I was calculating my costs for starting a standard web hosting company and I had this question bugging me. So, I thought I'll ask it here.

After incorporating domain, reseller hosting, merchant account, WHMAP, Cerebus, support personnels, flash tutorials, my prices are sky-rocketing.

So, I need to know are the TemplateMonster templates really image-blowers for a company?

I don't want to sound like the majority of the newbies, because my company is based on quality not quantity and I'm already spending a decent amount on it. I'm fond of this template and it fits my budget, if I take it, will my company look unprofessional.

Please advice me.

Thanks,
Intelle

Not neccesarily. Check how many companies have used that TM template, if its not many use it and buy it exclusively. Otherwise I would suggest that you purchase a custom design.

P.S. I don't think that you sound like a newbie...

An alternative is to buy the template and then get someone to customise it for you. After all, all these hosting companies web sites look pretty much the same- if you weren't paying attention and surfed a load of them, you'd be hard pressed to remember which one was which.

One thing I noticed at TemplateMonster is that the number of downloads is a phony number, at least to some extent - I've purchased and downloaded a template some months back, and the counter for downloads never changed, not even weeks later.

Yea, I know this. That's why I'm so connfused about this.

If you like it, use it.

Get it and customize it. That's often better than having a really crappy looking site.

Or if you're like me, with some skills but not enough, you can get one and use it as a base template to build your own design, keeping some elements, changing others, and throwing away the rest.

Originally posted by Intelle
. . . After incorporating domain, reseller hosting, merchant account, WHMAP, Cerebus, support personnels, flash tutorials, my prices are sky-rocketing.
And yet, the hosting biz would have to have one of the lowest barriers to entry, than any other business. There's also the benefit for hosts to hide who they really are, behind some flashy website and "their" multi-million dollar datacenter.

Don't get me wrong, I came into the hosting biz with nothing but a reseller account, a business name registration, couple of domains, a really bad website, a Paysystems account, and a dream. :)

I left with a 60 square dream home (when I get it built!), my business credibility totally restored and years of accumulated knowledge, which is currently being put to very powerful use. :smokin:

Greetings,

You also have the choice to buy a unique one that wont be resold to any other visitor. This cost you more, but at end of the day, you have the peace of mind that you wont find the identical design else where. Apart from that someone might (hopefully not) rip your design.

Good luck.

if your going to spend $40 on a template why not step it up a notch and spend $120 on a unique design exactly how you want it.

Originally posted by R.Harrison
if your going to spend $40 on a template why not step it up a notch and spend $120 on a unique design exactly how you want it.

Do all that many unique designs go for $120? Seems as if each of the previous unique designs i've had done, have gone for AT LEAST 10x if not 20+x more than that

If you use template monster templates there will be other sites like yours

I don't know how attached you are to the template you are considering but if you have HTML experience and can edit a website you might want to try looking at non hosting templates and then customize it to your needs. This way there's less of a chance another hosting company is using it.

Thanks for ur help guys. Jon that's a great idea. :)

Customers like eyecandy but, remember that its not solely the site design that makes your company.

Alot of times the first thing a client sees is your website, others it will be reviews on a forum like this one or maybe even a website like ifoundhosting.tld

The thing to remember is to present yourself professionally at all times, the image of your company isn't solely the website design. (Just trying to make this a very strong point..)

Now with that said I don't think templatemonster templates are a image-blower but, it is going to depend on your target audience.

To me a templatemonster template looks just as good as a $5000 desgin by http://www.ceonex.com/ but, thats just me.

To the average virtual hosting customer or reseller customer I also don't think it will matter. If its pretty with alot of colors, fast loading and looks professional.. go with it. :)

I would never use a template monster for a hosting site, many other sites out there will use it and people tend to stay away from new hosts using templates, its well worth spending $100+ on a custom design :)

Originally posted by deltox
I would never use a template monster for a hosting site, many other sites out there will use it and people tend to stay away from new hosts using templates, its well worth spending $100+ on a custom design :)

In your signature:


Deltox Media: Web & logo design services


A bit biased aren't we? :stickout:

I agree with LP-Trel,

Your site should look professional as this is the first thing a customer sees about your company. Template Monster or any other templates are a good base and time saver for people who want a good professional look and a clean site layout. You should customize it a little to put in your own personality but other than that, their is nothing wrong with them.

The real test is when the client sees very little support options, like no telephone number or just email only support. When I purchase online I like to call and talk to the company just to feel them out and utilize the gut instinct the man upstairs gave us although sometimes it is hard to tell but it gives me piece of mind anyway.

It also depends on your market. Web designers and resellers will surely see it and say template but that shouldn't be their main concern. As for the average person who is looking for a hosting solution for their new online fabric biz, probably won't have a clue and won't even think about it.

Once you build a reputation with your clients and word of mouth spreads like wildfire, your only concern should be to support the clients who are paying for your services with the best of your abilities.

After months and years of happy clients that are still with you, you can look back and say, Wow, the template monster template didn't matter as much as I thought it would and my clients are happy because of the service that I provide.

A little long winded but the moral here is, you still have to sell yourself regardless of what your website looks like or where it came from and as long as you can do that, you will have nothing but success.

It really depends on who you plan on targeting. If you are going after the local scene; I don't see a problem with using a TM template (well unless you are also providing design services) If you main demographic is going to be directed to those who are 'online' i.e. WHT, other forums - a TM template will just not cut it.

Check out the templates forum here and pick one up exclusive there. You can get a good exclusive template for what TM charges for non-exclusive ones, and you can get a GREAT template for not much more. You do, however, have to wade through a lot of crappy ones too.

However, don't buy into the whole design craze. Make your site usable and how it looks doesn't matter. Usability is far more important than design (and I've seen some crappy, yet very expensive, designs that make navigation, ordering, and finding information very difficult).

Some of the largest sites on the web:

http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.amazon.com/

and of course

http://www.google.com/

Not very flashy, eh?

Originally posted by amusive.com
Check out the templates forum here and pick one up exclusive there. You can get a good exclusive template for what TM charges for non-exclusive ones, and you can get a GREAT template for not much more. You do, however, have to wade through a lot of crappy ones too.

However, don't buy into the whole design craze. Make your site usable and how it looks doesn't matter. Usability is far more important than design (and I've seen some crappy, yet very expensive, designs that make navigation, ordering, and finding information very difficult).

Some of the largest sites on the web:

http://www.yahoo.com/
http://www.amazon.com/

and of course

http://www.google.com/

Not very flashy, eh?
1. They are content driven sites,
2. They have the advantage of a stong brand

Though I agree simple is better. You dont need some spaceshit with your name on it in a flash intro. Just a NICE simple design. I wish I could find someone who does nice simple design work. Relying on shapes and geomety. If you fknow one feel free to speak up heh.

Actually Amazon is sales-driven (last time I checked!)

Brand is irrelevant. A consumer is a consumer. Also none of these three sites has changed dramatically since before they were an established brand (eg: Google looked very similar before everyone knew they were awesome. As did amazon and yahoo).

When a visitor comes to your site, they want webhosting. A flashy design is irrelevant to them... as long as nothing about your design dissuades them (eg: a really, really bad design may make them think you are an amature. If they've seen the design somewhere else, they might also be set off).

I've seen some very good designs on the template forum here on the simple yet professional level. One guy, not sure if he still posts, was named 1on1 and did great work.

I agree simple is better, though all 3 examples started when a flashy site was hard to get. and a flashy site would make no sense for a shopping cart site or a search engine, or any real content driven site. Truth is most customers are not webhosts, and alot of them get impressed with flashy sites.

Well, can someone recommend me a place where I can get a decent design (needn't be flashy) for something like 150-200$.

Most people who visit your site wont even know its a template and the chances of them seeing the same template again (from templatemonster) is pretty slim. Even if they did its not really a bad thing. It's actually a form of reptitive advertising.

Originally posted by deltox
.. people tend to stay away from new hosts using templates... Do you have any actual statistics to back this up? While I do believe a good design is important for any business - and is especially important for a design company - I don't believe a NICE template will really hurt a hosting company. Of course the designers will tell you how bad a template is, but they have a vested interest in making that seem like a fact.

Just my opinion and not trying to start a debate.

Templates Use = Lack of: capital resources, marketing and branding competency, demand side market and domain knowledge and most of all are illustrative of how really low the bar has fallen... and yes statistically and emotionally customers respond to great design- based upon an internal survey,( 40% of over 80,000 customers responding) 65% chose a host based upon brand or factored brand into their top three decision criteria. To say that design and brand are irrelevant in the decision process is just plain ignorant.

40% response hardly solidifies anything.

Nobody said that design and brand are irrelevant. I agree customers will respond to a great design, but disagree with the leap to custom design = great design and therefore template = bad design. It is possible to have a bad custom design, just like it is possible to have a great template.

It seems narrow minded or uninformed to assume that anybody who uses a template suffers from a "Lack of: capital resources, marketing and branding competency, demand side market and domain knowledge and most of all are illustrative of how really low the bar has fallen." While I don't disagree that a good design is important, or that marketing, branding, and domain knowledge are important, I do disagree that you can access a companies knowledge or viability based on if they use a template.

Your statistics mean very little without background information. There is no way to place value on "65% chose a host based upon brand or factored brand into their top three decision criteria". To be valid, we would need all the questions and know more about your samples.

Template = easy rip off by other. if i remeber correctly, dataflurry was talking about another host stealing image bw and website content from his site. it's hard to know who is the original since both site seem to use the same type of design (template)

anyway, check out both site and judge yourself.

http://www.dataflurry.com/

http://www.9xhosting.com/

i'll also like to point out two of my favor dedicated server's website.

you got yellow "cheapa$$" looking site like http://www.ev1servers.net/english/index.asp which make your eyes bleeding if you look at it for too long and http://www.theplanet.com/ website that look very professional.

BUT does it matter what your site look like if you give the best service in the industry and keep growing neck to neck with your rival. why do you want to spend million to make a good looking website when all you doing is selling dedicated servers. someone mention eyecandy on this thread about how people like to see a better looking website but forget about the fact that people want a good deal!

ev1's website look like crap to me but their site is not hurting their sale and some people does not want a flash intro to wow them. they want to see what you're offering in a easy to read and nagivate website. some people may look at ev1 site and think heck, that's why their server is so cheap because they don't spend mils on their site. they invest their money on network and DC. i'm gonig to go with them.

my two cent :beer:

Originally posted by jt2377
Template = easy rip off by other. if i remeber correctly, dataflurry was talking about another host stealing image bw and website content from his site. it's hard to know who is the original since both site seem to use the same type of design (template)

anyway, check out both site and judge yourself.

http://www.dataflurry.com/

http://www.9xhosting.com/

I don't know, to me the two designs look quite different.

Originally posted by Dacsoft
It seems narrow minded or uninformed to assume that anybody who uses a template suffers from a "Lack of: capital resources, marketing and branding competency, demand side market and domain knowledge and most of all are illustrative of how really low the bar has fallen." While I don't disagree that a good design is important, or that marketing, branding, and domain knowledge are important, I do disagree that you can access a companies knowledge or viability based on if they use a template.

Your statistics mean very little without background information. There is no way to place value on "65% chose a host based upon brand or factored brand into their top three decision criteria". To be valid, we would need all the questions and know more about your samples.

let me be clear, there are many custom "templated" sites. Templates which define content wells or provide gateways for content management systems, navigational components, headers footers ect. and which are part of an overall custom branded site, comprise an entirely different genre than that of "Template Monster" designs which a re sold over and over. Custom designs necessitate determining target user experience, content flow and many other critical aspects of online conversion. Of course customization unto itself does not determine effectiveness; a custom site is only as good as the design, business strategy and brand which it represents.

As far as business viability goes, show me a reseller, a template monster site and a paypal gateway and I'll show you lack of sufficient capital resources. I know of no successful host which uses a template monster site and I’ve been involved in this business since 98- As a frame of reference, successful means at least 5 years in business, data center and customer service assets, a 50k+ customer base and profitability over 8 figure sales.

Originally posted by RambOrc
I don't know, to me the two designs look quite different. Same to me as well.

Originally posted by Gary W
Same to me as well.
9xhosting actually completely changed their design from the original design they had up so it is too late to judge.

Originally posted by cowabunga
As a frame of reference, successful means at least 5 years in business, data center and customer service assets, a 50k+ customer base and profitability over 8 figure sales.
Wow, you have impressed me. Based on those numbers, I would think most of the hosts visiting this forum are "unsuccessful". I doubt many make over $10 Billion in annual sales. Congratulations.

Originally posted by cowabunga
As far as business viability goes, show me a reseller, a template monster site and a paypal gateway and I'll show you lack of sufficient capital resources.
I regularly do business with a company using a TM layout. They're monetarily stable with a bright future. I've asked about the layout and they've said they have no interest in changing the design since what they have is not hurting business.

design is NOT important; it's the quality of the service - if you know that the quality is good even though the layout is bad, then you know a secret that others don't ;)

Originally posted by rondo
If you like it, use it.

You took the words right out of my mouth. If you like it then you use it. I bought a TM design not because of price, but because I love how it looks. I do not see why paying extra money for a design I might not like as much as a design I paid for and Picked out my self.

I have enough money where I could of bought a custom design, but why would I do that when I have a design I love already, and at a cheaper cost?

Torith, that's If you're purchasing a unique template from TM. But If you're purchasing a template which is downloaded a few times already, not only that; more hosts are willing to download it too. Things will be different.

I don't have anything to complain about TM. But I'm just saying that a company website is a web presence and it needs to be unique & professional. I won't forget your site If I ever visited it. :)