WordCamp Asia 2023

How can theme developers
monetize in the era ofBlock Themes?
Hidekazu Ishikawa@kurudrive / @kurudrive_enWho am I ? - Self introduction Hidekazu Ishikawa
kurudrive / kurudrive_en
From Japan
Theme developer / CEO2012 First business WordPress theme release2

2015

Theme Lightning published on wordpress.org
Thanks to 80,000+ active installs

2022

Block theme X-T9 released
Currently in trial and error for block theme
In addition, development and sales of theme extension plugin and other plug-ins

Business model of theme developers( Before full site editing )Create and Sale Premium Themes
 Theme extension plugins
 Block extension plugins ... etc.
Relatively possible to sell and make money.
5

Points where monetization has
become more difficult

# 01
Traditional monetization points
become less effective（＝ｗ＝7

Before Full Site Editting
Selling Premium theme



User

Easily edit  Reward 

Theme developers
8Era of Full Site Editing

The entire site can be customized with no code!
 Header and footer layout
 Specify color and font size
 Margin / Padding / Gap settings ...etc
 Much less theme dependent.
9Then as someone
who made a living out of theme sales...
10Monetization points
disappeared...

(´；ω；｀)

11

A matter of life and deathil||li ＿|￣|○ il||li12

# 02
Decreased monetization effectby original Block features.

（＝ｗ＝13

Early stage block editors

No margin setting
No border setting
Can't Advanced layout( need like Media Block ) ... etc
We have developed our original blocks
 Added value ( monetization points ).
WordPress version upgrade...
Advanced layouts are now possible withCore blocks and Block Patterns.
The similar function is added to thecore blocks

Monetization points
disappeared...

(´；ω；｀)

16

In addition ...

Original blocks become an
ongoing maintenance burden
It became necessary tokeep a close watch on Gutenberg'sdevelopments.
※ to avoid unnecessary development.
17

# 03
CSS output by WordPress
became quite complicated（＝ｗ＝18

Many theme & custom block developers arefacing this issue?
It is inevitable in the evolution of WordPress.

|Ｔ－Ｔ）.oO（ I know. I love WordPress... ）19

The area that theme developers
have focused on for monetization isgreatly influenced by FSE.
It has become difficult to monetize
traditional "theme sales".
20

Future direction oftheme-related businessHow add value anddifferentiate?

（・ｗ・？

Differentiation by block patternsEasiest way

Includes various block patterns.
There is nothing thatusers cannot create on their own,
so it is weak as a point of monetization.
23

Differentiation by Global
Styles variations
New Easiest way"Global Styles variations" Feature Introducedin WordPress 6.0
We can create different variations within asingle theme.
24

Block Patterns / Global Style Variations
Even general users can make it, but...
High quality products created by profesional→ High added value of course

New extensibility and monetization points.
25

Our case
Before FSE

Theme License PackageTheme（ Lightning / Classic / Free ）Theme extension plugins（ Lightning Pro Unit ）Block extension plugin（ VK Blocks Pro ）Support26

Expected to taper off due to less relianceon the theme
Even if sell only the pattern, it seems to bedifficultbecause even users have the impression thatthey can make them on their own
We have to move to block themes too27

Current

Passport License PackageTheme（ Classic Theme Lightning / Free ）Theme extension plugins（ Lightning Pro Unit ）Block extension plugin（ VK Blocks Pro ）Support
Theme（ Block Theme X-T9 / Free ）Premium Patterns  New!!
28

This configuration isUser can use both( Classic theme and Block theme )Keep existing users by the value of the Premium
Patterns
even if the value of the classic theme declines
Acquire new users
through the value of our Premium Patterns
 Block Patterns is extremely important29

Publish our own Block
Pattern Directory
https://patterns.vektor-inc.co.jp/
 Only available in Japanese
Inspired by the Org site:
https://wordpress.org/patterns/

Why we created our own patterndirectory?

（・ｗ・Why we created our own pattern directory?

1. Still difficult only with core blocks
Want to use our original blocks and CSS
to provide higher quality patterns
.org allowed only core blocks and can't use Custom CSS.
32

Why we created our own pattern directory?

2. language problem

Characters look different inEnglish and double-byte characters

33

English
Even if it looks not bad in English but...

Japanese
The balance is bad.

Why we created our own pattern directory?

3. Theme style affects

Even if user paste the .org pattern,user need to make adjustments.
36

How to increase product value?
we need to make an effort to
get users to continue to licenseeven if the dependency of the theme decreases.
( Acquisition of new users )（・ｗ・How to increase product value?

1. Premium patterns
Available to only paying users
The design and sample sentences aremore elaborate are ready to use.

38

Redy to use?

We provide stylish and common patterns but...
Many non-profesional users...
 Can't think about page structure in the first step Can't think of the sentences to write
39Premium patterns
Provide a block pattern to create
whole page of a specific page for a specific industry.

For the End-user( Business owner )Just rewrite the text to suit theirbusiness.

Commissioned creation

By using a pattern as a draft ofthe page,
the meeting with the client
becomes smooth41

Localization is essential

Must be in the language of the country
A design optimized for each language(characters/typefaces) is better
Content and design trends vary by region (country)
Localized versions
No competition with English-speaking developers.
42

How to increase product value?

2. Favorite pattern registration function
Patterns are added one after another→ Hard to find
Users to register own favorite patterns andeasily recall them.
※ Same functionality as wordpress.org

43How to increase product value?

3. Link function for favorite registeredpatterns

44

Is the theme business dead?

Theme is important after allThemes and patterns areclosely related to the global styles
Bring in a partial pattern from outside and use it Problem with the uniformity of the design.
The importance of the theme is high.
46

Users need good themes andhighly practical patterns

FSE is highly configurable and customizable but...
→ Too much configuration work
It's quite cumbersome to make from scratch

47

Responsive design compatibility

How to control display elements according to screen size?
With a single screen width,
it might be possible to lay out well somehow.
Layout on multiple widths are actually not that easy48

It will be difficult to monetize the theme alone, but...
A set with a Value-added patterns are
there will be many business opportunities.

At the end

What do you think about future theme business?
Please share your opinion
 Twitter #WCAsia @kurudrive Talk to me! ( with simple words and short sentence )Thank you