There are so many things that Thesis has to offer you, and one of those things is the ability to get paid. Yes, I am talking about the Thesis Affiliate Program that is available.
You don’t even have to own Thesis to use this affiliate program either, which makes this even better.
But with all of this competition out there to sell the theme, how are you supposed to be the merchant who stands out?
In this article, I am going to share with you a few ideas I use and processes I go through to sell the Thesis theme. I won’t lie and say I have sold a lot of copies, but I do think I have figured out the Thesis community and know of some things that can actually help!
Use Thesis to it’s Max
The one thing I have to say about the majority of Thesis bloggers is that they don’t take much time to really customize it a lot. Just look at my current blog design here (I’m coming up with a much more updated one soon though), and hundreds of other Thesis blogs out there — they still have those default styles. Some barely touch the code!
Sure, the standard Thesis look is fine. It’s simple and has great typography. What more could you want from a theme? But when it comes to trying to sell the Thesis theme without making any customizations, your readers will probably have two questions for you:
- How easy is it to actually use?
- Why sell it to us if you don’t make the best out of it?
Chances are that somewhere in your pitch to sell Thesis, you mention how easy the theme is to use. You should back those words up and do something to prove that Thesis is as easy to use as you say. I can tell you that right now using Thesis out of the box and telling your readers it’s easy to use will not be as effective as you think it will be!
You can literally use Thesis and install it to your blog, and you can go farther to actually customize it. If you can customize Thesis a lot and iron out a lot of the defaults, then you are proving to me that Thesis really can be easy to use. But if you just change a few things around and leave most of it the same, I probably won’t be very convinced or inclined to buy it.
Become a Thesis Guru With Words
If you’re a Thesis user, you probably are sure to let the world know about it. I know I do, both here (obviously with this series), and my other blog.
I think every Thesis user knows something that another one doesn’t. After using Thesis for a while, you just learn all of these cool tricks and little tips. Why not share them with your readers? The Thesis community on Twitter always loves retweeting articles full of great innovative Thesis tricks. It just takes one great article for you and a #thesiswp hash tag on Twitter to earn yourself some credibility.
More Helpful Tricks
Here is quick little list of tips you can use to promote Thesis as well. I won’t go into much detail in them though.
- Edit the link in your footer to your affiliate code. If you have the Personal License, you have to keep it in there anyways. Might want to try and make some money off of it right?
- Always add your affiliate code to any URL you link to DIYthemes on your blog. So if you want to link to the DIYthemes About page, the link you could use would be: http://diythemes.com/thesis/about/?a_aid=alexFraiser.
- Don’t restrain your affiliate link to just your blog, whenever you mention Thesis on another site, why not link it? I see it a ton on Twitter, and I think it’s a great way to sell some copies if you mask the link and have an awesome sales pitch.
- This may be looked down upon, but if you’re blog is new then stay away from using the banners to sell Thesis. I don’t believe any new blog should have banners up on their blog because it can harm the construction of the community. But that’s just my thought. Read more about why I decided banner ads weren’t right for my community at Blogussion.
How Many Thesis Developers Do We Have Here?
I was just wondering, since the Thesis Developers Option allows you to remove the Thesis link, do any Developers actually do it? I myself don’t, but I am curious if any other Developers do the same?
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Alex. I’m not familiar with Affiliate programs.
Using a pirated premium theme and still, we can use the program and earn money ?
Yeah, I guess you could lol. if the theme has public affiliates. But I would totally not recommend using pirated themes in the first place…
I was just curious buddy … !
Pradeep you can always join their affiliate program but you will miss the fun of knowing and understand Thesis…
You can write about something very well when you use it…
and thesis is one such theme which is highly recommended by all the bloggers who are using it.. coz of its SEO and typography
Good post Alex. I really want to make use of the affiliate program but currently I am a new blog and am choosing not to use banners. However, I will make use of affiliate links.
@Hellboundblogger You use a pirated theme? Why don’t you just buy a theme or use a free one? You don’t want to get in trouble somehow. Anyways, just my thoughts on that.
That’s really noble Jake. Did you buy the Developers License for Thesis?
@ Jake : I use Revolution Church theme buddy ! It is not a premium one.. so also not a pirated one !
LOL! Is there such thing as a pirated theme? I only know free themes and premium themes.
Anyway, I’ve heard a lot of rave reviews of Thesis. I still like my free blog theme, but I might change to Thesis in the future. Then I’m “qualified” to start promoting it
Yeah, any theme that is only available as a paid option that somehow lands on a pirate site and will allow people to download it for free without paying. People are cheap. :p
Hehe, it seems like you get the idea of this post! :p
Hey Alex, thanks for the info. It seems like there is no reason not to enroll in the Thesis affiliate program if you purchase Thesis yourself. I will be upgrading to the Developers Option in the next few weeks and will definitely leave the link at the bottom. Pearson and DIYthemes have done a great job of branding themselves and more than anything, I’d like to be associated with their company/products/services.
Thesis Thursday Idea: Something I am curious about is how you upgraded from your original theme on Blogussion to the theme under the Thesis platform. For instance, did you just copy/paste your original theme’s css files into custom.css? Or was it more involved than that? Just an idea. You don’t have to use it.
Sweet, Developers option? I have that too, and I try to get all of my clients on it as well. It makes everything so easy, I just love it!
That’s a good idea Nick, I think I can totally make a post about that. I remember the process, but I can tell you that it wasn’t all just copying and pasting.
Yeah, I figured it wasn’t that easy. I’m looking forward to it!
Thesis is a great affiliate program as I made over $50 in the first month of using it. The only problem is that the payout limit is only reached at $100 which means you have to at least sell 4 normal licenses to reach that level.
I am just one sale away from payout.
I’m gonna try this affiliate program. I don’t know if people are interested in buying a Wordpress theme that is, erm, a bit expensive. I guess we have to do a lot of convincing to make people more likely to spend money on a premium theme such as Thesis. By the way, I’ve generated four sales on WP Web Host’s affiliate program, which is not bad for someone new to affiliate marketing.
.-= Luis´s last blog ..WordPress is My Life =-.
The theme looks good, I’m happy with mine at the moment but might consider promoting it in the future.
.-= Buy PSP Go´s last blog ..Sony Considered Second Analog Stick for PSP Go =-.
My attenion was caught into this thesis theme thing. I see it in some sites. So is this affiliate marketing selling wordpress themes? And how much commission do you get per sale that you can generate?
How stupid of me! I thought you are writing about thesis for college.
.-= scheng1´s last blog ..How to Save Money Part Two =-.
Speaking of pirated themes, sadly it seems the Blogussion Skin is all over the place. Sad times; you must have spent a huge amount of time on it and deserve every penny and then some! Are you going to be coming out with any new themes soon? I bought the blogussion one and really liked it but realize I need a theme that’s a little more simple for my target audience. I’m a huge fan of your work though, and will probably buy anything that you put out there, even if its just to use on a later project!
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