7Y/o website needs new direction

i'm just stuck

[rannans]

hi all,

don't want to bore anyone, but i really need your help

my situation.

i have run a website site for 7 years, always used adsense, so $$ have been ok, though income slowly decreasing now

i have always made website templates for a popular free cms

i have allowed instant downloads of all 700+ handmade templates, asking to please keep my link unless you buy my license (personal use free for ever, business please buy my license)

last 12 months, i've placed restrictions that businesses use must buy a license, though still allowing instant downloads for everyone ( is this my issue )

guess what, very minimal license purchaess, even though my last 20 + templates ( most popoluar ) are business designs

what do i do !

complelelty close off all downloads ? make a website only for business ? but that stops all personal & charity getting instant downloads

any thoughts are welcome

cheers
mikey

ps me for site, if you want to see it.

my google stats are:

site:www.****OO****.com (546)
url:www.***OO****.com (63,100)
"www.***OO****.com" (22,500)
"***OO****.com" (212,000)
link:www.***OO****.com ( About 1,610 results )

[mack]

You could look into forcing users to register before they are able to download the template(s). During the registration make the user check a bot to show they agree with your terms of use. Also require them to identify where the template will be used.

If all goes well you will then be able to manually review all registered downloads to ensure they aren't using your product freely when they would have been required to pay.

There will be people who supply a url and use your template on a number of sites, either legally or non paying when they should be.

Another option (I have seen this done before) is to place a 1px1px image within the template and you can then track usage.

Hope this gives you some ideas :)

Mack.

[lorax]

One way I've seen other theme and plugin/module builders use is to charge for access to a support forum or to get support at all.

[httpwebwitch]

you can build a spy bug into the theme that calls your server for authentication to unlock itself, using a key that the user gets when they buy a license. if you're crafty, you can also prevent the removal of your credit link unless the license is authentic.

[scooterdude]

A separate download system for the business templates only might be useful, download only after payment

Then the other templates can be available as they are

[martinibuster]

Free in some kinds of products are considered a promotional activity. It helps with traffic, links, and ranking. It also promotes trust and familiarity with your product. Familiarity with a product is a powerful way to build loyalty. People stick with certain brands because they are used to how they work, the fit and finish, buttons and in the case of software, the workflow. Same with a template. The files are going to follow a certain pattern, etc.

So following the above model of FREE being the entry point for customers, the paid version must offer additional benefits or function. On pricing, it has been said that when consumers are faced with cheap, reasonable, and expensive price points, they happily choose the middle option. So you might want to consider creating an expensive option (with additional benefits), that will make the middle point look attractive.

As for the business templates, that might be the niche you may want to experiment with first, creating a limited function/option free version, a reasonably priced full version that has the full suite of functions and options, and an expensive deluxe version that has additional bells and whistles, perhaps with installation and modification services or something.