WordPress Theme Clubs: 2013 Edition

If you’ve been around the WordPress community for quite some time, you surely are familiar with WordPress theme clubs, popular or otherwise, and how they work. For those just getting their feet wet regarding everything WordPress, check out our previous article, What is a WordPress Theme Club for a quick run through on theme club basics.

For the WordPress newbie, here are some of the more popular and still active WordPress Theme Clubs to explore.

Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes is one of the most popular WordPress theme clubs, with over 170,000 customers. They currently have more than 81 themes, releasing new themes regularly. Elegant Themes offers its members access to a variety of themes that range from portfolio themes, to business themes, to blogging/news themes, to eCommerce themes, to personal themes. Their themes have a distinct style that combines aesthetic and function seamlessly. Elegant Themes offers 3 different membership packages: Personal, Developer and Lifetime options with access to more than 81 themes, shortcodes, and other benefits.

StudioPress

The Genesis Framework and child themes by StudioPress have been around for quite some time as well. Founded by Brian Gardner (Copyblogger), StudioPress has been churning high quality coded WordPress themes for years. StudioPress is different from Elegant Themes in that they sell themes individually in addition to the club membership. With over 86,000 members and 43 themes for a one-time fee of $349.95 which includes lifetime access to all of the current StudioPress themes, all future themes, and updates to all themes as they become available.

ThemesKingdom

Themes Kingdom offers all of their themes (currently 47 themes), plus 1 plugin (Scebo, for a customer support system) for $50 per year. Members can use the themes on an unlimited number of domains, including on client websites. Themes Kingdom members get access to attractive themes in a wide variety of categories, including portfolio themes, business themes, blog themes, news themes, and more.

Organic Themes

Organic Themes was founded in 2009 by David Morgan and Jeff Milone and was developed as an expression of their personal lifestyles. Their design approach lean towards the more professional look sans the excessive flashy effects, gradients, drop shadows and other bells and whistles commonly seen in the web design world. They are committed to clean code, with just the right amount of theme options which translate into faster load times, setup and customization. Organic Themes offers a variety of premium WordPress themes for artists, businesses and bloggers.

ThemesTown

ThemesTown is one of the new kids on the block that’s worth watching. If their impressive and creative website design is a gauge of what can be expected from them, then there is much to look forward to. Right now, they are building up their depository of homegrown exclusive premium themes but while you are waiting, you can also check out their huge list of the best free WordPress themes that have been culled from what’s out there. Membership rate is pegged at $55 one-time fee, with no monthly dues and no future charges.

30 of the Best Shopify Themes (Free & Awesome)

Do you prefer to shop from shabby looking shops? Well, I am sure that all of us will be answering this question with a resounding NO. If that is the case, then why should shopping online be any different. It is imperative these days for a website owner to have an inviting, user-friendly experience lest you go the way of obscurity.

Application of a useful and at the same time beautiful theme in the website therefore becomes extremely important. Readily downloadable themes or templates compatible with different kinds of websites are available on the internet which can be used by designers as a starting point of their projects. Or it can be useful for novice designers who want to draw valuable inspiration from these examples thereafter start developing their own unique template. If you download a free shopify theme, then the work of the designer will be simplified and become much faster as well. These templates come with many useful features like ability to connect with the social networking sites, full customization features whereby the developer can amend it according to his own needs and all the latest technologies. With the use of these templates your website is surely going to stand out from the rest. It doesn’t end with having a unique template and features, its all depends on how well and different you do business. You can find experiences of popular ecommerce experts and help articles on blogs like Shopify ecommerce blog.

In addition to our article on some of the best ecommerce WordPress Themes of 2013, we have also created this detailed list of the 30 best and most diverse shopify websites for you designers out there. They can build up a unique, attractive and at the same extremely interactive platform with the help of these themes.

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When Is The Best Time To Sell WordPress Themes?

Like any other product, the demand for WordPress themes does have seasonality. In our observation, theme sales do well from January to March then slows down from April to May. Summer months are usually slow while sales pick up in the fall with a dip around Christmas time.

Seasonality in any product or service is determined mainly by socio-cultural factors in the marketplace. In most markets around the world, economic activity is dependent on holidays or the absence or presence of school. There is also the aspect of climate, where people tend to stay indoors more during the cold months.

In the case of theme sales, it can be said that this phenomenon is mainly driven by the level of activity a person has during a season. Great sales during the first quarter of the year may be attributed to more free time for buyers to stay online as the kids are still in school and most folks prefer to stay indoors during winter. This means people have more time to tinker with their websites during this time and spotting opportunities for improvement or change could mean upgrading to a newer WordPress theme or buying and installing a new plugin. The spring slowdown correlates to the physical activities associated with this season: spring cleaning, gardening, putting away winter stuff, etc. Sometimes the lure of the outdoors is greater than staying inside the house, what with the weather becoming more pleasant and warmer. When summer kicks in and as the kids are out of school, that’s when all the vacations, trips and out of town activities happen. People tend to relax a bit more and work on websites take a back burner during this time. As kids go back to school in the fall, sales gradually picks up as people find more time to focus on work before the next big holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas, roll in. Spending patterns during Thanksgiving and Christmas usually turn towards gifts, gadgets, and other stuff to buy online unless WordPress authors take their cue from the season and create enticing special prices for WordPress theme packages or bundles.

Knowing these patterns, how do you align development and marketing activities for your themes? It would be wise to have your development activities lie heavily during the spring and summer months. That way, your resources do not have to compete with the demands of development and marketing at the same time. The best time to strengthen core technology, respond to emerging design trends, is during these lean months. As fall comes, resources can be shifted to marketing and after sales support as sales starts picking up. This is the right time to introduce new products and manage customer satisfaction as they adapt to your new themes.

Recognizing these consumer patterns may help you plan your annual business cycle as you make those critical decisions to save time, effort and money in your WordPress business.