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Template Sites: Enter the Dragon

September 23rd, 2009

Bruce Lee

photo credit: mansionwb

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

So, you’re looking to create a website for your business. Fantastic! You’ve gone ahead and acquired some price quotes from a few tenders to see what kind of price tag you’re looking at to get yourself launched and get yourself an established web presence.

Sweet Georgia Brown! That’s a lot of zeroes!

Luckily you’ve come across a great website that offers already built, template websites that you can plug your logo and content into and be on your way at a fraction of the cost. This is great! So you start reaching for your credit card…

*Right about now is when the ghost of Bruce Lee should appear. He’s handing out cake and roundhouse kicks, and he’s all out of cake.*

There’s a reason why template sites cost so little. There’s very little value for you, the customer, to get from it.  These websites often rely on a plethora of bells and whistles to get your motor running and make you write the cheque, but in the end they don’t give you much more under the hood than a hamster wheel. Here are just a few reasons (of many) why template websites just don’t cut it:

Overdesigning

As mentioned, like a used car salesman, template sites will throw the kitchen sink at you to make the sale. Their text usually reads something just short of  “Now what do I have to do to put your content into one of our sites today?” Templates usually include all kinds of over produced graphics, sound effects, animations and additional gadgets that you likely don’t even need. A well designed website doesn’t need to rely on such novelties.

Branding, Shmanding

Another problem with template designs is that they often don’t fit your business image. You’ve worked hard to develop your business image, your logo, and your overall brand. Slap it into a $40 template and you know it’s going to look out of place. Template websites offer very limited ability to customize the website to your needs. Additionally, be wary of any imagery found within the template design. It’s quite possible that the company reserves the rights to said images or worse, is selling you illegal images. Who’s in control now? Where’s Bruce Lee when you need him?

Flash

In relation to the first point about bells & whistles, Flash is often used by template websites to create elaborate designs with all kinds of cool effects. Not only are these items way over the top in most cases, but such reliance on the presence of Flash does nothing to help your Search Engine Rankings (SEO). You don’t want to spend money (no matter how much or little) on a website and have it just sit in internet purgatory. You’d like people to be able to find you, right?

Any project your business undertakes should have a considerable amount of time and effort put toward the concept, planning and execution. We all know that cutting corners only leads to disasters. Of course, I could go on all day about the dangers of template sites, but I know you’d rather not hear me drone on about it all day so let’s get to what really matters… YOUTUBE!

This video was embedded using the YouTuber plugin by Roy Tanck. Adobe Flash Player is required to view the video.

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Posted in Web Tools on September 23rd, 2009

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