How to Make Money Selling Website Themes, Templates and Design Resources

Are you a creative entrepreneur with design skills? Do you want to monetize your abilities and make money online? One way to do so is by selling website themes, templates, and other design resources. In this article, we will guide you on how to start selling your creative work and generate passive income. By tapping into the diverse industries and creating aesthetically appealing and user-friendly templates, you can attract potential customers and make a lucrative income.

Selling website themes, templates, graphics, and other digital design resources can be an extremely lucrative passive income stream for designers, developers and creatives. By uploading quality resources to various online marketplaces, your work can earn you ongoing royalties month after month. This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know to start selling digital design assets and earn an income passively.

What are Website Themes and Templates?

Website themes and templates are pre-designed layouts that can be used to create a website quickly and efficiently. These templates come with various design elements such as fonts, colors, and graphics, allowing users to customize and create their own websites.

Definition of website themes and templates

In simple terms, website themes and templates are pre-designed layouts that users can utilize to create their websites. These templates offer a wide range of customization options to suit different needs and preferences.

Benefits of using website themes and templates

There are several benefits to using website themes and templates. Firstly, they save a lot of time and effort by providing a starting point for website creation. Instead of designing everything from scratch, users can start with a pre-designed template and customize it according to their requirements. Secondly, website templates are often designed following the latest design trends, ensuring that the websites created using them are visually appealing and up-to-date. Lastly, these templates are usually responsive, meaning they are compatible with various devices and screen sizes, providing a better user experience.

Popular types of website themes and templates

There are numerous types of website themes and templates available in the market. Some popular categories include eCommerce templates, blog templates, portfolio templates, and landing page templates. These templates cater to different purposes and industries, allowing users to find the perfect match for their needs.

How to Create and Sell Canva Templates

If you have design skills and want to sell digital products, creating and selling Canva templates can be a profitable venture. Canva is an online platform that offers an easy-to-use design tool, perfect for creating templates that can be sold to a wide range of potential customers.

Step-by-step guide to creating Canva templates

To create Canva templates, follow these simple steps:

1. Identify your target market: Determine the niche or industry you want to create templates for. This will help you tailor your designs to suit the needs of your potential customers.
2. Create aesthetically appealing designs: Use Canva’s design tools and resources to create visually stunning and user-friendly templates. Consider current design trends and make your templates stand out.
3. Add customization options: Provide customization options to your customers, allowing them to personalize the templates and make them unique. This adds value to your products.
4. Showcase your templates: Market your templates by creating an eye-catching portfolio showcasing your designs. This will attract potential buyers and give them a preview of your work.

Where to sell Canva templates

There are several online marketplaces where you can sell your Canva templates. Some popular options include Creative Market, Etsy, and Canva’s own marketplace. Research these platforms to determine which one suits your needs the best.

Tips for marketing and selling Canva templates

To successfully market and sell your Canva templates, consider the following strategies:

• Promote your templates on social media platforms and relevant online communities.
• Offer discounts or special promotions to attract customers.
• Collaborate with influencers or bloggers in your niche to promote your templates.
• Create detailed product descriptions and visually appealing product images.
• Engage with your customers and provide excellent customer support.

How to Start Selling Website Templates

In addition to selling Canva templates, you can also start selling website templates created using other design tools or platforms. Here’s how you can get started:

Choosing a platform for selling website templates

Research online marketplaces and platforms that cater to the sale of website templates. Consider factors such as the audience reach, pricing options, and ease of use.

Designing and customizing website templates

Design aesthetically appealing website templates that cater to the needs of your target market. Ensure that your templates are user-friendly and offer customization options to add value.

Pricing strategies for selling website templates

Decide on your pricing strategy for selling website templates. Consider factors such as the complexity of the template, the time and effort invested, and the perceived value of your designs. You may choose to offer different pricing tiers to cater to different budgets and needs.

How to Sell WordPress Themes

WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems, and selling WordPress themes can be a lucrative business. WordPress themes are pre-designed templates that users can install on their WordPress websites to change the appearance and functionality.

Creating and developing WordPress themes

To create and develop WordPress themes, you’ll need the following:

• Proficiency in HTML, CSS, and PHP.
• An understanding of WordPress theme development standards.
• Creative design skills to create visually appealing themes.

Best marketplaces for selling WordPress themes

When it comes to selling WordPress themes, some popular marketplaces include ThemeForest, Mojo Marketplace, and TemplateMonster. These platforms have a large customer base and provide excellent exposure for your themes.

Marketing and promoting WordPress themes

To effectively market and promote your WordPress themes, consider implementing the following strategies:

• Create a visually appealing and user-friendly demo for your themes.
• Optimize your theme descriptions and keywords to improve search visibility on marketplace platforms and search engines.
• Offer excellent customer support to build a good reputation and gain positive reviews.
• Collaborate with bloggers or influencers in the WordPress niche to showcase and promote your themes.

How to Make Passive Income with Digital Downloads

What are digital downloads?

Digital downloads refer to various types of digital products that can be purchased, downloaded, and used by customers. These products can include design resources such as fonts, graphics, illustrations, photography, and more.

Types of digital downloads to consider selling

If you want to sell digital downloads and make passive income, some popular options include:

• Fonts and typography resources
• Graphics and illustrations
• Photography and stock images
• Templates for various purposes such as resumes, presentations, social media posts, and more
• Audio files such as music tracks or sound effects

Tips for creating and selling digital downloads

When creating and selling digital downloads, keep the following tips in mind:

• Ensure your products are of high quality and meet the needs of your target market.
• Consider offering bundles or package deals to provide greater value to customers.
• Regularly update your products to stay relevant with current design trends.
• Promote your digital downloads through various online channels, including social media, blogs, and online marketplaces.
• Provide clear and detailed product descriptions to inform potential customers about the benefits and features of your digital downloads.

Why Sell Website Themes and Templates?

Here are some of the top reasons to start selling your website themes, templates, graphics, and other digital resources:

Passive Income

The main incentive is earning ongoing passive royalties each time someone purchases and downloads your resources. The assets continue generating sales for years with minimal added effort.

Low Barrier to Entry

You don’t need any special qualifications to start selling online. Anyone can upload themes, templates, fonts, graphics and other resources to marketplaces.

Worldwide Sales Potential

Top digital asset marketplaces have a global audience of millions of buyers. Your work can be discovered and purchased by clients worldwide 24/7.

Retain Copyright

When you sell digital resources, you retain full copyright ownership. Buyers purchase alicense to use the item, but you maintain the IP rights.

Huge Market Demand

Websites, apps, designs and marketing materials require quality themes, templates, graphics, fonts and assets. Demand is continually growing.

Passion Project

Many designers simply enjoy creating themes and assets. Uploading to marketplaces allows you to earn from your passion while retaining creative control.

Flexible Side Income

Earnings from selling digital resources can make for lucrative side income for designers and developers. With enough volume, it can even grow into a full-time business.

Selling your digital design work is an easy way to test the market, retain flexibility and control, and potentially earn substantial passive royalties over time. Let’s explore how to capitalize on this opportunity.

Types of Digital Assets You Can Sell

Here are some of the most popular and profitable types of digital design resources and assets to focus on selling through online marketplaces and your own site:

Website Themes & Templates – Professionally designed theme files for platforms like WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace that clients can use as a foundation for their own sites.

UI Kits & Components – Reusable interface elements like buttons, menus, widgets, forms, cards and layout templates that developers can plug into projects.

Icons & Illustrations – Stylized icons, emoji, clipart, illustrations and vector images to use in interfaces and designs.

Stock Photos & Videos – Royalty-free photos and videos that can be used and licensed by others.

Fonts & Typefaces – Custom fonts and typography that designers can use to style websites and marketing materials.

Textures & Patterns – Tiles, patterns, paper and fabric textures that add visual interest to designs.

Brushes – Special brushes compatible with Photoshop, Illustrator, Procreate and other apps to stylize work.

Add-Ons & Plugins – Extensions and plugins for platforms like WordPress and Shopify that add extra functionality.

Lightroom Presets – Saved configurations of filters and effects for quickly styling photos.

Mockups – Photo-realistic mockups for displaying app, website, flyer, package and other designs.

CMS Themes – Backend admin dashboard themes that customize the interfaces for content management systems and apps.

Presentation Templates – Pre-designed slide decks, infographics and visual assets for presentations.

3D Models – Detailed 3D models ready for rendering into graphic designs and assets.

These and many other digital resources are in high demand for websites, marketing materials, apps, games and other media. Focus on resource niches that best match your own design and development skills.

Top Marketplaces to Sell Digital Assets

Once you have quality resources ready to sell, here are some of the best marketplaces to upload them to in order to maximize exposure:

Envato Elements and ThemeForest

Envato operates the largest digital asset ecosystem globally. ThemeForest is the leading theme and template marketplace. SignUp is highly competitive but leads to big sales volume. Elements offers unlimited monthly subscriptions.

Creative Market

Top marketplace with exclusive designer-created digital assets. Curated selection focusing on quality over quantity.

Graphic River

Massive collection of graphics, templates, fonts, add-ons, stock assets and more. Part of the Envato ecosystem.

TemplateMonster

Long-running major theme and template marketplace.Caters mostly to web agencies and developers.

Mojo Marketplace

Marketplace and community for selling WordPress, Ghost, and other open source web themes and plugins.

Etsy

Popular handmade and vintage goods site that also allows selling digital items like graphics, templates, services.

Gumroad

Digital marketplace for selling downloads, subscriptions, memberships, services. Very creator-friendly.

Sellfy

Digital commerce platform for easily selling any type of digital asset or service.

Shopify

Host and sell digital products directly on your own Shopify store in addition to marketplaces.

SendOwl

Digital delivery platform to sell and deliver items from your own site. Integrates with Shopify.

There are niche marketplaces for specific types of products too. Research each marketplace’s fees, audience, and offerings to pick the best ones to sell on.

Creating Top-Selling Themes & Templates

When designing themes, templates and other assets, keep these tips in mind to maximize appeal and sales potential:

Solve Specific Problems

Identify pain points and create items that directly solve real needs for developers and designers.

Focus on Visual Appeal

Templates need to grab attention with great images, videos, illustrations, typography, color schemes and visual styles.

Ensure Responsiveness

Mobile-friendly responsive themes perform best. Test on all devices and browsers.

Optimize Performance

Keep file sizes lean, optimize code, and provide compressed image assets to ensure speed.

Make Installation Seamless

Simplify setup with clear documentation so buyers can quickly implement the item.

Include Tutorials & Support

Provide step-by-step video tutorials, user guides, comments, email support.

Update Regularly

Release updates, compatibility fixes, and new features regularly to encourage long-term use and loyalty.

Show Real Use Cases

Share live demos and examples that showcase the template or asset in actual applications.

The more problems your digital products solve while providing delightful user experiences, the better they will sell.

Pricing Your Digital Assets

Pricing is one of the most challenging yet impactful decisions when selling digital products. Here are some pricing tips and typical ranges:

• Research competitors – Analyze how competitors price similar items.
• Consider effort required – Price based on the time, tools and skills needed to create the asset.
• Bundle for more value – Combine related assets into bundles that provide more value together.
• Offer licenses tailored to usage – Charge different prices for standard, extended, and commercial usage licenses.
• Raise prices over time – Start low to build sales history and reviews, then gradually raise prices over time.
• Offer discounts – Provide 25-50% off coupons and site-wide sales to encourage purchases.
• Test different price points – Try raising and lowering prices periodically to find the optimal balance of volume and profit margin.

Typical Price Ranges:

• Website & App Templates: $12 – $60+
• UI Kits & Components: $8 – $100+
• Icons Sets: $5 – $20+
• Illustrations: $3 – $15+ each or up to $100+ for bundles
• Stock Photos: $1 – $20+ per photo
• Fonts: $20 – $100+ for families
• Add-Ons & Plugins: $10 – $60+
• 3D Models: $5 – $100+

Consider your costs, competitive pricing, perceived value, and willingness to pay from different customer segments when devising pricing. Offer customer-friendly policies like satisfaction guarantees to overcome hesitations.

Promoting and Distributing Digital Products

In addition to uploading assets to marketplaces, also distribute them through your own site and promote them through social media.

Your Own Website

• Create a portfolio site to showcase your items and establish your brand.
• Drive traffic through SEO optimization, social media, email lists.
• Collect emails with lead magnets like freebies to build your audience.
• Publish a blog with tutorials and resources to demonstrate expertise.
• Spotlight new releases and sales.
• Offer exclusive items not available on marketplaces.

Social Media

• Share previews and announcements about new items.
• Cross-promote posts from marketplaces about your work.
• Build relationships by engaging with your audience.
• Run occasional sales and giveaways.

Email Marketing

• Send email campaigns announcing new releases and promotions.
• Share tips and resources to provide value.
• Offer exclusive discounts for email subscribers.

The combination of selling through marketplaces while also promoting your work through your own channels provides maximum sales opportunities.

Recurring Revenue Models

In addition to one-time purchases, also leverage these recurring revenue models:

Memberships

• Offer exclusive templates, assets, tutorials, and more to paying members.
• Provide access to entire collections upon signup.
• Monthly and annual membership options.

Subscriptions

• Provide unlimited access to your entire catalog of assets for a monthly or annual fee.

Usage Licenses

• Charge additional fees if assets will be used for commercial purposes.
• Offer licenses for extended usage terms beyond standard limits.

Recurring revenue helps maintain predictable long-term income beyond one-time purchases. Offer packages and memberships tailored to light, moderate, and heavy usage.

Growing Your Earnings Over Time

Finally, some tips for maximizing your long-term earnings from selling digital assets:

• Build a strong portfolio – The larger your catalog, the more potential sales. Expand into diverse, high-demand niches.
• Focus on quality over quantity – Mediocre items won’t sell. Better to have fewer stellar resources than lower quality mass produced items.
• Listen to customer feedback – Spot pain points and opportunities through reviews, support requests and conversations.
• Provide exceptional support – Go above and beyond resolving issues to build loyalty.
• Release updates – Continuously improve existing items by adding features and fixing bugs.
• Experiment and iterate – Try out new ideas routinely. Remove underperforming items.
• Offer diverse licensing – Appeal to a wide range of use cases with varied licensing terms.
• Cross-promote strategically – Maximize visibility by sharing your best creations everywhere.
• Cultivate your brand – Establish yourself as an authority through content creation and community engagement.

Selling digital design resources leverages your skills into a scalable passive income stream. With smart strategy and execution, earnings from assets can grow tremendously over time. Now is the ideal time to start uploading and see where it takes you!