How to Profit with Your Own Website Design Template Store
In the current digital-first era, businesses, freelancers and entrepreneurs all require a website.
But not everyone has the time — or technological expertise — to build a customized site from the ground up.
That’s the point of website templates.
It allows clients to quickly and cheaply link customised services with pre-built, predetermined layouts - or templates.
Website Templates Offer A Good 'Profit Per Hour' Recently I've been working a project, selling website templates, and it seems to me that this is a business with a good profit per hour.
In this mega guide, we are going to discuss everything you need to know about making money using templates, such as how it can be done, which best practices to follow, what are the tools you can use, and the ways to maximize your income.
Today, we’ll also be giving you some actionable tips, examples and lessons learned from template designers who’ve done well.
For those interested in more ways to earn online, see Proven Ways to Make Money Online.
Why Selling Website Templates Is a Profitable Business
But first, before we dive into how to create and sell templates, let’s start with why this business model is so freaking great:
High Demand: There are millions of new websites built every year and most people want a professional yet affordable design.
This requirement is even greater for certain sectors like e-commerce, consulting, and blogging!
Scalable: Unlike custom web design, you can sell any given template to, basically, an unlimited number of potential buyers, which means you can scale up your income without any additional work.
Passive Income: Once a listing is posted it makes sales over and over without any additional work.
This means you can make money and free up your schedule at the same time!
Global Audience: With marketplaces such as ThemeForest, TemplateMonster and Creative Market – you are exposed to buyers globally and thus your chances of getting repeat sales is much more.
Among the most popular marketplaces for buying professional website templates, I recommend ThemeForest
Start Earning While Building Your Brand:
Sell your templates on Fiverr or Upwork to reach global clients and earn while growing your template store.
Tags: website templates business, selling website templates, profit from templates, passive income design.
Choosing a Profitable Niche
That’s not to say that they’re all effective templates.
When you find the right niche, you have the chance to get it in front of the right buyers and make the most sales.
Popular Niches for Templates:
Business / Corporate Websites – Great for startup, consulting or agencies.
Templates are usually professional forma layouts, price tables and testimonial sections.
E-commerce Templates – Ideal If you’re a Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento user.
There are some features they’ll need like product grids, shopping carts, and checkout pages.
Creative Portfolios – Created for photographers, creatives, and freelancers to showcase their work.
Showcase image galleries, swiping image sliders and visual storytelling elements.
Blogging and Lifestyle Templates – Ideal for a food, travel or personal blog.
Just keep it easy to read with good design and social shareability.
Landing pages – In high demand for marketing campaigns and lead generation.
Call to action buttons, opt-in forms and conversion optimized layouts on templates sell really well.
Pro tip: Before you go to the well, do a little research in tools such as Google Trends, Ahrefs or SEMrush to find out what template categories are currently trending.
Also check out forums, social media groups, and competitor sites to find gaps in the market.
Choosing the Right Platform to Build Your App On
The successful template has to follow on the first step, where people are actively using the platform.
Users like different systems, so go where your skills and the market are most valuable.
WordPress Templates – The absolute most widely used CMS on the planet.
WordPress users love themes that are just as easy to customize, quick to run, and responsive to popular plugins.
Ideal for developers and agencies with the need for a balanced framework.
Wix or Squarespace Template – Drag-and-drop solutions for newbies.
The templates should be attractive, responsive and easy to use
Tags: WordPress themes, Shopify templates, HTML templates, CMS design templates.
Designing Templates That Sell
When designing templates, you must consider aesthetic considerations, effectiveness and SEO, it's a balance.
Features of High-Quality Templates:
Responsive Design – Be beautiful on mobile, tablet and desktop.
In this day and age when 60% of web traffic is generated from mobile, responsive is not an option.
Fast Loading Speed – No unnecessary code, no image slowness, no unnecessary scripts.
Slow loading templates result in bad experience and ultimately affect SEO rankings.
SEO Optimized Structure – With clean HTML, optimized heading tags (H1, H2, H3), meta descriptions, and schema markup to help your customers rank their sites easily.
Customisation Options – No complicated programming required, users can change fonts, colors, backgrounds and layouts with great ease.
Include clear instructions for customization.
Contemporary UI/UX – Quality typography, clean navigation and attractive colors encourage visitors to buy.
However, for engagement, you can also add some interactive elements such as sliders, hover effects, animations, etc.
Browser Friendly – Your templates support all new and major browsers including All current and older versions of IE, Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge so you don’t have to worry about getting your customer complain or request a refund!
Never forget to check its performance on Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix or Pingdom. By providing an already optimized template it saves your customers time and makes them happy.
Creating a Professional Demo
Buyers at a high level, they still want to see how a template “performs” before buying. A live demo is crucial to increase sales.
What to Include in a Demo:
Different homepage variations.
Several page layouts (blog, shop, contact, portfolio).
Real professional sample content rather than boring error copy.
Interactive elements such as popups, sliders, hovers to demonstrate functions.
Having a demo on your page makes the customer believe what they see, and helps them convert, because, without a demo, viewers may feel suspicious.
Pricing Strategies for Templates
How you price is just as important as what you price – as it has a direct effect on your sales volume and income.
Inexpensive Range ($10–$30) Perfect for basic designs and first-timers.
They move these templates fast, but the margins are low.
Mid-Range ($40 – $80): Great for Professional WordPress and Shopify Themes.
Those give better returns, but still have a wide appeal.
Premium Range ($100+): For the good projects with unique features, with limited support and regular updates.
The premium templates here will be appealing to agencies and businesses that have budget to spend on quality.
Check out competitors pricing both through marketplaces like ThemeForest or Creative Market to make sure your pricing is worthwhile and fair.
Another great source for ready-made professional website templates is TemplateMonster
Think of some special offers or coupons to enhance your visibility and sales.
Selling on Marketplaces or Your Own Website
Selling on Marketplaces
Examples: ThemeForest, TemplateMonster, Creative Market.
pros: Large audience, pre-existing confidence through Amazon, easy payment processing and exposure to international buyers.
Cons: High platform fees (30–50%), extensive requirements, and plenty of competition.
Many of those who start on marketplaces become successful designers who have their own branded website for better margins and customer engagement after they gain visibility and brand identity.
Marketing Your Templates Effectively
Pinterest, Instagram – Share eye-catching imagery and templates, and focus on creative individuals and entrepreneurs.
Email Marketing – Provide mini templates for free to grow your subscriber list and then sell higher ticket items or bundles.
Affiliate Marketing – Partner with bloggers, artists, influencers who will help market the templates for a percentage.
Social Proof – Testimonial, review, and case studies of clients that are using your template. Positive feedback encourages more buyers.
Providing Customer Support and Updates
Buyers value reliability. Awesome support creates trust and repeat customers.
Documentation – Add detailed guides, documentation, screenshots in the FAQ section.
Responsive Customer Service – Answer your questions quickly and professionally.
Ongoing Updates – Keep up with the latest versions of the CMS, patch any bugs, and add improvements and new features.
Ongoing supported templates will generally feature better in market places, get better reviews and ultimately encourage repeat purchasers.
Scaling Your Template Business
Diversify your collection with more designers or partner with developers.
Sell customization as a pro upgrade for those users who require custom design.
Create subscription plans – Offer monthly or yearly access, and you can earn recurring payments from your full template collection and increase loyal followers.
Scale turns a small template side project into a long-term, viable business that has multiple channels of revenue.
Mistakes to Avoid
Most beginners lose because they neglect the basics.
Avoid these mistakes:
Conclusion
Website templates for sale are among the most profitable online opportunities for creative entrepreneurs right now.
It provides scalability, passive income and worldwide exposure.
Combine it with the right niche, fancy professional-looking templates with real polished demos, some killer branding, a little bit of “advertising or a lot of advertising,” viral traffic, support, and you have a real business—as I’m sure you can work out by now.
But you already know this, or you wouldn’t have anything to sell or a service to provide.
If you’re a freelance designer or a digital entrepreneur, templates can be the key to a successful online business that grows year by year.
