Is wordpress a good idea to create a personal font shop?

Vasil Stanev
Vasil Stanev Posts: 798
in Type Business
Hello all,
I'm new to web design and I plan to set up shop parallel with MyFonts 'cause I'm highly dissatisfied with them taking the lion's share of my sales (and probably also hiding some of the sales so they can pocket them, but that's another story).
I'm currently beginning to search for options to do the store on wordpress before I decide whetehr I should or should not pay a professional to do the job. It's going to have a blog so I can write granular type-related topics to get SEO traction after several months, a shop where clients can pay with a card, paypal, revolut, Wise etc., an About+contacts section, and also I'm gonna throw my graphic design portfolio there because every other designer I talk to says Behance is pretty much become unfashionable.
Does this sound like a good plan? Suggestions welcome.

Comments

  • James Puckett
    James Puckett Posts: 2,054
    edited June 16
    I recommend not using Wordpress. Maybe things have changed since the last time I tried but I don’t think there’s a Wordpress store plugin suited for font licensing. Wordpress sites also depend on third-party plugins and themes that constantly need updating because they’re buggy. Wordpress is really a blogging engine that has been growing and growing for ages, and people do lots with it now, but it was never meant for type licensing. Fontdue is very popular for a reason—it was designed to be a powerful font licensing platform from the beginning.

    Also, don’t put your design portfolio and your shop on the same page. Make best looking and most functional version of each and make your best types part of your design portfolio.
  • Tofu Type Foundry
    Tofu Type Foundry Posts: 81
    edited June 16
    For what it’s worth, I run my website and shop with WordPress and can’t recommend it. Disclaimer though, I’m not a web dev so things might are likely not setup optimally and I’m a small fry foundry on a shoestring budget.
    The system is not designed with fonts and licensing in mind, so I have to use a bunch of third party plugins like James mentioned too. This friction is one of the factors that’s led me to begin de-monetizing my fonts and offering them for free (among other reasons).
    You’ll be fighting the system every step of the of the way, from implementing type testers to setting up a working storefront—unless you have a professional developer who can assist with all these aspects. It would be great for the blogging aspect though! But is that worth the hassle with everything else?
  • Xiaoyuan
    Xiaoyuan Posts: 8
    edited June 17
    My developer made me a e-commerce website with Processwire CMS, it's a bit DIY... but works quite fine for me.
    With what she built for me, I can publish typefaces(showing the characters set, type testers, sample images) / define license / price, etc.  i can publish text and image based “articles”. Plus some legal stuffs like EULA, terms of use. Etc.

    I think fondue will suit you well if your main purpose to sell licenses showcasing your typefaces, blogging should not be difficult either. Fondue charge $49 per month + 5% fee on each sale*, excluding stripe processing fee, and as far as i know, they don't seem support paypal. But it seems like most of their sites are built with Word Press... but you can integrate fondue with any CMS I guess? 

    If i were you, i will just start to design the website and probably thinking about payment methods available in different regions, once the website design is almost there, you can find a web developer, they will definitely find you solutions based on your needs and design sketch.
  • Dusan Jelesijevic
    Dusan Jelesijevic Posts: 83
    I used Wordpress for 3-4 years as website platform. You need to start with something, so from that point it's okay solution. But have in mind that it's nerve-wrecking job to set everything up working and looking like you want. It's like using Word for book layout design. Also, have in mind that some plugins don't work together well, some of them are limited in free version, some are pretty outdated... all in one, dealing with hassle and solving problems you've never faced before.

    Save money for the real website. In meantime, do what you must, if it's Wordpress, than Wordpress for now. 
  • Nick Shinn
    Nick Shinn Posts: 2,381
    I’ve used Wordpress for several years now, with the help of a professional web designer who knows their way in and around it. Yes, I confirm what Dusan says, it’s clunky. But inexpensive, and once you realize its limitations, you can work within that. 
    The big feature is, as Vasil notes, the blog and how that bumps you up in SEO.
    I have had more sophisticated designs in the past (with issues of their own), and will no doubt do so in future.
  • Sergio Ramírez
    Sergio Ramírez Posts: 12
    I haven't used Wordpress, but seeing most of the comments here advise against it and considering you're new to web design, I'd recommend you using Squarespace which I used for several years until I decided to switch to Webflow (which is great but demands a better understanding of CSS and HTML). Squarespace is relatively easy to learn if you're tech savvy and it has the tools for sales, portfolio and blog. It also offers a decent level of customization and if you decide to dive deeper into coding you can customise it even more. The only two challenges I faced using it were having to develop custom code for the font testers and finding a way around the sales tools because it's not completely designed for the tiered structure we typically use to sell fonts. If you consider Fontdue, it also comes with the possibility of integrating to Squarespace and Webflow.
  • Fie Clarke
    Fie Clarke Posts: 7
    Just going to jump in the i use Wordpress and wouldn't recommend train. 

    I am 1 person, doing all along side my day job and budget is a s close to £0 as I can get away with 

    Id like to say the Wordpress is better than what I had before but in the next 5 years I am going to look at redoing the whole thing and finding a better option.
    I have Wordpress with elementor and woo commerce. Its cheep and I dont have to ask/pay for help which for one woman doing it all on the side with limited time, resources and very basic HTML and CSS knowledge it ticks a lot of boxes. 
    Setting it up in woo commerce is a job on its own - to pick the weight/licence/useres it can be hundred of lines as your create each possible combination. If you then want to update something its a LOT - there may be some magic quick way but I haven't fond it and lack the skill to tinker.

    I have a plug in for testers which works about half the time - not ideal 

    None of it looks as neat or as clean as I would like. Dont get me wrong its not hideous but when I look a foundries I admire and aspire to be at the same level at one day, my site leave a lot to be desired.

    If you have the means to invest in a better option - do it


  • Jasper de Waard
    Jasper de Waard Posts: 663
    I'm gonna second @Sergio Ramírez's squarespace recommendation, although Fontdue is probably far more powerful. If you're just starting out and Fontdue sounds expensive, Squarespace (€12 per month) is a good alternative.

    I've been running bureauroffa.com using Squarespace for years, and while it doesn't support more complicated licensing options, it does most of what I need. More complicated cases are handled over email. Good luck!

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