot of considerations to be made. One of the most important decisions is how the website should be designed – and whether to cough up the money for a custom layout or purchase a web template.
Deciding on whether to use a web template or a custom designed theme should be based on more than just looks. Of course you want a good looking design, but that should not be the only factor in choosing how you will get your design.
The first issue is uniqueness. If you purchase a template from a template site hundreds, maybe thousands of people have downloaded your web template. If you are really set on creating your own unique brand then you will not be able to achieve that with a web template. If you are opening up a online store front do you really want to look like your competitors?
With a custom design you don’t have to worry about other sites with the same branding. If you are serious about using your website as a sales tool you should go with custom design. If you are not worried as much about branding – say you run a small time blog, then a web template should suit your needs.
Another issue to look at is coding. Some web templates (free web templates are notorious for this) are coded so poorly that your site will not be standards-compliant, and you end up with more code then needed. Some web templates incorporate so many nested tables and poorly titled images (image-001… really?) that they are practically impossible to edit. Not all web templates are like this, but it is something to look out for (in fact our collection of web templates are all standards-compliant).
Coding can also be an issue for custom designed templates as well, but if you pick an experienced designer it shouldn’t be a problem (we will be teaching you how to pick a web designer on the next article… check back tomorrow).
The third thing to consider is how your design will suit your – and more importantly your customer’s needs. Sure there are plenty of spectacular looking web templates out there, but how do you choose a design that perfectly represents your business, and accurately addresses your customers’ needs? There are many aspects to consider when designing a site and making it easy and intuitive for the customer is essential. If you intend on making sales through your website it’s best to hire a designer who can tailor your site to your customer’s needs.
When push comes to shove it’s only you that has to make the decision on your next website design… but remember you get what you pay for.
by Mike McKeown