How I Made $1Million Selling WordPress Themes
How I Made $1Million Selling WordPress Themes
Foreword
Introduction

1

Starting Off

My First Experience in Business
Cultivating Positivity and Leadership
Accepting Help & Developing Gratitude
Finding Purpose
Small Steps Lead to a Great Journey
Bigger Means Better
Embrace the Learning Curve
The WordPress Revolution
Instability and Uncertainty
What You Learned in Chapter 1:
Changing Strategy
Enter ThemeForest
Exploring the Forest
Finding Time to Plant in the Forest
Our First ThemeForest Upload
Disappointment
Back on the Horse
Fixing Our Theme
Onwards and Upwards
What You Learned in Chapter 2:
What is Company Culture?
Why is Company Culture Important?
My Experience of Creating the Best Values
Incentivising You and Your Team
When I Gave More than Just Money
Comfort
Opportunities
A Mission Statement
What you Learned in Chapter 3:
What is a Personal Brand?
Why You Need a Personal Brand
How to Build Your Brand the StylemixThemes Way
An Initial Strategy
Improving Our Brand
Going Beyond Your Themes
What You Learned in Chapter 4:
Big Niches Vs Micro-Niches
Why Niches Are Important
How to Pick the Right Niche
My First Experiences
Moving Up a Gear
Negative into Positive
Improved Our ThemeForest Research
Google Keywords & Other Sources
Better Decision Making
Popular Niche Vs Small Install Base
Avoid the Worst Strategy
What You Learned in Chapter 5:
Our Process: Simplicity Itself
Stage 1: Studying Competitor Themes
Stage 2: Creating a Prototype
Stage 3: Mindmap Your Theme
Stage 4: Designing Your Theme
When a Design Doesn’t Work Out
Moving Forward
What Learned in Chapter 6:
Secret Ingredient #1: Unity of Style and Features
Secret Ingredient #2: Be a Universal Soldier
Secret Ingredient #3: Minimalism
Secret Ingredient #4: Include Photos
Secret Ingredient #5: The Right Icons
Secret Ingredient #6: Expressive Typography
Secret Ingredient #7: Think About Trends
Secret Ingredient #8: Responsive Design
Secret Ingredient #9: Living Sites
Secret Ingredient #10: Color Combination
Secret Ingredient #11: Deadlines
Secret Ingredient #12: Content is King
Secret Ingredient #13: Updates Are Critical
Secret Ingredient #14: Steal, As an Artist
What You Learned in Chapter 7:
Learning to Value Support
The Early Stage of Support
Dealing with Negative Reviews
A Good Support Approach
The StylemixThemes Tech Support Strategy
How Much is Too Much Support?
Speed of Response
How Best to Offer Support
Updating Your Theme
When to Update
Plan Ahead
An Update or New Theme?
How to Publish Your Update
What You Learned in Chapter 8:
How I realised Tech Support Should be Monetized
When Not to Charge Customers
The StylemixThemes Guide to Monetizing Tech Support
Affiliate Referrals
Envato Studio
Another Company
What You Learned in Chapter 9:
Why You Should Work in a Team
Good Team Strategies
Problem Employees
Motivation
Listen
The Right Tools
What You Learned in Chapter 10:
Envato’s Changing Price Policy
Why Price Dumping is Happening
Is ThemeForest Worried and Concerned About Authors?
How Dangerous Are Low Prices?
A Possible Solution
What You Learned in Chapter 11:
Why Plugins Are Essential
Picking the Right Plugin
What to Do When Things Go Wrong
Compatibility
Licensing Issues
Must Have Plugins
On Builders
Which Builder?
Builder Issues
What You Learned in Chapter 12:
The StylemixThemes Checklist
Theme Unit Test
Checking WordPress Requirements
Useful Tools
What You Learned in Chapter 13:
It’s Show Business
The ThemeForest Preview
What to Include in Your Preview
Item Page
What to Put on Your Item Page
The Fine Print
What You Learned in Chapter 14:
Finding a Strategy That Works
Outside Vs Inside
Outside Promotion
Inside Promotion
Combining Outside and Inside Marketing
What You Learned in Chapter 15:
Three Ways Email is Important
Getting it Right, First Time
How to Build Your Email List
What Makes Good Marketing Email?
Posting Schedule
Your Email Content
What is Success?
Example Emails
What You Learned in Chapter 16:
What is a Referral?
Effective Referral Strategies
Envato Affiliate Program
How Envato Referrals Work
Third-Party Referrals
Tips for Generating Referrals
What You Learned in Chapter 17:
What are Analytics and Data Mining?
Envato Analytics and How to Use Them
Envato Marketing API
Using Google Analytics
Who Should Analyze Your Data?
Using Analytics For Design Choices
What You Learned in Chapter 18:
Conclusion
A Word of Warning About Disclaimers
Moving Forward
My Wish For You

Technical Support & Updating Themes

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