I am regularly asked, "How do I choose a good template designer?" or "How do I know the template I am buying uses good HTML?" In fact, I am asked this kind of thing so often I have decided to provide this information for the OSA site.
Let me say first, however, that I am a template designer myself and that I offer my work for sale online through various venues. As such, I must have a certain bias. I do believe that all of the information provided on this page is not only objective, but it is what I personally follow when creating work for sale.
The templates we are talking about here, of course, are those you would use to make your eBay auction or other venue site listings more attractive, and hopefully better selling. Choosing the right template is important to the success of your business. Therefore selecting the right designer in equally important but can, never-the-less, be a difficult thing. Sometimes you can purchase a ready-made template so you get to see it first but, if you want a custom template, typically you have to pay first and since the designer has done the work before you know if you are happy with it, there aren't usually any refunds.
Ready-Made Templates can seem like good value. Usually they sell for between $2 and $10. I have sold some of these myself from time to time though I most often do custom work. However, as the person doing the listings, it is you that needs to understand that ready-made, often called stock, templates are sold over and over again. Typically I sell the same pattern ten to fifteen times. Some sellers will sell them many more times than this. What this means is that there are at least ten to fifteen other sellers who will have the same look on their listings as you do on yours. That doesn't do a whole lot for creating your own identity, or brand, and helping returning customers find you. There is nothing wrong with a well made stock template, but you need to consider the serious negative impact on your business identity.
Custom Templates are going to cost more. At least good ones are. Typically they run anywhere from about $25 all the way up to several hundred dollars or more. Price is not the determining factor. I sell my custom templates for $249.99 and I think they are as good as any I've seen for as much as $1000.00 or more. I've seen a few good ones for $25 too. I price mine to account for the time and dedication spent on listening to what you, the customer, wants, explaining what is good and what isn't so good, designing and coding the actual template, making changes to ultimately get it to be what you want, and helping you learn to use it. If I considered just the time factor, I'm not making any money, but I believe I am pricing to the market I want to serve.
Things To Consider when choosing a template designer go way beyond price. There are a lot of template designers selling their wares on eBay, Main Street Mall, and other sites these days. Some are very talented. Some aren't. I recognize some that do careful hand-coded work and others that have no idea what HTML is; they just open up Front Page, Dreamweaver or some other fancy HTML editor and drag and drop until they have something that resembles a listing template. What they sell you is the output from the program that you could have done for yourself -- without any more knowledge of HTML! Often this produces disasterous results. Mostly they are not really suitable for listing templates. Some of these templates can be grounds for having your listings pulled on eBay due to site interference issues. You really need to be sure before you buy.
Pretty Graphics will likely be important to you and may well be the primary reason for you to choose a stock template. A good looking listing is important and pretty graphics help but there are two very important things to keep in mind:
1. The primary purpose of you listing is to sell the item listed. If the template graphics take away from the focus on your item for sale then, no matter how pretty they are, they can be a bad choice.
2. Pretty graphics have nothing to do with the quality of the HTML coding and other important design and marketing elements that make up a good template.
Asking Questions is the best way for you to find out if the template designer you may choose knows what they are doing. First, a template designer (or anyone else you hire or purchase work from) should be willing to answer as many questions as you wish to ask. I had one client send me a questionnair once. It contained about 25 important questions about the kind of work I would be doing. I answered all the questions to their satisfaction and got the job. They told me later that one other well-known template designer refused to answer the questions, citing 'too busy' as the reason. If a template designer is too busy to answer your questions then they are probably too busy to do your work too. Look elsewhere.
Important But Subtle points can make the difference between a good template that improves your sales and one that actually drives business away. There are several well-researched items that most template designers seem to get wrong. I see example after example of stock and custom templates that are quite pretty but ignore these basic, but important, design elements and marketing rules. The result is that the template is actually bad for business. Your business!
Ask Your Designer if they know about these marketing and design concepts. Have them explain them to you. If they don't know about them, or cannot explain them, then you probably want to look elsewhere.
Listing Templates Are Not Web Pages. Most template designers don't seem to understand this. There are about seven specific HTML tags and elements that amature designers use regularly without understanding that they should not be used in listing templates or other eBay pages (listings, me pages, store fronts, etc.) and by doing so they are putting your listing at risk. There are additional tags and elements that are either restricted by eBay (and some other venues) or should not be used because to do so is simply bad coding. Ask your designer if they know about these. Again, if they don't, look elsewhere.
There Are Techniques used by many web page designers that are just fine for personal or commercial websites but do not belong in auction listing templates. Some of these are bad coding, some are just annoying to your customers and some can get your listing pulled if used on eBay. A good template designer will know about these and will not use them. Once again it is always wise to ask your designer first, before you pay for work.
Java Script Code Is Not HTML. It is a scripting language that allows web page designers to program various functions into pages. Some Java Script is suitable for listing templates and some isn't. Most template designers that I've talked to admittedly don't have any idea how to program Java Script. They use it by copying code they find on the Internet and which is created by others. The designer then inserts this code into their template design work without ever really understanding how it works. This is not really wrong. It saves re-inventing the wheel each time and most template designers do it; some more than others. There is some great Java Script coding made available by some excellent programmers that can add excellent features to your template. It does help, however, that your template designer have at least some programming ability so they can understand what the Java Script does and how it can affect your listing. I've seen some pretty disasterous results when Java Script is inserted by someone without any basic knowledge on the subject. You will probably want to enquire whether your template designer uses Java Script and if so, have them explain exactly what it does and how it will affect your listings.
Some Template Designers insert lots of extras into your page automatically, 'just because', without consideration for the function or the effect. Colored scroll bars may look pretty but chances are the designer is using incorrect code for an eBay listing in order to accomplish this. Scrolling text in the browser status bar may seem like a good idea too but, if you alienate your customer by messing with his web browser program, what good will that do you. Right-click disable seems like a great way to protect your listing and pictures from casual theft. In fact it won't. There are many well-known methods to quickly, and easily, by-pass the right-click disable "security" method. What using it will do is cause many potential customers to hit their back button and not buy from you. Think, and ask, before allowing your template designer to add these things. Be sure you understand, and want, the ones that are added.
A Good Guarantee is important as well. If there is going to be no refund you want your template designer to guarantee that the template will work, will not get your listing pulled, and will handle any changes introduced by eBay or whatever venue you sell on, or that they will make it right. All good template designers offer a suitable guarantee. Ask about what your designer offers.
Using A WYSIWYG (pronunced: Wiz-EE-Wig, and meaning "What You See Is What You Get") or Drag and Drop editor to create your template may not be wrong, but it can mean that there will be lots of extraneous code, perhaps even bad or wrong code, in your template and that the designer really doesn't know anything about HTML and especially how it relates to the special case that is a selling venue listing template. Ask your template designer what they use to create their template. Using Dreamweaver or Front Page is not bad if the designer knows how to manually edit what they get from the program, but if they just use the raw output from the program as your template then you may be in for some serious troubles. You want to select a designer that actually knows HTML. You wouldn't hire a chef that doesn't know spices or other basic ingredients, or the basic techniques of cooking. You shouldn't hire a template designer that can't actually use the most basic ingredient of their trade either.
To Recap, design is important. Good looking graphics is certainly a plus. However the underlying coding and the application of effective marketting and design techniques is critical to the success you will achieve with your new template. Take the time to find the right designer who can do the job you want and do it right.