08.04.14 WordPress

Are You Considering Building WordPress Themes and Selling Them Online?

Last month I had the pleasure of speaking at WordCamp Chicago. My presentation was titled Solutions Before Development – Creating WordPress Products That Actually Sell.

If you’re considering building WordPress themes and launching a theme shop, this talk is a must see video for you.

My presentation followed this outline:

The Internal Fight
The Concept Was Simple
In the beginning… We were completely and utterly clueless
At First We Were Just Another WordPress Theme Store
Find Your Niche
Holy Cow, It Worked!
Start With a Plan Evaluate
The Small Town Solution
Develop a Marketing Strategy
Know That Good Design is Critical
Structured Code Was Key
Pay for a True Code Audit
It’s a Team Effort
Use the Right Tools
Understand Your Cost Structure
Plan for Trouble
What WordPress magic will you create?

A video of my presentation was recently uploaded to WordPress.tv and is available for viewing:

If you’d like a very frank discussion of the pros and cons of opening a WordPress theme store, then grab a cup of coffee and have a watch. I talk openly about hurdles we encountered in building WordPress themes and lessons we learned about successfully selling WordPress products.

If you’d like to grab a copy of my presentation slides, they are shown below and available for download at SlideShare.net.

Solutions Before Development: Creating WordPress Products That Actually Sell from Rebecca Gill

If you enjoyed the talk, please consider leaving a review over at WordPress.tv or drop a comment below. I’d love to receive feedback and/or hear any lessons learned you’d like to share with our audience.

Rebecca Gill

Rebecca is the founder and president of Web Savvy Marketing, a Michigan digital marketing agency. She has a well-rounded business background within SMB and enterprise organizations, as well as over fifteen years of experience in sales and online marketing. She provides SEO consulting services for clients and provides SEO coaching on Clarity.fm. Learn more at RebeccaGill.com.

Comments

08.04.14 at 11:24 amcarrie dils says

Rebecca,
Thanks so much for your transparency and tip-sharing when it comes to running a successful theme store. You are amazing!

Cheers,
Carrie
- 08.04.14 at 2:55 pmRebecca Gill says
  
  Says the uber incredible Carrie Dils. I appreciate your personal encouragement to get out and speak at WordCamp’s. =)
08.04.14 at 11:32 amBrenda says

I have just watched this with my morning coffee. It reinforces what I learned this past weekend at WordCamp Columbus. You were really thorough with excellent advice that is applicable to launching any enterprise, not just website themes. Thanks for the insight, and letting us peek into your well-earned success!
- 08.04.14 at 2:57 pmRebecca Gill says
  
  My pleasure Brenda. It’s a bit hard to cover two years of activity in a 45 minutes presentation, so I hope I gave people a good overview of the ups and downs of launching and running a theme store. It’s been a good two years.
08.06.14 at 10:52 amCarlana says

This is so timely. This is something I’ve been pushed to do by niche clients. I find it scary and daunting and maybe something for the future. Who knows. I love your themes and apart from those I have as a StudioPress member, I only purchase from you exclusively. I just trust the themes and the code and they have a nice balance between professionalism and a great look. Thank you for your honesty and the great detail here. Very great stuff.
- 08.06.14 at 3:53 pmRebecca Gill says
  
  Carlana thanks so much for the kind words. I’m very happy you found it helpful. =)
08.06.14 at 9:46 pmMarcus Tibesar says

Great video!

By the way, I have a (broad-market) niche and I have a prototype theme called ‘Family’.

I am looking for someone to partner with who can commercialize said theme and bring it to market.

If you are interested Rebecca, would you please e-mail me?

Again, thanks for a great video on your theme business.
- 08.07.14 at 7:28 amRebecca Gill says
  
  Thanks so much for the comment Marcus and the offer. Unfortunately at this time we are solely focused on promotion of our own internally designed and coded child themes.
  
  Good luck with your venture!
08.07.14 at 10:47 amDonesia Muhammad says

Hi Rebecca, Thank you for a great video. You really gave the reality of what you need to know when creating theme stores. While it is definitely not the easiest thing to acheive, it can be done. I think many marketers would make it seem as you can throw it out there for less than $100 and then be able to stand out from the rest. WRONG.

I would find out so many things along the way that I would say “oh yeah security, oh yeah support, oh yeah developer rights, oh yeah image rights” and so on and so on. Thank you for laying it out. And thank you for taking your themes to a new level of “well I didnt think of those type of themes, smart niche” 🙂