Top 10 Tips for Selling Templates On Themeforest

Top 10 Tips for Selling Templates On Themeforest

To kick off the celebration of themeforest today im going to give my advice/tips on getting your templates onto themeforest and making the most sales possible. I hope you like the article and check out themeforest as there will be plenty more themeforest related articles coming later on this month.

First I will introduce you to themeforest, which if you are a person looking for high quality templates for cheap or are in the market of creating templates will no doubt become you best friend. Basically themeforest is a marketplace which allows freelancers to create templates and sell them. It also allows visitors to buy extremely elegant templates, wordpress themes and others at very affordable prices. I have been using the marketplace for the last three to four months and have seen increasingly high quality templates for remarkable prices. The website is run by the same company that runs popular websites such as nettuts, psdtuts and flashden so you know they are reliable.

Okay onto my top tips for making the most of themeforest:

1. Documentation

   Yes its a hassle for the template creator but it is also necessary. You must detail certain aspects of your template and how to change everything, otherwise the person who buys it will not have a clue. Without a clear readme your template is guaranteed to be rejected. Luckily for us there is a great, helpful guide to writing a readme on the themeforest blog.

2. Cross browser compatibilty/ valid code

   Again this can often be a hassle. With the increasing developments of websites promoting the death of IE6 we find ourselves covering up its miscomings. For the themeforest marketplace IE6 compatibility is one of its parameters to getting approved. Annoying as it may be, it must be done. I usually write my code and then write a separate style for IE6 and write a conditional line in my header. The code must also validate which shouldn’t really be a problem. Small things such as the use of filter in your CSS can be overlooked.

3. Design for the masses

   This is a pretty obvious tip but its also often overlooked. You have to design for the masses. This means your template must appeal to a large percentage of people. If you look at the top sellers you will find most of them to be very generic templates. This means creating a general business related template, portfolio template but not a very specific type of template.

4. Flexibility

   The template has to be very flexible so the person who buys your template can change it in many ways to cater his/her needs. This means your code must be flexible and allow for many different scenarios. A great example of this is when I created a joomla template for themeforest. I had to make each of the three columns collapsible. That way if the user decided he did not want the third column the first and second columns would expand to fill the area prevously occupied by the third. Another great way to increase value is to include a style switcher to swap between different colour schemes.

5. Styling elements

   What I mean by styling elements is quite simple. When you create your template include CSS styling for heading tags, unordered lists, ordered list, blockquotes, error messages, etc and include them on a styles page to demonstrate what everything looks like to the potential buyer.

6. Subpages

   This ties in with flexibility and styling elements. When you create your template include as many subpages as you can be bothered to create. They help show potential buyers what each page could be used for and demonstrated the flexibility of the template.

7. Use a javascript framework

   With the introduction of javascript frameworks, javascript is now much more easy to use than in past days. This means the use of javascript/ajax has also dramatically increased. With all the “cool” effects people see on website, the come to expect them in their templates. A great way to boost the value of your templates is to include such things as a validating ajax contact form and a featured content slider.

8. Upload to multiple categories

   If you have the coding knowledge to code for multiple content management systems, do it! When you upload your template start with uploading the psd to the psd category. Then you can upload to the HTML templates category, wordpress category and joomla category. This means you can be selling the same template in many different formats. It will expand your potential market and make the most out of the one design.

9. Receive feedback

   What looks good to you many not look good to others. Much like when you write an essay you can often overlook your own mistakes but find they are blatantly obvious to others. If you do submit a template and get rejected take what they say and improve. A great way to receive feedback on your potential design is a website call review my design. They know exactly what is required to get into themeforest and will give you advice on improving your template. So far I have a 100% record using the free advice given.

10. Have patience

    If at first you don’t succeed, try again! The problem with many new designer to themeforest is they rush there designs. You must pay attention to detail and take your time with your templates. A large bulk of the threads on the forum complain about the time taken to review your design or the feedback given. An average turnaround of 24hours is very respectable and the reason templates are rejected is simply so they can be improved and make the most money possible. Keep that in mind when usig the marketplace.

I hope you like the run through and find it helpful. If you are into selling templates or buying templates I most certainly recommend themeforest. Not to mention the friendly croud which populates the forum

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