12 WordPress Themes - Theme 1 Debrief

The first theme in the 12 WordPress Themes in 12 Months challenge was launched last week. This followed a 4 week process of coming up with the idea of what to create. Building up the websites which we reach out to about the themes . We also created Outreach List WP – a directory of places to promote your WordPress products.

So, how did the first theme go? What are the take away points from the theme. This is the wrap up of the process.

The Theme had 6 downloads on launch day. With 8 total downloads so far..

This is a result of sending a broadcast to the mailing list. As well as the trickle of people finding the theme via the project homepage.

It wasn’t a HUGE launch. It’s the first theme from a flock of 12 to come. This is all from a website which is only just starting out (https://epicthemes.com) so it’s good story to follow along if you’re wanting to see how easy (or not) it is to get a WordPress Theme shop up and running.

But I don’t sell Themes or Plugins

The take-aways of this project can be applied to any business. If you’re trying to grow your business this will involve the following;

Deciding on a product or service you want to sell
Reaching out to people to help promote your service or product
Getting feedback and reacting to the feedback

Following along with this project and how developing and launching 12 themes in 12 months is helping to grow the business is certainly something you’ll want to do. You can follow along with future updates by entering your email in the form at the bottom of this post.

The Outreach – Theme 1

The first theme was a combination of getting the word out about the project. The themes still need to have some reviews published. So the first month has been a bit of a mixture of generally getting the word out about the project. The following sites have covered the project so far;

Each of these articles took time to put together. There’s certainly more websites we can reach out to and we will be doing that as Theme 2 gets underway.

Outreach, We? What?

Yep. We. I’ve reached out for help in reaching out (how meta). With developing 12 WordPress Themes in 12 Months running a full Outreach program alongside the development. We’ve taken on a business development manager to well, manage this side of things.

I’ll still be providing input to the business development manager and helping with any articles. 🙂 and maintaining the relationships with our Outreach partners. This will include;

Handling the emails back and forth about any potential business partnerships
Drafting and reviewing content for outreach partners
Plus much more 🙂 all behind the scenes.

Feedback on Theme 1

We’ve had some feedback on the first Theme. Which has all been good points. To summarise the feedback received;

The theme is great. Nice and clean and focussed on blogging.
The design is a bit bland. I can’t quite put my finger on what part. It just seems bland.
The demo website could be improved. Selling a theme is all about making a demo look good
There’s a couple of bugs in the gallery layout and paragraphs have a white background (a fix is coming next week)

All great points. The big takeaway is design and demonstration of the theme. The demo should have good imagery and a theme should go through a design phase (before development). But I’m not a designer. Which makes this part hard.

Calling designers for Themes (2 through to 12)

It’s time to reach out for help again here. I could attempt to design the themes myself, but I’m not the greatest designer. This project is all about launching 12 WordPress Themes in 12 Months. The full development being done alone. This doesn’t mean I shouldn’t get input from a designer.

Are you a designer who wants to get involved with the project? Contact Me.

What does this involve? This is a project which is building up from scratch. With a bootstrapped budget. Theme sales will go into Outreach and further creation of themes. If you’re a designer who wants to be involved in the project the following is on offer;

Credits in each theme that the initial design was provided by you (with link to your services)
A share in revenue from the theme sales (for premium themes)
Extra exposure for you as a designer

If this sounds like something you want to be involved in just drop me an email to mike@epicplugins.com

What’s next?

The second theme has been decided and I’ll be writing about that soon.

Create more than you consume

12 WordPress Themes – Theme 1 Debrief