When purchasing a website template, you would generally assume that you are purchasing a design that may have been used by other people - that's why the price is good, and you're not spending loads of cash on a custom design, right?
You may feel a great deal of concern that your new website you're about to create will look like your competitors', or that many people will recognise the design as having been used before. There are a few tried-and-tested ways to make sure that that is highly unlikely:
- Don't buy a website template membership, allowing you to download hundreds of templates. Those templates have almost certainly been downloaded by thousands of other people, so the likelihood of seeing the design you choose, elsewhere, is higher. Purchase your website templates individually from reputable online stores, such as this one.
- Have a look at smaller template stores operated by individual designers. Look for templates that are original, not a stock look that is immediately recognisable as a template! (many of the so-called "monster" templates have a particular style that is easily recognisable)
In any event, the internet is such a vast, global community, the real likelihood of someone seeing your site and another that used the same template is very very slim - negligible, I think, if you follow the above guidelines.
If you are particularly concerned about this, or you want to ensure that your website is unique, you can consider buying a template for exclusive use.
The price will increase substantially of course - the premise of exclusive website templates is that once you have bought it, no-one else can buy it, so that drives the price up closer to custom design values.
Be aware that some stores offer so-called exclusive templates for sale, where the template has been sold before - but after you buy it, no-one can buy it again. These stores should tell you up-front how many times the template has already been purchased.
A better way for website template providers to approach the issue of exclusive templates, is to offer templates that have never sold before, for exclusive purchase - then, when you buy it, you know you're the only one who has it!
My advice is, if you are purchasing a template for cost-saving reasons, then don't worry about buying a non-exclusive template - keeping in mind the advice we offer on this site. If, however, you require an exclusive design, and see a template that you absolutely love - enquire about exclusive use. You'll still pay less than hiring a designer to make you a site from scratch, and you already know what you're getting!