Over the past year now, the premium WordPress themes market has really grown from nothing to what we see today, with a record number of authors are either offering premium themes, or selling premium versions of their existing popular free themes. It truly is amazing to me that this wonderful software that we all love so much is able to help so many people to make money to feed their families while at the same time showing off their design skills.
This weekend I noticed something new and got me thinking a bit about where the premium WordPress themes market is headed. As many people have said in the past, there are concerns that the premium themes we see today are becoming so common that people are missing out on that unique feel that many people buy these themes for. I would of course argue that these themes were designed to be templates to be customized from rather than as an end-user product. You could also argue that there are so many authors and designs now that buying a theme could still give you that unique look that people crave.
With that said, there appears to be a new solution. We’ve seen theme clubs be talked about and eventually surface in a few places, but now it appears that Brian of Revolution has set another trend by offering his first of many exclusive themes:
What is an Exclusive Theme and How Does it Work?
In the screenshot above, Brian has released an incredible new theme, which is variation of his popular Revolution theme. It is available only for a limited time and only a limited number to be sold (I believe in this case only 10 will be sold). If you’d like a copy, you can get it for $499.95.
As far as my thoughts on Exclusive themes, I personally am unsure whether this business model will work. It appears that 10 themes will be sold in total, so it isn’t truly a unique theme to your site, and the price range is getting close to the price that a company like a Unique Blog Designs or Blog Design Studio would charge for a 100% custom theme for your website. If you are going to spend that kind of money on a custom theme, wouldn’t it be better to spend a little extra to get a truly custom theme that you won’t find on 10 other sites?
With that said, I still haven’t made up my mind yet on this and would love to get your thoughts. What do you think of this new business model?
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 2:34 am
Definitely too expensive, for that kind of money you can get a personalized theme as well. And on the other side, I always believe that wordpress themes should be freely available as wordpress itself is.
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 3:49 am
I definitely agree that we just get something that is unique rather than share the same theme even with a limited number of people.
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 4:42 am
I don’t think anyone would pay such a large amount to get a theme that’s not 100% unique. They’d rather go to UBD for a unique design, as you say.
But if Brian decides to lower the price tag of this awesome looking theme, people just might want to buy it.
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 6:50 am
I think this new model will be around for a year or two. The internet seems to present a lot of waves coming in rapid succession and this is one of them. It’s a cool idea, worth the experiment, and will work for a bit. Some organizations will be lucky to get a pretty nice theme and it will be almost unique. It’s worth a shot, but I give it just a year or two.
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 7:58 am
That’s a good idea, I think. 500$ is quite a good price for an “almost exclusive” theme.
Muhammad, indeed 500$ is a large amount of money, but if you ask a design company to create an unique theme for you, they will ask a lot more than 500$ (Or you will have a very crappy design)
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 9:33 am
It’s a great looking theme for sure. While I wouldn’t personally spend that much for an “exclusive” theme, I wouldn’t be surprised if these sold out very soon. Keep in mind Brian’s amazing reputation and credibility in the WordPress theme community, plus the support provided with the theme.
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 10:48 am
A lot of effort have to be put into creating the themes….
I understand that this is the way that the creator make a living but to high in price will just make the themes just available in the store room only…
If the themes is just one in the world then i think it worth it…
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 12:50 pm
@ Muhammad – I can definitely see people choosing this option over paying for a truly customized theme. Remember, not everyone is as web savvy as us.
Newbies will see this as a great packaged deal. And it might actually be if Brian customizes it and is included in that price.
@ Kyle – In the end, this will probably work, it just depends on his marketing (hey look, you just did some free marketing for him). Offering exclusive items seem to make people think differently when buying. It is a marketing tactic all by itself.
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
This model really already exists, in some form or another. People get free themes, or they pay for a template, or they can get some form of custom work done. A company my brother did a logo for was initially quoted $10,000 somewhere else … for the logo! People really do spend that kind of money. It’s because it’s fun to spend money if you have it, it’s that simple. Buying one of the Revolution custom themes is special, there will probably be collectors. Seriously. Tons of people love spending money. It’s going to continue, and everyone else is going to be trying it too.
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 6:24 pm
@ John – Yeah, I guess it is free promotion, though Brian is one of those guys I would jump through a hoop for. We’ve become pretty good friends and I might be his biggest fan (I think I use a variation of one of his Revolution themes on probably close to 10 sites!).
I think you bring up a good point about the marketing aspect.
@ Tim – You’re absolutely right. I guess I just wanted to gauge the opinions from the WordPress community. It seems to me that you can get something from Unique Blog Design or Blog Design Studio for about that price (or a bit more, but under $1,000.00) and that is 100% unique to only your site/domain.
It has been good to get everyone’s thoughts on this. I have a feeling Brian will do more of these and others will follow suit, so I guess we’ll find out soon enough if this business model can work.
Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 6:57 pm
what i usually do is to download a free theme then hack the design. I find it more fulfilling rathen than stick with a standard.
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 6:44 am
~500 US Dollars for a WP Theme is not much money.
and yes I think this is a great business modell.
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 am
I design theme myslef,i think $499.95 is too much for a wp theme.
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 10:28 am
I think this is awesome and the price is seriously low. Now everyone can afford a custom design (which in my experience for a good one you will start at $1000 and go up to 3-4k.) This gives us people who can’t get it and do our own great design something professional that not too many people have without paying a fortune for it. Great idea Revolution guy!
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 10:32 am
$500 is too much for a design? You’re crazy! The revolution theme is tried and true and works super well. Now we have a killer design to go with all that code? If I needed a new website I would scoop that up in a flash. In fact I’m going to keep my eye on these new themes and I might get one even though I don’t need it… LOL
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 10:48 am
A truly custom design according to Chris Pearson starts at $1800, according to Carlos Cabrera starts at $2800 and according to The Blog Studio runs between $3000-5000. I think that this is a nice alternative to hiring one of these people to do a truly one of kind design. I know I don’t have that kind of money but for a nice professional design that only 9 other people have five bills seems pretty reasonable.
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 11:12 am
@Jamison: That’s true. 500$ may sound expensive to many people, but a design agency will ask a lot more!
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 8:17 pm
If im going to spend a whopping $500 on a wordpress theme, it had better be 100% unique to me.
Why on Earth would i fork over $500 bucks for a theme 9 other people are going to be using. It is WAY over-priced.
Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
You’re probably right… Better to fork over $79 for a premium theme that 2,000 people have….
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 9:00 am
I agree with some of the comments above in that there will always be a percentage of people who are willing to pay the $500 for the Exclusive Themes.
Since it’s slightly cheaper than getting a customized theme created, it would save someone the hassle of going back and forth with a designer.
It also reminds me of what Threadless did with their t-shirt designs (http://www.threadless.com/retail_art). They turned their tshirt designs into “exclusive art” and they only sell a limited number of prints each month.
Some months they sell out and others they don’t but it does go back to the idea of people being “collectors” of great designs.
Who knows… maybe Brian could start his own “art gallery” of great Wordpress designs
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
No, that is not what i meant. I can go to Sitepoint or Elance, and have a beautiful gorgeous valid custom theme made for alot less than $500.
Unique and custom.
Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Good luck with that. If you think that you are getting a professional custom built theme or website for $500 you have a lot to learn. I build websites and blogs for a living and I can tell you that to do a truly professional job on even a simple website you are talking about a huge amount of time. Great design look simple but they take a long time to do well. Coding things right is tedious, time consuming work. Cross browser testing everything-again- time consuming work. If you pay $500 for a custom built theme I can guarantee you that it is not top quality and professional. No professional would design and sell it for that.
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave A Comment
Become one of our
Featured Sites
Recent Trackbacks
Contributing Authors
Archives
Extras
WordPress Hacks Copyright © 2007-2009 | An Apricot Media Website
Template by StudioPress | Custom Design by Kyle Eslick and Blog Design Studio
RSS Feed Email RSS