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8:17 PM
Mar 2, 2010
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alecgorge
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I personally would love GFWD having premium templates. I would submit to Themeforest all the time because I have the ideas and I would love to make some small change, but the amount of code documentation required for Themeforest is UNBELIEVABLE. You practically need to provide an entire HTML + CSS tutorial in the template, plust instructions on how to create new pages, etc. etc.
GFWD could be cheaper, with an author decided percentage that goes to GWFD (there would be a minimum of course, say 50%, that could be extended up to 100%). Of course, some documentation would be needed, but there is a middle ground between what free templates usually have and Themeforest has. We could cater to a more technical market, where a web developer squished for time could pop in, buy a $7 template and implement it himself.
In general, the reviewal process should also be a little stricter, to ensure that people associate GFWD with quality free and paid templates.
Just my two cents.
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6:55 PM
Mar 3, 2010
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brlewis
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Alec, that idea is quite doable.
Paypal has a new "Adaptive Payments" API that makes it easy to split a payment among up to 6 recipients. The payer fills out one form, and Paypal is the only middleman. So GFWD would not have to manage payments to designers or vice versa.
I set up a "style store" feature like this for my photo-sharing site. I think it's good for designers to have a chance to make some passive income.
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9:14 AM
Mar 5, 2010
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wfiedler
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I think Alecs and BRLEWIS suggestions are brilliant. Why not installing somewhat like a "marketplace" on GFWD, where designers can sell their premium templates for an affordable amount and let participate GFWD with some percentages on the selling on each premium template.
Sean, Aaron – any comments on this idea/suggestion? Other members?
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11:15 AM
Mar 5, 2010
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Sean
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wfiedler said:
I think Alecs and BRLEWIS suggestions are brilliant. Why not installing somewhat like a "marketplace" on GFWD, where designers can sell their premium templates for an affordable amount and let participate GFWD with some percentages on the selling on each premium template.
Sean, Aaron – any comments on this idea/suggestion? Other members?
I like both Alec's and BRLEWIS' ideas. They are both pretty cool, however the one thing BRLEWIS didn't mention is the monthly fees involved with using the PayPal API and that it requires the application owner (GFWD) to have a business PayPal account. Right now GFWD isn't a business per se.
Also, with something like this, we would have to account for things like charge backs with PayPal. It happens all the time.
I think the best way to handle it would be for people to pay GFWD directly, then we can send out the various percentage payments to each GFWD member with premium templates for sale on a monthly basis.
We could whip up a mini shopping cart on the site that could handle the premium themes and payment stuff. I'll get with Aaron over the weekend and we can flush this out a little more then bring anything we come up with to the community for a little more discussion.
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2:25 PM
Mar 21, 2010
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Karen Blundell
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I also like the header idea, Sean
good plan!
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5:17 AM
Jun 25, 2010
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tomw
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I was planning on starting a hosting business with odCMS but abandoned it when encountering too many problems of starting a business.
The plan was a simple one – create websites by letting the clients to select designs from open source designs and then convert those designs into themes for the sites' layout; a small fee will be charged for the services. Since hosting cost is not expensive so the profit margin should be large even for a small charge for a site. For example, a typical hosting account cost about $50, setting up 10 sites for a fee of $5 each will cover the cost of hosting; any sites added thereafter will be profit.
Also odCMS supports multiple domains reside on the same server so if the clients wish to use their own domain name it can be arranged; again for a small fee.
Perhaps implementing the above might raise some money for GFWD and share some with the designers if excessive fund can be made.
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9:39 AM
Jun 25, 2010
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Site Admin
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Some very good ideas in this thread, folk. Thanks.
As some of you know, my name is Clinton and I'm going to be working on improving the earnings. Like Sean, I'm not keen on sponsoring of templates. I'm going to try and work first with advertising. If Adsense isn't pulling its weight I'll explore using that space for other ads. I'll also be looking at affiliate programs from the big template sellers and related service providers such as hosting companies.
Let's see how that goes first. I'll give it a few months.
TOMW, I have a lot of friends who can help you start an online business and get it going. And they're happy to help for free on the experienced-people.net forums if you're still interested in that. I'd rather not get into hosting – providing a quality level of support could soon become onerous. But, a slight variation of your plan may be worth implementing. Maybe people could pay to advertise on here their service to create websites from the open source designs on this site. "Choose a design and I'll create your website for $x". On the money side I'd prefer to deal with a few designers than with lots of end users. I'll mull it over.
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4:20 AM
Jun 26, 2010
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tomw
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I realize providing hosting is a difficult business and that is why I decided not to do it on my own. Even though my plan was to charge a small fee for hosting a site, however, some people probable would still expecting 24/7 support. Your suggestion of advertising the service of creating website might sound like a good idea but I probably would not get people to use it since they can simply use odCMS to create the site on their own. I will check out the forum you mentioned and see if I can team up someone there for the hosting business I have in mind. Thanks and good luck with the site.
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