Aside from portfolios, do you show them templates for them to choose one or do you talk them into letting you come up with something for them?

IMO, you should never let them choose between some template you have previously done, cus that would be unprofessional.

if you get to talk to them, they will find out that your commited to giving them a unique website.

but if, on the other hand, your customers don't really know wut they want, i'd guide them through some sites I like myself, showing and explaining the styles and why or why not they should consider gettin one like that.

If you show them other sites on the net then maybe this might be a risk because they might think you will be mimicking these sites and not creating your own?

What is unprofessional about a template ?? A template doesn't HAVE to be one that someone ELSE did, it could be a layout you have done yourself. If they like a layout, then you have reusable code and you just need to customize the graphics and you have a new, unique site.

We often tell our people that if they have sites they've seen on the web that they like the layout or idea of, send us the link so we can see it - then tell us what it is about that site that they like. It will usually give us a better feel to start a new design for them. Some people just have no clue what they want. In any case, you need to find out about their business, what their objectives for the site are, and what it is they want the site to do for them. Then you can develop a couple of designs that best serves their needs.

Personally, I think showing them all options [when they don't know what they want] will work fine whether it's sites from your portfolio, the net or templates. I have one person who wants his site to be exactly like mine so you never know.

A sample from your portfolio can be considered. But to the fact that it will be done the same exact thing, it's a big NO NO.

Also, it is nice to ask for their preferred design pointing to their desired color, style, format and usability..

Agreed, portfolios have their purpose to show the potential customer what you have done but will not help all that much if they want something totally different.

I always start with having the client send me three links of sites they like, but I assure them that I can not and will not copy those. It's just a reference point like Ladynred said. If you don't have that, you may spend 2-3 hours on an aged torn-paper look when the client wanted bold, modern colors. You should emphasize your pride in creating a one-of-a-kind site for any client.

I never use templates or dreamweaver and only code by hand. Though, I have built up my own collection of templates that were never approved for production. So why waste those? The last job I did was for an artist and I had him look at a couple of these "stored" templates I had and he chose one. You see? Now my time spent on creating that template for a previous client had been justified.

I like to browse the internet with my clients and have them pick out 10 or 20 sites that they like alot and pull ideas from that, things that they feel represents a similar feel that their business is trying to hand out. Try to get them involved, ask them about their logo and work with what they can give you. But, some say that's a horrible idea because it makes them have to interact too heavily with what should be your work and can be counter-productive..

But, bear in mind that ultimately, they will be the ones looking at it every day, they need to be somewhat involved. If you spend 10 hours coming up with a plethora of design ideas to present to them, they will pick the one you like least always or worse, not like any of them at all.

Personally I think LadynRed pretty much summed it up, Zeruel mentioned style and colors which are very important also. By spending time on the internet looking at websites with the client is a nice idea also. Even if they pick a website they like, theirs is going to be totally different, they have a different name, business, logo, color, graphics, etc.

I give clients a list of questions such as
are there any sites you like? - in which case I could design something similar but not the same?
what overall look and feel do you want your site to give - eg simple, sophisticated, businesslike, friendly, scientific etc?
are there any colours you like - or dislike?
what is the key message you want your site to get across?
I then offer them 2-3 designs to choose from.

First of all research your client,show him your good variety of samples styles that you think he/she could choose from,but try to be centered on the client's exactly need,show only the works that shows your client that you are up to the task.After that you can research and disuss different elements of samples he/she liked the most and narrow it down and ask freely all the things about the project and get as much info as you can about the task.Hope this helps.