So you have an awesome new idea for a product you’re itching to show the world. The next step is to start building your web presence with a great website. Strikingly templates give you that solid foundation for building professional looking websites that can compete with big brands. All you need to do is to choose the right template and get to work planning and executing a winning web design and content.
With so many website builders offering an expansive range of themes and layouts, choosing a single template can be quite daunting. These platforms have made it easy to get websites up and running without coding or understanding programming languages but if you want to get your money’s worth, the right choice of template is crucial to the success of your website project.
Start with the right platform for your needs
The key to creating a winning website is solid support from a reliable website builder. Many people mistakenly believe that going with a platform with hundreds upon thousands of templates will help them get the job done. Wix templates and Weebly templates may run aplenty compared to their competitors but these themes may not be readily available if you’re on a free account. Shopify free templates may let you build your online store but it may not have the capability to let you expand to a full-featured website that includes a blog section for instance.
With that being said, it’s important to identify your goals and objectives for creating a website before you settle with a particular site builder and template. You need to make sure that your choice of platform can accommodate your content and app requirements.
How to choose a website template
Now that you have decided on a website builder, let’s look into what makes a great website template. Effective web design is more than just aesthetics. It has to be functional at the same time. Users should not only be amazed at how great your website looks but they also should be able to find their way around your content. Here are some of the things you want to consider when choosing a template design.
1. The type of website you’re building
The first thing that you need to consider when choosing a website template is the kind of website you intend to create. Different websites have distinct layout requirements and your template should be able to accommodate the features that you want to have on your site. For a business website that contains a portfolio gallery, for instance, you want a theme that can display your feature list effectively. If your website is going to be heavy on images, a full-width layout with image backgrounds might be something you will want to use.
2. Layout and web design
The type of website you’re building and the industry you’re in will greatly dictate the aesthetics of your template. A traditional-looking website, for instance, will opt for a boxed width layout instead of a full-width because you want to draw focus to the text content. Meanwhile, a full-width layout may be great for modern websites, portfolio sites and even online stores. The ample white space around design elements in this layout gives the eyes room to breathe. Other design elements you want to consider include navigation (menu placement), header style and logo location. Mediterranean by Strikingly is a good example of a website template that will suit food blogs, restaurants and sites that require a huge imposing image header. The template allows you to add your menu items on the header banner to give users easy access to other sections on the site as soon as they land on the page.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website.
3. Ease of use
User experience is important in creating effective websites. You want to make it easy for visitors to fulfill their objectives for visiting your site. Important sections should be accessible within a few clicks. Strikingly’s Grace template makes this possible with a grid-style layout with clickable cards to direct users to different pages of a site. The design is also minimalistic enough to allow you to implement your own custom colors and add engaging visuals such as animations and graphics. This template is an ideal choice if you want a magazine-style site.
4. Mobile responsive design
With most web experiences happening through mobile devices, you want to make sure you choose a template that will look good on all screen sizes. Strikingly’s website editor has a mobile screen view to give you a good idea of what your site will look like when viewed through a smaller screen. All our templates are mobile responsive so you don’t have to worry about dealing with HTML and CSS edits to keep consistent user experiences on most devices and browsing platforms.
Image taken from Strikingly website.
5. Drag and drop website builder
If you are not from a technical or software engineering background, then you must factor in the drag-and-drop feature while choosing your website builder. There are hundreds of CMS platforms in the market, but most of them provide a rigid website layout. To change any element on the website template, you will have to go through complicated navigation and install plugins when required. But, Strikingly gives you a user-friendly website editor in which you can simply drag and drop the sections that you want.
Image taken from Strikingly website.
Irrespective of the initial template that you choose, you can add any section on top of it. For example, suppose you have chosen an online store website template that comes with store, contact, and image slider sections. Later you may add a blog section to it without any hassle. All you need to do is to click on the ‘Add new section’ button from the left side toolbar and select the ‘Blog’ section. You can start adding blog posts right away.
Image taken from Strikingly website.
6. Custom section
Image taken from Strikingly website.
Strikingly gives you the option of adding your own fully customizable section to your website. You can add it from the ‘Add new section’ button. This section is a drag-and-drop layout. You can adjust the placement of an element in the layout, make it bigger or smaller, and add new elements to the section. The ability to add any new element to a particular section gives you the freedom to unleash your creativity. You can get your website designed a hundred percent as per your expectation, without having to compromise with any design constraints.
7. Regular updates
Cyberspace is continuously evolving at an unmatched speed. Using research and design experiments such as A/B testing, web designers come up with new designs to enhance the user experience and give customers a smooth journey through the site. Website designs that were considered the best in the world are being replaced in a matter of a few months.
While choosing your website template, you need to make sure your website builder provides you the latest in industry standards. Strikingly leads the world in designing user-centric templates cut out for every business niche. More importantly, there are new releases of website templates every week.
Make the best out of Strikingly templates
Image taken from Strikingly website.
8. Multi-page websites
Single-page websites serve the purpose in most cases and provide a look of elegance to the website. But, when you have a business that provides a range of services, a single-page website will not be able to cater to it. Placing all the details on the same page may confuse the user and affect the website’s usability considerably. To solve this issue Strikingly provides a multi-page website option. You can add additional pages to any template and totally customize how your pages look. There is no constraint regarding the design or layout uniformity. You can design each page differently and accommodate the different kinds of information you want to show.
Strikingly automatically takes care of the navigation and URL of each page, so that you can focus only on the content of your website. You can add up to a hundred pages on a single website. Now, this is a huge number of pages that will be sufficient for all kinds of businesses.
Strikingly templates - the best in town
Among all the website builder platforms, Strikingly offers the best templates for websites of every niche. Be it a business website, or a blog, or a wedding website, Strikingly has tailor-made templates for every possible website need. Evert template is unique and caters to a set of website characteristics. Our templates are written in HTML5 which is the latest language that works seamlessly with all browsers.
Before you start working on your website, go through our collection of the best website templates along with a real user’s website hosted using those website templates. Once you have selected the best website themes for your use case, the rest is easy.
Create awesome websites with Strikingly’s new website templates today.
