free wp themes = money ???

[nasko4]

Hello to my big BHW Family,

I would like to ask you something that I have wondered a lot and I have searched all the net about it and couldn't find the right answer.

A lot of people are giving away free wp themes ( in forums, websites etc). How exactly are those people making money? Because I love designing stuff and now I'm making my first wp themes. I would like to know what opportunities for moneymaking are there I hope someone will help me with that

 

[topsytips]

Most free WP themes have a link in the footer back to the designers site which, over time, should help drive traffic to their site and revenue from premium themes and /or adsense etc.

I guess it may also be an ego thing to see your web design on loads of sites, but, if your design is good, then it will also build your reputation as a designer.

I've also seen loads of free apps with an option to make a donation.

It's very similar to giving away a free ebook with the ultimate aim of making a sale.

 

[Dillmando]

To add on to what topsytips said, it also gives you a backlink for every person that uses your theme.

 

[optiwebber]

If you look on DP - designers sell the links on the footer - I've seen good designs getting $200 just to put links in the footer

 

[nasko4]

Thanks for the answers It really sounds good but are those backlinks that I will get worth some money or how can I montize that ?

 

[GreyWolf]

Thanks for the answers It really sounds good but are those backlinks that I will get worth some money or how can I montize that ?

If the free themes become popular and have your backlink in the footer, it will drive some traffic to your website. As the number or sites grow, so do you backlinks which will help with the pr of your own site. If any of the sites using your them gain pr, then that helps your pr even more.

The way you monetize it is by monetizing your website. Either by putting adsense on it, having even better themes that you sell, sell other products, or sell advertizing. As your website becomes more popular because of the quality of your themes, you get more traffic which makes more sales for the advertising or products on your site.

 

[nasko4]

If the free themes become popular and have your backlink in the footer, it will drive some traffic to your website. As the number or sites grow, so do you backlinks which will help with the pr of your own site. If any of the sites using your them gain pr, then that helps your pr even more.

The way you monetize it is by monetizing your website. Either by putting adsense on it, having even better themes that you sell, sell other products, or sell advertizing. As your website becomes more popular because of the quality of your themes, you get more traffic which makes more sales for the advertising or products on your site.

One HUGE THANK YOU I'm going to make themes now Can I sell the backlinks somehow?

 

[GreyWolf]

One HUGE THANK YOU I'm going to make themes now Can I sell the backlinks somehow?

Try monetizing the site with adsense first. Use the free themes as an incentive to get traffic.

After your themes are being distrubuted and gaining some popularity, then you could possibly sell advertising in the theme footers, but until you have a lot of your themes being used there isn't much value to an advertiser.

If you want to prepare for that possibility, you could put some kind of an include code in the footer. Until you gain popularity, the code can just push an affiliate link or banner, but after you have enough of the free themes being used, then you could switch it to paid advertisements and push them to all the theme footers that are already out there. This would be in addition to a standard copyright link back to your website

That is a way to sell the same themes as well. Include a switch in the code to turn off the advertisement banner. Users can use it for free with an advertisement banner in the footer, or pay for an upgrade that turns off the ads banner.

 

[nasko4]

Nice And how can I track if the theme is used or not? Because I have a lot of themes that I have downloaded for free but I don't use all of them. So is there a way to put a code or something to track if they are used or not.

Can you explain about the include code that you mean in the footer ?

 

[Danios]

interesting topic