- Become an Author
- Who Needs Marketplaces And Why
- Products to Sell in TemplateMonster Marketplace
- Becoming a TemplateMonster Author
- Selling & Promoting Your Theme
- Start Getting Money with TemplateMonster
- Commissions to Sell WordPress Themes in the Marketplace
- What Are the Other Leading Marketplaces?
- Sell WordPress Themes Successfully - Follow Web Design Trends
- The Newest WordPress Themes
Being the most popular platform, now WordPress powers almost 35% of today’s websites. It includes nearly 15% of the world’s top online projects and 22% of the best 1 million eCommerce sites globally. There are more than 55.000 WP add-ons and many other supporting tools. The platform indeed becomes more and more popular that affects the number of WP-based products. So, how to sell WordPress themes when this niche appears to be highly competitive?
Many years from now, TemplateMonster was one of the first resources to share and vend templates. Several years ago, the company became an official marketplace that offers multiple digital options, including templates, plugins, and graphics. In case you wish to know where to sell and buy WordPress themes, this post is just what the doctor ordered!
Become an Author
Nowadays, even starters understand that becoming an author at a proven store is the best way to promote. You already have a loyal auditory with it. Besides, joining makes designers and developers meet particular quality standards, which are critical for newbies. You have new ways to showcase your layouts, plugins, illustrations, or any other digital products. For example, if you decided to sell WordPress themes online with us, you have the next options to promote:
- A 6-million yearly customer base who already ensure our quality.
- Including best-sellers and displaying them on the homepage.
- Taking part in sales - discounts, counters, and other elements to catch a prospect’s attention.
- Promote your item on the company YouTube channel, including the overview, your name, link to your account, and other works.
- Making it a part of a bundle related to Halloween, holidays, or another special occasion.
- Adding your product to the ONE Subscription that now has 1394 WP models.
- Creating new template categories to become a pioneer in your niche, etc.
Among the other benefits of being an author, there are higher commissions for selling exclusively and vendor-driven prices. But do you actually need help to promote WordPress designs? Let’s see.
Who Needs Marketplaces And Why
Before answering these questions, let’s see the advantages one gets when sells on a marketplace.
Ready-to-Buy Audience
Most of the modern platforms have a satisfied audience. These people visit them regularly (e.g., TemplateMonster has 2 million visitors monthly) and already trust the offers’ quality. So, once they require a new template or plugin, prospects go there instead of looking for each option separately on the Internet. And here are your potential customers. By joining a marketplace, you don’t have to spend big money on eCommerce purposes. Crafting high-quality items and choosing the right niche for them is all you have to do.
If you are wondering where to sell WordPress themes, keep in mind that shopping here should be similar to a big mall. Customers prefer it for some reasons, including options variety, quality guarantees, loyal support, and the ability to find the necesary stuff at the drop of a hat. Like a large mall, it offers everything under one roof that gives you more chances to find new customers.
A Ton of New Eyeballs
Marketplaces have the ability to very quickly direct large amounts of traffic and help new products get many new eyeballs right out the gate. In many cases, those potential customers would not have come across that theme outside of that marketplace, and naturally, some of those visitors will convert into a sale.
In that aspect, marketplaces are similar to a large mall, in which many people prefer to do their shopping just because it centralizes many different shops within it. Inside a shopping mall, people don’t have to cover large distances when checking out different stores, just like a marketplace diminishes the need to explore various theme shop websites, offering everything under one roof.
It Makes Author’s Life Easier
Another undeniable advantage of being an author is that you don’t need to take care of different technical processes. All of these allow web designers and developers to focus on the creation process fully. For example, we take care of receiving payments when visitors want to buy your model, providing them with different payment methods, etc. We also handle the fulfillment to the buyers, sending updates and other time-demanding actions.
Marketplaces really make a theme seller’s life easier as they will usually handle most of the “meta” in the business, leaving you able to focus on creating themes (the actual product). This means they will take care of receiving payments when someone wishes to buy one of your themes. They also handle the fulfillment of your digital files to those customers (including version updates). While this is all possible to do on your own, it is indeed a major time and effort saver, allowing you to step into the court and immediately start playing.
So, you buy and sell WordPress themes without trouble. No matter what aspect you work with, you would quickly vend them when they meet the latest web design criteria.
Professional Demo & Code Review
Ready-made audience and saving your time is important, especially when it comes to online sales. However, there are some more things to consider when entering the global market. When it comes to vending a digital product, you have to ensure that its demo is quality enough to grab the viewer’s attention. It would help you to show how the template would look in action. Unlike on the official WP site, promoting your model with us allows customizing demos.
The next critical thing is coding. We provide vendors with expert reviews. Professionals would inspect the source code to ensure it is 100% committed to site-building quality standards. So, developers and studios see how effective joining a platform might be for sales.
Standardized Pricing
If you sell themes on marketplaces you’ll quickly find that the pricing is pretty much standardized and monitored on most of them. How is that an advantage you ask? Well, in the past, you would have been able to join the notorious “race to the bottom” and sell your theme for a very low price (usually just to build your name and climb to the top). Sellers’ and buyers’ motivations were not aligned on this, as sellers don’t want price transparency because they don’t want to make it easy for buyers to compare prices, thus leading to a decrease in prices within their vertical market. Buyers, on the other hand, want exactly that.
It seems like ever since standardization knocked on the door things entered into a certain order, and they are now better aligned with marketplace reality and with the value that the theme is capable of providing for its potential target audience.
More Ideas
Working with a marketplace means you get access to the community of today’s creators. You may study other templates that are similar to yours by features or layout. It allows learning from other colleagues, as you are free to exchange thoughts and even find some interesting new ideas for future items. Even if you don’t have many sales initially, it is still essential to keep up with recent trends, new technologies, and customer requirements.
What to Sell in TemplateMonster?
Although TemplateMonster was the first template creator hitting the market almost 20 years ago, we still continuously grow. We accept multiple types and always looking for new categories. Anyone can sell WordPress themes and other digital goods with us. Meeting the quality requirements is all you need to do to start. Here are some types available for upload:
- Website templates;
- Plugins, add-ons, and other extensions;
- Presentation templates in PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides format;
- CV, business card, invitation, and other types of templates;
- Vectors, illustrations, fonts, logos, and anything else related to graphic design.
As you see, we work not with CMS templates only. We also offer:
- WooCommerce;
- Shopify;
- MotoCMS;
- Magento;
- OpenCart;
- HTML;
- Drupal;
- Joomla;
- PrestaShop, and other popular platforms.
There are options for almost any business niche, from sports equipment to recipe web pages. However, if you consider matching an entirely new group, send us a request. We are currently collecting the audio, including SFX, background music, logos, and idents. To open a new category, you should do the next.
- Collect at least 10-15 graphics or ten templates for your category.
- Check if the items meet quality standards.
- Send your request (including the info) to marketplace@templatemonster.com.
- Use “New product category” for a subject line.
Becoming a TemplateMonster Author
How to sell WordPress themes online with us? Follow this quick guide to join the community.
- Set up your user account;
- Verify it;
- Log in and find the “Become an author” tab;
- Select the name for your page or brand (it appears under all of your items);
- Upload the project archive;
- Fill in the details and click on “Submit for review”;
- Wait for a notification, and click on the link to see your product ready-to-go.
Selling & Promoting
Pre-sales preparation might be the most crucial step to make prospects notice your design. Here are the details you need to provide a template:
- Source .zip files;
- Eye-catching preview;
- Full documentation;
- The name.
Above, you see the example of a successful promo image. It is colorful but not too mosaic. The colors are trendy and competently selected. They harmonize with each other to create a beautiful contrast. This picture of Monstroid2 contains all the must-have visual details, including the next:
- The name;
- Short description;
- Platform name;
- Several templates’ previews;
- Creator name;
- Most important plugins;
- Number of skins;
- Top features.
Just after the creation of your account, click the plus-shaped button. Then you choose the category (make sure you select the suitable option, as it influences the view quantity) and upload it. Provide all the required information, including description. We suggest creating a unique one to attract prospects’ attention. Then set the price for your template and click on the “Send” button.
We usually review upload requests within 7 days. You get the notification once your item appears in the store gallery. The good news is that the company provides all newbies with an automatic boost within 2 weeks. It is free and helps in encouraging traffic, which is a great way to start trading. You should view the statistics to see how progress moves.
The rest of the process is up to you, but we recommend you to start working on the product promo just after the upload. It is critical to gain as much traffic as possible within the first 2 weeks if you want the theme to remain noticeable. Here are some budget-saving tips for the beginning.
- Share the page of all of your social media accounts and ask your friends to do the same.
- Create a worthy promo for a blog.
- Work on a short YouTube video. 1-3 minutes are more than enough for starters.
Start Getting Money with Us!
So, you already know how to sell WordPress themes with us. This point answers the most critical beginners’ question - how to start making money? You need to complete the following steps.
- Check the requirements for your category.
- Ensure your model(s) meet them.
- Fill in the billing info for further withdrawals.
- Send us a scan or a valid document-issues ID, like a passport or driver's license.
- Wait for the account verification.
Once your account is verified, you start selling. Please mind that the withdrawal amount depends on the service you use. Authors withdraw payments from $100 when using PayPal or Payoneer, but withdrawals for the Wire Transfer users start from $600 on the account balance.
When being an author, you get paid twice per month. Your withdrawal time depends on the day you request it.
- If you ask for withdrawal during the 10th and 24th days, we process it on the month’s 25th day. You receive the money during the 26th - 31st month’s days.
- When you ask for a withdrawal during the 25th and 9th month’s days, we process their request on the 10th day. You do the payout on the 11th - 15th month days.
Commissions to Sell WordPress Themes
If you vend a template for the first time, you may think that the pricing is pretty much standardized on most platforms. You may not know (but definitely should!) that there are various commission rates for exclusive and non-exclusive web templates. You may earn up to 70% of the commission when working only with us. The commission rate is 20% - 50% if you sell the items with us and somewhere else too.
Here are the commissions.
| Product type | % for exclusive | % for non-exclusive |
| WordPress | 50-65% | 40% |
| WooCommerce | 50-65% | 40% |
| Elementor template | 50-65% | 40% |
| WordPress plugin | 50-65% | 40% |
Author-Driven Prices
No matter what you are about to sell, the minimum price for it should be $29. And you can set author-driven prices when it comes to Shopify, OpenCart, and graphics. It still should be no less than $29 for CMS and at least $4 for illustrations. How much money would you earn? It is up to you, but we recommend setting the price from $118 to $160 per Shopify item. The recommended price for an OpenCart model is from $67 to $91. We also suggest you ask $11-$23 for graphics. It is possible to set them separately or in a bundle.
What about the prices for WordPress? The minimum one you can set on your product is $29. You can vary the cost, as it depends on the features your item has. You should consider all the factors that make your theme special - modern design, additional functionality, built-in eCommerce, contact form, special loading effects. In a word, every detail that takes time and effort to provide a better customer experience for your future users. Thus, the recommended range is $39-$69 per template.
Getting Higher Commissions
The big marketplaces will not force you to sell exclusively on their platform, meaning you can go ahead and offer those same templates in other spots, at the same time. This is obviously a less-than-optimal situation for a marketplace that would like to offer unique templates, but they do realize that they cannot “imprison” their sellers because that will push them to leave at the first opportunity they get. Therefore, most marketplaces employ a policy that handles exclusive and non-exclusive sellers differently, usually placing the emphasis on the commission percentage the seller gets out of each template sale.
Keep in mind that your commission for an exclusive product depends on the sales volume. Everything is simple: the more people purchase, the higher commission the author receives. Here is how the commission changes with sales.
| Sales volume | Commission |
| $0–500 | 50% |
| $500–1 000 | 51% |
| $1 000–1 500 | 52% |
| $1 500–2 200 | 53% |
| $2 200–3 200 | 54% |
| $3 200–4 800 | 55% |
| $4 800–7 000 | 56% |
| $7 000–10 000 | 57% |
| $10 000–15 000 | 58% |
| $15 000–22 000 | 59% |
| $22 000–30 000 | 60% |
| $30 000–39 000 | 61% |
| $39 000–49 000 | 62% |
| $49 000–59 000 | 63% |
| $59 000–70 000 | 64% |
| $70 000+ | 65% |
As you can see, TemplateMonster exercises a commission policy that allows you, the template author, to go ahead and offer your templates in other places as well, as long as you’re willing to absorb a 60% commission rate (keeping 40% of each sale in your pocket). Template authors who sell templates exclusively however, get to keep a larger cut of each sale, depending on their sales volume. Naturally, choosing the non-exclusive option will render your commission from each sale significantly lower, but will allow you to offer them on supplementary online spots.
One such spot could naturally be your own website.
What Are the Other Leading Marketplaces?
We already have some posts comparing top-rated marketplaces. There are also instructions on how to sell WordPress themes on ThemeForest or CreativeMarket, so let’s skip the details. Here are other popular platforms if you wish to get more money.
- ThemeForest by Envato is another well-known old marketplace with a large visitor base. Today the resource has 43.350 WP and website templates.
- CreativeMarket also offers high-quality models from 26.056 creators all over the world.
However, the disadvantage that immediately comes to mind, right along with this high-volume traffic advantage, is the sheer amount of products that the same traffic gets exposed to (tens of thousands of other WordPress themes and website templates on the same marketplace) when visiting ThemeForest.
So, as a theme author, it is worth considering that ThemeForest’s size advantage also makes it a highly challenging arena to be competing in, since not only is your potential traffic divided between all the other theme shops selling there, but visitors who do somehow land on your offering’s page are not likely to go ahead and buy it before they have gone through and explored your ample competition.
Out of Your Comfort Zone?
We've previously mentioned how marketplaces pretty much take care of everything (apart from your product's actual coding) business-related for you. So… does selling outside of a marketplace, through a shop, meaning you’ll be forced out of your comfort zone and have to start dealing with things like taxes, securely accepting payments, handling software licensing, managing subscriptions, transactional emails, automatic updates, and much much more?
Not necessarily!
As the video points out, there are services like Freemius that can help you deal with all of those aspects when setting up an online shop to supplement your WordPress products sales.
While some of them will handle more aspects than others, these popular services can make your life much easier while running a shop.
Selling Through Your Own Theme Shop to Boot
Many template and theme sellers out there successfully operate independent theme shops in addition to selling on a marketplace: here’s an analysis of the leading shops’ numbers for 2018. Unquestionably, these shops constantly grow their product selection as well as their revenue, so selling through an independent theme shop can definitely be a viable addition to your bottom line at the end of each month. In fact, selling through your own store can unlock several new and refreshing possibilities, which are usually not available to you when you only sell via marketplaces.
Sell WordPress Themes Successfully - Follow Web Design Trends
Visual digital trends, like everything fashionable, change quite often and without any system. It is believed that fashion provides an opportunity to show your awareness and commitment to good taste. On the other hand, it is possible to succumb to trends because of the fear of being an outsider. When it comes to crafting CMS design, it is worth paying attention to the latest trends.
Most trends do not pursue utilitarian goals. For example, a video instead of text is a useful feature that makes the site clearer and easier to understand. But a parallax effect or diagonal geometry are pure frills. Which, by the way, do not always bring benefits. Perhaps the essential thing to achieve in trending sites is a balance of necessity and opportunity. Check out a few hottest trends to implement in your work and sell WordPress themes effectively.
Web Design Tips to Build a Trendy WordPress Theme
- Immersive 3D elements. Realistic 3D features have long attracted the attention of users. With VR and AR technologies, designers are even more passionate about the trend for 3D objects. Complex sites with abundant hyper-realistic animation are already appearing.
- Dark mode. For a long time, a white background was considered the only way to do space. But the dark mode is an ultra-modern layout that visually builds a more in-depth picture.
- Collage and mixing of materials. A collage is a combination of photographs, illustrations, graphics, movement, and text to inspire and engage aesthetic.
- Minimalism. Minimalism will always be relevant and trendy in the digital space. Simple shapes, clean text, limited color palettes, and empty space build something simple, functional, and memorable.
- Organic design. The trend is influenced by an increased focus on eco-friendliness and environmental protection. This is all about warm earthy colors, natural shapes, and raw organic textures.
- Illustrations. Illustrations are a great solution to add a creative approach, establish a cozy atmosphere on your site, and reduce text information.
- Unusual and futuristic color combinations. 2021 is the year of bright and bold colors. The ones that seemed incompatible are entirely in harmony and attract users' attention due to their uniqueness.
- Micro-animation. This approach is beneficial when you want to direct users when interacting with your site. They might also add an element of playfulness to your web resource.
- Vintage-style colors and typography. Designers play on the audience's sense of nostalgia, not just a throwback to the web page. The trend combines vintage elements with a modern style. Try mixing vintage fonts and colors with images to convey a trendy look.
The Newest WordPress Themes
Take a look at a few newest WordPress themes to grab some inspiration.
Datebook - Dating and Content Sharing Network
With the growing popularity of sites and social networks, online dating has become an environment for users looking for life partners or friends. This type usually collects all the data of registered users, stores this information in its database, and forms online member profiles. The Databook is an excellent solution to create a catchy and modern web page. Coding skills are not required to build a fully-fledged online page. Moreover, numerous customization features, SEO-friendly layout, and other premium features will make you enjoy the website building process.
Corporate & Business Plexus
Plexus is an excellent choice for the business web page. Professional layout, many in-built pages, responsive design are a great asset to a website in financial and corporate areas. With the help of Elementor page builder, you will appreciate a code-free and hassle-free building. To determine whether your site has a high-quality layout or not, it takes 50 milliseconds. Take care about an excellent first impression!
Go Spa - Beauty Salon and Spa Services
A beauty salon website helps its owner solve many vital issues: promoting the company's image on the web and the opportunity to provide customers with a full list of services. Besides, it is a modern advertising tool on the Internet. Building a page with the Go Spa is a matter of a few clicks. The package comes with unique homepages, blog modules, and custom post types. Check out a live demo to discover more exciting features and evaluate the product.
Blacky - Minimal Dark Digital Agency
If you are looking for a modern layout for your digital agency, you are in the right place. It is also an excellent solution for technology, photography, or publishing projects. Here you see one of the hottest trends implemented - a dark color scheme. Websites made in dark colors are top-rated since they look elegant and creative. You will own a pack of premium features and tools to craft a powerful web resource with no hassle except for a modern model. Check out the details to choose right.
Pit Stop - Car Repair
Pit Stop is designed to provide your clients with the best online experience. Forget about creating a site from scratch while you have a powerful ready-made solution. Modern outline, convenient navigation, a set of modern features will establish your online source as a competitive one on the market. You get advanced galleries, blog modules, Google maps, parallax sections, and much more, along with a trendy layout. It’s responsive and cross-browser compatible. Your visitors will enjoy browsing from any device.
In Closing!
Working with a marketplace brings many advantages, from gaining an impressing audience to saving the author’s time. When you do it outside of an online market, people should get along with such boring things as securely accepting payments, taxes, handling software licensing, transactional emails, managing subscriptions, automatic updates, etc. You may leave all of these to our team and focus on the creative process instead.
Joining such a store is beneficial both for starters and skilled authors. Being a beginner, you should build models from scratch, make products niche-oriented, collect reviews from pros, and look for optimization tips. You also get your theme added to the top-rated list that 6 million customers would see right on the homepage. Being a professional, you quickly boost your brand recognition with the opportunity to add your items to ONE Subscription and other best-selling selections. You may participate in sales for more activity, vend on other platforms, receive higher commissions for higher sales, and more.
Sell WordPress Themes FAQ
You can view all earning and money withdrawal information in the "Billing" tab in the author's account. Here is possible to edit billing info and check the details about sales or money withdrawal requests, change options, etc.
Well, technically, yes, but the process is not so easy for newbies. To begin with, you should construct a free version and offer it to CMS users. When searching their admin dashboards for an item, people would notice and install your theme from the official WP repository search. When it collects many free installs and a good reputation, you should offer the premium version for sale.
To become our author, you need to launch an account, verify the billing information, fill in product details, including demos and covers, and voila! Soon the team would send you an email in case your submission meets the requirements.
We have lots of free stuff. To add a new item, email the team via marketplace@templatemonster.com with the "Free Products" subject line. We add it to the gallery after the positive feedback, where it remains six months or longer.
Read Also
Sell Website Templates at TemplateMonster – New Authors Wanted!
How to Sell Shopify Themes – Starter Tips for eCommerce Developers
How to Sell Powerpoint Presentations Online for More Income
Sell Graphic Design Online – Add Your Products to TemplateMonster