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Are you tempted by a template?

Roseanna and I like picking out local art when we travel. We have a pair of prints of shore birds by by Ila Smith that we picked up in Nags Head. The gift of a Gee watercolor of a ship exiting the Duluth, MN, harbor reminds us of the place we called home for so long.

We like to buy limited editions but sometimes we’ve purchased prints and posters, too.

So, sitting in a reception room I was starring at a matched set of prints that also adorns our dining room wall. Hmmm, I’m suddenly thinking less of prints that, beforehand, I liked.

Which brings us, roundabout, to a discussion on the Coop America message board about web sites. We’re having a bantering debate as some members are opting to use template e-commerce sites from Yahoo and the likes. Yikes!

So, I wrote:

Design templates are easy but not magic.

Most are general and not architected to lead your client from introduction to sale.

Several members here do great work in design that can be applied to your site and communicate your unique branding experience.

Sometimes we think of ourselves as budget challenged but this can lead to self-fulfilling results: Cheap in cheap out.

If you are building a business, ask yourself how critical the design, copy writing and content are to fulfilling your goals. Is the marketing foundation you’re building big enough to support your goals?

One path to consider is to have a design made for you that will work with an open source portal or CMS system like Joomla or even Wordpress.

Ultimately, however, the open source systems have limits that a custom-coded and designed site may not.

Dani Nordin, http://tzk-design.com/ wrote about the importance of the collaborative tasks of copy writing, design, illustration and programming in creating an effective web site. For a business, “effective” should be defined as persuading the right prospects to do business with or inquire about business with you.

Jack