A member at Genesis Facebook Group asked:
Hey Friends.,
I am starting my premium theme development.,
What would be the best common features should be there., along with minimalistic so it can super fast loading.
I’m planning to build child theme for Genesis framework and similar from scratch using bootstrap and both along with beaver builder & Elementor support too.
Thanks in Advance for all Advice.
Tonya Mork answered it brilliantly:
The market dictates the need.
#BusinessAdvice
Let me give you some business advice, if you don’t mind. This advice assumes though that you haven’t already done your marketing research. If have, please disregard.
Do your market research first. Planning out a theme first will waste your time and resources.
1. First, you need to identify a problem in the market.
2. Then, look at the competitors.
3. Finally, sit down and figure out how you can fulfill the need better than your competitors.
That starts with knowing the market. Who is going to buy your premium themes? What are their needs? How will your theme serve the market? And how are you serving them differently than your competitors, i.e. what makes yours different and unique?
#BeingSmartInASaturatedMarket
There are a lot of theme shops. The market is saturated. Customers can go to many different sources to find a theme that fits their needs from StudioPress to Web Savvy to ThemeForest and so on. Lots and lots of themes are available.
The key is to find a real problem and then solve it. There’s always an unsolved problem even in a saturated market.
Niche themes are a solid example. Lawyers, spas, authors, e-training, etc. are all niche markets.
Do your research for the market needs first. Don’t focus on what components to build into your theme. The market will dictate what it needs.
Then you can go focus on how to build your theme.
#ThemeBuildingAdvice
I will caution you about binding your theme to third party plugins. Make your choices wisely. For example, you may build a community theme that sits on top of BuddyPress and bbPress. Those plugins are well-supported and okay to build upon. Others may not be.
And remember that your customers will not think about customization, code, or components in the way that you do. They want to pick a theme that gives them a specific look and layout to fit their needs.
Lastly, don’t bloat your themes. Functionality and features do not belong in a theme. Rather, the theme handles the look and layout.
If you are building a business-centric theme, for example, things like FAQ, Portfolio, Testimonials, Team bios, etc. are plugins. You can build those separately and provide them to your customers to enhance their websites and user experience.