The irony of writing about WordPress themes for web site designers and developers is palpable.

But, let’s face it, being a website designer and developer is running a business. Any business these days should have an excellent website.

Having an excellent website cannot be overstated for web site designers and developers. After all, if your site looks bad, what does that say about the sites you’ll design and launch for your clients?

However, there’s more to looking for a WordPress theme for your own website. A highly efficient way to develop a successful website design business is to become extremely familiar with one or two WordPress theme frameworks. Then get a developer’s license or all-theme license and use those themes for your clients.

This WordPress for Website Designers and Developers article is split into 2 sections, which are:

Stunning WordPress Themes for Website Designers and Developers.
Excellent All-Theme WordPress Theme options for client WordPress themes; and

1. Stunning WordPress Themes for Website Designers and Developers

Generally, you want to use a WordPress theme for a website designer website that has portfolio layouts so you can display your work to visitors. The 2 primary criteria prospective clients will look at are:

Portfolio, and
Your prices.

Therefore, the WordPress themes I set out that are excellent for website designers are portfolio themes.

1. Deep Focus by ElegantThemes

Click here to view a demo of the Deep Focus theme.

2. Art Couture by Viva Themes

Click here to view a demo of the Art Couture theme.

3. Kaboodle by WooThemes

Click here to visit WooThemes.

4. In Style by ElegantThemes

Click here to view a demo of the In Style theme.

5. Inspire by WooThemes

Click here to visit WooThemes.

6. Crystal Theme by StudioPress

Click here to view a demo of the Crystal theme.

7. Hospitality Theme by Templatic

Although designed for the hospitality industry, this theme comes with a portfolio feature which turns this stunning theme easily into a portfolio-style theme. I love this theme and had to include it in my list of WordPress themes for website designers and developers.

Click here to view a demo of the Hospitality theme.

8. Delicious Theme by StudioPress

Click here to view a demo of the Delicious theme.

9. Graphix Theme by WPZoom

Click here to view a demo of Graphix theme.

10. Minimum Theme by StudioPress

Click here to view a demo of Minimum theme.

11. Gigawatt Theme by Obox Themes

Click here to view a demo of Gigawatt theme.

12. Manhattan theme by StudioPress

Click here to view a demo of Manhattan theme.

13. BizzFolio Theme by Bizz Themes

Click here to view a demo of BizzFolio theme.

Omnicron Theme by RocketTheme

Omnicron is a fantastic theme if you have set pricing for your website design services. It’s a WordPress price comparison theme. Like ElegantThemes, RocketTheme designs beautiful themes with exacting attention to detail.

Click here to view a demo of Omincron theme.

15. ThemeForest WordPress themes for Website Developers

ThemeForest offers many portfolio-style WordPress theme. Click here to go to the portfolio WordPress themes at ThemeForest.

16. Template Monster WordPress themes for Website Designers

Template Monster offers many WordPress themes for website design websites. Get 10% off through my links to Template Monster.

Don’t forget about WordPress Theme Builders:

Builder by iThemes (my Builder theme review)
Catalyst Theme (my Catalyst theme review)
Headway Themes (my Headway Themes article)
DIY Thesis
Artisteer (my Artisteer review)

Any of the above 5 theme builders will give you the ability to create stunning unique websites. Having at least one of these WordPress theme builders in your arsenal is also excellent for client websites (see below).

2. Excellent All-Theme WordPress Theme Packages for Your Website Design Business

StudioPress

I write extensively about the StudioPress Pro Plus All-Theme package here and the popular Genesis Framework here. Or click here to go directly to StudioPress.

Recently I was hired by a small business to create an inexpensive website on the WordPress platform. I put forward a few themes from the StudioPress collection, and he was delighted with 2 of them (Enterprise and Metric). Talk about easy and the client will be thrilled with such a great website.

However, StudioPress isn’t the only game in town. There’s other fantastic WordPress theme developers who offer all-theme and developer’s licenses. They are:

ElegantThemes

ElegantThemes produces some of the most stylish themes available. Their attention to detail is awesome. They’re also easy to set up.

You can see my ElegantThemes rating here.

iThemes

iThemes is the creator of the Builder Framework. In my view, every website designer that builds websites on WordPress for clients should have a license for Builder.

Builder is all about making it easy and fast to create a fully customized website. If you have a client that wants a customized website instead of a pre-designed theme, get a Builder theme license. It uses drag n’ drop technology to fully design and develop your site, which makes it easy and fast to create a unique and stylish website for clients.

Templatic

Templatic is a WordPress theme developer to always check out for specific projects. Templatic creates WordPress themes that are designed for specific purposes such as hotel, restaurant, lawyer websites (to name a few). If you have a client that is in a specific type of business, browse Templatic to see if they have a specific-purpose WordPress theme for your client’s business.

WooThemes

I don’t use WooThemes much, but I do like many of their themes. They’re pricing isn’t very good, but I know many people like WooThemes’ distinctive designs. Therefore, since there’s a healthy demand for WooThemes, you might want to offer prospective clients Woo designs which is economical if you get a Woo developer’s license/membership.

Woo has a HUGE theme selection and they roll out 2 themes each month (at a minimum). Therefore, a membership to Woo can provide you enough themes to serve most clients.

Catalyst

Catalyst is like Builder by iThemes. Catalyst makes creating custom designs easy. In fact it’s very easy. I bought Catalyst because I love having these “WordPress theme builders” in my inventory whenever I or a client wants a custom design.

One very nice Catalyst feature is you can export your designs so that you can use them on future projects. Over time, you can create your own library of Catalyst skins which can speed up development and design for future clients, which results in more profits for you.

Headway Themes

Headway is like Catalyst and Builder in that it’s a WordPress theme builder.

Viva Themes

Viva Themes is making some fantastic designs these days. They’re creative with backgrounds and the overall attention to detail is worth looking into.

RocketTheme

RocketTheme started with Joomla Templates, but in recent years expanded into WordPress theme. I’m glad they did. RocketTheme was one of my early template purchases. I love their unique style and attention to detail.

Artisteer

Some website designers get a license to Artisteer for creating custom designs quickly. You might want to look into this software as part of your website development tools arsenal. Read my in-depth Artisteer review here.

Click here for my large list of WordPress theme developers (where I compare the developers on on key information).

Is WordPress okay for building client sites?

Absolutely. My offline business uses WordPress. I’ve had no problems and it generates a ton of business. Most small businesses will do great with WordPress. It’s inexpensive, easy to manage (you can train your clients to add content inside 30 minutes), and the amount of themes and plugins available cannot be beat.

I heartily recommend using WordPress and themes for your website design and development business.

That said, sometimes WordPress isn’t the best option. Be open and listen to your client needs. You may need to veer from WordPress in certain instances.

Naturally, if I recommend using WordPress for client sites, I see no reason at all not to use WordPress for your website design website.

The Web is filled with naysayers against WordPress for clients and business websites, but in my experience, it’s a fantastic platform for many website purposes.

Should you display your pricing on your website?

Tough question. If you have any package deals that exclude customization, then definitely set out your pricing.

However, if you’re a higher-end website designer that does custom work, then setting out pricing is tough to do. Doing so can end up in squabbling with a client, which is a huge waste of time and is costly. It can cost you in having to give what your client demands, or a bad review published somewhere online by that unhappy client.

If you wish to display your pricing, consider the Omnicron theme by RocketTheme or get the Premise for WordPress plugin (my Premise for WordPress review) which offers a pricing comparison page template. Premise is a plugin so that you can add templates to your chosen WordPress theme.

What other services can a website designer and developer offer?

Be mindful about other services you can offer, either directly or indirectly. You clients likely require more than just a website. In fact, it’s important you explain to them that website design is not SEO and traffic generation. Many people think that simply building a website will result in a flood of traffic. Not true. Traffic is another matter altogether.

Complementary services to a website design business include:

1. SEO & Traffic Generation

If you’re not into doing SEO for clients, why not team up or enter into a JV with a person or organization that does SEO. You can both refer clients to one another. Most businesses that invest in a website need SEO or some form of traffic generation. If it’s PPC, then team up with a PPC consultant.

Be sure to look for white hat SEO consultants only. Inquire about their SEO methods. You don’t want any black hat SEO happening to your clients’ websites.

I wrote a 120 plus page guide on SEO for local businesses. It’s free.

2. Google Places set up and maintenance

Again, if you’re not familiar with optimizing Google Places and Bing’s Business Portal, team up with someone who is. You can enter into a JV and refer clients to one another. If you want to learn more about Google Places, get my 6 Google Places Mistakes to Avoid report.

3. Video production

Either learn how to create inexpensive videos or team up with someone who does. Again, this is a great service small businesses need and can colloborate well with a website designer. For getting started in video, read my How to Make a Video in 7 Steps article.

4. Article writing, copywriting, and article distribution

Most clients want a website loaded with content, whether a 5 page, 15 page, or larger website. Why not offer this service to your clients. If you don’t write well, team up with a copywriter and article writer.

5. Web Hosting

One of the best services to offer is website hosting. You can go about it in several ways. They are as follows:

a. Host your clients’ sites on your shared web hosting account (if that’s what you have). Just be sure you don’t exceed your allotted bandwidth. The last thing you need is your client sites (and your website(s)) going down.

b. Host your clients’ websites on a reseller hosting plan. HostGator (my HostGator review) offers a good reseller plan. The advantage to a reseller web hosting plan is you get separate login panels for your individual clients who can then access their own hosting account.

c. Set up dedicated or VPS hosting for each client. This is necessary if your client sites are large and/or have high-volume.

Web hosting service is an easy way to build up a passive income for website designers and developers. You can charge $5 or more per month for each client on hosting accounts that cost little more than that. You simply manage the hosting.

Do the math. If you get 20 clients paying you $15 per month for hosting, that’s $300 per month passive income. How about 100 clients. That’s approaching a healthy passive income. It’s a good model that all website designers and developers can consider.

6. Other services:

Consider other services such as e-newsletter management, QR codes, mobile sites, social media … the sky is the limit. As new ways to market a business online materializes, website designers and developers have more opportunities to partner with other service providers or offer additional high-value services.

At the end of the day, your website design business website is extremely important. If you decide to build it on WordPress, get the best WordPress theme for your website design business site!

My other web design business articles:

Website Template Comparison Charts

Stunning WordPress Themes for Web Site Designers & Developers0Jon2011-08-08 10:45:04The irony of writing about WordPress themes for web site designers and developers is palpable.

But, let’s face it, being a website designer and dev…

Website Design,Website DesignersStunning WordPress Themes for Web Site Designers & DevelopersThe irony of writing about WordPress themes for web site designers and developers is palpable.