wordcamp 2012 riaan knoetze - how to hijack a themeshop
DESCRIPTION
Starting a WordPress theme shop is tough these days. The sheer number of competitors in the market are immense. This talk explores skills and practical considerations required to successfully distribute commercial themes and other ways to profit from child theme development.TRANSCRIPT
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Background & History● No formal web dev/design training
● Brief educational background
● What I'm NOT:
○ Programming Ninja
○ Marketing Guru
○ Graphic Designer
● What I AM:○ Decent Front End Dev
○ Know what I like
○ Chaser of Passive Income
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Premium Theme Market Issues● Crowded
● High Barrier to Entry
○ Skills
○ Support Infrastructure
○ Cost to get help
● Getting feet to your website
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Possible Solution: Hijacking● No actual crime involved
● Build of childthemes / plugins
● Leveraging existing themeshop infrastructure
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What is a Child Theme?● Wordpress hierarchy - how things fit together
● Opinion:
○ Childthemes = look & feel change
○ Plugins = adds / removes functionality
○ Affects support requirements
● Why I chose child theme product development? Skills
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Examples - Classipress● Gumtree on Wordpress
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http://demos.appthemes.com/classipress/
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http://classipress-child.tinygiantstudios.co.uk/
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http://classipress-child.tinygiantstudios.co.uk/
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Examples - Jobroller● Wordpress Job Board
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Prima Screenshots
http://demos.appthemes.com/jobroller/
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Prima Screenshots
http://jrchild.tinygiantstudios.co.uk
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http://eva.tinygiantstudios.co.uk
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Hijack 101 - Tools / Skills / Knowledge● Skills
○ Basic PHP
○ WP theme file hierarchy
○ HTML / CSS / jQuery
● Tools
○ Text Editor
○ Graphic Design thingamabob
○ A website to showcase (and sell)
● Knowledge
○ What is happening in WP Market
○ Top tier themeshops
Resources
● lynda.com● teamtreehouse.com● Digging into Wordpress● Wordpress Tutsplus● Nettuts● Web Design Tuts● Themeforest● Code Canyon● WP Codex● PHP Novice to Ninja● jQuery Novice to Ninja● Sublime Text 2● Notepad++● Photoshop● Fireworks● pixlr.com
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Hijack 101 - Pick a Target● How to select a themeshop to hijack
○ Poor theme design
○ Poor theme functions
○ Poor theme support
○ Unanswered User Requests
○ Active user base / showcase
○ Themeshops by Size
○ Themeshop support
Personal Experience
Research
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Hijack 101 - Execute Your Plan● The Legwork
○ Handcoding HTML/CSS/jQuery
○ Use existing CSS files from parent
○ Use CSS3
○ Add spice to CORE theme features
○ Keeps things as modular as possible
○ Advanced: Learn Hooks / Filters
● Testing
○ Find trusted users with field experience
○ Bug logging system
○ Reward testers
Resources
● Designshack● CSSWizardry● Supportpress● Github● Google Docs● Bugherd
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Hijack 101 - Get Cash for your Stash● Demo Setup (With Google Analytics)
● Product Screenshots / Box Cover
● Get a Marketplace
○ Own Website
○ Official Marketplace
○ 3rd Party Marketplace
● Start Marketing
○ Support forum / forum signature
○ Blog comments
○ Email Newsletters
○ Asking official recommendation
○ "Buy Now" links on demo's
○ Social Media stuff
○ Listen to / contact the experts
Remember
● Currency● Tax Laws● Privacy Policy● Terms & Conditions● Hosting & Bandwidth
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Hijack 202 - Aftersales Support● Develop your own support system (e.g. forum /
ticket based / email)
● Why?
○ Key to future sales
○ Key to user driven marketing
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Hijack 202 - Making it LegitHijackers (child theme developers)
● Getting themeshop backing
● Joining themeshop marketplace
○ Reduces infrastructure requirements
● Becoming certified partner
● Drawback: Revenue split
Hijackees (themeshops)
● Expanded product offering
● Passive income
● Employee screener
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My Own Experience with AppThemes● 1st premium child theme early 2011
● Marketing = Forum signatures
● AppThemes Stalker
● Currently 8 Products total
● Joined AppTheme marketplace in Aug 2012
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Making it Official - Joining AppThemes● Front End Developer
● Inside access to upcoming AppThemes products
● Still based in South Africa
● Still earning in USD = Passive Income
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Questions
http://tinygiantstudios.co.uk/
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Example - Vantage● Wordpress - Business Directory Listings
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http://demos.appthemes.com/vantage/
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http://vantage-child.tinygiantstudios.co.uk/