How to Use Free Ecommerce Templates and Still Look Like a Pro

Competition among ecommerce solutions is a blessing to merchants, especially new ones. Because of competition, many shopping cart firms have started offering goodies for free. This goodies include, free ecommerce templates, free live chat software and content sliders.

Many new merchants are still apprehensive about using free ecommerce templates. I can hardly blame them. When shopping cart solutions first started offering template designs for free, they looked like they were designed by the same octopus that kept picking the winning teams for the 2010 World Cup Finals.

Since then, designs of free ecommerce templates have improved quite a bit with the the trend moving towards clean and simple designs. More color variations are now available and some newer designs are thematic so merchants need not think that hard about which templates to choose.

But how a page looks does not solely depend on free ecommerce templates alone. There are other elements available for free that can also contribute to a page's visual aesthetics and purpose.

One such element is the content slider. We all know that images help draw attention and help make a page more 'sticky'. If a page is more sticky then perhaps visitors will tend to remain longer and have a look around. And what can be better than attractive images if not attractive moving images. As gimmicky as it sounds, a combination of moving images combined with functional or purposeful content can pique the interest of a visitor.

Content sliders are an available option with many ecommerce solutions and there are available for free. Merchants can manipulate the size of the slider window, assign links to each slide and place them on the main page and category pages as well. Some might say that this is a method of cross selling and they might have a point.

Just be sure not to overkill the designs and text on the slider images. Remember, just like everything else on the page, they must be functional. A question I usually ask myself before I add anything to a page is what do I want visitors to do after they see this. That helps me keep things in focus.

So before you select a free ecommerce template, think about what you want your page to look like as a whole. If you have no idea, browse other stores first. But keep in mind that many stores out there have been around for a while and would probably have custom templates by now. Do not let that deter you. With a good eye, and a combination of free nifty elements from your shopping cart provider, you too can have a decent looking site design without much of a fuss.