SEO Web Design Templates
A canned website doesn’t have to be horrible
I’m putting together some new marketing websites and need to come up with a design. I can either pay a designer or find a premade template. In past years, website templates have looked very unprofessional. I started looking around at the current state of website templates and am impressed with the stylish xhtml/css options at Template World. They offer some solid free selections, I’m going ahead with the $50 bucks for the members section since the templates are so good.
Adding some spices
With any of the templates I pick here, I’m going to take a little time to tweek things. Template World doesn’t take the same approach as other template sites. They offer a relatively small number of higher end templates rather than countless thousands of low end templates like the other guys. So I’m not going to be able to find a template that has everything where I want it but with a little css work and some istock photo shopping I’m get something really slick.
im not a fan of web templates, i find you can usually spot them a mile off!
I’m usually not a fan of templates either. I do think the recent xhtml/css templates at Template World are worth a look though. Of course if someone cares about having their own brand, a template isn’t going to cut it. But if it’s just a site to share information and maybe make a few bucks off of advertising, or a site that’s an affiliate for a retailer, then I think a template could work fine. I wouldn’t suggest a template for most clients but for personal projects, I think it’s good to be able to crank stuff out fairly easily. I can’t come up with a design concept to save my life but I think I’m ok at editing someone else’s design.
For many people out there, templates are the best option for their budget. That’s when you have to get creative. I’d stay away from most template sites, but there are a few worth looking at especially if you are going to use a CMS. Pick up a nice looking template like one of those listed at Smashing Magazine (http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/08/100-excellent-free-high-quality-wordpress-themes/) and you’re on your way to a fairly unique look. Have a couple hundred to spend, hire a designer for a couple hours and have him change the background image and logo. Then off to istockphoto or vectorstock and pickup some new icons for the site for $20-$50.
That will give you a much more unique design for your site and you’re out maybe $300. Templates should never be used if budget allows, but it’s better than nothing.
Cheers,
Mike =)
I’ve never used template designs, but can understand why some SMEs choose to – OK a web designer will spot them a mile off, but the average customer for a small business will just think that it’s a nice looking website (depending on the template). If it saves them money, and gets them a great looking site, then I don’t see the problem. I just don’t use them as 1. It kinda makes me think “what are they paying me for?” if I’m just buying a design for them on their behalf. and 2. It’s often easier just to design your own, rather than modify someone else’s design – takes a while to work out how they’ve designed/coded it and adjust it so that it still works.