• One of my business ideas has as its foundation an informational website. In other words, the information on the website is how I would make money, either through ads or subscriptions.
• The other website would be my company website.

I am not a web designer, by any means. My artistic ability is near nil. So starting a website from scratch seems counterproductive.

However, I am technically savvy and, maybe to my detriment sometimes, like to try technical projects myself before going off and hiring someone to do it for me.

I am considering choosing and using website templates from Open Source Web Design for both of my website ventures.

My reasoning is that there are many free, artistically viable templates that I can start with such that some of that legwork has been started for me. I can then take the source code and modify it to match my needs. Also, did I say they are free!

I have heard mixed thoughts around using canned website templates for business ventures.

Some of those against citing that you don’t want your website to look like any possible shady (e.g. porn) websites. Others against the idea say if you don’t know what you are doing enough that you need to use a template, then you should just hire a professional to do the work correctly.

However, people for the idea say if you use modifiable templates (e.g. open source), you can customize the site enough to make it look original and provide a unique look and feel value proposition for your business.

I am hoping to hear from people for and against the “use a template for your website” idea. Specific case examples would be great.

Let the comments roll…..