Sales Page Templates for WordPress Blogs

WordPress has become one of the most popular platforms for creating and managing websites. But, it wasn’t designed for business and getting a simple salesletter template integrated into your site can be a real pain.

WordPress Salespage Options

To add a salespage template to your WordPress website you have 3 basic options:

• External HTML Pages
• Modifications To Existing Themes
• Specialized Salespage Themes

Each approach will work, and each has its own benefits and weaknesses. Let’s take a look at the options and see which one is best for your personal situation.

External HTML Pages

The most direct way to add a salespage to your WordPress based website is to simply find a simple HTML salespage template (or create one from scratch) and add your content to it. To do this you only need an HTML editor like Kompozer (free) to modify the page and an FTP program like Filezilla (free) to upload the files to your server.

Many hosting services have a simple FTP function built in and any text editor can be used to modify HTML in a pinch, so you don’t necessarily need to download any software at all.

There is a major downside to this approach. Using a separate files means that you have no integration with your WordPress dashboard to manage your content. Any plugins you use for SEO or website analytics will not work (all special functions will need to be added manually updated manually) and your files may not be included with any automated site back-up solutions you have in place.

On the plus side, installation of this type of page is a breeze. And, you will have total control over the look of your sales page.

If you decide to use this approach, I have created a basic HTML salespage template that is free to download. All the essentials are in place, so it will save you a lot of time creating your sales letter page.

Download My FREE HTML Salespage Template

Modifying Existing Themes

I use WordPress extensively for my business and personal websites. There are so many themes available that creating the perfect look for my site is easy (and usually free.) But, most of these amazing themes are designed by hobbyists who are amateur bloggers at heart and not business people. It often never occurs to them to include a salespage template, because they don’t actually use them – they aren’t running a business.

My solution to adding sales pages to these themes was to create a sales page template that could be added to any theme. I called it WP SalesPage and use it to this day. But, there are better solutions out there so I have stopped selling it.

With WP SalesPage, you upload a few files into the directory for any theme you decide to use. Then, when you create (or modify) a page on your WordPress website, the new template will show up as an optional alternate template that can be applied to the page. There is a mild amount of technical work involved (uploading files via FTP), but you only need to do it once.

This solution allows me to get the look I am after for my sales letter pages without forcing me to abandon a cool-looking theme I found for free that doesn’t have a built-in salespage option.

As a bonus, all my existing SEO, video, audio, and analytics plugins work inside my salespages, so I don’t need to use new tools to manage these aspects of my site.

Specialized Salespage Themes

When I first started using WordPress to build business websites there weren’t many options available for non-blog styled themes. But…

…times have REALLY changed!

Today there is a wide range of commercial themes geared toward business websites built with WordPress. Some themes just make your entire site look like a salespage and expect that you don’t plan to have much content on your website beyond the sales page and some legal and about us pages. If that is your plan, these themes can save you a little money and deliver the look you are after.

Themes that use this simple ‘Whole Site Is a Salespage’ approach include:

• Sales Page Theme
• Instant Salesletter Websites

At the higher end of the commercial theme market, there are sophisticated themes available with product launches and sales funnel systems tightly integrated into the design. These will often include squeeze pages for list building and product launch sequences, sales pages, and traditional blog pages for building SEO traffic over the long term. They often include (or are tightly integrated with) secondary tools like video and audio players or email autoresponders.

Some of the highly specialized sales and product launch oriented themes come with a hefty price tag. But, they are well worth the investment when you consider how important your site is to the success of your business. The built-in functionality often saves hours of work setting up your site’s infrastructure and more time later when maintenance is required. Plus, the high quality of the websites these themes generate will reflect well on your product and business.

If your business is at a place where you can afford to make some investments, these themes are worth a look.

Themes that take the all-inclusive ‘sales process baked-in’ approach include:

• WP Sales Engine
• Optimize Press<== VERY POPULAR option

Optimize Press is becoming an extremely popular option. At least one business owner I know, who helps entrepreneurs setup their online businesses, uses this option exclusively for his own sites and those of his clients. I am personally considering a switch as well since it offers a flat fee license with unlimited use on your own websites (no annual or per-site fees for project within your own company.)

The cost of a license is $99 as I write this, so it is not outrageously expensive – worth a look.

Picking Your WordPress Salespage Template

There have never been more options available for adding a salespage template to your WordPress blog or website. The final decision about which option works best for you comes down to your budget, your sales process, and your ultimate online business goals.

Any one of the options we looked at here can (and does) work for many online entrepreneurs. Which one works best for you?