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31 Comments

Do indie hackers buy landing page templates anymore?

Hey,

So about a year ago I built BuildFaster.co. A site where I sold easy to use HTML templates.

Long story short, it was somewhat a fail, only bringing me a couple hundred dollars after 6 months of work.

———

However I see sites like themeforest, Versoly.com, and Cruip.com, that all sell landing page and SaaS templates and are quite successful.

I’ve always wanted to dive back into this field again with a fresh idea, but am not sure if developers would actually buy them.

Most devs I contacted said that they are either “too creative to buy a template” or “just want to do it themselves”.

Is this really true? Then what type of customer/target audience is buying ReactJS, HTML, etc. templates?

  1. 7

    There are a ton of fullstack and backend developers who can't design and buy templates.

    You're talking with frontend developers I guess, I have had a ton of trouble with them haha. They spend 2 weeks recreating the wheel and have worst results.

    You can't build for everyone.

    https://tailwindui.com/ did millions in sales.

    1. 1

      Hahaha see what you mean. I guess I was just asking the wrong people.

      1. 1

        Just sent you an email :)

  2. 3

    Hey, I'm a frontend developer in the past, I used to code all of this stuff. I've always been skeptical about landing page builders, but I tried one of them recently and it was a significant boost in my productivity. So even know how to code, I'll definitely pick one of these landing page builders in the future.

      1. 2

        👀

        I have experience with https://readymag.com/ and https://unicornplatform.com/

        I choose from them depending on how quickly and in detail I want to implement the idea

        1. 2

          Haven't heard of readymag, will check them out.

          Those are the only ones you tried?

          Also would love your feedback on https://versoly.com/ (a website builder that has a code editor so no learning curve for developers)

    1. 1

      Thanks for sharing your experience! This is helpful.

    1. 1

      for sure! tailwind is so popular today

  3. 2

    When I bought a Cruip Tailwind CSS template it was for 3 reasons.

    1. the sample Cruip provided was nice
    2. I was specifically looking for Tailwind CSS templates
    3. I'm not a front-end dev so don't have access to existing templates & wanted to drastically shortcut the time needed to build from scratch

    Template biz seems viable but likely needs a lot of time put into marketing-related activities and putting freebies/articles out there to attract attention.
    P.S. looking at your site, I would have bought your template if I'd known about your site. Though it doesn't say what type of CSS is used (Tailwind, SCSS, Less, etc.) - which matters to me.

    1. 1

      I see what you mean. Makes sense. (yeah Cruip has great templates and is doing pretty darn well 👍🏼)

      I just used SCSS and HTML which could’ve been my downfall because I’m not using the more popular tools (eg React Tailwind or Next)

      Thanks for sharing! Again, this helps a ton with my guidance.

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        I like how you're not giving up on the idea and you're constantly trying to make it work

        Do you have a job or another project and working on this as a side project?

        1. 1

          Thanks.

          Currently I am doing freelancing and client work right now and this UI kit will be my main side project for the next month or so.

          But yeah, to me persistence is a virtue and I can have seen others overcome similar trials. I ain’t giving up that easy. Come on, I’m an indie hacker! 😄

  4. 1

    I would, if the price was right, simply bc I don't know how to code, but I can design visuals. However, when I design my own material, I get wayyy too deep into the details. I'm trying to design a logo for my land management consulting company and having a hell of a time. If a natural designer has issues, I can't imagine what a non- visual thinker might go through. So, yes, I can see how these sites continue to be profitable...

    1. 1

      For sure, thanks for sharing.

  5. 1

    Your templates on buildfaster are too simple/plain -- the demo versions feel incomplete.

    If you compare to Cruip, they offer much more for each template with many blocks that you could just remove if you don't want them.

    Devs will definitely pay for a landing page template, but it needs to feel like "this is exactly what i want", or "this would take me a lot more than x time to make, and it's pretty close to what I need"

    ---

    Is there a service right now that offers hosted landing pages and provides a simple dashboard with relevant analytics / signup info and easy a/b testing?

    1. 1

      Haha exactly! That’s why for a while now Ivereally been thinking of starting a new business where I sell much more complete templates and world class kits.

      Hmm, not sure. @volkandkaya has shared some good info with me about his SaaS versoly.com. It has analytics and is a hosted service I believe.

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        We don't have ab testing yet customers are currently using Google Optimize which is an okay solution.

        @sobbuh good candid feedback!

  6. 1

    I used to buy them and I bought Tailwind UI earlier this year.

    That said, I've always had very precise conceptions of what I wanted the end result to look like and most of the time couldn't find a template matching exactly that, so one of the most valuable things I've done this year turned out to be learning how to design stuff myself properly.

    1. 1

      Makes sense. I’ve heard similar responses from many before. The type of person who wants templates wants it quick and nice-looking.

  7. 1

    After reading this post, I just went to Cruip and made the purchase.

    I'm a front-end dev. For me, it's just comparing 1-2 weeks of fidgeting with a landing page vs a couple of days of fidgeting just with the content.

    1. 1

      I see what you mean. Yeah, Cruip has nice stuff and chopping down a decent chunk of dev time is super vital in the overall journey.

  8. 1

    I bought TailwindUI even though I'm mostly a frontend dev so definitely willing to buy templates

    1. 1

      Yep, I got TailwindUI too and it’s quite the library.

      In your opinion, what type of template would you buy? Or what do you think is the most popular? (Landing pages? Portfolios? SaaS? React or HTML? Tailwind?)

      1. 1

        I feel like Tailwind is enough to go off of for now. Maybe I'd buy other landing pages if I had something specific in mind. I'd like them to be React or HTML. Ideally not too tied to a specific tool.

        I'd maybe buy a template for a specific use case (like the upcoming Tailwind ecommerce templates) if I was doing more freelancing for that industry.

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          Thanks for the feedback.

  9. 1

    So I am not a super experienced frontend dev and tried using a react template I bought on themeforest. I ultimately just caved in and went with a much much simpler approach since we are talking about a landing page after all and am using carrd.co now and love it.

    1. 2

      Nice, so if an indie hacker is a bit more technical and knowledgeable in the field but want to save time they’ll pick a template. And then those who love no code choose a site builder. Gotcha.

      This is helpful, thanks!

  10. 2

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 1

      Totally see where you’re coming from. I’ve done many sites for clients in the past and it’s a pain in the butt to hard code it all myself.

      Thanks for your response!

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