Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Dec 2005
- Posts
- 17,316
- Location
- Bristol
This isn't about the consumer side of things, but the designer side. I'm an average/competent web designer, but have only ever really done sites for personal use or friends etc. While I would love to do the odd properly-paid gig (and currently offer this), the competition with "cheaper" companies and/or students means it's not really worth my while doing from-scratch sites once you factor in all the feedback and meeting faff.
Question is, is there still a market for decent website templates? It doesn't take me long to knock up a design in PS and convert it to CSS and because the cost to buy is low already there isn't much distance between cheaper offerings (ie a buyer is only going to be saving ~£50 by going elsewhere for a template rather than a possible ~£500+ for a bespoke site if they go to a student for example).
The other temptation is that it's relatively self-serving, so once a decent number of templates have been made it's relatively low maintenance for future orders.
But, is there a market for this anymore? I'd be aiming at a specific niche market rather than just general templates, and marketing to these companies directly, but is it worth it?
I see so many rubbish websites that could benefit hugely from an overhaul, but most of the time they just don't have the budget which is understandable. Although I'm a believer in "a pretty website isn't everything", it certainly helps in a lot of cases and I think if they could get this for a fifth of the price it may spark a lot more interest.
And if there isn't a market for templates, how did and do you market bespoke sites to companies what with web design being probably the most over-saturated market ever?
Question is, is there still a market for decent website templates? It doesn't take me long to knock up a design in PS and convert it to CSS and because the cost to buy is low already there isn't much distance between cheaper offerings (ie a buyer is only going to be saving ~£50 by going elsewhere for a template rather than a possible ~£500+ for a bespoke site if they go to a student for example).
The other temptation is that it's relatively self-serving, so once a decent number of templates have been made it's relatively low maintenance for future orders.
But, is there a market for this anymore? I'd be aiming at a specific niche market rather than just general templates, and marketing to these companies directly, but is it worth it?
I see so many rubbish websites that could benefit hugely from an overhaul, but most of the time they just don't have the budget which is understandable. Although I'm a believer in "a pretty website isn't everything", it certainly helps in a lot of cases and I think if they could get this for a fifth of the price it may spark a lot more interest.
And if there isn't a market for templates, how did and do you market bespoke sites to companies what with web design being probably the most over-saturated market ever?
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