Competition among eCommerce solutions is a boon for merchants, especially new ones. Due to competition, many shopping cart companies have started offering free candy. These perks include free ecommerce templates, free live chat software, and content sliders.
Many new merchants are still concerned about using free ecommerce templates. I can hardly blame them. When shopping cart solutions started offering template designs for free, they seemed to have been designed by the same octopus that kept picking the winning teams of the 2010 World Cup final.
Since then, free eCommerce template designs have gotten a lot better with the trend towards clean and simple designs. More color variations are now available and some newer designs are themed, so merchants don’t need to think long and hard about which templates to choose.
But how a page looks doesn’t just depend on free ecommerce templates. There are other elements available for free that can also contribute to the visual aesthetics and purpose of a page.
One of those elements is the content slider. We all know that images help draw attention and help make a page more ‘catchy’. If a page is stickier, visitors may tend to stay longer and take a look. And what better than attractive images if not attractive moving images. As clever as it sounds, a combination of moving images paired with functional or useful content can pique a visitor’s interest.
Content sliders are an option available with many ecommerce solutions and are available for free. Merchants can manipulate the size of the slider, assign links to each slide, and place them on the home page and category pages as well. Some might say that this is a cross-selling method and they might be right.
Just make sure you don’t overdo the layouts and text on the slider images. Remember, just like everything else on the page, they must be functional. One question I often ask myself before adding something to a page is what do I want visitors to do after seeing this? That helps me keep things focused.
So before you select a free eCommerce template, think about how you want your page to look as a whole. If you have no idea, please search other stores first. But keep in mind that many stores have been around for a while and probably already have custom templates. Don’t let that determine you. With a keen eye and a combination of nifty free elements from your shopping cart provider, you too can have a decent looking site design without much fuss.