So here I am, I’ve finally decided to take the plunge.
You may be asking what exactly I’m talking about, right? Well, for the past 6 months or so I’ve had this idea to begin a series of posts where I will be sharing with you the exact process I go through when creating a premium landing page template.
I am going to show you EVERYTHING!
That’s right, the ins and outs of theme design and development, how I come up with the idea, how I code it up, how I submit it for approval to the ThemeForest marketplace and much more.
But let me break it down for you even further so you can see exactly what we’ll be going through, I’m really excited to begin this process and I hope it will be of great value and give you an insight on how YOU can get started, how to improve your workflow or if you have feedback for me, then be sure to give me a shout out as well, always happy to learn from others.
So let’s check out what is upcoming in this How to Create a Premium Landing Page series below.
The Inspiration
One of the fundamental steps I take when creating any kind of design, is to start my creative juices flowing…I know it may sound weird but it’s true.
Usually I check out a number of resources to begin mind mapping the ideas I have and eventually create an awesome website that will help others with their own projects.
The Concept
I’ll also be sharing with you the process of how I conceptualize a design. Now, I’m not sure just yet if I will be going down the Photoshop route or doing a more innovative approach which I have been hearing a lot about…I’ll share with you what this is exactly further along in the series so make sure you don’t miss out.
Getting Approval
I know that for me one of the most daunting aspects to theme design was and even still is the approval process.
These marketplaces have very strict guidelines and it’s not always easy to get approved on the first go, but hey, that’s ok! that’s why I’m doing this, it’s so we can all learn from this case study and get better and better as we go along.
The important thing to remember in this step is to take the feedback on board and don’t quit if your theme gets rejected.
We’ll see how I go, but one way or another you’ll be part of the journey.
Selecting the Theme Name
When it comes to naming my themes there is no hard or fast rule. Well, not for me at least…
My theme names don’t actually come from a specific system. It’s a pretty easy process to follow, here are the 3 steps I use.
Step 1 – Listen and Take Notes
That’s right! That’s all there is to how I begin my theme name idea. I just listen to conversations, look at billboards, check out magazines at the newsagency and anything else that will generate ideas.
Now, when these names are coming into my head, I always make sure to have a handy note application so I don’t forget later on. The two I mostly use are Evernote and the Notes app on my iPhone. Here is an example of how I write them down:
What is great about Evernote more so than Notes, is that it will sync it across all my devices – which is fantastic!
Step 2 – The Shortlist
The next step involves culling some of the ideas. Now that’s not to say I won’t use them for other theme names in future, but just won’t be selected for this round. I like names that I feel have an emotional connection. That make an impact when one reads them, it may sound a bit silly, but that’s just the way I do it.
You will have your own system, but these ideas may help you as well.
Step 3 – Is the Theme Name Taken?
Again, a very straight forward process. Depending on what marketplace you choose to sell your theme, it’s always a good idea to check and make sure it’s not taken.
This is for a number of reason:
- You want your theme to be unique
- You don’t want to infringe on anyone’s copyright or trademark
- You want to create your OWN brand
These may sound obvious, but it is still worth noting them down.
Now, when checking to see if a theme name is taken you should simply type in the name in the marketplace of your choosing and see if anything remotely similar displays in the search results.
For example, because I plan to submit the theme I create in this series on ThemeForest, I will use this as an example.
Before I do this, I’ll officially share with you the name I am choosing for my next premium landing page…
The name will be Reprise.
So, now to check if a theme name is taken, there are two areas I go to, the first is ThemeForest where I put in my key phrase into the search field.
Looks like no other theme names exist by that name…woohoo!
The next step is to check on Google. I know it may not be necessary, but I always like to double check.
To run a search query on your potential theme name, use this:
site:themeforest.net "your theme name"
In my case it would look like this:
Once I’ve done the search, I check the results. For this case, there were no theme name that were using the term Reprise – this is great as it means I can get started!
Now if you use the above steps and you do see that your theme name is taken, that’s cool. Just start over until you find one that is unique to you. There is a plethora of options!
The Next Step
The first thing I’ll be doing is like I said at the beginning of the post, start to get the creative juices flowing. For this, I’ll show you some of the places I go to gain some inspiration, what thoughts go through my head and how I put these thoughts into action and get started design a premium theme that I can sell and continue to build my passive income portfolio.
I’m really pumped about this guys, I look forward to having you on the journey.