The Reality of Starting a Template Shop: What to Expect with Expert Paige Brunton
Recently, the website template industry has seen a huge surge! And with an ever-growing market, a relatively low-cost startup, and the popularity of DIY website platforms like Squarespace, there's really no better time than now to start your own template shop.
Because of this, we sat down with website design guru and online business extraordinaire Paige Brunton to discuss what it takes to start your own shop and to offer some valuable insight and lessons (based on years of experience) for those eager to make their mark in the website template industry.
This blog post will provide a peek into that interview as well as expand on some nuggets of wisdom, hopefully providing you the confidence to know that, even though it can be tricky to find your footing, there are so many ways to stand out and create the template business of your dreams.
Keep reading to see what we have to say, or watch the full interview below! 👇
The Reality of Starting a Template Shop
A big reason template shops are so popular is that they have a relatively minimal startup cost. This can be amazing, as it allows so many people to get started regardless of their financial situation (something that often holds back really talented designers), however, it can also provide some interesting challenges. Let's talk about them!
1. Take Time to Understand the Commitment and Preparation Required
Starting a template shop doesn’t require a massive financial investment, which might lead some designers to dive in with minimal commitment and preparation. It’s understandable—designers and entrepreneurs are often accustomed to higher stakes and more complex setups. When an opportunity arises that seems relatively low-risk, it’s tempting to jump in without fully preparing or honing your skills.
To avoid this pitfall, a simple solution is to take some time before launching your shop to educate yourself and develop a solid plan of action!
If you've only dabbled in Squarespace for a couple of months, maybe consider waiting to open up your shop until you’re more proficient with the platform.
You could set aside time to practice design or take an online course.
Consider taking time to organize a solid business plan, that way you’ve specified your goals before getting started.
Doing these things will only make you feel more personally invested in the journey and spark a fire under you that allows you to build your shop with more energy and determination.
Take our FREE training on how to build a successful Squarespace template shop 👇
2. Marketing Efforts
A common oversight when starting a template shop quickly and with minimal risk is underestimating the importance of marketing. Unfortunately, your templates won’t sell themselves!
The truth is that it takes a lot of time and effort to put together, implement, and maintain a great marketing strategy. And if you don't start the process with that awareness, you might eventually find yourself in front of a daunting marketing mountain that you don't feel ready to face.
To help you feel a bit more prepared for what's to come, here are some common facets of marketing that you might utilize once your business is up and running:
SEO: This is important to ensure that your template shop ranks well on Google and other search engines. Fine-tuning things like your keywords, site descriptions, URLs, and more is all going to play into that. If you need a little extra guidance in this area, when the time comes, we have a super helpful SEO Checklist for Squarespace that you can check out here.
Social Media: Let's face it, these days social media is extremely important for marketing your business, and rather than just casually posting here and there, you might find that coming up with a consistent posting schedule or content strategy will help to provide a framework that you can rely on as your shop continues to run. Not to mention, consistently releasing quality content increases the likelihood that the platform’s algorithm will notice your account, leading to higher engagement.
Paid Ads: This might be a bit more advanced and something you don't fully utilize until you've started making a good amount of sales but incorporating paid ads can be super beneficial to your new business. And if you want your ads to be as effective as possible, the planning can take some time!
At the end of the day, if you're creating great designs and are in the right mindset with marketing, it's going to be pretty hard not to see success!
The Time and Cost of Starting a Template Shop
So, with all that being said, what is it really going to cost to get your template shop up and running?
Honestly, the biggest investment you’ll be making is your time - creating your templates, putting together your resources, designing your own website, and getting everything ready to sell!
When it comes to money, however, you do need to have a shop to sell your templates, so the biggest purchase you’ll need to make upfront is your website.
Odds are you’re probably going to use Squarespace as your website platform which means your site will cost anywhere from a couple to a few hundred dollars per year (Use our code BIGCATCREATIVE10 for 10% off the first year of your Squarespace subscription).
Beyond that, you don’t need much else since everything can be done within Squarespace itself - precisely why we love it so much!
There’s always going to be other things to spend your money on, for example:
Tech (like a computer, recording equipment, etc.)
Project management software (like ClickUp, Asana, Honeybook, etc.)
But when you’re just starting, we recommend doing it as bare-bones as possible because there's no point in spending the money unless you know that it's something that you want to take seriously. You can always upgrade things once you start making sales and expanding.
You also might consider spending a little bit of money upfront on education. Learning from someone else can save you so much time and effort, specifically in the fields of marketing and creating a business model for your shop.
If you're interested in learning more about starting a template shop but don't have the budget for a full-blown course right now, we have an awesome free training that is a really great place for you to start! There are lots of actionable steps in the training about how a template shop works, how to technically set things up, how to send templates to customers, and more.
We’re huge advocates for soaking up all the free resources you can until you’re ready to fully dive in!
The 3 Biggest Challenges of Running a Template Shop
As we discussed above, launching a template shop may seem simple in theory, however, plenty of challenges can arise once you're in the thick of it.
Difficulties and obstacles are unavoidable, and as much as we hate to deal with the struggles, every challenge is a lesson to be learned from, so you don’t have to go through the same thing twice!
While talking to Paige we shared a few of the most significant hurdles we've faced in the past and how we were able to navigate through the worst of it.
1. Dealing with Platform Updates
When Squarespace rolled out their version 7.1 update back in 2020, The Big Cat Creative template shop was suddenly rendered obsolete.
If you’re familiar with Squarespace, then you’ll know that the new 7.1 version is completely different from the version that came before it - version 7.0. And when Squarespace first rolled it out, they weren’t even allowing access to 7.0 (obviously something that has changed since then), but at the time all of our templates were in 7.0!
This meant that overnight, all of our products became outdated and instantly unsellable. We had to immediately work to not only learn the new platform, but update all of the templates and resources as quickly as possible.
The main lesson learned here: stay on top of platform updates!
Up until that point, we hadn’t been keeping up with what Squarespace, as a platform, was doing. And because of that, we didn’t even realize that they had been warning and preparing people for the new update for weeks.
Platforms like Squarespace are always going to be changing and improving, and there are going to be times when you need to work around the clock to create updates and new resources. The main thing is to be as prepared as possible. Here are some suggestions:
If you use Squarespace, become a Squarespace Circle member as soon as possible. This is where you’ll be clued into system changes and platform updates and can get advice from other Squarespace users if needed.
Check for updates regularly. Whether it’s weekly, twice a week, or whatever makes you comfortable, make sure you have a plan to stay up to date.
Create a system within your business to help you keep track of platform updates (whether it's using a project management software like Asana or a Google doc) so that when there's a new change you can make note of it along with all of the resources and/or template updates you might need to make as well. This will allow things to run more smoothly if there's a surprise update or if a customer lets you know that a resource is outdated!
2. Navigating Marketing Challenges
When it comes to marketing, consistency is key.
Marketing is another aspect of the business that’s challenging and ever-changing. If you don’t have the patience to show up regularly and keep up with your strategies, it will be difficult to find the success you’re looking for.
We admit that this aspect of the business can be frustrating and that sometimes you just don't want to show up. This might be especially true if you’re someone who has only a creative background in design. The sales and marketing world might be really foreign to you, but ultimately, it's the thing that keeps your business moving.
You can have the most beautiful template that will help so many people, but it’s not going to sell unless you get it in front of the right audience!
Here are some ideas for creatively marketing your template shop in the future:
Blogging: Come up with a blogging schedule that works for you and then keep on top of it. You can also use SEO to your advantage here to allow more people to find you via Google.
YouTube: Think of a topic or two that you specialize in (and that goes hand in hand with your templates) and create binge-worthy videos that provide real solutions for your audience. Always encourage people to subscribe and continue following along for more.
Social Media: Everyone knows how important a social media presence is these days. You don’t need to overthink this too much as the algorithm is constantly changing, but staying consistent and keeping up with posts is a must!
👉 How to grow your business and get clients with Instagram
👉 How to create an organic Pinterest marketing strategy for your biz
3. Coping with the Ups and Downs of Sales
Every business has slow seasons and periods of influxes in sales. Some periods last longer than others, but it’s important to remember that a really successful month doesn’t mean you never have to try again just like a bad month (or even a year) doesn’t mean that your business is a failure.
Website templates are sold on an evergreen basis, meaning that your products are always there waiting for people to come along and buy them. With that comes a lot of ups and downs, and guarantees and predictability fly out the window when you're dealing with digital products.
You need to get comfortable with the ebbs and flows and know that you might not see the same results from month to month, and that’s okay!
One piece of advice from us and Paige is to make sure that you’re being smart with your money. This allows you to:
Have enough in savings to support you when you do have lower sales months.
Strategically plan sales and product launches to hit at times that will be most lucrative (like Black Friday!), rather than spreading yourself too thin with constant launches and promotional materials that don’t have as strong of an impact.
Spend the money you do have on things that will ultimately just make you more money like education or a marketing specialist (things you can’t invest in if you’ve spent all of your money right away).
👉 Our best tips for managing money as a small biz or freelancer
Should you Niche Down?
Because there are so many people currently starting template shops, it can feel like the market is a bit saturated, however, the big players are still standing out and there are ways to creatively break through the saturation!
One of those ways can be niching down, however, you definitely don’t need to overthink it. You want to avoid niching down because you feel like you have to. Rather, find something that truly interests you or that you feel is unique to you and focus on that.
Some benefits to niching down are:
It allows you to target a specific audience, making your products more appealing and easier to market.
It allows you to better understand who else is creating in the same niche, making it easier for you to create products that stand out amongst a smaller group of creators.
It allows your templates to stand out amongst the “hobbyists” or the people who are just “giving it a go”. People who aren’t taking things super seriously aren’t going to bother with a niche and their products might feel all over the place, whereas you’ll have a strong direction and vision and can shine as an expert.
There should also be some wiggle room with niching when you’re just starting out. Don’t hold yourself to one thing forever or get discouraged if there’s nothing that interests you. If you’re not confident about a niche right off the bat, take some time to figure out what you’re best at and niche down when it feels right!
If you need some niche inspiration, here are a few, more untapped, industries that we mention in the interview:
Language templates (ie. websites written in German or Spanish)
Templates for more masculine or professional industries. Right now there are a lot of female entrepreneurship and feminine industries being highlighted in the template industry so you could try tapping into something opposite from that
Templates for very specific businesses (ie. dentists, lawyers, restaurants, etc.)
In our FREE training, we walk you through how to select and apply your niche to your web design business. It’s completely free and full of nuggets of wisdom we’ve learned over the years. ✨ Sign up now to check it out!
What About Competition?
While it can be hard to maintain at times, we truly hold the belief that there is space for everyone in this industry. And, this might be controversial, but competition really doesn’t matter that much.
Everyone is going to find their place on the internet, everyone is going to find their niche and their specialty and it’s far more worth your time to focus on yourself and what makes you stand out, versus everyone else and how close behind or far ahead of you they are!
And when it comes to inspiration while building your shop - try not to follow people too closely or compare yourself to anyone, especially those who have been in business longer than you.
If you use social media frequently, remember:
Cleanse your Instagram if you need to. If you find that you’re following designers that make you feel untalented or if your feed is filling up with what you deem “competition” and it’s getting too overwhelming, start unfollowing people.
Constantly check in with yourself when scrolling through social media. As you're scrolling, check in with how you’re feeling. Are you feeling positive? Or discouraged thinking you’ll never be able to live up to what you see? Acknowledge those feelings and know when it’s time to take a break from the scrolling.
Only check in with other designers when you need to. If it’s helpful, don’t follow any designers on social media, but instead, keep a list of the ones who really inspire you so that you can look up their account every once in a while if you need a boost.
The bottom line is that you will always be able to find someone who is more talented and more successful than you!
It’s human nature to compare yourself and worry about the next best thing, but the most important thing you can do for your business (and mental health) is to put the blinders on, stay in your lane, and focus on what YOU'RE creating.
We hope you enjoyed this post and learned a bit about what to expect when starting your own template shop. If you want to take a deeper dive into designing templates, opening your own template shop, and our insider scoop on being a web designer, make sure you check out our FREE training. Good luck!!
Want more template shop tips? Check out the posts below
Where to sell Squarespace Templates to reach more customers and make more sales
How to create a live demo Squarespace Template (and what to do when the trial expires!)
Why you should sell website templates, even if you're booked with clients!
What are social media templates & why you should use them
How to price custom website design and website templates
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