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Gerald Waters – Online Business with Themify

Gerald Waters – Online Business with Themify

Welcome to our first post of Themify 'Customer Stories' series. In this story, Gerald Waters, a UK based graphic designer shares how he created an online business with WordPress and Themify.

Hello, I’m Gerald Waters. For the past four years I've been working as a freelance graphic designer. I provide a variety of graphic design services such as logo, flyer and stationary design as well as general artwork services such as redrawing fuzzy or pixelated logos into vector images. I also sell my stock logos online.

I'm based in the United Kingdom but I have customers all over the world, especially from the United States and Canada. My working day can vary due to the wide variety of work I do, which I enjoy.

No more Dreamweaver

My online presence is very important to my business. In the beginning I used to create my websites using Dreamweaver, which I found to be quite difficult and time consuming to use. Then I discovered WordPress which made things a lot easier for me and it saved me a lot of time which I can spend promoting my websites rather than just maintaining them.

I had created a large volume of logos that I never use and so I thought it would be a great idea if I could sell them online by using an eCommerce solution. The free WordPress themes that were available weren't up to the job and the few managed solutions that were available, I had to pay a monthly fee, which turned out to be quite expensive.

I discovered a system called Shopperpress which I used for a while as it had the features I needed. But the problem for me was it was too complex and confusing to use and it was taking me forever to complete even the simplest of tasks. So, eventually I gave up on the eCommerce website.

Then one day, I purchased a ready made website because I liked the design. As it was a WordPress website, I logged in to the backend and found out it was using a Themify theme. I was really impressed with how easy it was to change the look and feel of the website, without much trouble or the need to code. It was then I became hooked on Themify themes!

Logo Knight

Selling my logos online

After looking through the Themify collection, I found the Pinshop theme was using the free WooCommerce plugin, so I thought it would be perfect combination for my stock logo website, Logo Knight.

The website has been running for a couple of years now without any problems and I have nearly 800 unique logos available so I needed something which is stable and easy to manage, which this solution is.

Currently I run 15 different websites, all using Themify themes. For example, two of my websites are designed using the Themify Agency theme:

Logo Knight logos

Themify has it covered

A great advantage of using Themify is their fantastic support. Usually, you can find the answer to an issue in the Forums, but on some occasions when I couldn't find an answer, I submitted a support ticket and it was answered within a few hours giving me the solution I needed. You won’t receive that kind of support using any of the free themes, at least I never did!

As time went by, I’ve received more and more regular customers which has provide me with a reasonable income. In fact, if I worked for somebody else I wouldn't be able to earn as much as I do now from freelancing. All of my work has come through my four main websites and I believe that using Themify has been a great advantage to me, making things simpler and allowing me to concentrate on other aspects of my business.

From now on instead of buying individual themes like I have done in the past I'm going to be joining the Themify Club Membership. This will allow me to access any theme including new ones that are released, which to me seems great value for money!

Gerald Waters

18 Comments

  1. Career Vendor
    Mar 28, 2014 @ 10:17

    I like the way Themify code & designs WordPress themes. They have eye-catching designs, tons of features, built in SEO modules and industries leading support team.

    I want to say thanks to Themify for providing better themes and sharing customers success story. Congrats Gerald Waters for your website.

    Reply

    • Humayun Hashmi
      Apr 08, 2014 @ 05:56

      Hey, i am currently using Genesis Framework, which seems to be a lil bit outdated when compared with Themify, but it still has some features which i liked the most, one of them is its liquidity for header and footer and another option is its SEO freindly design. But as for me i always like to follow latest trends. I want to use Themify, but i am not an expert or programmer so i didn’t know how it would affect my SEO, i have a lots of scripts running in header and footer, i have done a lot of optimization with the help of a pro SEO, so could anyone please explain me about Themify and SEO? BTW your themes seem to me a lot better than i have first saw them.

      Reply

      • Themify .me
        Apr 08, 2014 @ 12:00

        We know SEO is important to our customers so therefore all our themes and our Builder plugin are 100% SEO friendly. We have a header and footer areas in our Framework whereby you can insert your own scripts. We also recommend that you use either the WordPress SEO by Yoast or All-in-One SEO plugins to maximise your SEO.

        Reply

        • Humayun Hashmi
          Apr 13, 2014 @ 11:42

          Thanks. For your kind suggestion. I am already using Yoast and i will surely try Themify.

          Reply

    • Preet Chopra
      May 07, 2015 @ 12:20

      Really worthy points you have mentioned here buddy. That’s why Themify designs are popular and widely being used by IM authorities.

      Reply

  2. bb
    Mar 30, 2014 @ 21:07

    Though I’ve not tried any ecommerce theme, sincerely, Themify Support are skilled-hands-on developers who knew the themes inside-out and can take it to any customization you desire and will tell you the truth if actually a design can be customize to the actual one you want. However, except for the new themes, the look and feel needs improvement but I’m actually amazed at themify panel intuitiveness and front-end builder…its eclat!

    Reply

  3. Kaboloberi
    Apr 03, 2014 @ 17:19

    If it hadn’t been for this post I would keep my conclusion that Themify.me is dead. You guys are looking great but too quiet to communicate it! The blog about your themes should get updates at least 3 times a week!

    Reply

  4. Jide Ogunsanya
    Jun 26, 2014 @ 18:39

    Interesting story there. I joined recently and will start using the themes asap. The pricing of the club as well as the builder attracted me. Soones, I will also share my success story. Keep up the good work.

    Reply

  5. nagesh
    Jul 19, 2014 @ 16:36

    thanks for great information, i am searching for it.

    Reply

  6. Sanjeev
    Mar 08, 2015 @ 11:08

    Themify WordPress themes has wonderful designs. I personally like Magazine theme, its really awesome.

    Reply

    • Paytm
      May 06, 2015 @ 09:40

      I like the way Themify code & designs WordPress themes. because its all are looking good and effective.

      Reply

      • Kurt Uy
        May 08, 2015 @ 13:20

        Thank you for the awesome feedback :)

        Reply

      • Employment News
        Jun 23, 2015 @ 16:05

        Really that’s article sound good! thanks for sharing the great information with us.

        Reply

  7. Honey
    Mar 21, 2015 @ 17:33

    really impressed with how easy it was to change the look and feel of the website, without much trouble or the need to code.

    Reply

    • Kurt Uy
      Mar 23, 2015 @ 17:21

      Glad to hear that you like it :)

      Reply

  8. Sarkari
    Apr 25, 2015 @ 06:59

    I want to say thanks to Themify for providing better themes and sharing customers success story.

    Reply

  9. victor nwankpa
    Jul 08, 2015 @ 09:03

    I am really glad to stop by. Just want to say thank for sharing information on Themify theme which is seo optimized and responsive. Keep it up. http://WWW.VICTORNWANKPA.COM

    Reply

  10. Vinitha
    Jun 15, 2017 @ 03:53

    Really worthy points you have mentioned here buddy. That’s why Themify designs are popular and widely being used by IM authorities.

    Reply

Reply