In today's culture the importance of establishing an online presence has become an integral portion of every business marketing strategy and new companies (many of them small-mid size ventures that require a presence online) are seeking affordable, search engine friendly solutions. This growing trend towards easy-to-manage websites has caused many web design and marketing companies to turn to pre-structured designs (or templates) that allow their clients the flexibility to quickly alter the look of the design without formal design skills. While templates are not ideal for every business (in particular those with a full-time design staff), the flexibility of these designs do level the playing field for businesses with big ideas and a tight budget.

A quick Google search will reveal that there are more than 28,000,000 sites that offer a variety of templates for blogs, newsletters and websites. Granted not all of these templates are easy to use, free or relevant to your needs, but it demonstrates the increasing popularity of using pre-
structured design to ease the financial burden and time required for a custom site design. These sites, many of whom employ an entire staff of professionally trained designers, offer clients a simple way to modify their design of choice to best fit their business needs and branding. In conjunction with a content management system (such as ProductiveCMS) users can effortlessly alter the color, font, images and content of their site (though the fundamental design elements often remain in place).

However, pre-structured design is not a replacement for professional design and does not compensate for the unique sophistication of a custom website. Companies whose core consumer base expect a true brand experience will still want to consult with a professional web design studio to achieve a site that stands out. When using templates, you must keep in mind that there are perhaps 1,000s of other users who have employed the same design for their business (most sites will show you how many times a specific design has been downloaded).

Deny it or embrace it, the impact of pre-structured design is undeniable. The benefit? You may be a small business, but you no longer have to look like one online.