Create and Sell DNN Themes Without Being a Web Designer

Ever wanted to own and sell DNN themes but you thought you couldn't because you're not a good web designer. Actually you don't have to be one. There are two options and both involve converting a popular non DNN theme to a DNN theme.

1- If you know html, css and Javascript. Pick a popular good theme. I suggest one from ThemeForest.com. Find an HTML based one (meaning not WordPress, Drupal ..etc) and do the conversion yourself. You will first have to buy the rights for a DNN conversion from the theme developer. It could be a flat out one time fee or a percentage of your sales. You can negotiate with the vendor what works best for both of you. Usually these vendors are not interested in doing a DNN version themselves because DNN is not one of their markets or they don't have the expertise or because they think DNN doesn't have a big enough market. Many of the HTML themes have a WordPress version as well just because WordPress has a large market share. Take into consideration that some themes have other components such as sliders from other vendors. Just because these components are in the theme does not mean you have the rights to use them as well in your conversion. The original vendor might have the rights to include them but they aren't allowed to transfer these rights. You will have to work with each component's vendor separately.

2- Second option if you don't have the technical skills or do not want to do the conversion yourself is to outsource the conversion work to one or more designers. A good option is find a designer with lower labor costs from a country  like India or the Philippines. Use a site like oDesk.com or Freelancer.com to place your project and hopefully you will get bids for the job. It might be hard to find skilled DNN designers over there so a Google search or on the forums here might be a better option. 

If you listened to the vendor interview (http://store.dnnsoftware.com/blog/vendor-interview-mandeep-singh-from-mandeeps) with Mandeep of mandeeps.com, that's what they did with their Porto theme which is one of the top selling themes on the DNN store. They were basically a module only vendor and they decided to expand their market and venture into developing themes. The benefit of converting a ready-made professional theme is the design and testing for different browsers has already been done by the theme vendor. Your job is to just work on the conversion part. Good luck.