WP Theme integration: is there a market?

[avani]

Hi,

Just curious: do you use wordpress for your blogging (and/or static-looking website) needs? If yes, do you find yourself in the following situation:

You have a "main site" with most of the static content, and a wp blog whose theme doesn't quite "match". And you want to integrate the look of your blog with the aforementioned main site (or the other way round, depending on which design you like better )...


I know most people start with a WP blog so this need doesn't arise; but I'm still curious As it happens, I'm faced with this task (namely, of wp theme integration) very frequently in my freelance/offline-consulting career, and it costs my clients $45 onwards (depending on the complexity of the main site and the specific desires of the client), with the average project cost hovering the around the $150 mark.

The process of doing it is not very hard, but the documentation is scattered. No, I'm not saying someone with a weekend and a Monday morning at hand can't figure it out (assuming some level of savvyness), but nevertheless I think it deserves to be put together somewhere... you know where this is going by now :P Is this a good idea for a info product - I'm really keen to get started on my first attempt at making one: I understand the information I want to put together, of course, and I think I'm a half-decent writer. Any speculations on if there'll be any takers?


(Well, as a "think aloud" experiment I put this message across as a rather lame sig, and it's attracted no attention - but that could be because I am not really active around here yet - mostly reading! Oh well, sighs, maybe I'm just in a dangerously optimistic mood...)


Here's looking forward to any discussion!

Cheers,
Avani

PS: Wondered if this should go into "Programming Talk" - but judged against it, I'm only asking for opinions on an info product idea. But if I did screw up the category - perhaps a mod can take care of it?

[Tom Dean]

I currently use Artisteer to make a theme that is close to the static site deign but I would pay to know how to do it so that the switch from the static site to blog is seamless.

I use xsitepro2, kompozer, fp expressions for static sites. It would be nice to have the blog be an exact match instead of just close.

Tom

[avani]

Tom:

Thanks for your response! Checked out all your tools, yep - pretty neat way of doing it, but different from what I'm talking about. The "method" that I want to document will involve understanding your current design and the daring (*grin*) to open and edit WP theme files.

Although it requires some willingness to tweak code, it winds up to being mostly copy-past work that should not take longer than a couple of hours (I usually get lucky in the first half an hour of hacking), especially when the design you desire to integrate is coded already.

I'm so glad to know there's someone who's interested Almost feel like starting at the ebook right now, but perhaps I'll wait up for what others have to say... and thanks again for sharing your current setup!


Cheers,
Avani

[Damien Roche]

I think you could sell it as an info product - it'd be FAR more valuable it you packaged it as a video series. There are tons of web development forums out there, I'm sure you'd make quite a few sales. I couldn't really say much about demand - in the last 2 years, I think I've had about 3 requests for a site to be converted into wordpress...though I do think more and more people are understanding the value of utilizing a cms.

About your last paragraph - your sig applies to the wrong crowd. People viewing this thread are likely to be developers, so I'm sure they would opt to do the work themselves.

It is also far easier to get clicks than it is to get a pm. I'd put a few links in there if I was you, even to a contact form, and start commenting on the more techy threads.

Hope that helps.

[SusanneUK]

I would be interested in something like this for sure, I would prefer a mix though of written, images and video, if that helps any.

Cheers
Sue

[Andyhenry]

Hi,

I've paid for this type of stuff for myself and others.

It's simple, but since there are people who love to do it and have great design skills, I usually just go to one of the people I outsource design to in order to get it done.

So there's definitely a market if you can access them.

Andy

[avani]

Originally Posted by Damien Roche

I think you could sell it as an info product - it'd be FAR more valuable it you packaged it as a video series.

Thanks for the suggestion! Yep, a few videos is what I had in mind too, but IMO, it's good to have the written word backing it up - some people prefer reading to watching, and some others may not want to download the videos right away (maybe they're on a slow connection, whatever), and well, not everything can go into the videos So yeah, I'm planning mixed media content, glad my intent of doing videos wasn't way off.

Originally Posted by Damien Roche

I couldn't really say much about demand - in the last 2 years, I think I've had about 3 requests for a site to be converted into wordpress...

In the freelance scene this seems to be a regular request. I'm hoping such a report will find an audience both among buyers and providers (the former who're outsourcing it only out of ignorance and have some time on their hands can save themselves some money, the latter can make some money off the assured list of buyers who don't have the time to do it on their own!

Originally Posted by Damien Roche

It is also far easier to get clicks than it is to get a pm. I'd put a few links in there if I was you, even to a contact form, and start commenting on the more techy threads.

Hope that helps.

Ah, good idea. I'll shift to a link and see how it goes. And that helps a ton, thank you!

Originally Posted by SusanneUK

I would be interested in something like this for sure, I would prefer a mix though of written, images and video, if that helps any.

Yay, thanks... great to know, can I PM you if this becomes my first WSO?

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

It's simple, but since there are people who love to do it and have great design skills, I usually just go to one of the people I outsource design to in order to get it done.

Sweet I won't exactly be appealing to design skills in the proposed report, though - it'll more be about how to mash an existing design into another - of course, anyone with good skills will be able to take ti from there and do plenty more!

Originally Posted by Andyhenry

So there's definitely a market if you can access them.

Phew, reassuring. Thanks muchly!


Cheers,
Avani

[Istvan Horvath]

As I see it there is a market for creating WP themes that look exactly as an existing website... however, I am not sure about the market for a product that shows how to do it.

I know a theme designer who makes decent money by creating WP themes for big corporations and organizations since blogging became "fashionable" even for those. Most of the time he is contacted by the developers of the original (static) corporate site - they don't bother to learn all the intricacies of WP theme building. They provide the HTML of a sample page (and the CSS if exist + images) and my friend develops the theme. However, his prices start at $1,000 depending on how complicate the original design is.

As I see it, the HTML part is a piece of cake - just slice the sample page's file in header, index, sidebar, footer etc. The trick comes with the CSS: making all those menus, lists, nested lists to look decent. Most people who try fail on that. And I don't see how any product could teach them overnight CSS skills

(But I might be wrong...)

[SusanneUK]

Originally Posted by avani

Yay, thanks... great to know, can I PM you if this becomes my first WSO?


Cheers,
Avani

Sure, please do

Sue

[avani]

Originally Posted by The Pension Guy

As I see it there is a market for creating WP themes that look exactly as an existing website...

I can agree with this based on my own personal experience hanging out in the freelancing world (both online and offline).

Originally Posted by The Pension Guy

however, I am not sure about the market for a product that shows how to do it.

I was uncertain as well, hence this thread The replies so far have been encouraging! And it just occurred to me that I could market this as a training module for newbie freelancers looking for some early/simple/quick projects...

Originally Posted by The Pension Guy

As I see it, the HTML part is a piece of cake - just slice the sample page's file in header, index, sidebar, footer etc. The trick comes with the CSS: making all those menus, lists, nested lists to look decent. Most people who try fail on that. And I don't see how any product could teach them overnight CSS skills

(But I might be wrong...)

Ah well, there's a slight misunderstanding.

I don't intend to teach anyone CSS overnight... struggling a fair bit with it myself in spite of more than 3 years of mucking around (partly because specs, browsers, and design itself is evolving all the time).

If a working design already exists, then it's not too hard to "port it" as WP design. It ends up being some intelligent copy-pasting and you get faster with familiarity and practice, and that's what I intend to point out.


Cheers,
Avani