Trying to pick the right website template? Ask these 6 essential questions to save yourself time, frustration, and costly mistakes!
If you’ve been toying with the idea of building a website but don’t have the time, budget, or energy to dive into a fully custom design, website templates probably sound like a dream. They’re quick, budget-friendly, and claim to give you a professional website without the hassle. But if you’ve ever used a template before—or heard the horror stories—you might be a bit skeptical.
And rightly so. For years, poorly designed, slow, and cookie-cutter templates on platforms like WordPress have given templates a bad rep. The result? A whole group of people who believe that templates are a waste of time and money because they’re generic, clunky, and impossible to customize.
But I’m here to tell you that times have changed. With modern web builders like Webflow, Squarespace, Framer, and Wix, the template marketplace has evolved significantly. There is now a wonderful selection of high-quality designs that are responsive and customizable—perfect if you’re a non-developer looking for a professional website that works out of the box.
As a designer who creates website templates for a living, I know the hesitations firsthand. To make sure I’m giving people the best value with my templates, I’ve spent hours scouring forums like Reddit and Quora to understand what problems people face when using website templates.
Combined with my own experience designing and maintaining templates, I’ve put together this guide to help you confidently choose a template that meets your goals without getting overwhelmed. If you’re looking to get a polished, professional website up quickly and on a budget, this is for you.
Let’s get started.
It can be tempting to go for the first template that looks beautiful, even if it’s meant for a completely different industry. You might think, “I’ll just change some things around and make it work.” But the reality is, it rarely works out that way.
Templates are purpose-built, with layouts, features, and design choices tailored to specific types of websites. When you try to force a template into a purpose it wasn’t designed for, you’ll end up frustrated—and with a website that doesn’t meet your needs.
A client once approached me, saying they loved one of my SaaS website templates and wanted to use it for a luxury real estate website. While I appreciated their enthusiasm, I had to explain why it wasn’t a good idea. SaaS templates are structured for showcasing features, benefits, and pricing, not for visually-rich property galleries or virtual tours. Trying to repurpose it would have led to a lot of frustration and an unsatisfactory final result.
As a designer, the last thing I want is for someone who buys one of my templates to feel stuck or cheated because they can’t customize it the way they envisioned. That’s why it’s so important to start with a template that’s designed for your industry. It saves you time, effort, and disappointment.
Before committing to a template, ask yourself if it’s tailored to your industry. If it isn’t, no matter how beautiful it is, it’s probably not the right fit.
Pro Tip: Avoid overly generic "this-template-can-be-used-for-any-business" designs. They’re often marketed as versatile and flexible, but it will take a lot of effort to customize them to suit your specific business needs.
Here’s a rule of thumb I always recommend: the template you choose should already look 80–85% like the final design you have in mind—excluding content, brand colors, and images.
Why? Because the more changes you try to make to a template’s layout or overall design, the harder it becomes to achieve the polished look you’re aiming for.
When it comes to template customization, less is more.
Making significant changes without design expertise can lead to a disjointed result that feels far from what you originally envisioned.
If you want something modern and clean, pick a template that’s already designed that way. If your brand is more classic and elegant, look for templates that reflect those qualities.
By starting with a template that’s already close to your vision, you can spend less time wrestling with changes and more time creating a website that feels professional and cohesive. Trust me, your future self—and your audience—will thank you.
Sometimes, a template might wow you with features like full-size background videos in the hero section or intricate 3D animations.
It’s easy to get swept away by a template that looks visually stunning, but a beautiful design means nothing if it doesn’t work for your website’s purpose and guide users toward taking action—whether that’s contacting you, purchasing a product, or signing up for a service.
While these “wow effects” can be impressive, they’re often unnecessary for most businesses and can even distract from your core message. Unless you’re a creative agency or a similar brand where these elements enhance your identity, it’s best to keep things simple and focused on your value proposition.
By choosing an effective template, you’ll create a website that not only looks great but also drives results—whether that’s more leads, sales, or bookings. Remember, it’s not just about impressing visitors; it’s about giving them a seamless experience that keeps them coming back.
A few years ago, a client came to me with a WordPress template which seemed perfect for their consultancy business. They had a “small” issue: the website was painfully slow, taking 5 to 10 seconds to load. They didn’t need half of the functionality the template included, and there bounce rate was up... by a LOT.
When I started digging into the issue, I found a ton of JavaScript libraries being loaded before the browser could even render the page. Most of these libraries weren’t even being used! The template was bloated with unnecessary code, making it heavy and inefficient.
You don’t want to be that client—spending money on a template thinking it’s a quick and easy solution, only to find out later that you need to pay a developer to fix it. And trust me, this isn’t a cheap fix. The developer first has to figure out what’s wrong before they can even start optimizing, which means more time, effort, and expense on your end.
Always test a template’s page speed in preview mode using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix. Look at results for both desktop and mobile:
If you are already struggling with a slow website, check out this article on optimizing images for a fast-loading website!
Remember, a slow website doesn’t just frustrate visitors—it hurts your SEO rankings as well!
By taking the time to test page speed before purchasing, you’ll avoid the trap of bloated templates and ensure your website delivers a great experience.
It’s not just about how the template looks or how fast it loads—quality and support are equally important. When you purchase a template, you want to know it’s well-maintained, well-documented, and that support will be available if you run into any issues.
That's one thing which is not always easy to tell upfront. But here’s a tip: the marketplace you’re buying from can be a big clue. Not all marketplaces enforce strict quality checks, and some allow anyone to upload templates without much oversight. That’s how you end up with outdated designs, bloated code, or templates that have been abandoned by their creators. And trust me, the last thing you want is to be stuck with a broken template and no help in sight.
The Webflow template marketplace is a great example of a platform that takes quality and support seriously. As someone who creates templates for Webflow, I can tell you their review process is no joke. First, to even become a template creator, you have to go through a detailed vetting process. Once accepted, it doesn’t mean you can publish just any template—every single submission is carefully scrutinized for design quality, responsiveness, and functionality.
Webflow even takes it a step further—if a creator makes significant updates to a template, they’re required to log those changes in a public changelog. This ensures transparency and helps buyers understand exactly what they’re getting. It’s this level of accountability that makes Webflow templates reliable, professional, and well-supported.
If you’re buying from marketplaces like Framer, Wix, or Squarespace, you’re generally in good hands, as these platforms specialize in website templates and maintain high standards. But if you’re looking at broader digital marketplaces like Etsy or Creative Market, keep in mind that the quality assurance is often up to the individual sellers. That means the quality and support can vary significantly, so you’ll need to do your homework.
Pro Tip: No matter where you’re buying from, if you’re unsure about the quality or maintenance of a template, reach out to the creator with a pre-purchase question. A responsive, knowledgeable reply is a good sign that you’ll get the support you need.
When you prioritize quality and support, you’re not just buying a template—you’re investing in peace of mind. That’s worth every penny.
A common mistake I see many beginners make is browsing templates on their laptop—which is perfectly fine since the bigger screen allows you to see more at once. But not checking how the template looks and performs on mobile is a major oversight—and it can be a costly one.
It’s easy to get swept away by how stunning templates appear on a desktop screen. Desktop designs often showcase all the fancy elements—large images, intricate animations, and bold layouts. But the truth is that most people visiting your website will be doing so on their mobile devices.
In fact, mobile accounts for over half of global web traffic, and search engines like Google prioritize mobile-friendly websites in their rankings. If your website doesn’t perform well on mobile, you risk losing visitors and hurting your SEO. That’s why it’s critical to choose a template that not only looks good on your laptop but also delivers a seamless experience on smaller screens.
So, always choose a template that prioritizes mobile-first design and the mobile layout looks and feels as great (if not better) than the desktop version. If you’re unsure about mobile-first design or how it impacts your website, check out my blog post on mobile-first design for a deeper dive. It’s a crucial mindset that can make or break your website’s performance in today’s digital landscape.
Before committing to a template, preview it on both desktop and mobile. Pay attention to the navigation, font sizes, spacing, and whether critical elements (like call-to-action buttons) are easy to use on smaller screens. Ensuring your template is mobile-friendly from the start will save you headaches and help your website perform better in the long run.
Here’s a quick recap of the six key points to help you confidently choose the right website template:
