by: James Berg
Although designing a great web site is an important part of developing a successful online business, it is often becomes a problem for newcomers to the internet business.
The vulgar problem is the lack of money. It usually costs from $500 up to $3000 or even more to develop a professional perfect looking website; but what to do if you don’t have such a lamp of money?
Of course you can make the site by yourself - luckily there’re lot’s of tutorials and other related stuff that can be easily found on the web and sometimes is of great use.
Just one snag… Do you really think that it’s so easy to create a professionally looking website? Do you really think all these professionals at web design companies get their money just for nothing?
Just imagine that a few days after you will find yourself staring at the monitor with your fingers shaking over the keyboard but with no result on the monitor or with a really poor result. Do you like such a perspective? Is it an effective way to get a nice website?
STOP! Don’t panic! There’s a solution! You shouldn’t torture yourself anymore trying to get something on your monitor which exists only in your imagination and you don’t need to pay enormous sum to some guys who call themselves developers for doing something which bears a strong resemblance with design, programming and alchemy especially alchemy…
WEBSITE TEMPLATES! Have you heard about them?
If no – these tips are right for you. Be patient enough to reach the end of the article and you’ll find out what it is, how it works, looks like and how to choose the right one to get an impressive, professionally designed website which will suite your needs completely at a very LOW COST.
What it’s all about? (What is a Website Template?)
Website template is a ready-made web design created for you to use as a basis for fast and high-quality web development. With no more then just adding your text to the web template and you will have a functional and individual website ready for upload!
Where do I get one?
The place is the same - just type in Google “website templates” as keyword and spend some time looking through the results.
I guess you will be rather confused with search results. Really there’re lots of companies which offer you templates and of course promise that their templates are the best.
So the next step on your way to your website is choosing the right vendor. How to choose the right one?
There’re some simple recommendations that will help you to get the right template.
Quality
Examine the templates offered. Do they remind you some drawings of yourself when you just started master graphical option in MS Word? If yes try some other guys.
Trust your taste. Do you like the templates? Are you impressed? Then you’re at the right place.
Tip: Remember the first impression usually is the right one!
Price
Usually the price for a high-quality website template starts at about $20 and goes up to $60-70. Do not pay more! The price I’m telling you is real! But do not hurry to buy a template for just $5; remember that it’s your online office! That is the place which your visitors will come to. Make them come back! Impress them in order to make them your regular visitors/customers.
Tip: Do not save on your online office but do not pay more!
Product Database
Explore how many products the Company offers & how often the product database is updated. The more they have the better they are! Why? If they have a database which includes several thousands of products that mean that chances that your visitors will come to some other site which was built on the same template as yours are extremely low. If they update their database regularly at least weekly (but preferably – daily) that is the best evidence that they are reliable as they succeed to work with the great number of designers.
Tip: good vendors usually offer not only Website Templates but other related products such as Flash Templates, Flash Intros, Logo Templates, and Corporate Identities etc.
Membership vs. Pay-per-Download Basis
There’re companies which offer a bulk of 3000 templates or even more for just $25 and there’re other companies where you can buy a single template for $25. Confused again? Not sure what to choose? Calm down and think it over.
The company which offers a bulk of 3000 templates for low membership fee probably has about 10 templates of high quality which were downloaded by thousands of members. Do you want your site to be very much alike to thousands of other sites? Well? The choice is obvious, isn’t it?
Tip: Pay per download is the guarantee of quality.
Support
Check their support. The e-mail support is not satisfactory any more! A reliable vendor will provide you with 24/7 support with ticket system, on-line chat and direct phone number so you get the needed help immediately.
Tip: Call them, chat with them before buying.
What Goes With the Template?
After you’ve made your purchase you can download the template directly from the site or you are sent an email with the link. When buying a template make sure that you’ve got PSD and HTML files plus SWF and FLA if you’ve purchased a template with flash. If there’re no such files you won’t be able to edit the template.
Besides, good vendor will provide you with lots of other bonuses like free hosting for a month or substantial discounts for related products of their partners.
Tip: Make sure that you’ve got PSD & HTML files plus SWF & FLA if you’ve purchased a Flash template.
Customizing the Template
The template it’s not a website of course but you can easily edit it in order to get your site. You can make the changes to HTML, Photoshop or Flash files fill it with your content and that’s it!
If you lack time or necessary skills for customizing the template you can go to the customization department of the vendor or to its partner who will do such a job for you. Such services usually cost much cheaper then to develop a totally new website.
That’s all - you got your site!
Hope that these tips will help you to start your online business. And you won’t feel panic trying to master some Graphical Software or to find some guys who will develop you site for the money you plan to spend not they.