Are Web Templates Worth It?Written by Dennis Dadey
By Dennis Dadey (c) 2004First off, I am a designer. Now you're thinking, here's this guy trying to convince me to hire a designer costing a few hundred to a few thousand dollars instead of buying a pre-made web template for about $60. Well, these days most companies don't have money to invest in a costly web site and there are thousands of hungry web designers out there, plus now there are web template resources. These resources can equal great value and effectiveness for customer as well as increased business for web designer. For customer it is important to be prepared. They need to know what their website should look like, how it will perform, ability to update and add to it easily, so as not to be held hostage by a design firm's technical code talk. Now for reality of web templates. There are hundreds of web templates and many web sites offering same hundreds of templates. There are templates for a wide range of business types: from agriculture to wedding sites. Depending on business category you may find 20 to 400 hundred different template packages to choose from. Most look quite good, but remember you may not be only company that buys template. There could be sites that look same as yours unless you buy an exclusive on design. The price for an exclusive design ranges from $800 to $3000, meaning you must be first customer to purchase template to be used only by you. On other hand, prior to your purchase of a particular template, several customers may have bought that same template and can use it as well, and as a result will have made this template non-exclusive.
| | How does your website measure up?Written by Dan Karwoski
Does your website make a good first impression? Is navigation intuitive? Is content appropriate for your audience? You've had your website up and running for a while now but you've always had a nagging suspicion that your website is lacking effectiveness and you just can't put your finger on it. You've dabbled with colors, added/removed images re-written text but it still feels as if everything just isn't working together. Wouldn't it be nice if you had a way to sort things out? Well now you do!Find out if your business website has power, energy and right stuff to help your business succeed. You'll be able to find out if navigation; advertising, optimization, imagery and look are combining to make your home page an effective tool. Each section has a number of questions that help define, in detail, all important areas of a well designed website. Just run through list starting at top. When you're finished just click "Total Score" button at bottom.
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