[Journey] Making 1k a month by creating and selling WordPress Themes

[Welkroo]

Hello BHW,

Today I wanna present you my journey where I want to achieve the goal of at least 1k a month selling WordPress Themes.


Introduction
I am currently 25 years old and since my childhood I am a passionated developer and everything I know today I learned by myself.

When I first learned about IM in the past I started creating niche websites but I knew pretty fast that creating content isn‘t my thing although I loved the development part.


My plan
The plan is pretty straight forward. I develop themes and sell them on Themeforest. Even that I know Themeforest can be very though because of rejections I want to give it a try.

Right know my plan it is to release one theme every 3 months, because developing time takes at least 1-2 months for me depending on the niche and functions I wanna offer.


What I have already done
- Created an author account on themeforest/envato
- Registered a „branding“ domain

And of course I started my first theme a month ago and I am getting close to the final path. I guess I can manage to finish it in the next few days.


What I have to do
- Finishing the first theme (should not take to long)
- When the theme is done I need to create the demo content and the documentations before uploading on themeforest.


My goal
My current main goal is it to earn 1k a month because I do not want to set my goals to high. If I am gonna reach it I may scale everything up

[] - first sale
[] - 100$
[] - 250$
[] - 500$
[] - 1000$

So now wish me luck and pray that I will not get a hard rejection for my first theme

 

[Professor7]

Wow, This journey is different than others' journeys. Keep us updated. Curious to see the result after your theme gets accepted by ThemeForest. Good luck with your journey mate.

 

[Leader777]

So now wish me luck and pray that I will not get a hard rejection for my first theme

I wish u the best.

- Created an author account on themeforest/envato

To be frank with u , depend on how u see it but I will suggest that you either at first give the theme to some people for free vs they have to post a review on themeforest or envato. You are competing with big guys , if you find a way to buy reviews, buy them.

 

[Zakch93]

OP can you just take an existing plugin tweak a few things and publish it as a novel plugin?

 

[mrnixdorf]

Good luck op with your Journey, just don't share your theme or plugins here, else you will find them in the Deleted member 752298 lol

 

[Welkroo]

I wish u the best.


To be frank with u , depend on how u see it but I will suggest that you either at first give the theme to some people for free vs they have to post a review on themeforest or envato. You are competing with big guys , if you find a way to buy reviews, buy them.

I will consider in doing this but right know I did not think of because my main focus is to get the first one approved and then I may consider buying reviews or giving the theme for a review.

OP can you just take an existing plugin tweak a few things and publish it as a novel plugin?

I dont think this is allowed and I am not selling plugins them self but only themes which may need some plugins for additional functionality which I need to pack in plugins.

Good luck op with your Journey, just don't share your theme or plugins here, else you will find them in the Deleted member 752298 lol

haha yes I hope he will be kind with me lol and thanks for the good luck

 

[B17zr]

you came a long way from Adult + CPA YT, in the past those are good days indeed

Wish you best luck

 

[GenesisOne]

Hello BHW,

Today I wanna present you my journey where I want to achieve the goal of at least 1k a month selling WordPress Themes.


Introduction
I am currently 25 years old and since my childhood I am a passionated developer and everything I know today I learned by myself.

When I first learned about IM in the past I started creating niche websites but I knew pretty fast that creating content isn‘t my thing although I loved the development part.


My plan
The plan is pretty straight forward. I develop themes and sell them on Themeforest. Even that I know Themeforest can be very though because of rejections I want to give it a try.

Right know my plan it is to release one theme every 3 months, because developing time takes at least 1-2 months for me depending on the niche and functions I wanna offer.


What I have already done
- Created an author account on themeforest/envato
- Registered a „branding“ domain

And of course I started my first theme a month ago and I am getting close to the final path. I guess I can manage to finish it in the next few days.


What I have to do
- Finishing the first theme (should not take to long)
- When the theme is done I need to create the demo content and the documentations before uploading on themeforest.


My goal
My current main goal is it to earn 1k a month because I do not want to set my goals to high. If I am gonna reach it I may scale everything up

[] - first sale
[] - 100$
[] - 250$
[] - 500$
[] - 1000$

So now wish me luck and pray that I will not get a hard rejection for my first theme

I think you can do that much and more just offering personalizad theme tweaks or extra functionalities with your skills.
Still it's great to build a reputation on ThemeForest.
Best of luck in your journey, kid.

 

[Deleted member 752298]

Good luck with your journey man.

ThemeForest can be a pain in the ass of approval. Make sure that your core code is readable.

 

[rafark]

You’re in for a rough ride. I’ve been rejected several times. If we consider the shitty review process, the low traffic, stupidly high fees (you’ll be making only $25-30 per copy sold + you’ll have to invest in ads), and lack of pricing tiers, it’s not worth it. But good luck. That’s what the review process is, just luck.

 

[Welkroo]

Good luck with your journey man.

ThemeForest can be a pain in the ass of approval. Make sure that your core code is readable.

Thank you mate! I try my best and please don‘t share it later in your vault xD

You’re in for a rough ride. I’ve been rejected several times. If we consider the shitty review process, the low traffic, stupidly high fees (you’ll be making only $25-30 per copy sold + you’ll have to invest in ads), and lack of pricing tiers, it’s not worth it. But good luck. That’s what the review process is, just luck.

I heard already that it can be pretty rough. But as I mentioned I will try my best.
May I know why your theme got rejected?
Thanks anyway

 

[Deleted member 752298]

Thank you mate! I try my best and please don‘t share it later in your vault

I won't for sure. If you send me the theme name through PM - I can upload it and make it featured with a payment link to your ThemeForest page.

 

[lilRichez]

Good luck man

 

[SOCOM]

This is a really different journey. Best of luck on that approval. Try to appeal to a subniche so it's easier to rank

 

[DanDD]

Good luck, i wanted to give it a try but my lack of beautiful design(ui) and such put me down. How are you handling this part?

 

[Welkroo]

This is a really different journey. Best of luck on that approval. Try to appeal to a subniche so it's easier to rank

Thank you my first theme is more general but I consider to go in more specific niches in the future.

Good luck, i wanted to give it a try but my lack of beautiful design(ui) and such put me down. How are you handling this part?

Yes I am not a perfect designer as well but I guess I can handle to create good looking designs with the help of inspirations from dribbble and other themes already up on themeforest

Good luck man

Thank you mate

 

[Welkroo]

SMALL UPDATE

Since my last post I came across some issues and the development part will take longer as expected. Also I started it from scratch again a week ago or so because I was not happy at all with my structure etc... Kinda sad because previously the main functionality was already done. But while I wanted to add more options and different layout options I noticed that my structure was not good at all to maintain the code readable... so a little step back but a lesson learned

Currently I am done with the header part of the theme including navigation, theme options etc...


If anyone is interested I can provide some screenshots from the customizer (theme options and so on) in the next post...

Sorry for not giving you better news this time.

 

[WhiteHatCoder]

As pointed out above, this is a highly competing niche, a lot of big guys,
you won't make any progress without firstly buying some reviews,
giving away themes for free and so on.

Maybe this can be nice side hustle if you make a lot of themes that are
a similar design for a specific niche aka cartoon or something similar.

Also, you would probably need licenses from Freepik & Flaticon.

So in the first few months, I would expect higher costs than earnings.

It can blow up, but a lot of luck is needed for that to happen.

I would rather offer to make child themes, customizations, and similar services
as suggested.

Good Luck.

 

[Dopious]

If anyone is interested I can provide some screenshots from the customizer (theme options and so on) in the next post...

Please do .. =)

 

[Welkroo]

As pointed out above, this is a highly competing niche, a lot of big guys,
you won't make any progress without firstly buying some reviews,
giving away themes for free and so on.

Maybe this can be nice side hustle if you make a lot of themes that are
a similar design for a specific niche aka cartoon or something similar.

Also, you would probably need licenses from Freepik & Flaticon.

So in the first few months, I would expect higher costs than earnings.

It can blow up, but a lot of luck is needed for that to happen.

I would rather offer to make child themes, customizations, and similar services
as suggested.

Good Luck.

Thanks for your response and I can truly understand your doubts, but I want to give it a try and even if the sales are not going well or themeforest will not accept any of my themes at least I know that I did not waste my time because I learn a lot from it as developer (since javascript is not my strength I saw already a descend progression on that side)

Please do .. =)

I will when I giving the next updates