Small Potato of wpdesigner.com fame has come up with a new twist for Premium Themes. Now I try very hard to stay away from promoting premium themes because of their economic nature, especially if there is no direct advantage to my readers. But SP offered a large number of freebies for my readers and I had to pass them on to you.
Small Potato is starting a “WordPress Premium Themes Club” where he plans to offer twelve themes during a period of one year for a price of $5 per year in membership costs. There are four themes in the club and all new members will get the four themes and twelve more over the next 12 months. Now from a users’ perspective, if you like his work, the nominal charge is a good deal for 16 new themes and considering his promotion methods and the quality of his work, I believe he will do well. The themes include support and do not require attribution for use on multiple domains.
Use the code weblogtoolscollection2873ry (good for 500 signups, another 500 will be added as soon as these are used up so that everyone gets a chance) and signup at the following link. You can read more about the club here and preview the current themes here.
I am familiar with SP’s work. I have used his themes off and on over the last year or so. I didn’t need to see what his 4 were. He’s a talented artist and I appreciate his work. I signed up immediately.
I’ve been thinking about joining SP’s club for awhile as he is a very talented designer. Of course when this opportunity arose I jumped at it!
Great promo.
Hey Mark, do you get a prize for sending the most people Small Potatoes way! 😉
No. No money (or benefits or anything else) was exchanged between SP and myself for this post.
Cool idea, but his themes don’t seem like they’re anything to jump and hollar about — in my opinion.
I’ve seen a lot better themes out there, for free.
The market is already getting pretty saturated, so if you’re trying to go for a new market, you really need to pick a niche and stick with it. The “general” wordpress themes are just too common now.
@Mark – I was just kidding.
@Scott – Thanks for joining the club.
@Len – Mark doesn’t get anything out of this.
@Mark – I didn’t consider that it could put you in an awkward position. Sorry, and thank you again.
Jonathan – I’ll try to improve and put more time into each theme. Membership does last for a year and you’ll get a chance to download club themes created by developers and designers more knowledgeable than I am.
I like this ideas, I hope to see more wordpress club theme. Its better than generic free-seo-marketing-footer-link themes. IMO $5 per year subscriptions beat others CMS themes club.
btw I think small potato’s forgot to mention how many theme release every year at his Themes Club Terms (TOC).
I have many experiences with theme club, so I think its important to state clearly how many theme release for a year.
“$5 per year for at least 12 themes” doesn’t sound convincing and its written at the sign up page not in the TOC page.
@Small,
It’s not even so much the point of putting more time into them, I think the market has just been so saturated that it’s extremely difficult to help make yourself stand out these days.
It might be good to pick a niche, maybe magazine styled themes, news sites styled themes, or maybe professional themes. Something that you can focus on and be good at.
Just a recommendation, that’s all.
Best of luck to you.
Happy. Happy. Looking forward to the next 12 themes… and definitely a renewal next year 😀
Chaos – Thanks for the heads up. I’ll edit the TOC right after this comment to guarantee the 12 themes.
Jonathan – I agree, but my club is actually going to focus on what the club members want. You’re allowed and encouraged to send in requests for new themes and features. And yes, people have been requesting for a magazine theme for the club so I’m going to create one very soon.
Interesting,but this is the way Joomla themes work now… at least the good quality ones. So it’s about time WP moved in this direction.
5$ wisely spent (by me 1 month ago), but thanks wltc & small potato for offering the 500 free sign-ups, it is a great idea!
I signed up (thanks for the promo code! nice idea!:-), just to see, what is what… 🙂
I like especially the WPDesigner8 theme (although if use it, I might change it a little bit…) and wanted to see how it’ll look on one of my latest projects, involving WordPress:)
Good luck, small potato! Your idea with the free and $5 club is good, might work, might not, but I wish luck turns your way! 🙂
Cheers!
Thats awesome that SmallPotato is doing this promotion. Even though I just redesigned my site, I might take him up on this offer just to gain access to those themes which might come in handy later down the road.
I always wanted to check out the theme club and I thought I won’t be able to, as I’m from a country that doesn’t support PayPal yet, so this was very generous. Thank you, Small Potato and Mark:)
Just a quick note to fellow non-American visitors – don’t include a + sign or brackets (as an example +44 (0) 207 432 8765) in the phone section of the sign up form (44 207 4312 8765 would work fine.) Thanks for the code 🙂
I have enough problems with free word press themes working. If I download free themes I am lucky if one theme displays correctly and works correctly with my plug-in. Personally I think the staff at word press is getting a head of themselves. Right now the issue should be establishing quality standards and not promoting more additions. Until a quality standard has been defined by word press that states that a theme must meet a minimum quality standard and being enforced there is no way I am paying for something that has not been properly developed.
If Word Press is going to promote themes that charge then it is my belief each theme should include a release note. In the release note it should state if it is an new theme or an updated theme. If it is updated it should state what has been updated and why. Also any compatability issues with plug-ins or displaying. Finally if it is a new theme it should include any testing done (e.g. security) and its results, any issues, what plugins are not compatible, and any other information. In my opinion Word Press does have a duty to its customers to ensure that anything released or promoted does not adversely effect its customers. As a user of Word Press I am completely opposed to this idea of paying for themes.
Interesting concept. I don’t really understand why anybody would pay for a theme with how easy it is to make your own, but I suppose some people need that.
Thanks for the link.
@Fred G. – Then why don’t you simply create your own themes? That’s what I do if I can’t find one that works with what I want it to. I create my own.
Personally, theme developers have to eat too, and I have no problem paying a nominal fee for a theme.
The WTC code gets us free signup. Is it permissible to sign up and try the club. Then, quit before we’d be charged $5 when our membership is up for renewal? If so, how does that work?
CWF, the site doesn’t ask you to input your credit card info at all. I guess it’s so thanks to the code.
I’d like to try the themes out but don’t want to be tied if I don’t like it. I know people will say “it’s only $5, certainly worth the expenditure” but not when one is watching their pennies.
If, after trying it out, it is suitable to my needs I have no problem paying for it.
As a designer it is essential to use a good wordpress themes for the world to see. Personally I love those themes that are easy to use, has a great back-end and I can easily customize them to match my main website if need be or turn it into the main display site. A very good collection of Premium WordPress Themes is at my website.