Congratulations on purchasing your new Showit template! No matter what kind of business you run, choosing Showit is a great decision. But buying the template is just the first step. Now comes the fun (and sometimes overwhelming) part — getting it ready to go live. Before you launch your new site to the world, there are a few important steps you’ll want to take to make sure your template feels like your own, looks polished, and is set up for success.
Step 1: Decide to DIY Customization vs Hire a Designer
When you buy a Showit template, the first step is deciding how you’ll bring it to life. Do you want to customize it yourself or hire a designer to handle it for you? Both options work, but they come with different pros and cons.
Should You Hire a Professional to Customize Your Template?
| Option | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| DIY Customization | – Cheaper -you only pay for the template. – Full creative control over every detail. – You’ll learn how Showit works as you go. | – Time-consuming and sometimes frustrating. – Easy to get stuck without design experience. – Risk of your site looking too “template-y” or inconsistent. |
| Hiring a Designer | – Saves time — your site can be ready faster. – A polished, professional look that feels unique. – Designers know SEO, mobile layouts, and best practices. – They can add extra features you might not know how to. | – Higher upfront cost. – Less hands-on if you enjoy DIY projects. – Requires clear communication of your vision to avoid misalignment. |
👉 If hiring sounds like the better option, you can explore vetted experts who specialize in Showit template customization inside the Creative Designer Directory.
If you choose to do it yourself, check out some of the free resources to learn how to use Showit.
Hire a Designer to Customize Your Template
( Studio Day. )
Website Template Customization
Let us Customize one of our templates to match your brand
Step 1. Set Up Your Showit Account
Before you can do anything with your new template, you’ll need a Showit account. Showit offers three different pricing options depending on how you plan to use your site.
- Basic: Best for simple websites without a blog.
- Showit + Basic Blog: Great if you want a blog but don’t need advanced features.
- Showit + Advanced Blog: The best choice if you plan to take blogging seriously, with full WordPress flexibility.
👉 You can check out the current pricing plans here: Showit Pricing.
If blogging is going to be a key part of your business growth, I recommend going with the Advanced Blog plan so you don’t run into limitations later.
💡 Bonus tip: Use this Showit Discount Link to receive your first month for free.

Step 2. Gather Your Brand Assets
Before you dive into customizing your Showit template, you’ll want to have your brand assets ready to go. This will make the design process smoother and help your site look consistent and professional.
- Logo files (in different formats for light and dark backgrounds).
- Color palette (usually 3–5 main colors).
- Fonts that reflect your brand personality.
- Photography and graphics that match your visual style.
If you don’t have branding in place yet, this is the perfect time to get it done. Strong branding makes your website look polished and trustworthy. Consistency boosts revenue. Businesses that maintain a consistent brand presentation across all touchpoints report revenue growth of 10–20 percent, and **33 percent of companies say brand consistency alone boosted their revenue by 20 percent or more.
👉 You can hire a professional brand designer to create your logo, colors, fonts, and visual identity through the Creative Designer Directory.
Should You Hire a Brand Designer?
| Option | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| DIY Branding | – Budget-friendly if you’re just starting out. – Full creative control over your colors, fonts, and logo. – Faster to get something in place without waiting on a designer. | – Risk of looking inconsistent or unprofessional. – Can take lots of time without the right tools or design skills. – May not resonate with your ideal audience. |
| Hiring a Brand Designer | – Gives you a polished, professional look that builds trust. – Cohesive brand identity with logo, colors, fonts, and style guide. – Saves time and ensures your branding appeals to your target audience. | – Higher upfront cost. – Less hands-on if you enjoy DIY. – Turnaround time depends on the designer’s schedule. |
Hire a Brand Designer
Step 3. Website Content — the Words For Your Website
You’ve got your Showit template installed and your brand assets ready. Now it’s time to tackle the words on your site. Whether you choose to write the copy yourself or hire a pro, the words you choose can make or break your website’s effectiveness.
Why the Words Matter
- A whopping 74 percent of web users pay close attention to the quality of spelling and grammar, and 59 percent would avoid buying from a company with obvious mistakes. That means typos can cost you trust and conversions before users even give your design a chance.
- People don’t actually read your website—they scan it. Most visitors only spend about 15 seconds on a page, and only 28 percent of the content gets read. That means you need to make your headlines, key messages, and call-to-action buttons count.
Great copy isn’t just words—it’s your 24/7 salesperson. It builds credibility, guides your visitor’s journey, helps with SEO, and ultimately persuades them to take action.
What is a Copywriter?
A copywriter is the person who writes the words (also called “copy”) that bring your website to life. Unlike a novelist or blogger who might focus on storytelling, a copywriter’s job is to craft words that sell, persuade, and connect. They take your brand’s personality, your audience’s needs, and your business goals, then turn that into messaging that feels natural but also converts visitors into clients.
If you’d rather not spend hours wrestling with headlines, calls-to-action, or “About” page wording, you can bring in an expert.
👉 Check out professional copywriters who specialize in Showit websites here: Showit Copywriting Services.
Should You Hire a Copywriter?
| Option | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| DIY Copywriting | – Free (aside from your time). – You know your business best and can write in your own voice. – Quick to draft if you don’t overthink it. | – Time-consuming and often stressful. – Risk of grammar errors or unclear messaging. – May not be optimized for SEO or conversions. |
| Hiring a Copywriter | – Professional, polished content tailored to your audience. – Optimized for SEO and conversions. – Saves you time so you can focus on your business. – Can capture your brand voice and make it consistent across pages. | – Higher upfront cost. – Less personal control over exact wording. – Requires collaboration and clear feedback to nail your voice. |
Hire a Copywriter
Step 4. Customize Your Website
This is the stage where your Showit template stops looking like a template and starts becoming your website. Whether you’re doing it yourself or hiring a Showit designer, the goal is to make the design feel polished, professional, and uniquely yours.
If You’re Doing It Yourself
- Replace images and text: Start swapping out the stock photos and placeholder text with your own. Use high-quality brand photos where possible.
- Match your branding: Update fonts, colors, and logos to reflect your brand assets.
- Keep layouts consistent: Don’t over-clutter pages. Less is more when it comes to clean, easy-to-scan design.
- Think mobile first: Showit lets you design separately for desktop and mobile. Always check how everything looks on a phone, since most users will visit your site that way.
If You Hire a Designer
A Showit designer can do all of the above for you, plus:
- Add advanced customizations to make the site stand out.
- Ensure design choices align with user experience best practices.
- Optimize mobile layouts and test site responsiveness.
- Set up technical pieces like forms, integrations, and SEO basics.
What is User Experience (UX)?
User experience, often shortened to UX, is all about how easy and enjoyable it is for someone to interact with your website. It covers everything from how simple the navigation is, to how quickly the site loads, to whether visitors can find the information they came for. A good UX means your visitors won’t get frustrated, and they’re more likely to stay on your site, explore your services, and take action (like booking or buying).
- When customizing your site, ask yourself:
- Does the layout feel intuitive, or does it make visitors work too hard?
- Can users easily find what they need in the menu?
- Are your call-to-action buttons easy to spot?
👉 If you’d like a professional to handle your customization, check out vetted experts in the Creative Designer Directory.
Step 5. SEO and GEO
Do you want your website to appear on the first page of Google and even show up in LLM results like ChatGPT? That’s where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) come in.
SEO makes your site visible in traditional search results, while GEO helps position your content for AI-driven search. Both are important if you want your website to get found, not just look good.
Even though SEO is an ongoing process, there are several essentials you should set up before launching your site:
Your Launch SEO Checklist
- Titles & Meta Descriptions: Add unique, keyword-rich titles and meta descriptions to each page.
- Image Optimization: Compress images and add descriptive alt text for accessibility and search engines.
- URL Structure: Make sure your URLs are short, clean, and keyword-friendly.
- Internal Links: Link your pages together so search engines (and users) can easily navigate.
- Schema Markup: Add structured data (like LocalBusiness schema) to help Google and AI tools understand your site better.
- Sitemaps: Upload your sitemap to both Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools so your pages can be crawled and indexed.
- Analytics Setup: Install Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Search Console to track traffic and conversions.
Should You Hire An SEO Expert?
| Option | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| DIY SEO | – Free to get started with tools like Google Analytics and Search Console. – You stay fully in control of your content and strategy. – Great learning opportunity if you want to understand SEO yourself. | – Results take time and can be frustrating. – Easy to miss technical steps like schema, sitemaps, or site speed fixes. – Harder to stay on top of new updates in Google and AI-driven search. |
| Hiring an SEO Specialist | – Professional setup of SEO foundations (titles, meta, schema, analytics, sitemaps). – Strategy tailored to your business and goals. – Can optimize for both traditional search (Google, Bing) and generative AI tools like ChatGPT. – Saves you time so you can focus on running your business. | – Higher upfront investment. – SEO is ongoing, so you may need long-term support. – Requires trust and communication to align with your goals. |
👉 Check out professional SEO’s who specialize in Showit websites here: Showit SEO Services
Hire a SEO Specialist
Step 6. Add Legal Pages
They’re not glamorous, but legal pages are essential for building trust and protecting your business. In many cases, they’re also legally required. At minimum, your site should include:
- Privacy Policy
Explains how you collect, use, and protect user data. Required if you’re running email marketing, analytics, or have visitors from regions with privacy laws like the EU (GDPR) or California (CCPA). - Terms & Conditions
Outlines the rules for using your website, covering things like intellectual property, disclaimers, and liability limits. It helps protect you if a customer disputes something. - Cookie Policy/Notice
If your site uses cookies (and most do if you’re running analytics or ads), a cookie notice lets visitors know and gives them a choice to accept or decline.
Adding these pages doesn’t have to be complicated. You can use a generator, purchase templates, or have a legal professional create them for you. Once set up, link them in your website footer so they’re always accessible.
Step 7. Test, Test, Test
Before you hit publish, take time to go through your website carefully. Testing makes sure everything works smoothly for visitors and avoids any launch-day surprises.
Your Pre-Launch Testing Checklist
- Links & Navigation
- Click every link in your menus, buttons, and footer.
- Make sure internal links go to the right pages.
- Test external links (like social media) to confirm they open correctly.
- Forms & Sign-Ups
- Fill out your contact form and check if the message arrives in your inbox.
- Test your newsletter or lead magnet sign-up form.
- Try submitting forms on both desktop and mobile.
- Mobile Responsiveness
- View your site on multiple devices (phone, tablet, desktop).
- Double-check spacing, font sizes, and image scaling.
- Loading Speed
- Test how quickly your site loads.
- Compress images if needed to speed things up.
- Remember, users won’t wait around for a slow site.
- Content Readability
- Check headings and paragraphs for clarity and flow.
- Make sure text isn’t too small or hard to read on mobile.
- Accessibility
- Add alt text to images.
- Ensure buttons and links have clear labels.
- Test with keyboard navigation if possible.
- Overall Flow
- Pretend you’re a first-time visitor: is it easy to figure out what you do, who you serve, and how to work with you?
Testing might not feel as exciting as design, but it’s the step that makes your site feel polished and professional once it’s live.
Step 8. Connect Your Domain
This is the final step before your website goes live. Connecting your custom domain makes your site accessible to the world, and setting up analytics ensures you can track who’s visiting and how they’re using your site.
Connecting Your Domain
- If you’re DIY’ing, you’ll need to connect your purchased domain (from providers like Google Domains, Namecheap, or GoDaddy) to Showit.
- Inside Showit, go to Site Settings → Domain Settings and follow the prompts. You’ll update your DNS records with your domain registrar to point them to Showit.
- Don’t worry if this feels confusing — Showit has excellent customer support and step-by-step guides to walk you through the process.
👉 If you’ve hired a Showit designer, they’ll usually handle this part for you so you don’t have to stress.
Conclusion
Buying a Showit template is just the beginning — the real magic happens in how you customize it, fill it with words that connect, and prepare it to shine online. From setting up your Showit account, gathering your brand assets, and writing (or outsourcing) powerful copy, through to SEO, legal pages, testing, and launching, each step helps you move from “template” to “professional website that works for your business.”
The good news? You don’t have to do it alone. If you’d rather skip the stress and focus on what you do best, you can hire professionals to help with branding, copywriting, SEO, or template customization. You’ll find vetted experts ready to make your site look polished and perform beautifully in the Creative Designer Directory.
Your Showit website is more than a design — it’s your online home. Take the time to set it up right, and you’ll have a site that not only looks good but also gets found, builds trust, and helps you grow your business

Comments