ThemeJam Has Arrived!
ThemeJam has finally launched! Here’s the official launch-day blog post. I’d love to get some feedback about the site, the product line, and overall impressions. Enjoy.
My Expectations for This New Venture
If you are getting into the game to make a quick buck, I would suggest thinking again. – Jason Schuller of Press75.com in a Group Interview of WordPress Theme Sellers
So I’m four days away from the launch of my new business, ThemeJam. 99% of the preparation work is complete, and I’m finally ready to release this thing into the wild. During this quiet time before the big event (the launch), I’d like to reflect on my expectations for my new venture:
If nothing else, more client work
Obviously, one of my main motivations for starting a product-based business was to have an alternative to client work. Something that generates recurring income, and offers more creative freedom than is usually the case when working on projects for clients, who have a very specific set of needs.
But I think that by selling high quality WordPress themes (and email templates), I will actually attract a new type of client: Those that purchase my themes, who want customization work done by the theme author himself (me). Of course, I will welcome these opportunities and if custom work accounts for the bulk of the income from ThemeJam, I’m perfectly fine with that. I absolutely love designing and developing on WordPress, and client work via ThemeJam only means more of that.
A massive learning experience
More-so than anything else, I’m excited about the lessons I will likely learn the hard way (by failing, then correcting). Outside of the actual design and development aspects of producing themes, there are many things about this type of business that I’m taking on for the first time.
One example is marketing my own products online. I haven’t ever spent on advertising for my freelance web design work. ThemeJam will be the first time I run paid ad campaigns so I’m anxious to see what the return on investment will be, how I will need to tweak my approach, what works, what doesn’t, etc.
Another example is offering customer support for products. I think this should come fairly easy since I’m already very used to offering great support for my freelance clients (via email, phone, IM). But support on ThemeJam will likely involve many more and frequent requests. It will also be the first time I conduct support via an online forum.
A chance to build a reputation in the WordPress community
I’ve already developed a solid network of word-of-mouth referrals for my freelance web design business. I’m hoping to bring this to the next level in the coming years by establishing myself and my businesses as a trusted name within the WordPress community. As I said, I love working with WordPress more than any other skill within the realm of web design, and I’m hoping to dig deeper into this part of my career.
A stepping stone to whatever is next…
I am an entrepreneur. I’ve got the bug. I’ve got an over-active mind, constantly dreaming up ideas for the future. A new project, a new business, a new angle. ThemeJam isn’t even launched yet, and already I’ve got a few specific ideas for future ventures (some expansions within ThemeJam, some separate).
ThemeJam will be my stepping stone to these other ventures. I will learn a ton, refine my approach, and apply these lessons to future startups. I will leverage the popularity (if any) of ThemeJam to launch the next thing.
I’ve never been more excited about my career than right now.
New Rules For Your Blog
In the style of Bill Maher, I’d like to lay down some new rules. Only these aren’t for politics or pop culture. These are new rules for your blog.
NEW RULE: Forget everything you learned about SEO.
It’s good to be educated about SEO best practices, but don’t let these tactics run your blog. I say the best SEO comes through natural, passionate writing, which in turn attracts readers, re-tweets, and quality incoming links.
NEW RULE: Don’t post for the sake of keeping a steady post frequency.
Yes, it’s good SEO practice. But it results in less quality, more quantity, which doesn’t satisfy audiences who are hungry for substance every time.
NEW RULE: Don’t intentionally keyword stuff your posts.
Readers will notice, and it makes for an awkward reading experience. You’re better off letting those keywords work for themselves through producing quality, thought-provoking content.
NEW RULE: Don’t regurgitate topics you find in your RSS / Twitter feed.
If it’s been said, don’t say it again. Post a quote (with a link), then write your reaction or expansion of that topic.
NEW RULE: Forget about earning serious money from blogging alone.
Of course, there are many world famous blogs who do. Guess what: Yours won’t. A much more realistic (and lucrative) goal for your blog is to let it support your business. If you’re selling products or services, let your blog be your voice to prove credibility and display your natural passion for your business/subject matter.
Over to you…
Would you add or change any of these rules?
WordPress Themes and the GPL License
First, let me apologize for adding yet another 2 cents to this tired GPL license debate within the WordPress community. But it’s something I feel must address as I prepare to open the doors to my new WordPress themes offering.
So here’s my take:
The only thing that really matters are the users
The vast majority of users don’t even know what the GPL license is or means. They only really care about what it means for them. They care about what the limitations are. In the eyes of users/consumers: The less limitations, the better.
Some of the limitations that users look out for are:
- Can I use this theme on more than one website?
- Can I use it on my client’s websites?
- Can I remove the footer credit?
- Can I customize the theme to suit my needs?
Offering products under a license that clearly answers these questions is the most important thing.
Embracing the GPL
ThemeJam themes will fully support the GPL license. Not only because WordPress themes are derivatives of WordPress, which itself is licensed under the GPL, but because I believe it’s important to lift the most important restrictions that users care about.
I never understood those sites that offer “single-use” licenses. How would they even go about monitoring their customers’ use of their themes / plugins? Outside of implementing a programmatic way of limiting the use to a single domain, they likely rely on some type of honor system to police multi-use of their themes.
Forget all that. I’d rather be fully GPL compliant and allow users to use my themes on as many sites as they want, including their client’s sites. That’s what I look for when shopping for themes, so that’s what I’ll be offering.
Digging deeper into the GPL license
Of course, there are other rather important freedoms that come with the GPL license. The biggest one being that users are allowed to re-distribute and even charge for GPL licensed works. There was a raging debate when someone actually exercised this right, which I guess you can say was inevitable.
I’m really not concerned about the potential loss of business due to re-sellers of my themes. GPL or not, there will always be piracy out there, especially with digital products. Piracy and re-selling issues are simply inevitable and calculated risks that it seems many premium theme companies are already willing to take.
It’s much more important to focus my efforts on serving those who purchase my products from ThemeJam. Only paying customers will have access to my personal support, and free theme upgrades. They will also be reassured that the theme they download won’t contain malicious or broken hidden code (as many pirated themes do). Customer support is the most important benefit of purchasing a premium theme from the original author and this will be a primary focus of ThemeJam.
The bottom line
To answer the questions I posed at the beginning of this post:
- Yes, my themes can be used on unlimited domains.
- Yes, web designers can use my themes for their client’s sites.
- Yes, the footer credit can be removed – in fact, it’s as easy as one click in the built-in theme options panel ; )
- Yes, our themes can be easily modified by anyone with even light knowledge of CSS and HTML.
- And to those who are interested in the fine print, ThemeJam WordPress themes will be 100% GPL licensed and we will embrace all the ramifications that come with that.
Sessions of Social Media and nothing else.
This is the time of the year that everyone loves to make bold goals based on the calendar. Like, publish a new blog post every week for a year (guilty), post a daily photo 365 days strait (cool idea, but not for me), etc.
Well, I’ve got one for myself…
Weekly social media sessions
Here’s what I mean: Simply dedicate one entire morning or afternoon per week (4-5 hours) to engaging in social media and nothing else.
During these social media sessions, I will do any of the following:
- Write blog posts for my sites
- Write and submit guest articles for other sites
- Read and comment on blogs
- Tweet it up
- Write and respond to forum threads
- Engage on facebook
I will not:
- Design or code websites
- Take client phone calls or meetings
- Respond to client emails
- Do any project related work (client or personal)
- Hunt for new business leads
OK, so what’s the point?
Most people engage in social media when the mood strikes. Maybe that’s once or twice per week, maybe it’s several times throughout each day. I probably fall into the latter, but often lack consistency. Some days I’ll engage in 20 different ways throughout the day, other days I go “dark” and don’t engage at all.
This… experiment, if you will, is to see what, if any impact a weekly dedicated social media session might have. What type of impact am I looking for?
More quality traffic to my three sites/businesses. That is, folks who have gotten to know me on the web, follow my updates and share interest in the things I put out there. I’m not looking for spiking traffic numbers, but I am looking for more interaction in the form of comments, tweets, RTs, and eventually sales and new clients.
A boost in my own personal brand, behind my business brands that I’m working to build. As I’m preparing to launch ThemeJam, I want to avoid creating a faceless brand without some type of personality. And I’m not going to contrive a brand persona that’s not genuine. So my own social media presence will be the driving force behind that aspect of promoting the ThemeJam brand.
I’ll become more informed about this chaotic web industry we’re in. I already have my finger on the pulse through my jam-packed Google Reader and Twitter feeds, but this will help me dig deeper. Especially through engaging in the forums, which is often where more real ideas are shared and lack the self-censorship that often comes with blog posts (mine included).
And finally, the X factor. Something I’m not taking into account or anticipating as a result of dedicated social media engagement. This might prove to be the most interesting impact of this project.
Don’t worry…
(Not that you would, I just want to say…) I won’t be slacking on any project work by keeping it off my plate during these sessions. Customer service remains a top priority for me, and that will be attended to during other parts of the day / week.
This is simply a way to create some structure, boundries, and guidelines for this project.
Another guideline might be that I should conduct these sessions away from my home computer. I’m currently sitting in a Starbucks typing away on my netbook. It’s the perfect combination of caffeine, and only enough computing power for web surfing and typing. This could become the routine…
So there you have it. My official calendar-based goal for 2010. Let’s see how it pans out.
The Entrepreneur’s State of Mind
We entrepreneurs have the special ability to see the positive in things that others see as only negative. – Startup Advice: It’s a State of Mind. By JunLoayza
This is from a fantastic read about refreshing your current state of mind, boosting morale, and addressing problems from a new perspective.
I can certainly relate to the idea of keeping an optimistic and positive point of view when it comes to meeting challenges. In fact, I think this is a quality that every entrepreneur shares.
When we’re confronted with a problem, we see an opportunity to solve it. We don’t question whether or not to do something. We question, how can it be done?
It’s this attitude that drives us to keep going.