It’s easy to lose hours, even days looking at website templates, and then to choose the wrong one.

A lot of creatives, and small business owners try to do a website themselves from a template. While there are many reasons to hire a web designer, I realize it’s not for everyone. So here’s a look at how to choose the best template for your website.

Step 1: Decide on your website platform before you look at designs

If you are tech-savvy and have used WordPress before, it’s extremely versatile and will give you lots of options. WordPress also means you’ll need a theme and/or framework for your website, like Pro Photo, Kadence, or Elementor. Look at the different platforms, do some research and choose what you are most comfortable with.

If you want something a little easier to learn, I suggest SquareSpace. You can see my SquareSpace review to learn more about who it’s best for. Another popular platform is Showit, which I don’t love, and therefore don’t design in, but recognize that it’s the right choice for some brands.

A bit too much? I offer 90 minute Strategy Sessions where I can help you figure out what’s best and come up with a plan for your website. Send me a note, if you’d like to talk.

Step 2: Find website designers that offer templates

You can google SquareSpace templates or whichever platform you decided to go with. For some platforms, like Pro Photo and SquareSpace you’ll find templates that you can buy right on their websites. For others, you may have to dig a bit more to find websites on a designers site.

Either way, once a template catches your eye, look at the designer’s name and look at their other templates or even their custom designed websites (if they offer both). This will let you get a better feel for their style and to see how established they are. This is important because you want a template that is good quality, and everything works well.

Here’s a video of how showing what I’d look for in a template store.

Step 3: Look at the functions of the website template

Take a look at the demo of the template you are considering. Look on all media types first. Sometimes a design that looks incredible on desktop is only so-so on mobile. If it looks good on all devices, move on.

Does it offer a good amount of pages? It’s okay if the pages aren’t exactly the ones you need as long as their layouts are versatile. Services might be useful as an FAQ or Pricing page for example. I swap the use of layouts all the time. I’m working with a freelance journalist right now and we decided the services page layout was great for a portfolio of her writing.

Do all the buttons work? Are the pages long enough for your content? Are there varied layouts throughout the website that you can use for different purposes?

Step 4: Look at it for design qualities and how that relates to your brand

This is where I think a lot of people go wrong with templates. It’s really easy to choose a beautiful well designed template that doesn’t work for you. Images are chosen by designers that go with the style and colors of the website. While colors can be changed, the style is more difficult, if you are designing the website yourself.

What I recommend is to take a screenshot of the demo website template and do a quick mockup with your content. Open it up in Photoshop or any graphics program… it doesn’t have to be neat. Add your logo, put your photos on top of the stock images. See if you still think it works after this.

Really look at the small details too. Are there graphics included? If so, do they fit your brand? Think about how much you are going to want to change, and how much of what is there works for you.

Step 5: Decide if the purchase makes sense

If it’s a free or inexpensive template and you have the skills to modify it, you may be okay with having to make a lot of changes. If the template costs $700 and it’s not going to work mostly as is, then you might want to look for something else.

Questions? Feel free to PM me on Instagram. If have a project you’d like to talk about, head over to my calendar and book a call.