Web Design Templates for the Artistically Challenged

If you can say that you know your way around building a website but your design skills are not the best, to put it mildly, but still you have dreams of building your own web design empire wanting to cash in on the 2nd Internet boom that is just picking up steam, you have a number of options:

Put out crappy looking websites and hope people are not looking

The problem with this approach is that everyone IS looking! Now that the web has matured, there are many hotshot web designers out there, perfecting the art and creating unbelievable online fantasies, so putting out rotten websites just doesn't cut it anymore.1995 is long gone. We are living in the 21 century online world!

Website examples

Hire kick-ass web designers.

Well, I can't promise this is an easy road either. To make any money with employees, you need at least 10 people working for you full time to make the same cash you would make working on your own! And you still have to find quality people on top of that. Too many offers are going to be a rip-off and well-established design companies will charge thousands of dollars for simple sites.

Use web templates

With web templates at your disposal, you can put out world-class websites in record time for little cost. I maintain that they are really the best answer for people like you, and me for that matter. Provided you have some notion of web development, you'll find your way around and customize almost any template. That depends, of course, on what exactly you know. If you know a thing or two about HTML, stick to that kind of templates; don't fall for the flash masterpieces you will have to spend weeks on to “subdue”, or even worse, throw out.

Ok, how do you use web templates in your business?

First thing you for you to do is find a great web template company. You are lucky here, because I've done the legwork already - just go to TemplateMonster. Get familiar with TemplateMonster's website, which is a real library of web designs. You will find thousands of web templates to choose from that are displayed both as thumbnails and nearly full sized - so that you can really see them. If you are developing websites for clients, the fact that you can view each web template makes for a great sales tool when dealing with them.

Getting the templates

You have two options here: just buy the templates that your clients like or become a TemplateMonster affiliate and buy the templates with a discount. This brings me to one last point about TemplateMonster: with their affiliate program you can create your own web template store that is totally self-branded. This way your clients will have no idea where you get your templates, which will naturally boost your sales, as they will trust you as the unique provider! With your own template store in place, you can have them browse your store and select the template(s) they want to use as the basis of their web sites. But what if they happen to have problems with the template? you'll ask. TemplateMonster's team offers full customer support for all their affiliates.

Using the templates

Templates from TemplateMonster come in a ready-made HTML/flash version as well as in Photoshop format. This gives you total flexibility in tweaking them to suit your needs depending on your technical prowess. You will also get a free access to several thousand professional photos and icons to revamp the design. Often times, from template to finished website, you are talking about just a few hours work!