Thursday, December 6, 2012

How To Use Website Templates

By Jemser Reik Bary


In the past, if you wanted your own website you had two options, hire a designer or create and build it yourself. Both options were (and still are) expensive and time consuming. With technological advances, you can instead simply install a content management system (CMS) with all the technology and facilities built in. So how do you ensure your site stands out from your competitors? By making it unique in appearance with a nice theme.

A website template is actually just a design for a website that you can either just add your content to and upload to your web host, or simply plug into your CMS in a few minutes and customise by choosing various options and settings such as background, colours and social network plugins.

Without having to spend a lot of money you should be able to find a great looking website template for very little money. Despite the saving in time and effort, you still need to be very careful to choose an appropriate design from the very beginning. Consider your customers and your industry so that your choice provides them with appropriate features and ease of use.

To get the best out of your design there are things you should be careful about. While a design may be attractive to you, you should avoid one that is being used by many other sites. As much as possible, you want to leave your visitors with the impression that your site is unique.

You shouldn't spend too much time editing and customising your site. While you do need the ability to customise things such as insert your logo and edit the header, other items are not that important if the basic template is attractive. It is best to take the time to get a web site template that is close to the exact appearance you require. Understand that visitors come to your site for it's content. Using a template is meant to save you time, not swallow it up.

In choosing a website template, it is essential that you pick one that matches your purpose and industry. You need to be sure it will work before you pay for it. . If you don't look at the small print you won't be able to get a refund - especially if the template is not defective and you just didn't check properly. Realistically, you have no basis to request a refund if their product works and they have no guarantee that you are not using it.

Choose a template to suit your audience and your industry. Even though in practice you can use almost any template, ideally, use ones intended for your niche such as music website templates. Niche specific templates often include facilities that visitors expect, or which can enhance their experience of your site. For example a Real Estate template could include facilities to showcase floors, rooms, maps, video etc.

Lastly, check before you buy that you are purchasing the correct website template for the framework you have installed . If you buy the wrong template you will not be able to install it and you won't be able to get your money back either.

In summary:

Website templates are designed to help you create a high standard attractive website with minimal effort. Choose your template with care so as to avoid problems later on. Meanwhile, you should avoid getting bogged down in customising your site, rather address the issue of ensuring you provide your visitors with fresh interesting articles.




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