When selecting a website design template it is important to ask yourself a few questions concerning whether or not you are capable of designing and installing it yourself. You should also consider how much time you have available to devote to the task.

How technical are you?

If you are technically inclined, but not a web developer, you may wish to purchase a template. This way a graphic designer will have handled the artistic elements. And you can use your technical skills to tweak the template to your needs.

When should I defer to the experts?

Setting up your website will require hosting, a design, and content. To launch your site you will need all three. If you do not know what hosting is, or how to install software to a remote server you may wish to consider hiring a web developer.

Being extremely busy and not having time to devote to setting up and designing your site is also a good reason to consider hiring someone else for the job. It may also be a reason to request that the developer use, and help you to select a template. A custom web design will typically take longer to create than a site created from pre-existing web design templates.

The content (text) will typically come from you in both cases.

Will you, or the developer that you hire use a design template to set up your site? Or do you require a custom web design?

When you, or a developer uses web design templates to build your site, much of the basic design is already completed. You can expect the pages to have a cohesive look to them. The basic code has been written and in some cases a minimal amount of artwork or photography has been provided (often a header photograph). The web design templates have been sold or provided free to yourself and others by the designer of the template. Your website will contain your content, and whatever modifications that you or the developer that you hire makes. But it will share a look and feel with other web sites who have used these web design templates. And the designer will be credited.

Because much of the work has already been done, using a design template can be significantly faster than creating a custom web design.

A custom web design is unique and designed according to the needs that you specify to the developer. The artwork and photography are provided or commissioned by you. Your site will be original. It should reflect your requests, as discussed with the developer in the initial interview, and during the progress of the work. You will not be responsible for the technical aspects of the design, freeing you to pursue other business objectives. But you will still need to work closely with the developer to create a web site that works for your business.