Why Not a Template?

By Jeanne Neath and Paula Mariedaughter

Most of the big web hosting companies offer inexpensive “starter” packages for small businesses. For a small yearly fee, the web host provides a year of web hosting and includes a web site template you can use to quickly build a web site. You choose the basic design your want for your site from a palette of templates. If you already have some good photos and can write copy quickly, you could get your web site up in a day or two for as little as $99 (or so) for your first year. Sounds quick, easy and cheap! Why not?

We were recently approached by a small business owner who had created a nice looking web site using an inexpensive template. The owner was happy with her web site, but now had two products she wanted to start selling. She still had a couple of pages left to use on her 20 page template and she planned to put information about the products there, along with BUY NOW buttons that would route the sales through PayPal. This seemed to us to be a sensible plan.

However, when we looked the site over carefully we discovered that the template did not provide a way to easily add BUY NOW buttons. There was also no access to the HTML coding that would allow a programmer to code the buttons into the web pages. When we called customer service to inquire about the alternative of adding the host’s shopping cart to the template, we were told that this was impossible. The template simply would not allow this small business owner to sell even two products on her own web site.

Templates undeniably offer small businesses certain advantages in starting out on the Web. The price is unbeatable! Plus, there is no need with a template to develop a web site design because the design is chosen from a palette of prefabricated designs. Once you have selected your design, creating your web pages is a simple “fill in the blank” process.You do have to prepare your own photos and write your text, but inserting these into the template is much easier than creating your own web pages with software like Microsoft Frontpage or Macromedia Dreamweaver.

The problems with the template all stem from its “one size fits all” nature. If you want a “special” web site that reflects the personality of your business, you simply will not have this with a template because thousands of other businesses use the same template and the template prevents customization of the site design. An even larger problem with templates, though, is that there is no room for growth. The web site owner above wanted to sell two products through PayPal and couldn’t. Your need might be different. Perhaps you will want to add a class calendar or a gallery of your quilts. You’ll want to take a survey of your customers.

We can’t predict what your future needs will be and neither can you. But, in all likelihood, at some point in the future you will need to leave the template behind. If your budget is slim, a template may be your best or only choice. But if your budget allows, building a web site that allows for growth makes more sense. Why go through the pain of creating and then scrapping a template web site if you don’t have to?