Review: Template Monster

For most start-ups and small businesses, having a custom designed website is not practical. With designers and coders charging $50 or more per hour, a basic website can easily cost $1,000 and up. An alternative for these companies would be to purchase a a pre-designed website template. Many companies on the net provide these templates, with prices ranging from dirt cheap to pricey (depending on your needs).

Template Monster is the leading website template provider on the web. They have the largest selection of templates on the market, with over 20,000 designs in their library and they claim to add about 500 new templates per month. Because of its popularity, the sit has expanded into offering music and corporate identity packages as well.

The templates offered come in many formats, including html, xml, flash, css and php. The websites can be customized to your needs and installed on any compatible server.

Navigating the site itself can be unwieldy, because of the wide range of designs to choose from. A wide range of categories on the right side of the page can guide you depending on what kind of website you have. You can also do a search (easily found near the top of the page) by entering  categories, styles, authors and even a price range. When you get the results, mousing over the choices gives you a larger preview of the available templates.  Clicking on a template brings up further information on the design (such as requirements, formats available). They also tell you how many times a certain template has been, so you can determine how popular a design is. If you have e-commerce needs, there are also templates available with built-in shopping carts and payments systems.

Aside from templates, other useful products such as turnkey websites and corporate design packages are available. The turnkey websites offer more than just eh templates – they also have domains, hosting, emails and even website support (up to 3 hours per months). This package is for people who would like some extra help, and do not want to worry about finding their own host and domain. Their latest offering is corporate design products, such as logo templates, powerpoint templates, as well as complete identity packages that include logo, letterhead, business cards and envelopes.

Over-all the site delivers some great design at a good price. The prices range from $50 to $150, although exclusive rights to any website template can cost up to $3000. Even at the most basic level, they offer some good extras like access to a stock image and clipart library, fonts and even a merchant account from PayQuake. With all these, plus great customer support and a 100% guarantee, it’s easy to see why Template Monster is one of the most popular template sites on the Internet.

Site Review: Crowdsource your company logo with 99designs.com

In the age of Web 2.0, crowdsourcing is the new outsourcing, and 99designs.com is an excellent example of how to profit from this phenomena. The Australian-based firm leverages the power of the masses to help SMEs (Small to Medium Sized Enterprises) who may not have in-house artists with design projects. The website is a spin-off from online media company Sitepoint.com, where users were holding design contests and awarding prizes to winners. The site’s founders realized that this could be an good business model and launched 99designs. In a sort of reverse-auction, a “seller” will put up a design brief detailing what he needs and how much he is willing to pay for it. Next, all registered designers submit their “bid” design and in seven days, the winner will be chosen and awarded the prize.

So, is this service right for you? For many small businesses who needs a logos, identity, stationary, business card or even website done, the 99designs can be a good source and a good investment. For a fee of $39 (plus the cash “prize”), you’ll get to choose from many designs submitted by designers from all over the world. The site currently has 37,000 registered designers and each contest has an average of 50 entries. Within the 7 day period, you are allowed to contact the designers and make suggestions and changes before deciding on the final design. Of course, there are some disadvantages with this model. First, to attract the best designers, you should offer a big enough prize to tempt the best of the best to join you. Next, if you end up not liking any of the designs, you’ll still have to pick a winner and hand out the prize.

Over-all, the pros outweigh the cons. While there’s not substitute to having an in-house designer whom you can work side-by-side with, 99designs can be  great way to get design project done at a fraction on the costs.