MyWebResource

In a previous post, I brought up the point that everybody has to make a living, but forcing users to have sponsored links in the free themes they download, IMHO, is unethical.

So, what is a theme designer to do to make a living at design. Well, I’d like to cover that topic here with some real-world, no BS suggestions that will help designers make a decent living without resorting to unethical measures.

This site is a good example of how you can make a living without the need to add sponsored links to your designs. Here are a few key monetization methods used here that will help illustrate the point.

• Google AdSense Ads
• Text Link Ads
• Amazon Contextual Ads
• Affiliate Template Shop
• Donation Block
• Affiliate buttons

Now, if all I offered on this site was theme downloads, the above would not be enough to cover the cost of hosting this site. The trick is to add value-added content.

This site has long provided a central portal for webmasters where they can keep up with the latest news in web design (RSS Feeds), can read informative articles about web design (Blog Posts), find useful resources that would take days to search for (Directory), and have access to a large selection of tools that help them optimize their site.

So, does this site earn enough income to pay my bills? No. Not yet. This is mainly due to the fact that I own several websites and my time and energy is distributed across all my sites.

Savvy webmasters who have a gift of gab and interest in a tight niche can do much better and earn a very good income provided they follow some very simple steps.

1. Pick a niche you are very knowledgeable in and write about it daily
2. If you cannot write about it daily, offer incentives to others to help you have fresh content daily.
3. Use monetization methods, like above, to generate income, but don’t over-do it. Much more ads than you see on this site would be overkill and will turn people off.
4. Place a link back to your site in every design you release and request in your license that attribution be retained. *

I would like to focus on this last point here a little bit deeper…

Wordpress and XOOPS as well as many other CMS products, are released under the GNU/GPL license; therefore, all themes made for these systems MUST be released under a compatible license. However, what many people don’t realize is that this stipulation only relates to the code. Since the code of CMS themes depends on the CMS platform for proper operation, you must make your theme compatible with the license governing the CMS.

What about graphics? Ah, now there is something completely different! Graphics are copyright the moment they are produced and are not subject to the above conditions.

This creates a bit of a contradiction then, doesn’t it?

Not so much. There is a common standard among many designers these days to use the Creative Commons licensing structure. This allows the designer to release designs that are compatible with the requirements of the CMS platform, while still protecting their intellectual rights and preserving the credit they deserve.

The CC License that is most commonly used is the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. This license is GNU/GPL friendly, while still maintaining the intellectual rights of the designer and it preserves the credit that is due.

Through the use of the above CC License, you can stipulate that users who download your design may not remove the attribution link in the footer of the design.

Attribution. You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).

This is how you get the traffic to your site, raise your PR and get the process started of attracting regular visitors.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking… “How is this any different/better than having sponsored links in the footer of the design?”

The answer is quite simple. Using this method gives you the credit you deserve as a designer, but offers users of your design and visitors to their site a choice. They can choose to visit your site or not. They can choose to see your ads or not. They can choose to continue to be exposed to your monetization efforts or not. Sponsored links in themes do not offer this choice. In fact many designers forbid users to remove the sponsored link or encrypt the PHP so that the user cannot remove the links without breaking the design.

Honestly, I’m of the opinion that the method I’ve described is the most ethical and user-friendly approach to monetizing your design efforts. The designer gets the credit they deserve and the user gets the benefit of not having unrelated, forced advertisements on their site. IMHO, it’s a win-win situation.

What about other monetization methods?

Well, there are other ways to make money from design. Some methods include selling your designs in your own storefront, selling support services for your design, selling your designs through major third-party template shops, and by offering paid customization services. There are many more methods and all of them have their benefits and drawbacks. To discuss the pros and cons of each method is enough subject material for an entire article each, so I will not go into detail about them here.