From time to time, we have prospective clients ask us about website templates and if they can use them for their website. While Trillion does not utilize website templates available online for our work, many people do, including WordPress.com or solutions like Wix, Squarespace or GoDaddy’s Website Builder.
In this article, we want to provide you with information that will help you make an informed decision about whether or not a website template is suited for your company.
If you are considering using a website template for your website, proceed with caution and awareness. First off, in our experience, website templates are not the best long-term solution for serious businesses due to many of the cons listed below. However, for some, a website template could be just fine.
Pros of Using a Website Template
It’s Fast to Get a Website up and Running
Picking a readily available website template that can work for your business is quick. You can select the template you like from many websites such as WordPress or TemplateMonster, download the files and install them on your WordPress site in a matter of minutes if you know what you’re doing. Most people who choose this avenue realize they have bitten off more than they can chew and they then spend significant time making it match the needs of their company.
Many Website Templates are Free or Cost Less than $100
There are a plethora of website templates available on the web and one of the nicest things is that there are little or no costs associated with being able to use them. Higher cost website templates might include additional page templates or special features that are included, or some higher level of customer service support.
There are So Many Website Templates Available
Search “website template” and you’ll get millions of results to sift through. Website templates are abundant so you should be as descriptive in your search with the hopes it will lead you to exactly what you need. Many reputable website template companies exist and offer filtering tools to help you find what your business needs.
You Know What You’re Going to Get (sort of)
In most instances, website template sites will have fully functional demos of the templates that you can peruse and test to see if it’s a good fit for your company. Make sure you can log in to see how to manage the website template and how much flexibility you have with it.
Cons of Using a Website Template
Website Templates are Not Unique
Let’s say you pick a website template for your company and you love it. Sadly, there is nothing stopping your competitors from purchasing the same website template and using it for their business. If a prospect is searching for a company like yours and finds two that have the same website, that’s a problem.
A Website Template Might be Too Limiting
Even the best-looking website templates can be challenging to update and manage. This is the most common problem with using website templates. If you are not replacing the same types of content from the template with yours, such as images and text, you may come across complications such as page insertion and deletion problems, page layout issues, photo and text addition or omission problems, among others. If you want to modify how a website template works, the code can be hard to decipher or update.
Website Templates can Have Hidden Costs
A website template can have little to no upfront costs tied to them but in a website design, you must think of long-term goals. A template might be hard to update which could require you to hire a web developer to modify code so things perform the way you’d like them to. Again, this is not an uncommon situation, so understand the risks involved with starting from a website template. Because cheap can get expensive really fast when you are not working within the confines of the existing design.
Integrations can be Difficult or Impossible to Implement
If third-party systems, APIs or connections of some sort need to be integrated into your website, a website template likely does not have the capabilities to make them happen. Often, integrations for customer retention management (CRMs) systems, marketing automation systems or customer portals will require custom code and styling that a web development team will need to create for you. Website templates can sometimes allow email marketing services, e-commerce capabilities and most can integrate Google Analytics but services beyond are few and far between.
Trying to Figure Out a Website Template can be Frustrating
Just like many things in business, there are good and bad templates. The sad thing for many business owners though is that you don’t discover the issues until you try to manage the website. Some of the coding and functionality may not work as you thought. That might mean settling for how the website template works or having to modify things to behave the way you would like.
Hard to Find Support
If something breaks or stops working, it could be hard to find support. Many web design companies don’t want to maintain websites they did not work on. A poor website template can be a headache to try and figure out the logic and interactivity code. Also, core WordPress updates might not be compatible with the template which might be so severe that the site does not work. With this said, investigate compatibility between the template, WordPress and any plugins you might be using before updating anything on your site. WordPress makes it very easy to click “update” but you should resist the urge and research them first.
Maybe a Website Template is not as Good as it Sounds
As you can see from the descriptions above, templates are good for just a small and selective purpose. For websites that need to address specific challenges for a company and not be confined by template parameters, custom designed websites are where it’s at. If you would like to discuss your needs and find out how Trillion can help you, give us a call at 908.219.4703 or fill in our simple contact form.
