SEO Advice to Template Designers

I like buying templates when I need to put together a quick website, so I appreciate that there are places to buy them and that there are web designers building them.

However, some of you template designers out there really need to get a clue. Here are some things you might want to consider when designing templates for websites.

1. Stop putting in height tags in tables and cells! I download way too many templates where the designer has predetermined how much text should go into each area. More text breaks the template, and then I have to fix it. If I wanted to fix it, I would have just built it!

2. If your css file weighs a megabyte all by itself, you might want to go look up a good css tutorial.

3. Don’t make the whole webpage one big table with rows that span across all the columns. It’s a pain in the &^ to write content that way.

4. Stop deciding that all websites will only have 5 or 6 pages. I see how template designers only allow limited navigation options. Leave us a way to alter that from time to time without rebuilding the template and we will all be happy.

5. Not everyone uses Dreamweaver or other wysiwyg editors. Some of us actually write code. If your template is designed in such a way that it has to be edited using the same software you created it in, I don’t want your template!

I’m not saying that as a website template designer you should also learn seo, but learn a little about optimization please. I have clients who bought templates come to me for content and seo and after taking one look at the template I can tell the designer only cares about how the website looks. I know that is their job, but web designers should look at the big picture.

1. A website needs to look professional. It does not always need to be a multimedia, bells and whistles, exciting experience every time. Most business websites have a higher rate of success when the design compliments the content in the site rather than distracting from it.

2. The look of the website is the first impression. That is all it is there for. The content is what sells the product or generates a new lead for the client. The template is just the box we put the content in.

All of us have the same job. Pleasing the client and helping the client become successful. Successful clients bring us all repeat business. So rather than just building a “really cool” looking templates that you want to show off, how about building templates that allow content providers and seo people work with it to make the client successful instead?

Go ahead. Tell me what you think.