70. Introducing... The Austin Template
My first ever website template has officially hit the (Etsy) market!
It’s here!!
Officially!!
As in, on Etsy!!
Finally!!
I’m so excited!!
And kind of nervous!!
It’s my…
FIRST EVER WEBSITE TEMPLATE!!
Say hello to the Austin template, a website template designed for service providers, creatives, consultants, and educators.
I carefully mapped out every page with space for all your messaging, imagery, services, social proof, case studies, CTAs, and more, to clearly communicate your value and convert the right clients.
After designing every part of this website template with strategy and intention, you can now find it for sale on my very own Etsy shop!
Building website templates is something I’ve always thought about, but frankly, I wasn’t sure if it was something I would ever do.
But after building out my website customization package this past year and using other people’s templates for several amazing project, I realized that I needed to get my butt in gear and just DESIGN my first one.
So I did!
Wait, Back Up… What’s a Website Template??
Sooo glad you asked.
Website templates are pre-built website designs that you can purchase for different platforms — Squarespace, WordPress, and ShowIt templates are all very popular.
Once you have your template, you can then fully customize it with your own fonts, colors, content, and messaging so the website is completely and uniquely your own.
I’ve done template customization for several of the website projects in my portfolio, and my clients love the benefits of templates:
You can see what the overall design will look like early in the project
Saves money and time compared to a fully custom design
Allows a bigger focus on your overall website strategy and copywriting
We can get your website launched faster
Although I mainly use templates for my clients who still want me to fully customize them and write all the copy, templates are also great for people who want to DIY their website. They’re a great resource across the board.
Okay, Back To The Austin!
Back to my beautiful website template that I love so much.
As you can see below, it is FULLY customizable, as in you can change every part of the styling, move sections around, copy pages, adjust menus… It’s the perfect tool to build out something uniquely yours.
I built this template for service providers, as in, it’s designed to share all about what you offer and direct people to your inquiry page. There are case study pages to go deeper into your projects, there’s a page dedicated to sales if you need landing pages, and so much more.
In the past few years, I’ve used some templates that weren’t very easy to customize, didn’t have enough space for text, and weren’t intuitive to users trying to navigate and engage with your business.
The Austin is designed to combat all of those pain points I ran into with templates in the past. I didn’t load it up with a thousand pages or add way too many photos. I just built a website design that I personally could easily use to create stunning, strategic websites for my own clients!
You can actually view a live demo of the Austin website and navigate it on both desktop and mobile. Or take a look at the listing on my Etsy for a full description of the template and what’s included.
Even if you just give my listing a little ‘like’ on Etsy, it will help my shop grow and get shown to more people on the app.
After many years in the freelance + business owner world, I still find myself trying new things CONSTANTLY.
My biggest takeaway from the experience of designing this template, updating my template customization offer on my website, and creating my own Etsy shop is that even after years of freelancing, I still find myself trying new things all the time.
Every time I try something new, I get the familiar feeling of nerves and excitement, and like I’m stepping off a very high ledge into the unknown.
It’s almost comforting that the growth never stops.
TBH, this new step is not about becoming a template shop or anything. But in the past year, I’ve loved using the website template customization option with my clients, and it feels amazing that now I can offer that same package but using my own templates.
So please take a peek at the template, like my listing if you’re feeling kind, and MAYBE even recommend the next person asking about websites to reach out to me for a template customization project!
🤠 What’s Cool…
Besides my new website template, you mean?
Hehe — but actually what’s cool this week for me is that I finally added my new brand photos to my website!
I’ll probably keep making some tweaks on the visuals over time, but I took this photo update as an opportunity to refresh my website in general, from offers to layout to resources.
I love refreshing websites (mine or my clients’) because it’s an opportunity to realign your messaging, purpose, and how you serve.
Refreshing your website is a chance to get your testimonials current, add content that was missing, and get back to feeling GOOD about your website.
If it’s been a minute since you updated your site, take this as your sign!
📚 Currently Reading…
Anyone else bawl their eyes out watching the original One Day movie with Anne Hathaway? I didn’t get into the show, but that movie (and the book) is such a stunning, heartbreaking story.
So when You Are Here, by the same author, came across my desk, I had high hopes!
You Are Here is much more of a sentimental, slow romance than One Day.
It’s about two people in their late 30s who are kind of thrown together on a hike with friends and slowly start to uncover their struggles and feelings throughout the walk.
It was a very fast, thoughtful, and sweet read. I enjoyed the two characters and their slow love story, and it had me thinking a lot about the paths we take in our lives and who we walk them with.
🍊 Working On…
Here’s what’s going on at Belle White Creative HQ this week…
Launching my template! I’m sharing the Austin across my social channels and starting to pin about it on Pinterest to drive some new traffic.
Training for my 10K race. It’s coming up quick, so I want to stay focused and get some good runs in this week.
Final edits on a client website. Really excited to get this medical aesthetics clinic website launched in the next couple of weeks!
Building some new resources. Now that I have an Etsy shop, I’m looking forward to building out some other resources like my brand messaging strategy guide and other tools I use with clients for marketing & websites.
As always, thank you so much for being here and chat next Wednesday,
xo — Belle