The competition is nuts out there, and customers are used to high quality. Your website, product packaging and ad creatives all need to look professional — this is table stakes today. Luckily for time-strapped business owners, using a template can present an easy solution to a common problem.
On the plus side, using a template will save yourself time and money, and those are two things which few newbie business owners have in abundance. Any opportunity to cut corners without negatively impacting the brand is often a welcome solution!
There are, however, a few key factors to look out for when selecting your template. If you choose one which is too complicated to implement, then the benefit of time-saving can be entirely lost. Choose one which requires outside assistance to upkeep, and you are no longer saving yourself money.
What should I look for in a template?
First and foremost, ensure the template you have chosen is easy to modify. If you struggle with making changes, this will cause a lot of problems further down the line, and make all future developments significantly more painful than they need to be!
Remember, just because you’re using a template, there’s no need for it to be dull or underwhelming. As long as you believe the template can be tweaked to represent your brand, don’t shy away from color or decoration.
Lastly, but as a vital consideration when you select your template, always be sure of what the license allows you to do – and any applicable restrictions. The very last thing you need is to be charged for incorrect usage, or to begin working with a template which does not allow you to use it as you require. These conditions should be visible in the terms and conditions of your template.
Where can I find a great template?
There are a number of fantastic resources where you can pick up a template for your business. If you are using WordPress for your site, then the platform has a number of wonderful templates to use, both for free and for a charge.
For paid options, check out TemplateMonster, ThemeForest and WrapBootstrap. WrapBootstrap is based on Twitter’s Bootstrap framework and it makes it super easy to customize and find developers for. TemplateMonster also includes a number of templates suited to a variety of different ad creative ideas, and ThemeForest’s selection is probably the largest of them all.
If you can’t find anything you like — well, at least you know you’re building something truly unique.