1. You need to consider your site objective when shopping for a web template. And you need to know who your target market or the majority of your site visitors will likely be.

The majority of site owners want a professionally styled web site. They are providing some type of information, products or services to the WWW community. Heavy graphics can be beautiful, but if they leave little space for your content, they really are not realistically functional for your site needs. On the other hand, if you do not have an abundance of content, like the WOW factor when your page loads, and you know that the majority of your site visitors will have high speed Internet access then that is a different scenario. Always remember that your web site should be designed with your VISITORS comfort in mind. If you do not mind waiting three minutes for your site to load those WOW graphics, that does not mean your site visitors will appreciate it. Your visitors comfort is your number one concern if you really want them to stay or return.

2. Graphics should not take up more than one-third to one-fourth of your web page.

Content is king. People are searching the Internet for information. Web templates that are designed so that the graphics take up the majority of the page are not really functional. If the person viewing your site is forced to do a lot of scrolling downward or worse - horizontally because the template is too wide for their screen, they will leave your site. The same is true if the template graphics takes up one-half to three-fourths of the page and you have to create 12 pages to publish your content. Perhaps if the web template were designed correctly or you chose one that was not as graphic intensive, you could have put the same amount of content on 2 or 3 pages. Your important site content that you want your visitors to be sure to see should be placed as far toward the top of the page as possible. When the page loads in the browser, and the graphics immediately forces the user to scroll downward just to view what else is on the page is very poor designing for the majority of web sites online today.

3. Avoid the use of splash pages unless you have a good reason to use them.

It may seem like a cool thing to have and they look great. However, splash pages simply force your site visitors to make one more extra unnecessary click before they find what they are actually looking for at your site. Although splash pages were the rage several years ago, they have outlived their usefulness long ago. Unfortunately, some designers use the splash page concept as an added incentive to buy or a reason to price their templates higher, because after all, you are getting two pages. But do you really need two pages? More often than not … no.

4. Avoid buying templates that use redundant font tags, color tags, inline or internal CSS, etc.

Professionally designed templates should ALWAYS be designed using "external" CSS (cascading style sheets). We cannot stress this enough to the consumer. But how can you tell when you do not get to examine the template before buying? That is simple. Take a peek at the source code of the template designers own web site. If they are not using "external" CSS, have redundant font and color tags, the program GENERATOR meta tag is shown in the source code, the code looks cluttered, disorganized and simply difficult to read, then you can make a fair summation that their templates look just as bad. Avoid buying a template from this type of designer, because they are likely inexperienced in website template development. Their main goal is making a sale and not the end users ability to use their product with ease. In the long run you will be the one who suffers by using a poorly designed template.

5. Avoid purchasing multi-page template packages.

99% of the time you will not need to purchase a multi-page template package. The designers who develop them (approx. 5-25 page packages) are doing exactly what you could do within a few minutes. They feel that supply you with unnecessary pages (ie. about.html, info.html, contact.html, etc.), it justifies a higher price. In reality they are charging 10x what the template is really worth and delivering a template to the end user that is underdeveloped but stuffed full of unnecessary pages and filler text that you have to delete or modify on every page! Argh! :( Read more information regarding the "Myth of Multi-Page Template Packages".

If you have not read our first article, "How to Spot a Good Web Template Design", you may want to read it first.

Many people believe that when they shop for a template they need to buy a package that contains 5-10-25+ pages which may already include an about page, FAQ, contact page, ordering, etc. This is simply not true at all. Why pay $15-$25-$50-$100+ for a multi-page template package when all you have to do is open the initial template page into your HTML editor just like they did and change the links in the HTML source code to the links you will name your pages. Then do a File > Save As > about.html or whatever other name you want to use. All your links are already in place on all your pages without manipulating individual pages which is a big time waster. The next step is to add your body content which will mostly likely be different on every page anyway.

Purchasing this type of multi-page package can be a big mistake. And here is why:

1. If you have other pages you need to add that are not already included or if you need to delete pages you will not be using, you have to add links and/or change links in the HTML source code on all the pages the designer created for you.
2. Think of the money you would be wasting purchasing a product that literally takes a few *seconds* to do once the initial template is created.
3. Often times these designers stuff these unnecessary pages full of filler text that you have to delete - on each page - prior to adding your own page content.
4. Why pay $50 for a 10 page package when that money could be better spent on a BasicTemplates.com membership where you will have access to 600+ web templates that are designed correctly? If you have no reason to have access to such a quantity, then by all means ... browse the complete Web Template Gallery where you can buy ANY of these templates for ONLY $5.00 EACH. Doesn't that sound more economical and easier on your wallet? ;) If not, we can provide you with a list of other template designers who are honest, experienced in their field and delivers a properly designed web template.

So why are template designers selling these multi-page package? The answer is very simple ... they think it justifies an extra cost. Obviously, it initially sounds better to those who don't know that it isn't necessary and can actually cause much more work than required with a properly designed template. Why are we telling you this? We obviously would like you to subscribe to a membership; however, after exclusively designing web templates since 1994, we cringe when we see the scams taking place online now. To us this is simply soooo - not right.

We are certainly not saying that all web template multi-page packages are a scam. The majority of those we have seen certainly are and from the experienced designers' perspective it is completely unnecessary. The type of multi-page template packages you might need (although 50% of the sites would still not need especially those folks who have an average amount of web design experience) would be those that have variation layouts of the main template page. We are merely advising the consumer to be cautious. Now that you have been armed with this bit of little known information, we encourage you to shop around for the best price vs. the type of quality you should expect in your site's design.

This article is the third in a series where we will discuss common myths about shopping for a web site template. We felt that consumers should be aware of what to look for in a quality design that encompasses everything from metas right down to copyright footers. Naturally, we would love for our visitors to purchase our templates, but the long-term goal of this series is to educate consumers about what templates are, what they should provide the end-user, and what to be wary of when shopping.

If you have not read our first article, "How to Spot a Good Web Template Design", you may want to read it first. Then take a natural progression onto our second article, "Multi-Page Template Packages: Do you Really Need Them?"

So let's get right to the top 25 questions you should ask your web template designer *before* you make your purchase. Ready for an eye opener?

1. Do they have more than five years of web design experience?
2. Do they have more than five years of "web" graphic design experience?
3. Have they personally designed more than 1000 templates utilizing *external* CSS and not redundant HTML, inline or internal CSS code?
4. Have they personally designed more than 100 fully functional web sites for clients?
5. Have they been personally designing "web site templates" for more than five years?
6. Is web template design their core competency and commodity?
7. Do they have Fortune 500 customers or members?
8. Are they the actual designers (not a third party reseller)?
9. Can they offer timely service after the sale?
10. Do they have in-depth web design industry knowledge (beyond HTML)?
11. Do they keep up with all the latest technologies in web design (not just graphic design)?
12. Do they offer *free* customer support?
13. Do they keep all customers, members and other personal data private?
14. Do they offer user friendly navigation of all their templates for visitors, customers and members?
15. Do they publicly publish their prices upfront (instead of hiding them at the bottom of the page or is it not visible until after you hit the buy button)?
16. Are their designs diversified for a wide audience range?
17. Are their web template designs fast loading, effective and functional for the majority of web site requirements?
18. Are their prices affordable, realistic and fair for all parties involved (for a non-tangible product)?
19. Are their web templates designed to be compatible with most HTML editors?
20. Are their web templates strategically designed to easily aid the end user?
21. Do they include original PSD files or offer them for sale as an add-on at a discount price?
22. Are they open to helping their customers and members further develop their own design skills by offering tutorials, how-to's and other helpful resources.
23. Do they offer *affordable* customization services?
24. Do they provide their customers and members multiple ways to supplement their income through affiliate, partners or other type programs?
25. If they say yes to these questions, can they prove it?

If you ask BasicTemplates.com, the answers are all YES and we can prove it!

My guess would be that you never realized there was so much involved in selecting a web template from a qualified designer. For some site owners, it may not be that important. It really depends on your site objective or your target audience. However, the majority of sites online today who are serious about their online ventures, do require a level of professionalism to be successful. Competition is tough out there and if you use a poorly designed web template, it could seriously effect your traffic, sales and reputation. But that certainly does not mean you have to shell out large amounts of cash for an overpriced product either. Since May 2002, there has been another option: BasicTemplates.com, Web Site Templates with External CSS via a Membership or only $5.00 USD per Template

If BasicTemplates.com does not have what you are looking for in their 600+ design layout selection, let us know. We will put you in touch with experienced web template designers who can provide you with quality website templates so you can design your site properly the first time, affordably and effectively.

If you wonder how we can provide quality web template designs for such a low price ($5.00 each or less than 12¢ each via a membership) and other template designers are charging $50+ per template, this article should ease your mind.

Firstly, just because a template looks nice and is priced high does not in any way mean that it is designed correctly. Look at the source code within the template designer's own site. If it contains redundant HTML font tags, color codes, etc. they are likely not designing the web templates correctly either.

A properly designed web template should not contain excess graphics. Sure, they are lovely to look at but not functional for the majority of web sites. Your site is likely online to sell a product or service, provide information or resources to your visitors, etc. If the web template you use boxes you visitors in with excess graphic art, it leaves very little room for your page content which is what you visitors have come to your site. Your site visitors likely did not do a "sites that have pretty graphics" search on Google to you find you. ;)

Most of the designers who are selling these FAT (not Phat) web templates are not "web designers". They are "graphic designers" and use a program that automatically slices, dices and generates the HTML page. That is NOT web design. Don't be fooled into thinking that their pretty designs means they are designed effectively for the web. These designers uses these programs because they know very little about how to design a web site from scratch and many of them have never hand-coded a single template so they do not even know what the code means that the program is generating.

If they don't understand the code, how can they effectively help you when you run into problems? They can't.

So why are they charging such high prices? There are several answers to this question.

1. To justify a higher cost for a non-tangible product (Non-tangible means it is not consumed and they will likely sell over and over again. Now does that seem fair to you that they charge you and each person they sell it to $50+ each! I didn't think so.) these graphic designers stuff their template package full of files that are unnecessary such as free fonts (which can be obtained by anyone on the Internet), PSD, FLA, Swish, etc. file formats that most people would not need or would have to buy special software to use, duplicate multi-pages that are unnecessary and anyone (including you) could do yourself by simply renaming the original template page to something else.
2. These designers are more interested in making easy money then they are providing you (the end user) with an easy to use, quality product. They have been disillusioned into thinking that there is BIG money in web template design so they use programs that will auto-generate code for them without consideration as to whether the code is correct. They are wrong and about five years too late. The big money in web template design was been made long ago, and the web template design industry is now saturated by inexperienced, unqualified designers who know more about graphic design than actually how to design an effective web site. The art of effective web design is NOT graphic design.

Lastly, if you have been advised that inexpensive templates are bad, imperfect, cheap, etc. you have certainly been misinformed and likely by a template designer who is overpricing their own designs. You be the judge. Purchase any of our templates for $5.00 USD each (vs. their $50+ each templates). If you decide to subscribe to a membership later, we will fully deduct all prior template purchases from your membership fee. We are that confident that you will quickly see the information you read was in fact ... misinformation by a designer who had a hidden agenda with an ulterior motive that benefits them and not their customers.

It's simple. We have been producing web template designs since 1994. After personally designing literally 1000s of web templates during that time, we can afford to sell them at a discount cost. All of our designs include external style sheets so your site is designed correctly the FIRST time. External CSS makes maintenance to your site fast and easy, your pages load faster, and are indexed quicker by the search engines. If you would like to read more about External CSS, please feel free to read our articles.