Theme Forest: The Ugly Truth About ThemeForest.net
I wanted to let you know about a site that has quickly become one of my favorites to visit. It’s one of those sites that once you know about it, you find yourself going back to it every day (or sometimes even a couple times per day) just to see what’s new.
In mid-2008 I stumbled across Theme Forest for the first time while searching for the best wordpress themes. At first I wasn’t that impressed, but I remember not spending very much time investigating just what this “Theme Forest” was. We all know there are a never ending supply of free and premium WordPress Themes online today, and at first glance this seemed to be just another choice in the virtually endless sources of WordPress wares.
Well fast forward almost 2 years, and let me tell you about the Theme Forest of 2010.
Theme Forest In 2010
Theme Forest is a marketplace in the Envato network that is specifically for WordPress Themes and HTML Templates. If you’ve ever found yourself wondering just where you could find high quality WordPress themes or website templates, Theme Forest was created just for you.
There are many of these so-called “marketplaces” for just about every type of product or service you may need when doing business online, but I’d like to explain why Theme Forest is different and why they have become the first place I turn for just about everything I need to run one of my many websites.
The Theme Forest Difference
Simply put, they are a destination for WordPress and web developers to list their themes and website templates to people just like you and me. The reason this is so powerful is because it totally goes against the “norm” when it comes to purchasing a WordPress theme or html template.
Typically, you go to Company A’s website where they offer Product 1, 2, and 3. You can buy their work and their work only.
Now imagine if you had the opportunity to brows the work of hundreds and thousands of different web developers? Imagine if you could preview any website, template, or theme before you pruchased it? Imagine if you could read the comments from others who have purchased it, see which themes or templates are most popular, and even rate the work for even more transparency?
This is exactly what you get with ThemeForest, but there is so much more…
Not only can you browse, purchase, and interact with thousands of developers and customers from across the globe, you also have the chance to sell you themes and templates to a dedicated and growing community.
As proof to how large and powerful this community has become, in February 2010, ThemeForest’s top author (handle: Kriesi) just surpassed the $250,000 mark for sales of his WordPress Themes and files.
That is no small feat, but I have no doubt it will soon be broken by one of the thousands of other members contributing to this community on a daily basis.
The Best Part About Theme Forest
But do you want to know what I love the absolute most about Theme Forest?
Envato (the company behind Theme Forest) has not only built the best marketplace for WordPress Themes and HTML Templates, they have created similar marketplaces for video files, pre-built coding solutions, web graphics, and flash files just to name a few.
Imagine being able to have just one account that let’s you buy and sell everything from stock audio to fully developed web templates that are both HIGHLY professional, focused on web standards and usability, and at absolutely rock-bottom prices!
Theme Forest closely examines each theme or template uploaded to the marketplace to ensure that only quality authors with quality products can list their work.
As the end user, you have the ability to quickly and easily access just about everything you need to run a website from a network of developers, coders, artists, and audio experts…and you can do it all from one account!
It is completely free to setup an account with Theme Forest, and this one account can be used to browse all of the other sites in the Envato Marketplace.
The Bottom Line: I’ve been doing business online for over 5 years now. Rarely have I been so impressed with a product that within a matter of a few weeks I can’t imagine doing business without it. This is just the type of marketplace Envato has created and one you simply can’t afford to miss.
If you are looking for professional, high-end products for your website at beyond reasonable prices, I encourage you to head over to ThemeForest and see for yourself first-hand. Visit Theme Forest.
Comments
Jeffrey Way February 1st, 2010
Thanks so much for the kind words about ThemeForest. We certainly do our best to offer a great experience for buyers.
Just a friendly note that, based upon the title only, I was expecting a negative view.
UniSphere February 1st, 2010
Great review mate, I’m an author in the Theme Forest market place and let me tell you how much I love it, it’s without a doubt the best marketplace for premium HTML templates and WordPress themes.
Join us, we are a friendly bunch
Kyle February 1st, 2010
@ Jeffrey – Living true to my site’s name, I was actually experimenting using that seemingly negative headline to attract viewers to the page. I have to say I’m impressed though…I don’t know how you found this post only an hour or so after it was published (if you make your way back, I’d love to know).
@ UniSphere – Thanks for your comments, and I would have to agree with you…most everyone I’ve interacted with is extremely friendly!
DDStudios February 1st, 2010
Great review !
I am one of TF’s author too and I can say that this is the best job ever!
myTheme February 2nd, 2010
Yeah, I thought this would be a negative review too.
Nice words though, and all I can say is that I agree with you Kyle.
PS. I’m also a ThemeForest author.
Bawbag February 2nd, 2010
Do you not have a spellcheck? What a load of illiterate dross. Sad.
Kyle February 2nd, 2010
Spellchk…weell dern, I darn’t knew they had them spellchk mashines on my komputer. Now thatz sad.
Daan February 2nd, 2010
Thatz spellchk needs to improvie “Kriesi’s” username
Anyways, great post. The exact truth!
Andrew February 2nd, 2010
Miss-leading title, and nothing more than an affiliate post.
Sorry, you can say all the nice words you want, but when you end it with a paid link, all credibility is lost.
Don’t get me wrong, I have always liked Theme Forest, but at least have an accurate title.
Kyle February 2nd, 2010
@ Dean – Fikxd.
Matt February 2nd, 2010
@Kyle “Seeming” negative title? No, it’s an outright negative title and a pretty cheap way to draw readers. Your assessment of Theme Forest is right on, though.
Kyle February 2nd, 2010
Some of you need to try and get up on the other side of the bed tomorrow. Let me clear the air a bit here.
@Andrew – First, you should learn the difference between a paid link and an affiliate link. The post DOES contain my affiliate link. The post does NOT contain any sort of paid link. If you would like me to explain the difference, email me.
Second, please explain further how someone can lose “all credibility” when placing an affiliate link in a post. Have you read any of the other posts on this site? Does it look like that is my focus?
Third, why would I not include my affiliate link if I truly endorse the product? This school of thought that says the web must be some completely neutral environment where content is the only currency and anyone who tries to monetize their opinion is, well…according to you…someone who “loses all credibility” is absurd. Take a look at my site in its entirety and then decide if it’s fair to make that statement.
Fourth (and perhaps most importantly), I did not write this post to make $10 from affiliate commissions. I actually love the Envato sites and use them almost daily.
—
@Matt, I am a marketer, and given this area of work, I am always looking to test every possible control when it comes to content: increasing traffic, pageviews, conversion, and yes…gasp…even the “gotcha” headline.
I did not use the selected title to ONLY attract readers although I can see how when reading my comment above you might think that was the point.
I intended to paradoxically use a “negative” headline with a “positive” review as this was what I was wanting to test – the experiment I referenced above.
—
While I appreciate everyone’s comment (and you are all entitled to your opinion) what I and others who are reading this post are interested in are your thoughts about ThemeForest.
Maybe my next experiment should be how people who like to leave negative comments never include a website……..hmmmmmmm……
Time Management February 3rd, 2010
I’m always in the market for great WordPress themes. I’ve changed the theme for this blog a couple times and each time I find something I don’t care for. I started looking for themes on ThemeForest and found a WordPress theme that I thought would work well for the site (I’ve since purchased it but I haven’t finished customizing it yet – expect a rollout in a week or two). I also found a generic website template that I wanted to buy.
Kyle February 3rd, 2010
@ Time – Your current one looks like Glow from Nick Roach. He’s a good guy, and I’ve really enjoyed being a member at ElegantThemes.
craig February 8th, 2010
recently discovered theme forest and have had an excellent experience. would recommend it to anyone. like the fact that most of the wordpress themes are ‘cms’ themes and not designed for out and out blog sites. rare you find a theme that fits your requirements exactly, but i did just that.
Clinton February 19th, 2010
Here’s a negative comment with a website included in the signature…if that’s what you wanted
Your negative headline isn’t a “marketing exercise” as much as it’s visitor deception. Someone researching ThemeForest would come in on the strength of your title expecting to see reasons why he shouldn’t use them. And what he gets instead is a rave review that confirms his view. He reads the whole thread again thinking he missed something, but no, there’s no “ugly truth”. So he clicks the link you’ve provided and completes his purchase. For you, mission accomplished. For him, a waste of time.
It’s not a “gotcha” headline, don’t flatter yourself, it’s a BS headline.
Kyle February 19th, 2010
This is actually quite helpful. I’ll be completely honest and say I never expected such a passionate response from people about the negative title with positive review, but there have been some very interesting “positive” outcomes as a result of this post and perhaps I’ll discuss them in a later post.
I appreciate everyone’s feedback.
And Clinton, you win the prize for first “negative” comment with a website included
blogcosep February 25th, 2010
Great Review Man.. I like it.. Thanks..
Jack February 25th, 2010
Ah, I came here via Google search on ThemeForest also looking for some grim reality about the site I hadn’t spotted before. Initially the post completely confused me so I scan read through most of it until I realised you were actually praising ThemeForest rather than… well, the ugly truth.
Nothing wrong with a catchy title, but, this one seems a little ‘other side of the coin’ to make much sense. Regardless anyway; good post – good to hear you are a fan! I am looking to start uploading work there too (already upload to GraphicRiver).
Personally I don’t think there is anything wrong with a bit of self promotion and a reference link… your site, your review! If I bought a TV, liked it, wrote about it, I would probably link to a site selling it – if that site said “oh, we will pay you for those visitors” then it’s win win. Credibility? What has it got to do with credibility?
Mark Maranga February 26th, 2010
Wonderful review man! I also got a lot from ThemeForest.
Slim February 28th, 2010
Thanks so much for the kind words about ThemeForest.
Bursa Haber March 1st, 2010
Great post. The exact truth!
Karim March 2nd, 2010
I’m a buyer there. The price is so cheap, the quality is very good. I don’t remember how many times I deposit $20 … which in total is a few hundreds dollars. Most of them I spend on $12 html template and around $4 graphics.
The negative side? It could be only me, but somehow I feel like boring with the design. Some author seems copying the others, of course with some modifications. But again, it could be only me .. and it could be wrong.
Sergey Alekhin March 4th, 2010
Great review !
I am one of TF’s author too and I can say that this is the best job ever!
pacquiao March 8th, 2010
The truth always prevails.. Love it.. Thanks for the post man..
Harvey March 23rd, 2010
nice comparison, im hoping there would be more revisions in the future that we can benefit from this template
workathomeguy March 23rd, 2010
Yes, I have to agree with the popular sentiment on the headline. I get emails like that sometimes that spout things like: “Don’t Open This Email….”. As you can probably guest, I don’t open them! Just my 2 cents worth.
KGB press April 20th, 2010
It is a gimmick headline that costs your credibility. Now that I know your headlines are misleading, why would I come back?
Christopher Ross May 11th, 2010
I love ThemeForest, your headline caught me off guard for a second being that I’ve always had such a great experience with them.
tchago May 12th, 2010
I like the polemic comments. People really feel outraged, misled, deceived and such. So funny.
Kudos for your experiences!
best of luck
Peter May 19th, 2010
To tell the truth I agree that its a good marketplace but beyond that i must say that, themeforest is good for buyers, good for their own business but definitely not good for user who do the hardwork for keeping the marketplace alive. Not me but i have heard many other people who are very depressed as reviewers of themeforest unnecessarily rejects the hardwork of many users.
I’m not saying to accept all themes but i have interacted with many users in forums and personal emails whose themes get rejected for unnecessary reasons. People who have gone through this situations know that themeforest always gives one basic reason saying “we increased our quality level” lol
Genuinely many people already know that themeforest rejects their work most of the times as they feel the quality is not good but let me say one thing to them. Do anyone have specific rule for web design ? If yes, then rules are made to be broken. Rejecting an item only on your personal likings and judgements is always wrong and believe me it destroys the hardwork of the author who created it after working lot of hours in front of his pc.
See their themes, when they were just starting the marketplace, they started accepting almost any theme because they initially wanted users who can submit themes regularly so that their business keeps going well but now they have got a lot of traffic coming each day with lots of users registering each day so when they have the business game in their hands today, now they have started to do the rejection thing so frequently that they destroy all the hardworks of all new authors.
I request themeforest reviewers not to reject items unnecessarily as it involves a huge hardwork from every user who submits theme in your marketplace. Think about quality but also think about the hardwork that has been put into a theme. Getting so many users, buyers and huge monthly business doesn’t mean you guys will reject almost every item now a days.
People who think I’m saying something wrong must either be a successful author in the marketplace whose items are accepted almost every times or have earned a lot from the marketplace and doesn’t want listen anything bad against it.
Majority of people would agree that I am only telling the truth, as I accept it as a good marketplace with amazing themes but definitely against there rejections thing.
To tell briefly about me, I’m also a successful author in this marketplace, I have more than 20 items in the marketplace. Have been in web design industry for 14 years so I understand the quality and technology very well. Many of my friends have faced the rejection thing and thats why I thought of writing this to atleast let them know that they are doing wrong with the users who are doing a lot of hardwork every day to keep this amazing marketplace alive.
Thanks everyone and please don’t fight if anyone doesn’t agrees with me. I am not interested in having long discussions and proving myself correct. Whatever I have wrote here is for all the common man/users of themeforest who are facing rejections for unnecessary reasons and getting depressed as all their hardworks are going in vain.
To THEMEFOREST: Users hardwork supports you to keep your business going so please also try to support your users in return as they do a lot of hardwork every day to keep your marketplace alive and going with new themes every day.
Thanks
Peter
House May 24th, 2010
I purchased a theme from themforest and while it looked very nice, the code and documentation was beyond hopeless. Just checked back there and people are still having majour issues with it. Even though the themes are cheap, it wasted a lot fo my time and I was not very happy. The good news is that themeforest refunded my $ but only as a credit not a true refund. So now I’m stuck with $40 payment to them that I won’t ever use. Be careful.
ack May 27th, 2010
ThemeForest is actually bad for developers if you think carefully about it. That guy mentioned earlier in comments didn’t earn 100% of the sales. The pay rates is ridiculously low:30-70%. You only make 70% of total sales if you reach past 250k +. On top of that, you have to pay huge taxes.
Set up your own sites and take care of marketing.
ThemeForest Fan June 2nd, 2010
Great post; i’m a huge fan of themeforest and have spent well over $200 there…
Brad @ Email Marketing City.com June 26th, 2010
There are some real talented authors on Themeforest – I’ve found numerous templates that look great for email newsletters.
wpevolved June 27th, 2010
Like many I was expecting a negative review (great tactic – I was attracted to it because I thought to myself “What on earth coud be negative about ThemeForest?”)
Leo July 12th, 2010
I was on the same boat as you when I first visited theme forest a few years ago just putting it aside as another place for wordpress themes but after going through the process of trying to put up a theme, they actually have a checkoff and a deterent to weed out shoddy themes.
I am actually in the process of creating my first theme to put up for sale on themeforest and going through all the highly rated/most downloaded themes it makes me keep going back to mine and making sure I have the upmost quality and features that they have.
Now I don’t know if that is a good thing or not because I might be working on mine for awhile. Atleast, when I create my next theme I will know what I need to do heh.
ash July 19th, 2010
hi,
The post was completely opposite to the title. The truth wasn’t that ugly after all LOL
btw, what the theme you are using on this blog I am seriously in love with it looks like a woo theme
Kyle July 20th, 2010
It’s a custom theme. I’m glad you like it (even thought it’s going to be changed in the next 60 days)