Sometimes content marketers forget that content isn’t only a game for wordsmiths.
In fact, there’s a thriving community of visual content creators who have built robust businesses around what they do. And one of the most scaleable ways to do that is to craft high-quality premium WordPress themes.
But there’s a lot more to it than “build something beautiful and the customers will show up.”
In this post, I want to talk about what it takes to succeed as a WordPress theme designer in today’s environment.
Once upon a time, all WordPress themes were free. The robust open-source CMS (content management system) attracted enthusiasts of all kinds, who made themes that looked good and suited different tastes.
Today, WordPress has grown to power a quarter of the world’s websites — and premium (paid) themes are the norm for professionals, businesses, serious bloggers, and even passionate hobbyists.
That wealth of premium themes poses a new challenge for designers: the sheer number of great-looking themes out there. There’s more competition than ever, and a lot of them are gorgeous
But : there’s still room for someone with solid design skills to make a name (and a great business) as a theme designer. And it starts by thinking as a business owner first.
Here are five points of focus on your path to building your premium theme empire …
#1: Business know-how
No matter what kind of digital business you might want to build — and WordPress themes fall squarely into this category — you