If you are designing your own website it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you start looking at the various templates in Squarespace or Wix.

SPOILER ALERT:

It doesn’t matter.

A pre-built template can act as inspiration in the design process and it can be a timesaver. Things you may want to consider:

• Logo placement (left, right or center)

• Navigation style

• Transparent header (the logo and navigation are placed OVER the banner image

• Full bleed (images stretch the full width of the page)

Both Wix and Squarespace show examples of sites that are specific to various industries (fashion, tech, blogs, etc.). These may be helpful for you to get an idea for overall content and pages you might need on your site and can act as a roadmap to help formulating your content and copy.

The important thing to know is that within Squarespace and Wix, every block from every template is available to you. I suggest looking at a variety of templates for inspiration and choosing “blocks” from those you like. Think of it as Garananimals (dating myself) but for web design.

In summary, while your template choice can act as a guide know that it shouldn’t tie you to fill in the blanks or limit your creativity. And of course, if you get stuck someone like me is always to help guide you to the finish line.