Top 10 Tech Web Tips

DreamTemplates - Don’t Reinvent the Wheel when there are Thousands ready to use for less money than a tank of Gas

When I first started working on the web I had a severe level of cynicism when it came to purchasing things from other companies on the web. I’m not talking about buying a book from Amazon, or even a computer or a car from ebay.

I’m talking about buying web products, web themes, templates, how to guides etc. There are so many people out there selling things for websites that it is very difficult to tell the difference between good companies and bad companies, good products and services and bad products and services.

So when I was a relative newbie I used a general rule of thumb that if it wasn’t free, then it was either a scam or I was not educated enough in how to use it so I wouldn’t buy it. That served me very well for several years.

It didn’t stop me from buying things, but I typically learned how to use them before I bought them, so by the time I made the purchase, I knew that I would get more than enough value for my dollar.

In the early days one of the services that I initially shied away from was a company called dreamtemplate.com. Back then they seemed to have a great product offering, pay a one time fee of about $150 and you could download all the website themes they offered.

Today DreamTemplates web templates prices are even cheaper. Its $59 and they have more themes. Plus they give you access to the psd files with websites so you can change graphics and banners easily without having to do a lot of cutting. If you are a PowerPoint guru, they also have lots of presentation materials and basically anything you can think of in the graphic design premade theme or template department, all for $59.

How it Works

You pay a one time fee of $59.95. They call it a subscription but its a single charge. If memory serves it used to be a subscription years ago and cost a lot more, but it has gotten cheaper and basically gives you access to almost everything they have.

Tip! They do offer about 300 themes for free if you want to try it out and see how things work.

Above - Screenshot of DreamTemplate website with multiple themes available.  Member ship fee gets you access to themes, you can also buy exclusive themes for your site or business for an additional fee if you do not want to share a theme with anyone ever.

Years back, I didn’t have the clientele nor know-how to get my value for the dollar out of this service. I did a lot of custom theme work building sites from scratch myself and that was in some ways reinventing a wheel that already existed. Plus, while these themes do see circulation, they are not nearly as heavily circulated as many of the free WordPress or Joomla themes that are already on the market. The great part about that last comparison, is the original psd files that come with the themes. Even if you pick up a theme that is somewhat popular, you have the original art work and can quickly make significant changes to the artwork and remake the theme into something extremely unique.

Now, I’m not saying that I’d go back in time and convince myself to use this service sooner, the wisdom I gained doing things the hard way was well earned, but now that I know better, I will not waist as much time.