Selling Wordpress Themes As 'Website Design'?

Cool topic. I am in it too. I have just setup my website and now looking for customers.

I offer all-in-one bundle including domain and hosting.

The only thing I found challenging is setup the right prices. I seriously don't know how much to charge them - I have 4 plans - from basic one up to online shop.

It would be awesome if everyone could write down the prices they charge and give some ratio + explain why they charge XX amount of money :)
 
Oh my God, that was a good post/reply. I'm contemplating doing the same thing. I can't pm yet, so I'll ask a few things in here if it's ok. I would like to know what business forms and software would i need to set up a professional looking webdesign - SEO company. I've been in sales and have no prob. asking for the deal, but I have to look like I have it together or no one will give me there business. Also, what is the best wordpress portfolio site to get to display my templates on? What scripts to you use when cold callinig or meeting potential clients? And yes, please let me know of the best methods to getting webdesign seo clients. Is there any automated seo software that will make me a seo king? And also, do you use paypal for recurring online billing? I've heard horror stories about them, but hey, they're free. Thanks in advance
 
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Wow, great ideas here - and here I've been coding in CSS and HTML! Yikes.

I'm wondering though, how do you host the sites? I mean, if they have an existing site and domain it's a no-brainer, but if they don't, do you just purchase a hosting and take care of everything without bothering them with it (and of course, adding the cost into their fee)? Because I often lose people when I mention we'll need hosting and a domain name in addition to the web site creation. I think I'm not simplifying things enough.
 
Thats exactly what I do, then get em on a monthly SEO plan ; ) I just have them pic a color, and I go find a few "examples" I use print screen, then paste in photoshop, throw up a a "your site" text block over the theme name, and then save as jpeg. Works like a charm. I then tell them it will take me 30 days to create, and will cost $500. :cool:

This guy should get neg repped for outright scamming people. I accidentally gave him +10 instead... /fail
 
Hi all!

Is it too late for me to jump in to this cool topic? Some of the ideas here are really good! Thanks for sharing.

Why stop? let's discuss the future of 2013!

Happy holidays everyone!
 
Hi there wplover, im also interested in this thread and just wrote a large post but I can't post it even though it is clean with no links etc as i keep getting this message:

[h=2]Errors[/h][h=3]The following errors occurred with your submission[/h]

...........
 
I tried to write a reply on this thread but it was too big so I made my own topic here: ../making-money/514442-old-noob-ready-get-back-webdesign.html
 
This will work fine. It's important to remember that 99% of your clients don't even know what a "theme" is anyway, and the ones that do couldn't install and customize one.


You could even get a screenshot of a Themeforest theme, and add a few images from their website or their logo or something to it in Photoshop, then show it to them on the iPad. They'll probably be blown away that you have an iPad.


You'll be fine.
 
Exactly what I am looking for. read all the reply's. I am interested to discuss on after sales service on this topic. please guys share your experiences and knowledge on this regard.
 
Hi I'm so interested with this thread. But I saw on themeforest that if you want to resell the themes, you have to buy the Extended License ($2250).. Have you guys ever got a problem with this issue?
 
I do the same with wix websites, except it takes me a few hours and a charge a 500 minimum, then forty an hour for additional services such as photography, SEO, social networking, etc. it's a pretty good gig, I'm now starting to market musicians, djs and other photographers at 20 percent commission, this is only lucrative if you're able to manage multiple clients at once.

keep it up. You'll figure out what's the best for you over time.
 
Interesting thread indeed, I know there is a theme developer site offering full access to all themes for a fixed price.
Someone know the name of the site?

Edit:
Found it, 80 themes for $39
Code:
http://www.elegantthemes.com

Please share if you know more sites like these :)
 
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VERY informative thread, lets revive it and see if we can get some more gold info!

Another place where you get full access to themes other than ElegantThemes, are Woothemes. They are 100% GPL.
 
VERY informative thread, lets revive it and see if we can get some more gold info!

Another place where you get full access to themes other than ElegantThemes, are Woothemes. They are 100% GPL.
There's not much to it. Simply offer a customized website. I recently read about someone using an ugly free WP theme and simply copy & pasted content from the old website. They charged $2000-$3000. If you're going to do something like this, put some real effort into it to make the site look good and making your clients happy, otherwise you won't get far. The client did end up finding out they got ripped off big time and are pursuing legal action (they were promised other basic things that were not delivered). You can offer things besides web designs as well. Look for less saturated services you can offer that may be overlooked.

I PMed some of the people who contributed to this thread a while ago just asking how things were going for them (I checked that they were active). Didn't get a single reply :confused: maybe they thought I was going to ask for help
 
Oh wow, i literally just had this idea and decided to Google it. So glad i found you guys!

I have a couple of Qs regarding legal issues and was wondering if anyone could clear some things up (preferably someone who's had experience with this method).

Do you guys just buy the regular package (themeforest themes) when you buy a theme? And if so are you at all worried about getting sued? I mean, to sell a theme it seems you are required to use the 'Extended Licence'

What is the likelihood of getting 'caught'? And just how severe would the consequences be? Would the authorities be as lenient as they are with video piracy, for example. Obviously i'd only sell to people who aren't clued up on the subject. You wouldn't want to try and sell to any corporations who you'd consider to be in-the-know on this subject. My target audience is most likely people through friends, small local businesses, bands/musicians and models.

Thank you for any answers and help any of you can provide,

-Rez
 
Buy the Regular Licenses. You can just buy a license (per theme) for each client (but no one is stopping you from just reusing the ones you previously bought).
 
If clients ask me if I use themes I advise we either use themes or do custom work, if they wanted custom work the price would be a lot higher and take longer, I explain that using themes means a lot of the development work is done and saves a lot of time, I also explain that even though we use themes we customise them all so you wouldn't recognise it as been the theme, then I show them some sites I've done and they are more than happy, I've never had one come back saying they want it custom done.

most of my clients are from work of mouth, you'll find the happier a client is the more they'll just keep on recommending you,

i do offer hosting which is off a server I have in the uk a 90% of my clients host with me.

im now looking at seo techniques to get additional monthly money from that.
 
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