There’s been a bit of debate lately over an Internet marketing / link-building tactic that’s growing in popularity – sponsored themes and template. I came across the issue today on the Virtual Marketing Blog, specifically regarding sponsored WordPress themes and possibly banning them from the theme collection on WordPress.org. With even the big guys arguing over the value of sponsored themes and templates, are they just another marketing fad, or will sponsorships stick around for a while?
How it Works:
Just about any kind of template that can be used online can be the subject of sponsorship, including WordPress themes and other blog templates, website templates, and directory templates. These templates are generally distributed to the public for free use. Whereas some designers create templates more “out of the goodness of their hearts,” or for a backlink in the footer that can’t be removed to their own site, other designers want to profit.
Template and theme designers have found a way to profit from developing free themes, by selling additional text links in the footer, which users of the themes or templates aren’t allowed to remove. These links are “sponsored links.” Sponsored links are purchased by the sponsors as a marketing tactic, to gain those backlinks and exposure every time that free template or theme is used online.
Fad or Fab?
FAB – Here’s Why – The recent debate regarding sponsored WordPress themes that I mentioned above has to do with whether or not WordPress.org should be hosting those themes with their resources, while others are profiting from it. My views on that don’t matter at the moment, other than to say, even if sponsored themes were removed from WordPress.org, it wouldn’t cause a huge blow to the theme and template sponsorship efforts for marketing anyway. So while you’ll often see me say something along the lines of “if the tool / site you’re using for your marketing efforts is specifically trying to stop you, it’s nothing more than a fad,” that just doesn’t apply here. WordPress.org is far from the only place for people to promote these sponsored themes.
The idea is simple marketing-wise… you’re just buying text links. That gives it a bit of extra staying power in itself. It also involves distributing a free resource that’s valuable to users, which makes it even better… nothing scammy in that sense. And with the money they’re making from the themes, where they otherwise wouldn’t, designers can afford to spend a bit of time and money actually promoting their work (therefore promoting the sponsors), while also expanding their own reach and reputation. It’s a win-win-win situation for sponsors, designers, and users. As long as people want free templates on the Web, we’re going to have free template designers. And I highly doubt those who have found sponsorship as a means of monetizing their work will just abandon it altogether, so I think we’ll be seeing sponsored themes and templates for quite some time, no matter where they have to go to promote them.
I’ve made several themes and I have recently seen the arguements on how unethical some people think making sponsored themes are. My thought is know one is forcing you to use a sponsored theme and no one is forcing you to buy a sponsored link so what’s the big deal?
I don’t see an ethical issue with simply “making” them, but profiting from creating them, and then expecting others to cover the cost of hosting, and essentially promoting, them could easily be a problem, and should be left to the discretion of that site or person doing the hosting. Like with any other kind of advertising, which is what this is, it’s generally just smart to disclose the affiliation, even if it’s just saying “sponsored by” before the link(s).