LESSON 04 / 14 · FREE BUSINESS COURSE
A template should help a customer complete a useful task sooner. Attractive colors are part of the experience, but the larger value is a sensible starting structure, useful defaults, and clear guidance about what to change.
By the end: plan one focused starter template, build or sketch its core journey, and test it as a new customer. The same approach works for websites, project workspaces, reports, and repeatable online services.
Design around a first useful outcome
In FitSite, an illustrative studio owner might need a visitor to understand the classes, find the location, and follow a booking link. That journey tells you which pages and information belong in the starter site. It is more useful than filling a template with every feature a theme offers.
For an agency approval product, a starting workspace could include a sample project, a clear decision status, and instructions for inviting a reviewer. For a reporting service, it could include a readable sample report and a checklist for supplying data. The template reduces setup decisions while showing the real purpose of the product.
Use what you learned in interviews. If customers already rely on a booking system, a clear link or tested integration may serve them better than a second booking tool. Do not promise an integration until you have checked its compatibility, account requirements, and behavior in your delivery environment.
Plan a small template family
The original guide proposes three FitSite templates. Treat these as possible segments to test, not three mandatory builds before launch. Start with the template your first intended customer actually needs. Add another when a distinct workflow justifies the maintenance work.
- Studio Essential: a home page, studio story, class information, trainer profiles, and contact details for a single-location business.
- Gym Pro: a larger facility’s membership information, gallery, and useful news or resources, alongside the essential pages.
- Fitness Chain: location pages, location-specific details, and a structure for keeping shared branding consistent.
Each template should have a short written brief: who uses it, their primary visitor action, required content, optional sections, and what you maintain. Multiple locations on one website and multiple separate websites are different architectures. Decide which the customer needs before connecting templates to plan limits.
Keep the initial choice easy to understand. A customer should be able to choose by their situation, not by interpreting a technical theme name. Use an honest screenshot or demonstration from the actual template so the starting experience matches the promise.
Build the WordPress template site
In Ultimate Multisite, a site template is a configured network site used as the starting point for a new customer site. Create a dedicated template site, then configure its theme, pages, menus, and supported plugins. Use the current template documentation for how your installed version marks a site as a template.
Choose a theme and editing approach you can maintain and your customers can use. A simple native block layout may be enough. Test whether the theme and any page builder support the intended Multisite workflow and licensing arrangement. Popularity alone does not establish compatibility with your platform.
Create a complete visitor journey: a home page that explains the service, relevant detail pages, and a clear next action. Keep heading structure logical and links descriptive. Check small screens, keyboard navigation, color contrast, and readable text. These checks make the starting site easier to use without requiring the customer to redesign it.
Only add plugins that support the brief. Booking, forms, and other features bring configuration and maintenance responsibilities. Check what happens when a site is copied, whether external accounts must be connected separately, and whether the plugin’s license covers your intended customer use.
Make placeholder content genuinely useful
Replace filler with instructions that explain the decision the customer must make. “Describe your studio, who you welcome, and what a first visit involves” is more useful than a paragraph of generic promotional copy. Clearly label sample class times, prices, addresses, and people so they cannot be mistaken for real business information.
Use only images you have permission to include in customer sites, and retain source and license records. A license allowing use on your own website may not cover redistribution in a template product. Where rights are unclear, use a neutral placeholder and ask the customer for their own photo. Write alt text that describes the meaningful content rather than stuffing in search keywords.
Do not include fabricated testimonials, customer counts, awards, qualifications, or before-and-after results. If a layout has space for a testimonial, keep the section hidden or mark it as an editing prompt until the customer supplies a genuine, permitted quotation. Stock models are not customers and should not be presented as endorsing the business.
Avoid copying secrets, real form submissions, analytics identifiers, personal data, or connected billing accounts into a template. Treat the starting site as reusable product material. Inspect what is duplicated rather than assuming that copying only affects visible pages.
Test the copy, not just the master
Create a fresh test customer site from the template. This checks the experience customers will receive rather than the carefully prepared master. Work through the first task using a customer-level account and record every point where you need knowledge a new customer will not have.
Check that links stay on the correct customer site, menus work, forms reach the intended recipient, and third-party connections are clearly identified as unconfigured when necessary. Review the mobile layout and replace a sample image to see whether the design remains usable with ordinary customer content.
Keep a small change log and repeat the important checks when you change themes or plugins. Do not assume editing the template updates previously created customer sites. Plan how maintenance and fixes reach existing sites, and test that process independently from creating new ones.
Your exercise: put the lesson to work
Build a template brief and a test record:
- Choose one customer segment and one first useful outcome.
- List the minimum pages or screens needed for that outcome, plus the customer’s required inputs.
- Write three instructional placeholders and remove any invented claims.
- Build or sketch the template; for WordPress, create a fresh test copy from it.
- Ask a likely user to complete the first task without coaching, then record and fix the main obstacle.
Your deliverable: one usable starter experience, a list of required integrations, and a record of licensing and quality checks. Add template variants when evidence shows that customers need them.
Before you move on
- A niche template should reduce decisions and help complete a task.
- Instructional sample content must be clearly distinguishable from real claims.
- Test fresh copies, permissions, forms, assets, and the update process.
Sources and further reading
Adapted from the original website-business lesson. Ultimate Multisite: site template capabilities