How to Pick the Right Template
A website’s design can make or break its popularity with visitors or potential clients, and no one wants to own a terrible-looking website. And while the proliferation of template designs have dramatically reduced the likelihood of owning a dud, it doesn’t mean that it’s easy to pick the best template for your needs. And in order to start the process, you need to evaluate a few things.
Like why you’re building a website. Are you building a personal blog? A photo gallery? A business website? An online store? All of these options will require different technical components for the best result. For example, a personal blog should show many posts on the home page, and make it easy to jump from one blog to another. An online store will need the ability to upload products, product dimensions, and have a checkout function. Businesses and stores would both likely need access to blogging tools.
And of course, templates themselves allow for small customizations, meaning that if you find one that looks good, you might be able to tweak it a little to ensure it has all the right functionality. But how do you know which ones allow the right tweaks… and which don’t?
Determine Your Website Needs
This is the time to investigate the different kinds of themes and learn a lot of web design lingo. It’s not just enough to know the difference between blogging websites and ecommerce websites! Do some browsing of your favorite websites like the one you want to create, and pay attention to the website design and layout.
For a business website, what are the common denominators? Do they advertise their locations and contact information in special footer bars? Is there a call-now widget? How often do they utilize calls to action? Pay attention not just to the features that you like the look of, but the features which add to the website’s function and usability for visitors. Is there sidebar navigation, or clever galleries? Keep a list while you’re exploring so that you can get a good sense of what your website will need.
High Quality Visuals or High Quality Function?
Now it’s time to look at templates! But while you do, consider your list of desired features, and make sure that the functional features are all at the top of your list. It’s far more important for visitors, subscribers, and customers that your website be functional before it’s beautiful. It’s also important to remember that not everyone will enjoy your personal design preferences! Instead of zeroing in on one template, pick a range of 3 to 5. Save the links to these, and seek an outside opinion.
At the end of the day, others might help you realize that the high-impact visual features you most want in a website can also make it difficult to use, or have problems converting to mobile design. Crowd-sourcing opinions is an important step in the process.
Investigate the Seller
Who’s providing the template? Before you make the leap, always question who’s selling the template, who made it, and how you’re going to use it. In some cases, developers will sell a template from their own website, but expect that you know how to put it online! In other cases, a reseller might be selling a professionally designed template… but for many times the cost than if you had simply gone to the original developer.
If you want to get a template from a provider which will help you get that website up on the internet without much hassle, consider investigating website builder platforms at best10websitebuilder.com, which lists the most popular website builders alongside their fees and perks.
The Bottom Line
It’s not easy to select the best template for your needs! But above all things you should be patient. Don’t rush to make a decision before investigating a template seller, or getting second and third opinions. Take your time, compare all the best options, and focus on the template which will help you succeed.
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