Thinking about using free html templates?
You've decided that you need a website. You've made the right choice! In today's world, the Internet is an amazing communicator. We use it to check information, shop for products, and find out how to contact people. And we use it daily. Some of us use it more than that!
A website is 24 hour marketing/selling/educating machine. It allows you to sell, inform and educate anyone at anytime. It is a company sales brochure that can be quickly updated as your company grows. But, it can also be very expensive. Graphic design agencies, marketing geniuses, web designers, web developers and webmasters. That's a lot of people to pay.
I'm not saying that they aren't good or that they don't deserve the money. (Heck no! I'm one of them!) But, there are a lot of different factors that you need to take into consideration before you enter into cyberspace and one of them is your budget. If you need your website up fast, if you need your website cheap (and if you are willing to do a little of the work), then a web site template might be right for you.
What is a website template? It's pretty much an instant website - just add content. And there are a lot of them out there just waiting for you. Professionally designed, colorful and visually appealing websites that generally range in cost from $20 - $70. And if you're willing to do just a little bit more work and you don't need all of the bells and whistles and rotating whirligigs then you can find yourself a bunch of FREE HTML templates to choose from. Yes, Virginia there is a Webmaster Claus!
But seriously, there are good free HTML templates out there. You can find them, you can use them and they can suit your purposes. Web templates are lower in price because they are not created specifically for your purpose. They aren't custom, but you can customize them with a little knowledge of HTML. Many web designers will even start off with a template as a simple way of communicating with their clients. A working HTML template is a lot easier to understand than some vague drawing that doesn't really show you how those buttons glow when you put your cursor over them.
(Have you ever noticed on TV shows where the young couple or empy nesters are looking for a house and the first house that the realtor shows them is one that doesn't fit ANY of their requirements? They do that on purpose so that you will really think about what you want, where you want to live, and what your requirements are. You may think that you want a galley kitchen, but until you walk through one you can't really be sure that that's what you want. After you've walked through the kitchen you know that you want to rip out the walls and add a skating pond.)
A template, on the other hand, is created with a general theme or purpose in mind. It is easy enough to find a wide range of template vendors and designers offering web templates created for Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and HTML. Choose your search engine and type in any of the following keywords and you will vendors offering a wide assortment of templates. Keywords that will help you in your search include: free Dreamweaver templates, free HTML templates, website templates, web site templates, free PhotoShop templates, free Flash templates, and web templates. Don't ignore the sites that sell low cost templates, most of them also offer free templates.
After finding a web template site, make sure that you have a good look around. You may be surprised at what they offer in both low cost and free templates. These sites are generally categorized by theme or purpose. The low cost templates, obviously, offer a lot of additional features that you may decide that you want. Many of these also offer more than one layout option. You decide what will work best for you.
Tip: Make sure that you don't download a template that you don't have the software to edit. This information will be noted at each template. HTML templates are usually editable in adobe GoLive, Adobe/Macromedia Dreamweaver, and Microsoft FrontPage. But keep your eyes open, just in case!
What do you get?
The templates are easy to download. (Most templates will download in a single Zip file. You can download a free program to Un-Zip the file from Download.com. (A very useful site, by the way!)
The Zip file will contain all of the files, the images, and in some case the fonts that you will need. You take out their generic text and add the information that you want your friends, family, employees, or clients to see. Swap your images for the images given to you and you have your very own website!
