Website templates have come a long way in the past few years and for some organizations they may very well be the solution to their web design challenge. The question is, does a template make sense for you and your business?
Templates are basically pre-designed sites where in theory all you have to do is add the content. When these first started showing up they were very basic designs with limited functionality but they had an appeal to those who wanted to get an online presence quickly.
Time passes and the website template industry has evolved to the point that they now offer slick sites with full functionality, customization capabilities and even technical support. While there are still “free” templates being offered, the professional template sites sell their product albeit at ridiculously low prices compared to developing a site your self.
So how do you know if a website template is the right move for you? Here’s a quick list of the pros and cons to help you with your decision.
Why website templates are the best thing since individually wrapped sliced cheese.
- Templates take the mystery out of what the final product will look like. What you see is what you get. No back and forth with a web designer and web developer trying to get the look just right.
- Cost. Professional website templates can be had for less than $75 and you can have them installed on your hosting service for $50 to $70 more. That means you’ve got the design and you have it installed for less than $150. Compare that to a designer’s and developer’s fees.
- Speed. Website templates can be live in less than a day if you have your content ready to go. Time is money and a website template is one of the fastest ways to get a piece of virtual real estate live online.
- Customization. Some website templates will allow for some customization in the site’s appearance. You can change header graphics, page colors and font styles and size. Be sure to check the terms and conditions as to what modifications are allowed and supported.
- Functionality. Professional website templates will come loaded with basic pages like “home”, “about” and “contact us”. Additional custom functionality like forums or e-commerce shopping carts is often offered for an additional fee.
Why you shouldn’t touch a website template with a 10 pixel pole.
- Obviously if you think the website template is the cat’s meow, other people have thought the same way and have downloaded the template already. This means that your website is not unique. At many of the template stores they will tell you how many have already been downloaded and also offer a price for you to “buy out” the template so that nobody else can download it. This price can be ten or fifteen times greater than the price of the website template itself.
- SEO is all your responsibility. Website templates are focused on appearance and functionality not SERPs. You have to make sure your page titles, meta descriptions and text are all tweaked for SEO.
- If you’re going to modify the website template you will need specific skill set and software to accomplish it. If you don’t have the software or the skill you’ll have to farm it out to a web developer and that can get pricy.
- Along those same lines, you’ll need to know how to optimize photo imaging and have the software to do it if you are going to add pictures. Photos that are not optimized can significantly slow the load time for your site and visitors are likely to blow you off.
So there you have it. Like most economical solutions, templates can be viewed as half a loaf. Their advantages are cost and speed but the downside is a lack of uniqueness, potential difficulty in modification and a lack of built in SEO.
With those facts in mind, you can peruse the website template sites and make a decision that makes sense for your particular business situation.