Five years ago I asked myself “Why would a good web designer use a pre-designed template or have a horrendously outdated site?”. ESPECIALLY when it seemed to me by their portfolio that they could obviously design perfectly well. Unless of course their designs were not in fact their own.

Today I fully understand why a web designer would utilize a pre-designed template or software as you can see I myself am utilizing this avenue.

Is it because I can’t design my own website? No, like many other designers I am fully capable of designing full-fledged websites not unlike the template I used here. So the question is, why didn’t I?

It is a matter of simplicity. For the last 5 years I have been so busy that the only site I was able to slap together was mediocre at best and after that point I had little to no time to update it, leaving me with a sloppy outdated site that did little for me.

I finally decided it was time to do something else. Sure, I would love to have a custom website of my own but the time is always limited and drawn to other things. This leaves me with two choices:

1) Leave me site messy until I get around to it and potentially losing clients because it is severely outdated.

2) Install software and a template that although not custom at least allows me the ability to update easily and change as I see fit without a complete redesign.

Obviously I chose option 2. This option also allows me to do one more thing that I have wanted to do for many years, write. Prior to this, updating the site was a pain (because not only did I barely have time to design something but also had little time to code something custom to fit my needs). Now I am able to get my thoughts down etc. and share experiences, ideas etc. that hopefully will be beneficial to others.

Another added benefit for me is the SEO aspect. Having a constantly updated website also helps with the Search Engines. This is accomplished not only with my articles but with news feeds, ads etc. All that help me to be able to continue working while keeping this site updated and running with limited effort.