Website templates, find a website layout that completes your vision

What’s your vision?

Looking for website templates? Need to find that “love the skin your in” type theme? I think this is one of the most hardest, tedious tasks of a website developer. However, definitely a cheaper alternative over hiring a freelance designer.

When working with my clients, I ask them the following questions before I direct them on picking out a website template.

Why are you wanting to create a website? Is it for business, is it for personal use?
Do you need a blog? Corporate blog? Personal blog?
Do you need eCommerce? If so, how many products do you plan on selling?
What would you like to see on your website?
How would you like your website to function?
What’s your niche? Do you have a theme in mind?

These are some of the questions I would ask before directing my client to picking out a template that suits their needs. You basically have to have a visualization of what you are looking for and what you want to have on your site for your visitors. Of course, nowadays, I don’t even ask about it being responsive…pretty much a no brainer there.

Once you have a better idea of exactly what you’re looking for then you can move forward with searching for website templates.

Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works. -Steve Jobs

Website Template Companies

I then direct my client to search for a template of their liking with all of the above questions in mind. If looking for a fairly simple to moderately difficult website I usually recommend WordPress. If working with a client that has a lot of products and needs an eCommerce website then Magento may be a better alternative.

Some website companies I recommend, or should I say the two I recommend are ThemeForest and TemplateMonster. But, nine times out of ten, most of my template purchases are from ThemeForest.

And here comes the most difficult part, the hunt for a template that meets your needs, your users’ needs in both functionality and design. If you’re a perfectionist, this can be a tough task to handle. More than likely you’ll find something that will at least meet 80% of your needs. And then have to rely on plug-ins or freelancers to help complete your vision. I’m available as well. 🙂

Purchase your template

Now most companies you purchase your template from will also offer additional services for, yes, additional service fees. Most of these are one time fees. Some of these services are template installation completed by company’s service center or hosting deals. Now, if you don’t want to deal with figuring out how to install your template then you can hire the company you purchased the template from to do the work.