Talking about creating the website, you have two options: buying a ready-made template or creating a website from scratch. We would recommend the first option since the professional development of a website costs a lot. On the other hand, today you can buy a quality, responsive website based on a template much cheaper.
So if you’re in, here are some important criteria to consider when choosing a template.
- Visual appeal
The first impression may be the last, so an attractive and modern design is equally relevant for all types of sites.
In addition, the template design should not just be attractive, but also look like it was made by the professional – it is a kind of a business card.
- Mobile-friendly
More and more people are using mobile devices for browsing the Web.
If your website doesn’t look great on mobile screens, it will simply be inconvenient to use it, which, respectively, reduces conversion, increases the percentage of failures, and the business loses profit.
- User-friendly interface and usability
A perfect interface that creates a flawless user experience is a set of thought-out elements that ultimately affect the ease and convenience of interaction with the site.
The features of the user-friendly website interface are the visual attractiveness, consistency, predictability, minimalism, the presence of all important options, the presence of suitable button styles for different types of actions, convenient control options, etc.
- SEO-friendly
The website template should not limit you with the SEO-optimization possibilities, because it is crucial in the promotion. Many website builders offer enough tools to optimize the website for search engines, and they can be expanded using the additional modules.
- Ease of setup
It will be just perfect if you would be able to change some features like colors/fonts with one click. If the template has some great customization features, it provides comfortable and easy work with the site.
Many premium themes support the management of menus and widgets, user authorization forms and much more with the help of additional plug-ins. All these things are configured in the settings panel of the template.
- Customization options
Some templates contain a built-in control panel that allows you to easily personalize your site by modifying it for your needs. With its help, you can modify the appearance of the site as you like, without the need to make changes to the code or make other changes that require special skills.
- Technical documentation
Using a complex template may require some tech documentation, manuals, and guides – the knowledge base helps you get the most out of the template you are using.
- Customer support
The absence of guarantees of any support from the developers is one of the drawbacks of using free website templates. Usually, buying a template you can get support from high-class specialists.
- Cross-browser compatibility
This feature is quite important: it provides the same, perfect user experience and performance of the site in different browsers. Thus, you get more visitors.
- Multi-language support
You may need this feature if you are planning to trade in the global market or you are focused on a country that actively uses several languages at once.
Of course, you can always do it with the help of additional specialists, but why pay for something that may be already provided?!
- Additional elements
The additional website elements available in the template help you to attract the attention and highlight the most important things on your website, use your CTAs more effectively. These elements are special blocks, promo banners, slides, social buttons and many more.
- The frequency of update
Imagine the situation when you really like the template, and when you check out the date of the latest update and you’re like «Uhmmm… 1 year ago??».
There are always new things appearing on the Web: for example, the design trends change and then, the developers can update the design or implement new functionality.
The normal frequency of updates is once every 2-3 months. If the template is not updated during the year – most likely there’s no need to wait for the updates at all.
So, when you are looking for a proper template for your website, besides the appearance, pay attention to customization possibilities, the date of updates, and additional plug-ins connection. Create a clear picture of what you are willing to see on a template beforehand to get the maximum of your website.
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