So, you decided that the economy has been in a recession long enough and it’s bound to make an upward turn, and you started your own business! This can be a very rewarding yet challenging endeavor with so many things to consider. Surely, one of the many items on your “to do list” is to create a website for your business. As a savvy entrepreneur, you know that a website is essential to any business these days. As a new business you have to cut costs wherever you can and using a website template to create your site can be a huge advantage.

With thousands of website templates to choose from, it can be a daunting task trying to find the right one for your site. This article will break down some key component you should consider when choosing a template for your website.

Website Purpose

Before you begin searching through thousands of website templates, think about the intended purpose of your website and what you want people to do when they arrive at your website. Decide how many pages you want and where you want the navigation menu.

When founders Mathew Pittinsky and Michael Chasen started Blackboard LLC in 1997 they were innovators. They were pioneers tackling the brand new problem of online education.

Blackboard's contribution to online education can't be questioned. They packaged the necessary set of tools for creating and managing an online classroom and marketed it well. But it never was very good.

As an online educator and instructional technology grad student, I have a great interest in distance education.

From my experience, good online classes have three characteristics:

1. Clarity
2. Community
3. Organization

I have been a student in classes where the expectations were unclear. I've had classes that seemed like independent study with little to no interaction with the instructor or peers. And I've taken an online class that was so poorly organized that it was nothing more than a random pile of poorly named PDF files.