Launching a Commercial WordPress Theme

This is the third and final part of my mini-series detailing my WordPress theme development process, which includes:

1. WordPress Theme Design Process
2. WordPress Theme Development Process
3. Releasing the WordPress theme on ThemeJam.com (read on…)

So the theme has been fully tested (and tested, and tested again) and is now deemed ready for release into the wild.  Here is my process for prepping, releasing, and promoting a commercial WordPress theme on ThemeJam.

Prepare the Theme Demo

The functional demo should already be up and running at this point, because I created it during development.  Of course, there weren’t any links pointing to it yet, so it hasn’t actually been set “live” yet.

But I haven’t set up the iframed demo for this theme yet.  What I’m referring to is setting up the theme switcher navigation bar across the top of all the demos on ThemeJam.  This allows easy switching between themes, switching between stylesheets for each theme, and links to purchase.

Setting up the iframe is pretty simple.  It’s just a matter of duplicating a folder, changing some values and path names, and we’re all set.  Though we’re still not live at this point…

Write Theme Documentation

This is a super-important step.  As I mentioned in my reflections on ThemeJam two months in, I believe that thorough documentation is the best method of pre-emptive customer support (if you will).  I try and go above and beyond and provide as much detail as possible in my instructions and explanations.

Currently, the theme documentation is created as a PDF document.  I plan to overhaul and create a web-based version of theme docs, hopefully in the coming months.

I should also mention that I include quite detailed instructions and notes throughout the theme options panel built into the theme.  Every option has it’s own sentence or two describing what it does.

Prepare the Download Package, Upload to E-Junkie

As you may know, all ThemeJam themes come packaged with the layered Photoshop design files (PSDs).  We don’t have separate “developer” packages as most theme companies do.  Every package would be considered the “developer” package.  Before zipping the theme, I go through all the PSDs and tidy up the layers and groups.

Once the zip package is all set, I create the product in E-Junkie, which is the service I use for issuing downloads and handling the checkout process.  I set it up so that affiliates can easily link directly to the product and earn money promoting ThemeJam products.

Push live on ThemeJam.com

This step involves several things:

• Cutting screenshots and thumbnail images for the home page, gallery page, and detail page.
• Writing copy to describe the theme on the detail page.
• Input the various pieces of info (copy, price, demo link, purchase link, callouts, etc.) in WordPress (I set this up using quite a few custom write panels).
• Add the theme image and link on the ThemeJam home page carousel.

Notes on Promotion

Here are a few things I do to build awareness of the new theme, both before and after pushing it live:

• Release teaser images showing screenshots of an upcoming design.  I do this while I’m in the design phase to build awareness of what’s coming up next, and ask for feedback.  If I were a dribbble member, I’d do this much more often.  Anyone have an invite for me?
• Blog about it. I always post about it on the themejam blog, and I plan to blog in a lot more detail here on briancasel.com for upcoming themes.
• Videos. I’ve been using screenr to create quick screencast videos showing how the back-end functionality works.

And that concludes my series on how I go about creating and releasing a commercial WordPress theme.  Please share any feedback and/or questions in the comments below and if you haven’t already, check out the current selection of WordPress themes at ThemeJam.com.