When we think of any WordPress plugin, the thing that generally comes to our mind is to sell digital or physical products. Most of us do not realize that they are equally perfect to sell services online.
This article will act like a complete guide so that you can learn about the difference between selling digital and services of WordPress online using a wide range of plugins.
What do you mean by selling WordPress digital products and services online?
A WordPress service can be defined as an act of doing work or helping someone. So, a consultant or a professional will handle all the services online or physically in person. It means that the gesture of service depicts the work that one will provide a person manually or an organization.
Selling WordPress services actually differs from selling WordPress products because you provide services directly to every customer. This procedure can get conducted in person i.e. face-to-face or online. There is a key point here which is that your contractors, employees, or you will be involved personally in providing services. If we want to say it in a different way then, you will be acting as a service provider. Be it any service, it cannot be entirely automated because in this case, if it turns automatic then it won’t be considered a service, instead, it will be called a product.
Keeping this thing in mind, one can wonder about the process of selling services online by creating new e-commerce plugins from WordPress. After all, any service that can be provided is normally not carried out in an online mode, but manually.
The answer to the query is that one can sell a service on a website of WordPress, they just have to separate the provision and sales of that particular service. And in a similar way, you can even sell services online just like selling products. There is only one difference that is if a customer orders any service online. One can carry on with the work on behalf of them and for them in a manual process instead of showing them products. Thus, you can sell a service online & in real or in person you can carry out.
You can easily use WordPress to sell services by working as a consultant for developing online websites without or with an e-commerce platform or e-commerce plugin. But, if you ask which between them is the best then, keep it simple by selling services on WordPress but you have to avoid the things related to e-commerce.
Why you should sell WordPress plugins or themes and services?
If you have already worked with WordPress for a brief or elaborate amount of time, you will very likely get to understand the requirement of plugins and the customized theme’s appeal along with the services that you need to provide to satisfy the customer. The best part of building or creating a website in WordPress is that you can know, learn, and use every tool for creating a unique portrayal or showcase for your company or brand on an online platform like a website.
For plugin or theme developers, this will also mean that there is a vast market potential for your work out there. WordPress is truly a renowned internationally accepted product that is used by various organizations or companies both small and large.
The marketplace for plugins and themes is very competitive. Anyway, the obstacles or barriers to entering are very low, and you will get a lot of places to showcase your services and products.
You can also perform improvements on the client’s page speed and provide other services according to their requests. For creating a good theme or plugin you need to be unique and then sell it to potential clients by any marketplace or your personal website.
Selling WordPress themes and plugins vs selling WordPress services
You can grow your own business by selling themes and plugins, and by knowing the comparison between providing services and creating plugins in WordPress.
- If you are new to WordPress, use an e-commerce WordPress plugin, you can take payment or sell services online. This will save you time in comparison with an offline collection of payments and later chasing after invoices from customers. It is even a better option for the cash flow of your business service because customers will pay upfront, even before you can provide them with their required service.
- E-commerce WordPress plugins generally come with multiple options for selling services at an increased rate through the process of cross-selling ad up-selling. This might involve the addition of extra options for encouraging every customer for buying more. Anyway, in both ways, it will be easier to do it if you are to sell the services online on any e-commerce plugin.
- Along with a simple order of service form that does not involve the use of e-commerce, one’s sales are not recorded in any place. You need to maintain a separate manual record that will contain every detail related to the services given or provided. Whereas, a plugin of e-commerce will keep every record that contains the details or records of every provided sale and will also send payment receipts or invoices to the customers. This will be helping in saving your admin time. If you want to save tie, even more, there are popular e-commerce plugin extensions that will automatically send the data to the accounting software.
- E-commerce plugins generally come along with built-in reporting ad analytics. You will be able to see the statistics about whoever has bought or purchased the services provided by you and which services are the most or best-selling ones in the dashboard of WordPress directly. This will help you to make your business’s service even more improved and hence successful and also will continue to make improvements with going time.
- If you are selling any appointments that are bookable by nature then, you can save a lot on both money and time by selling all these services via WordPress. The ease of use will also help you to drive in more sales.
- In the case of WordPress services, one can sell multiple services such as;
Professional services like architecture, document preparation, conveyancing, review, advice related to real estate, will writing, medical, and legal services.
Expert services like copywriting, online business, resume & CV writing, coaching, career development, lifestyle, consulting, love & relationships, life coaching, marketing, SEO or search engine optimization, photography, web analytics, and social media.
Design services like graphic design, work for creating a brand’s identity, infographics, image editing, online design of interiors, and stationery such as brochures, leaflets, flyers, business cards, and print layouts.
Technical services like software and programming development, printing, technical support, and sound mixing.
- For selling a WordPress theme or plugins you first need to choose a design and niche that will serve a specific requirement. Next, you need to develop the theme by utilizing principles of responsive design which means considering things like fonts, menus, image sizes, and much more. Thirdly you must follow the best practices for coding in WordPress. Fourthly, you need to include theme templates that are appropriate in nature. Fifthly, you need to create a page for a theme option that is user-friendly. Sixthly, you should create clear documentation for a clear theme. Seventhly, you need to select a marketplace of themes. And lastly, before sending it off for selling you need to set a price for your theme.
You can even sell your time and package your services into target-specific products that people will be able to select, see, and order from like sessions of online training, webinar coaching, and technical support of a website. For example, there is a client of web design who used the WordPress website for selling remote social media advice sessions. And if you are a freelance writer or blogger, you may find interested in selling services for blogging.
Where can you sell WordPress themes, plugins, and services?
Once you are done with creating your theme, plugin, or arranging a set of rules for your services, you will have to start looking for the options for marketing your work. But, there is no right answer when you are deciding which marketplace to sell or which marketplace is appropriate for your themes, plugins, or services. You have to take a few things under consideration whether you wish to be a seller who will perform exclusively in the marketplace, or if you wish for retaining the selling ability of your products and services elsewhere.
The second consideration you can think about is if you are really willing to design or program a basic and free version of your theme or plugin along with the manual services. You will be then able to offer a free version of your product and services on the marketplaces that you will feel will be beneficial in the long run. This will also help you to gain the confidence and trust of your clients as they will get to have a glimpse of your product along with your services before buying the whole or actual package. This will be a win-win situation for both sides as you will gain trust and your customer will get a glimpse beforehand paying for the entire deal.
Conclusion
It might seem to you that this is like a wide and deep forest but you won’t get lost here for sure. Creating and selling WordPress themes, plugins, and service is easy and beneficial and understanding the difference between these was equally important as well. I hope this article about selling WordPress themes and plugins vs selling WordPress services will be beneficial for you to understand the importance and difference between both things.
