One of the first things most people notice when they visit Blog Perfume is the great blog design they have. I know it is something that got my attention. That is why when I noticed yesterday that they have released a premium WordPress theme, it immediately got my attention.

This theme is called Blubs, and it stays true to the Blog Perfume brand with a unique look to go with the unique name. Here are the features that they list with the theme:

• Clean and Elegant Design
• 2 columns flexible layout
• Navigation Dropdown Menu
• Widgets ready on sidebar
• Serach bar at the top
• Ready for125px and 250px ads integration
• Separated comments/trackbacks
• Built-in gravatars in comment section
• Print.css stylesheet
• Author Profiles & Archives
• Clean & valid codes – XHTML 1.0 Strict + CSS 2.1
• Cross browser compatible – tested on IE/Win, Opera, Firefox, Safari/Win.

A lot of this stuff has become standard with todays premium themes, but I really like the idea of a separate print.css stylesheet and archive/author profiles. You won’t find that on most of these themes. Separated trackbacks and comments is also another great feature.

So how does Blubs look? Here are a couple screenshots (though you really need to view the demo to fully appreciate it):

Homepage

Homepage Footer

Archives Page

Comments Section

So, looks great, but how much for Blubs? It is listed at a very competitive price of $49.95 for a single-use license. You can also get the multiple-use license for $99.00.

Check out the Blubs premium WordPress theme.

Have you ever wanted to create a premium WordPress theme? I’m sure we’ve all noticed an explosion in this market over the past few months due to the income potential, but I’ve also noticed a bad trend that I’d like to talk a little bit about. That trend is the very un-premium quality of many of these new themes being released, as well as a extreme lack of innovation put into creating these themes.

Many of the top designers in this market launched their sites back in late 2007 and quickly established their own niche. Since then, they have continued to release new themes, but they tend to shift their focus to a different type of end-user with each new theme. Newcomers seem to build very similar news/magazine themes that really aren’t all that different than what is already available. I don’t think to many people looking for a news or magazine theme are going to have any trouble filling their needs with what is already available, so place your focus somewhere else, or provide something in your theme that the competition doesn’t have.

In addition to picking out a niche to build your business around, there are also some things you should consider before releasing a premium WordPress theme. Long time readers know that I’ve been following the premium WordPress themes market pretty closely since last November when it really started to pick up steam, and I’ve noticed several (easily fixable) mistakes web designers are making when trying to compete in this very competitive market. Below I’ve collected a few of these things that you should have in place before you launch your theme:

1. Theme Support – This is by far the most important way to find success. When you charge for your theme, it raises the stakes, and buyers need to know that you will be there for them if they run into problems with your theme. You need to setup Forums for buyers to use and you need to be very active on them.
2. Offer Theme Updates – As time goes by the internet evolves and WordPress evolves with it. You’ll want to re-evaluate your premium themes every few months and make updates, add features, etc. Then offer a free upgrade to all previous buyers.
3. Browser Compatibility – A new designer recently tried to enter this market with a theme that did not display properly in Internet Explorer 6. It is fairly unprofessional to release a free theme that doesn’t display properly in all browsers (in my opinion), but its free so you can sometimes get away with it. The second you start charging for your services, you’ll have to provide a fully compatible theem.
4. Valid Code – Just like browser compatibility, it is unprofessional to release code that isn’t valid and shows a lot about you as a web designer.
5. Advertising – As I said above, this is a very competitive market now, and the PPC rates have gone up considerably in the last couple months. How much will you pay-per-click? Sometimes you have to spend money to make money.
6. Affiliate Program – With the cost of PPC advertising being so high, what better way to market your product than to offer an affiliate program? This helps encourage bloggers to promote your product and you only have to make a payment if a sale is made. If you decide to go this route, make sure to create some banners for affiliates to use (125×125, 300×250 at least) and I recommend using E-Junkie to manage your affiliate program for you. It only costs a few dollars a month and they handle all the work, including billing and providing download links to the buyer.
7. Give Away Theme Copies – Contact some large blogs with a big following and offer a few copies of your theme to give away to readers via a contest, etc, in exchange for a review. You could also offer the author a copy in exchange for a review. If you go this route, think about your target audience and find blogs in that niche. A good place to start is with blogs about blogging or WordPress.
8. Innovation – Do something different. Target a specific niche. Don’t just add another news/magazine theme to the list that is growing larger each day.

As you can see, there is a lot more to being successful in this market than simply offering a free theme. I think if you look at the three most successful premium theme authors, you’ll see a lot of the above.

So, anything you would add? I know most of the premium theme designers read this blog and I would love to get their input. What about buyers of these themes? What do you look for when purchasing one a premium WordPress theme?

Edit: PJ has provided a bunch of other responsibilities in the comments that were so good that I felt they warranted being added to the original post:

1. Control Panel Options – Adding the ability to customize your theme from the control panel is a great option. At a minimum, buyers should be able to plug in their Feedburner feed information from the control panel.
2. Provide Tutorials – Providing tutorials to buyers is a great way to show you support your theme.
3. Multiple Color Schemes – Offering several different stylesheets to choose from as a great way to widen the appeal of your theme. This helps buyers use their favorite colors and make their sites/blogs look more original.

Did that title get your attention? While most of the Revolution themes still require payment, it looks like Brian Gardner has made another contribution to the WordPress community, this time with a free 3-column and widget-ready version of Revolution.

Because this theme is designed more for an end-user than to serve as a template for a web designer, the first thing you’ll notice about the free Revolution theme is the large amount of color Brian used.   Brian has also talked about adding additional stylesheets to the theme, given you an easy way to pick your own color for the theme.

Here is a screen shot of the free Revolution theme:

As you can see above, Brian stays true to the Revolution series with this theme.

If you’d like to get a copy for yourself, you can now demo the theme or download the free Revolution theme.

As a side note, it looks like iThemes has also released their own set of 8 new free WordPress themes.

A few days ago, I ran across another great free WordPress theme over at Daily Blog Tips.   If you don’t want to purchase a theme, I would definitely pick out some of the themes they’ve been releasing recently.  This particular theme is called PassionDuo, and it has a lot of the quality that I look for in a free WordPress theme.

Here are the features the author lists that are associated with PassionDuo:

• Advertising ready: The theme comes with a 468×60 banner spot on the header, and 6 125×125 spots on top of the sidebar. It should also be easy to integrate ad units of other sizes throughout the theme.
• Feedburner Integration: The theme has an options page where you can simply paste your Feedburner feed URL. It also comes with a styled email subscription form, where you just need to put your Feedburner email id.
• Comments Styling: The author comments already come with a different style so that readers can easily identify them.
• Search Engine Optimization: As usual the title and meta tags have already been optimized. The categories and archive pages are also structured to display only post excerpts.

In addition to these great features, you will also get the choice of either green, red, or blue.   Here is a screen shot of the green version:

If you’re interested, here is the demo and download information:

Green: Demo | Download

Red: Demo | Download

Blue: Demo | Download

I will be adding this theme to the appropriate WordPress theme galleries.

The premium WordPress themes market has become a little crowded lately, but I think that the market can probably support a few more web designers, as long as the quality is on par or above what the existing authors are releasing.  That is the great thing about competition.  It forces innovation and buyers of these themes win by getting much better products.

One newcomer to the premium WordPress themes market is the Omni WordPress theme.  Though I think this theme would appeal to just about any blogger, it was designed with social network addicts in mind.   This theme provides a place to feature your videos, your pictures, and your various social networking profiles, without creating a content management feel.

Here is a sample of the Omni homepage:

Here is a sample of a single Omni post page:

If you are looking for a theme that can turn your blog into a content management system, this theme probably isn’t for you.   However, for pure bloggers, this theme could be the perfect fit.  For now, you can purchase a single-use license for $79.95 or get the multiple-use license for $199.95.

If you’re interested and what to learn more about this theme, I recommend you check out the Omni WordPress theme.