Would You Become a Revolution Affiliate?
I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I have been asked this question. And to be honest, I’ve danced around this a bit because of the amount of paperwork that a real affiliate program requires.
Now that I have officially relaunched my Revolution theme site (which now includes all of the themes and information), I am ready to start the ball rolling on creating an extremely profound affiliate program with my Revolution themes.
What does this mean? It means that I am planning on investing heavily into developing a true affiliate program, with a variety of ad banner sizes (to include 125×125, 468×60, 300×250) and the ability for each affiliate to have access to statistics on things such as impressions, click-thrus and daily sales.
I have decided to pursue this affiliate project in conjunction with Linkshare, which is probably the #1 leading affiliate marketing company in the world. Some of their clients include Target, Walmart, ESPN, American Express, so you know that this is a very reputable company. Here’s a little about why I chose them, taken from their website:
Affiliates and merchants choose LinkShare because of our reliable and accurate tracking technology. Our patented tracking technology is not cookie-based and therefore, does not fall prey to the tracking discrepancies that often result from cookies. LinkShare’s robust technology ensures that tracking is accurate and complete. Because our technology is web-based, it is easy for affiliates to manage their programs and merchant relationships.
I am looking to see how much interest there would be in me setting up an affiliate program – with Revolution, I always wanted to take WordPress to a higher level. Offering an affiliate program with the best company is only a continuation of that dream. Please give me your feedback on whether or not you’d be up for joining – the cost of this is pretty high on my end, and that is why I am asking. But if it means providing you the best program and easiest for you to track in terms of sales and stats, I’m willing to do it!
For those of you who are getting ready to ask the question I anticipate from most of you, the answer is that I am paying out 25% for each sale. Which means that you would earn this:
- 25% of a Single Use package – $79.95 = $20.00 to you
- 25% of a Multiple Use package – $199.95 = $50.00 to you
- 25% of a Developer package – $399.95 = $100.00 to you
I’m all ears, please tell me what you think!
Hi Brian,
That’s just a great idea! I’m all in
David – thanks so much for the feedback. To be honest, the best way I know how to address the concerns you have is simply what you stated in your last sentence. And this is something that is already in the works. I am in the process of developing a new Revolution theme, and in 2008 plan on releasing many themes to address those concerns. Hope that works for you!
I think the argument that more people using the Revolution theme dilutes the value of it is pretty silly. It may be true to a degree but, it’s silly.
First of all it’s a $100 theme that blows away any free theme I’ve ever seen.
Second, if you want a completely exclusive theme then hire Brian to design one for you.
Third, this is how Brian makes his living and it’s his design. If he wants to try and sell a million copies then I say more power to him.
And, I’ll help.
Blogs have been too ugly for too long! It’s time we all take a stand for better looking blogs everywhere!
LOL
Two things I want to point out – the theme is $80, not $100.
Second, and more importantly, if you take a look at the showcase on the Revolution site, you will see examples of sites using the themes that look NOTHING like each other.
Take for instance this site and this site.
Two totally different designs. based off the original theme. My advice is to spend time to customize the theme, the layout, the css and then you won’t have sites looking like one another.
We bought the theme for the features it offered and the clean coding. We customized the banner of our new site we’re launching and whatnot to make it distinct. Doesn’t look like Brian’s theme anymore, except for layout and functionality.
Brian, Good points.
I did not pay $100 for mine but, when Scott said $100 I thought maybe you raised the price and I didn’t want to let the cat , meow…, out of the bag if you had.
Even if it was $100 it would still be worth it.
Thanks Barry – no, the prices for all of the current Revolution themes are lower than they used to be. Currently they are all $79.95 – no plan ever to increase the price to the existing themes.
Brian is mining a wholly new market: affordable, professionally-designed WordPress themes that are both supported and offer a solid frame to create your distinct online home.
Now, if I were pay $5K for a one-off design, I wouldn’t much like it if a bazillion other people had the same unique design. But at $80 plus some sweat equity, 1,000 Revolutions, while all sharing the same core, can appear completely different.
Brian,
I purchased your themes because I think you have the best looking themes that anyone could offer. I had a hard time choosing so I purchased your Developer Pkg, that solved my problem in choosing. I would love to become an affiliate for your Revolution Themes.
Ed – I totally agree with your second paragraph!
Fred – now that is a great site of yours that really shows how much you can put onto a homepage using WordPress. Great job on your site, you should be very proud!
Generous of you to enable us to earn an income on the many “word of mouth” testimonials passed on to our customers looking for an exciting home page design for their new WP blogs. More so after “Problogger’s” Darren Rowse had that excellent redesign commissioned for his Problogger home page.
Interesting that you chose a 25% payout figure, when the norm is around 40 – 50%!
Surely blog owners will take the time to add their individual touch via colour and design to any WP theme they choose… so it should not be a concern that the Revolution theme will lose its appeal by being “all over the internet”.
Sounds like a great idea.
This is easy money, as your themes literally sell themselves!
I would love to sign up. I was actually looking for one, before I bought one of your themes.
I agree with James and ofcourse with Brian. If you want to, you can really just use the basics of the Revolution Theme(s) and alter the design to whichever way you desire. This was my desire: http://www.balancedmind.nl and as you can see it looks almost nothing like the original.
That’s what the true power of the Revolution Theme is about …
I like the idea of an affiliate program, and-but….
Will the average buyer be satisfied at the end of the day? I’m not sure. Not only do they have to know wordPress but some css and html. I would feel good selling to another designer.
I like the idea of setting up a buying program for web designers to offer to their customers.
I guess my main concern is there are so many templates out there that are spouting put a web site up in minutes. yada yada haha. Even my company has bought into a simple program for none designers anyone can use and so far there are they are racking up on the training.
There is a company that sells a template (CommonSpot) and I think they ask a pretty good amount, but as far as I can see they have several high end training classes. You may not be interested in training, but maybe supporting others selling Revolution.
Best of luck with it, Brian. I’m sure it’ll be a success for you, depsite the effort.
Hi Brian,
are you planning on releasing the theme you were using before this one anytime soon? It was the dark blue one and I remember you saying you were going to release it as a free theme.
I bet this really takes off for you Brian. I would be very interested indeed!! Good luck!
Sign me up!
David – thanks, I appreciate that!
Sara – at some point, yes I plan to release it – once I get this Revolution stuff done, I’ll try to work on it!
Susan – thanks. Stay tuned to my eNews, as that will announce when the affiliate program is ready.
Jacqueline – I’ll let you do the honors once the program is ready!
I think you definitely need to have an affiliate program, however your pricing structure is not optimal. I would consider a sliding scale along the following lines.
* 15% of a Single Use package
* 25% of a Multiple Use package
* 35% of a Developer package
If you care to hear the logic behind this, feel free to email me and I’ll explain.
You know where I stand, right?
Anyways, 25% for each package sale is good enough.
Brian,
Is the merchant account set with LinkShare yet? I could not any merchant under your name. I know you’ll be doing well in this project. I am one of those people who were waiting to promote this as an affiliate. 25% is a good start. Any chance an affiliate could get a discount for themselves?
Count me in Brian. It would be nice to have a reputable template source that would be available for affiliate income. I agree with others that incorporating the 125×125 ad sizes in upcoming templates would be great.
Here’s to the Revolution!
Cheers,
John
Hi Brian! I’d be glad to help you promote this through WBO. Just let me know when you start.
- CC
Brian;
You do awesome work and I would be proud to have your themes as part of my affiliate relationships and proud as well to recommend them to clients. Fire it up!
Best
Eric
You can count me in. I think it’s a great idea.
Sign me up as well. Can’t wait.
R.
This is great news. I’d love to sell your themes to my visitors!