Template vs Custom Website
Submitted by Lou Mindar on Sat, 05/17/2008 - 01:09.
I'm struggling trying to figure out the best way to have a website built. I'm not sure if I would be better off purchasing a template on a site like templatemonster.com (price approx $65), hold a contest on a site like 99designs.com (price approx $250) or have a local web development company design a site (price approx $1,000). Obviously, there is a big difference in the prices. For what I need (a simple affiliate site), which is my best option? Will all of these options work or is there something about any one of them I should be leery of?
I would consider a contest
I would consider a contest on 99 designs for a somewhat generic template to be created that you can use for several niches by switching out colors, logos, etc.
Why not try the template
Why not try the template first? If, for some reason, it doesn't suit your needs have a site custom designed.
more template options
also try http://www.templateworld.com/ for templates. they offer unlimited templates for something like $50 per 6 month interval. some of the templates are pretty convoluted, but if you know how to edit them then there are a lot of options offered by that site. they also have about 40 free ones that are none too shabby.
i don't know about 99designs. when i looked i saw no really good design work in any of the current contests. but maybe i'm too picky.
i do agree that you should look at using the same framework for more than one site. i just build one intricate site with the idea in mind of cloning it, and was able to generate another 10 or so in fairly rapid order. so do plan with that idea in mind. then, whatever you spend, the cost per site comes down a lot as you build upon your existing code base.
Stephen Carter
creator of Review Foundry
another option...
I found this through my Bluehost Cpanel.. DreamTemplates
Pretty much the same idea as Template World in the link above. $60 for a year of access to hundreds of templates.
In my opinion, just starting out, a free(widely used) template is fine, just as using shared hosting is fine. Once, you get making a profit and can afford it, then it is time to optimize all aspects of business including using a designer to design your site. Just my opinion though.
Brian Weaver - Affiliate Marketer in Training
@profwebs on twitter
Brian Weaver on Facebook
Thank You
Thank you for all of the great ideas. Keep the thoughts coming. I appreciate all of your help.
I would go with a template
I would go with a template from TemplateMonster.com or similar place. I think unless you have a need for a very unique design or programming there really isn't a need to pay a lot more for a custom design. In fact, if you're on a tight budget you might want to consider a free template from www.oswd.org. Of course, you'll need to have al ink back in the footer to the creator.
Rich
Templates are cool...
Thanks again to everyone that responded. I learned a couple of things while I was checking out www.dreamtemplates.com and www.templateworld.com.
As profwebs suggested, DreamTemplates offers some free templates. I assumed this meant a handful of subpar templates, but that's not the case. There are quite a few free templates and they are very nice. Also, Stephen Carter recommended TemplateWorld. For $49.95 for 6 months you can get unlimited access to all of their templates. That's a great deal! You can also get a year subscription plus two pages of revisions/template for just $200. For anyone who can't modify the templates themselves, this is awesome.
Thanks everybody!
Avoid Flash templates
I would avoid any template that uses Flash, especially for navigation. Search engines can't read Flash files, so unless the template duplicates the navigation with text links somewhere on the page, the spiders won't be able to access the content and your pages won't appear in the SERPs.
Another reason to avoid Flash is the files take a lot longer to download than HTML, and AdWords now includes page load time in the Quality Score.
Template purpose needs to be considered
I just wrote Jeremy about this. I currently have static sites. To be able to make it in the future, you'll need a content managment system. This is where I am learning from scratch with everyone else.
The best for a newbie is Wordpress. It's easy to use and update. My problem. I am great with Front page. But editing and hacking a template???? And which one do you choose? The ones displayed on these services are mostly not for Wordpress. What does one have to consider with a Wordpress template?
1. When was the post made about the template. If it was posted before March 2008 on any website with no comments and no reference to upgrade to Word Press 2.5, don't use it. Make sure it works for Wordpress 2.5
2. Who created the template? Is this creator committed to upgrading the template as Wordpress makes upgrades?
3. Is there a forum on the site that is ACTIVE with other webmasters posting questions and helping others with hacks on the template?
4. Which template type will be useful for selling products regardless if traffic comes from organic or PPC SEO?
5. How will landing pages for different products display if you link your PPC to these particular WP displayed pages?
6. Whether the template is free or has a cost, is the creator available to answer questions? Send a question of some type and see if it is answered before you put the time,effort and money into a template and then find out you have no help.
I'm not sure I agree with this..
To be able to make it in the future, you'll need a content managment system. This is where I am learning from scratch with everyone else. I don't agree with that statement 100%.
While Google does seem to index Wordpress faster than a static sight. I think the most important thing to consider is that Google loves highly relevant sights with consistently fresh content. You don't need a CMS for this, but this option is best for those with limited html experience.
I have never used Frontpage so I can't really comment on it other than the fact that WYSIWYG editors pretty much suck.
@NickC 100% avoid Flash like the plague... and also avoid Javascript for the same reasons. Also.. Flash and fancy Javascript menu's are not user friendly.
Brian Weaver - Affiliate Marketer in Training
@profwebs on twitter
Brian Weaver on Facebook
CMS
Brian, It's not imperitive to have a CMS but from experience, static web pages take a lot of time to update when you have a remove that is deactivated by CJ or you find they have stopped converting....think about hundreds to thousands of pages that have to be updated depending on the size of your website.
Products with expiring promotions vs. datafeeds
I have noticed that many of the products that are electronic or clothing related (seasonal) on CJ have short term promotions. So this means constant updating unless there is a datafeed available. I don't want to be a slave to my website and or have potential customers greated with: "Sorry but that offer has expired" when they click on my link. Does anyone have experience with this and is BANS with Ebay the only viable solution if you want to sell certain types of products?
ahh I see what you mean...
I'm not that far into AM yet to know about these issues yet, so I can't really comment. I guess a static sight might need some custom Php coding for these issues tho.
Brian Weaver - Affiliate Marketer in Training
@profwebs on twitter
Brian Weaver on Facebook
Web Properties vs Landing Pages
I guess static vs CMS is a legitimate debate, but what I find more confusing is Jeremy's approach to affiliate marketing where he stresses the development of Long term, theme based web properties by whatever method and then at the same time he addresses the structure, layout, and "look" of landing pages built for the end part of the buying cycle that can stop, engage,convince, and then funnel the qualified prospect to the merchant.
So,these are two contradictory elements of affiliate marketing. Where do they meet? Are we building long term,theme based web properties and then building landing pages related to these themes on subdirectories or sub domains of these sites to pass Google's quality score ?
what I understand thus far from Jeremy is that it makes sense to test a niche via PPC and landing page before building a web property based on that niche. So lets say the test is successful and the niche is a go.
Then what you do is start building a theme based content website via Drupal, Wordpress, or Wisywig static pages where the focus is on the content, its navigability ,usefulness, and SEO and then you "Craft" your limited content, funnel type landing pages for PPC traffic and put them in a sub-directory of your main site (as long as they are relevant to the theme) so they can get some google juice from the main site and you get a good quality score and lower PPC costs.
I don't think templates are that important for the content part of your website build-out, but I do think putting together a high performing pre-sell landing page is a completely different animal where you are now focusing on the funnel. So all the landing page elements as per " Marketing Experiments" tutorials must come together. I think this might be more easily done with something like dreamweaver rather then trying to hack a wordpress template.
What does everyone think?
Deepak
Dreamweaver for sure...
I don't think the elements are contradictory at all. The landing pages to drive immediate traffic and the static pages to eventually pull in SE traffic which of course is basically no cost to you. This is a long term approach that will keep your site profitable into the future.
I think we will learn more about Jeremy's process this week in the BIP sessions.
looking forward to it.
Chuck
"One's only security in life comes from doing something uncommonly well."
-- Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
A great solution for testing niches
Take a look at ezgenerator.com for building niche or long term sites.
There are more than 2000 + very professional templates which have editable images in the headers.
You can put up a website in a few hours without graphical skills or technological/HTML knowledge and yet still have all the added extras such as BLOG, Calendar, e-Commerce, Guestbook, impressive image slideshows, PodCast, Counters, rss, and a whole lot more.
You can put up as many websites as you like with easy upload to any host.
Cost $129 - case closed.
building a site is the easy part
keep in mind that creating a web site is not the end goal. there are hundreds of millions of them out there already. creating a web site that induces people to go ahead and make that purchase they were thinking about is the actual end goal. any particular web application is only as valuable to you as it's potential to meet that end goal. will drupal or joomla or wordpress be suitable in this regard? i don't know. that's why i signed up for BIP. to find out. but there is no doubt that if you want to become regarded as an authority in some area, then a CMS of some sort is a virtual necessity. my trouble is that i'm lazy. i don't want to become a true authority in any area because that sounds like a lot of work, pumping the CMS full of data. so i'm more inclined to avoid the CMS approach and see if i can generate income without it.
Stephen Carter
creator of Review Foundry
building a theme based
building a theme based content website via Drupal.. will you soon be addressing how to's with a step by step approach?
Anyone consider promoting
Has anyone considered promoting some of these template sites as an affiliate?
Just run a template monster
Just run a template monster number through google like TMXXXXX and you'll find tons of people selling templates but seriously it's overly saturated and not worth it, i don't think there is anything wrong with getting a template you can buy one to use as is or better yet they are perfect for finding something close to what you want then customizing it. Whats good is they include the psd which most others dont there are now ready made joomla sites with pre installed modules that make it easier to get customers up and running with what they need.
SPAM ^^^
Forum spam!
I removed it, thanks
I removed it, thanks JerseyGirl.
Cheers,
Jason Woods
Follow me on Twitter
Static vs. WP vs. Template
I think the most surprising thing is that Jeremy mentioned WordPress very often in TBIP, yet all of BIP2 is about custom design. I went with a WP theme because I didn't want to spend the money on Dreamweaver & Fireworks. The best thing to do is stop worrying about what to do. Just dive in. That's what I did and that's how I'll move forward. I'm already thinking about buying Dreamweaver & Fireworks for the next project. But that doesn't mean I won't finish the WP site. I've learned a lot just doing what I have done.
As far as site design and what our goals should be, Jeremy has indicated that thin sites can and do make money. His point is that they may not be viable much longer if all of the search engines take a dim view of them.
There are many ways to make money. That's true for the internet. Jeremy is helping us understand what he believes is the best way. It's not the only way!
chopper
P.S. This was not intended to sound like a sermon ;)
My Two Cents Worth
Wow, this topic has certainly sparked a very lively debate so I thought I'd throw my two cents in.
Here's what I think about paying for a single template...I wouldn't do it because you never know if you will have the skill to decipher it to make your changes and believe me, whether or not you buy a template to make changes or put up as is, YOU WILL EVENTUALLY HAVE TO EDIT IT in some way so don't get locked into a template that's complicated or won't hold up if you start making changes.
A service where you pay for six months worth of template choices like mentioned above is a good idea since then you have options and can choose more than one. Remember though static websites take forever to get picked up by Google without the right template or you have to promote your site all over the place.
Now someone mentioned Wordpress as a CMS and here's what I have to say about that. There are zillions of free Wordpress themes and with just a little bit of knowledge they can be manipulated into a fantastic site for static pages, as well as an integrated blog and landing pages combined. The beauty of Wordpress is how easily it can make your content dynamic and site changes are no big deal with all the plugins available. What is even better about Wordpress themes is that theme makers nowadays know how important SEO is and most templates are built with that in mind and are very SEO friendly.
My example is my own site that I'm slowly building into a "fat" cms with Wordpress. I'd like to be an authority on my subject but that takes time, in the meantime though I've been following BIP and applying that to my site.
I registered my domain 24 days ago and built a couple of pages and here's how it stacks up with my free Wordpress template which is very SEO friendly:
My site SEO score is 99%
Google has indexed all my pages
I rank 5th on Google for my chosen keyword and traffic is already coming in
So that's my two cents, sorry if it's a little long and good luck with your choice Lou :)
Your WP Site
Hi thischick, can you please post the url for your Wordpress site? I would love to see what you have been able to do. Thanks.
Olakitan Wellington
URLs removed. Please read - http://www.quityourdayjob.com/node/1723
Okay here's the url to my new site
Hey guys,
Go easy on me...it's my very first website and only 25 days old, I've chosen to follow a "passion" of mine with a very focused niche and have been implementing what I'm learning here into my website and it's slow going. Some of my pages are not quite ready yet and under construction lol, but you're welcome to have a look.
Okay enough of my insecurities....here's the url:
http://nancydrewmanor.com
I'm happy to report that as of today, my website is now ranking number #2 for my main keyword "nancy drew merchandise" out of 79,400 others.
Constructive criticism is always welcome guys :)
In Firefox 3.0.3 the words
In Firefox 3.0.3 the words 'You Do' from the description line are partially covered by the first tab. Alter the CSS so the font is a slightly smaller size.