Nowadays, WordPress themes are hot as there are literally tens of thousands of blogs out there changing themes frequently. I had this idea (and probably some others too) way back, but only had the chance to share it with people now. Now this isn’t anything revolutionary or what — it’s something that people have been doing already but you may not have realized it yet.
Now this method of mine needs a decent amount of capital — somewhere around $150 to $500 would suffice. If you’ve got less than that, then you might not be ready for this yet.
What I Do
What I usually do is ask my friends is to check webmaster freelance forums for some designers and give their contacts/instant messenger IDs to me. I couldn’t do it myself because I’m either busy or lazy. You couldn’t blame me for the former, and the more you couldn’t blame me for the latter. It’s just me okay? You have to accept it. I’m not that fond of posting on forums. 😉 Now, you could do this yourself especially if you’ve got time on your hands.
Once I get the designer’s contact details (normally I get to collect everything within 3 hours), I add them all up to (usually) MSN. I interview them — nothing too personal, just things like how long they’ve been doing themes and such, ask for their portfolio, prices, and related stuff. I screen them and choose the best in terms of price and work experience/quality.
After I get to “know” the people I want to work with, I ask them to create 1-2 themes each, depending on their availability and willingness to work. I always make sure that the themes will be usable and fully functional, so if you want to do that too (I bet you wanna), then see this checklist for things that you should look for in WP themes. Usually, I pay around $50-$100 for the themes, and I order 3 to 5 themes at a time. Let’s say you do the same.
Total money spent (assuming each theme is $50 each): $150 to $250
*Note that these themes are not too unique as those cost much more. They’re nice-looking themes which are similar to those themes on WordPress.net that get thousands or at least half a thousand downloads. Sometimes, they’re even better!
After I place my orders, I start getting excited. Kidding. 😛 I wait for them to finish their jobs. Most of the time the themes are finished within three days maximum. I ask for changes which take them less than 24 hours to do. Once all themes are finalized, it’s time to make money!
From here, you can opt to do one of these three things:
Sell the theme with full exclusive rights for a higher price
Decide to make the theme premium and sell licenses
Sell sponsored links and distribute the theme for free
I rarely do #2 as that takes a lot of hard work (promotion, getting a site up for the theme, etc.). What I usually do is sell sponsored links. Now, I don’t sell them myself because I told you that I’m not fond of posting on forums. I commission my friends to sell them for me (if you do it yourself you will make more than I do)!
If your theme is appealing, then sell three sponsor links with a starting bid of $20 and a buy-it-now (BIN) of $50 to $60. More often than not, you’ll be able to get bids in less than 24 hours! I often sell links on themes that cost me $50 for $40 each. Three links = $120, that’s a $70 profit. Not too shabby, huh?
Let me simulate a situation just for you. Say you bought 5 themes for $50 each. You’ve got $250 of expenses. Then you sell three links on each of them, and each link cost $30. Now you have a total revenue of $450. Subtract your expenses and you’ve got a hefty $200 profit. Not bad at all for literally a few not-stressing hours of “work”! I wouldn’t even call it working because all you had to do was talk to the designers and tell them what you want. It’s just like expressing your opinion — with money involved. 😉
Tips on Hiring Designers
Now this might be the hardest part of this moneymaking method. Finding (and eventually hiring) decent designers take time — which is why I just ask my friends to do it for me. 😉 Here are some of my tips on hiring designers.
Check their past design sales (if available). Did their designs sell like pancakes? Or did it take weeks for them to sell? Get a designer whose work can be described by the former.
Ask yourself: If you were a potential sponsor/theme buyer, would you buy the designs that the guy has? If yes, then you’ve found the right person. If no, better look somewhere else…
Don’t hire people who would lessen the quality of work if you pay less. Weird and nasty as it may sound, it happens. Some designers don’t put too much effort if they don’t get paid that much.
One bonus tip: Haggle, but don’t go overboard! Some designers will be willing take a few bucks off their rate if you just ask. Don’t be afraid to ask — there’s nothing to lose and lots to gain!
Summary
To succeed in this business, you must be able to determine which design is good and which is not. That way, you’d be able to hire the most suitable designers. Another thing is you have to have a decent capital. Remember that to make a good amount of money, you also have to shell out a good amount of money! If you have nothing to spend/don’t want to spend, then this business is not for you… yet. 😉