The project schedule for Version 3.2 is as follows:

• Current: WordPress 3.2 Beta 2 has been released. No more commits for any new enhancements or feature requests will be made, only bug fixes. Any enhancements/feature requests will be pushed to the next version.
• June 1, 2011: Target date for Release Candidate 1.
• June 30, 2011: Target date for WordPress 3.2 launch.

We’ll begin by taking a look at some of the requirements and under-the-hood enhancements, which the average blogger won’t notice right away.

PHP 5.2.4 or greater is a requirement; MySQL 5.0.15 or greater is a requirement.

Internet Explorer 6 is no longer supported, and Internet Explorer 7 support is now on the horizon. Users will be notified through the Browse Happy site if they are using an outdated/unsupported browser.

General Enhancements

• WordPress is faster – load times have been reduced, the write page and paging through comments is now faster.
• Upgrade system now supports incremental upgrades, so after Version 3.2, you’ll find upgrading faster.
• WP_Filesystem optimizations.
• Trimmed code lines in core.
• PHP4 timezone support removed.
• More efficient term intersection query.
• Plus other speed optimizations.

Note: In the screenshots, I am using WordPress 3.2 Beta 2 (18055) on a locally-hosted install. There will be minor differences between installs.

Dashboard

The Dashboard’s “View All” buttons are now plain links. A full set of status links are displayed in the recent comments box, and the “Change Theme” button has been dropped.

New Freedoms and Credits pages are linked through the footer of your WordPress admin panel. You can see these below.

Posts

The ‘All Posts’ panel shows the sticky posts checkbox only when the author has the required capability, visual styles have been updated, and the fullscreen editor has been completely revamped.

When you are editing a single post, you’ll find that there have been some major revisions here. Icons for the WYSIWYG editor have been dramatically changed, providing a cleaner overall look. The trend has been to make things more consistent – and you can clearly see this here – all the icons are the same, color is only provided when you hover over the buttons.

Additionally, the default font is quite a bit larger and cleaner-looking than in previous versions. (Edit: This font appears to be associated with the new default theme.) There could still be some more changes/updates to this area, but it is already looking more complete than in the first beta.

The new Full Screen Editor/Distraction Free Writing experience aims to bring some of the desktop applications writers love into WordPress. It is quite a dramatic difference between the new version and the one found in WordPress 3.1 (and prior).

When you hover your mouse over the write area, you’ll find a rather basic list of controls, which are mainly for inserting links, quotes, bold/italic text, images, etc. An option for editing HTML is also included.

However, when you are writing, you’ll only see the text in a clean, distraction-free environment. Both environments have been included below.

Additional Screenshots

Other editing/admin panels have been included below. There are fewer changes to these areas, but the overall look is consistent throughout the admin interface.

New Theme – “Twenty Eleven”

In the Appearance > Themes panel, you’ll find Twenty Eleven 1.0 as well as Twenty Ten 1.2. I’d assume once WordPress 3.2 is released, the new theme will become the only one available.

Twenty Eleven is based on the Duster Theme. It allows you to select previously uploaded headers and can randomly display uploaded or default headers. You can denote images that are headers or backgrounds through the media UI. Plus, you can show hierarchy for pages and taxonomies in the navigation menus admin.

The new theme’s options bring some more premium features, although you’ll still want to use your own theme if you want a more complex site. However, it surely an improvement over previous default themes.

You can find a number of screenshots below of the theme’s default styling and editing panels.

Conclusion

While WordPress 3.2 doesn’t aim to include a slew of new features, the interface improvements and new default theme are welcome improvements. Many of these changes look to make WordPress the powerful, yet still simple alternative to Tumblr and similar micro-blogging platforms.

What changes are you looking forward to the most in Version 3.2? What other changes do you think WordPress should incorporate into future releases (3.3 and beyond)?

The deal is only good through midnight Thursday, May 19, 2011 (two days from now), so you’ll need to purchase this package before time runs out!

Themes Included in Package

The following themes are included within this package. Please see the other details below on how to get these themes.

Backstage – This is a niche theme that has been designed for musicians and artists who wish to showcase their upcoming events. A homepage slider and dedicated module for a biography section have been included. Seven stylish alternative color schemes are also included.

Biznizz – Give your website a fresh new look with an integrated slider and custom homepage layout. An optional portfolio page template gives the theme even more options when it comes to building your next business website. Custom Post Types, custom typography, and custom widgets have eben built into the theme, making the theme very simple to use.

Caffeinated – This personal portfolio theme by Ryan Downie is the perfect theme for anyone looking to create a bold website for showcasing their work. A portfolio page template (included) utilizes the jQuery PrettyPhoto script for a unique effect. Seven alternative styles, a sidebar manager, custom shortcodes, and more have also been included.

City Guide – Build a directory-based WordPress site using the City Guide theme. A homepage featured module can be used to dedicate an image or a Google Map and clean Google Maps integration allows you to geo-tag posts with a custom maps panel. Custom widgets and six alternative styles have been included to give you control over your site.

Continuum – This theme, by Simon Collison, is a magazine-styled theme with a custom homepage and custom typography to give you plenty of control over nearly every element of your site. Seven alternative styles, three widget-ready areas in the footer (plus one in the sidebar) also provide further control over how your site appears.

Crisp – A unique Tumblog theme, perfect for bloggers, displays your thoughts in a professional, slick manner. The theme includes Tumblr-like functionality with extensive multimedia support for images, video, audio, quotes, notes, and links. Eleven delicious color schemes are available to choose from.

Elefolio – Elefolio, designed by Chris Rowe, combines easy Tumblog publishing and a portfolio in one theme for showcasing your work and posts. The custom homepage shows a welcome message yourself to your visitors and the portfolio section draws content from your own Custom Post Type portfolio items. Nine alternative color styles and custom typography have been integrated well into the theme for giving you more customization options.

Fresh News – Although Fresh News is one of WooThemes’ oldest themes, it remains one of their best-selling themes. It has been updated recently for use with WordPress 3.0 and higher, with custom typography, four widget-ready areas, and eighteen alternative color styles. You can’t forget the sidebar manager, custom shortcodes, and custom navigation, which take out much of the work of coding for the theme.

Deal Terms & How to Get the Themes

It is quite simple to get access to the themes. Simply register for a free WooThemes account and in this area, you’ll also find the download links and support resources.

All the themes include lifetime support and also updates for these themes. They are equivalent to the Standard Packages, so no PSD files have been included.

You will only be given access to the themes shown above and you will not be able to substitute/exchange the themes in the bundle for other themes.

While it has only been a month (and more than three million new downloads) since WordPress 3.1 was released, it is now time to look ahead at what WordPress 3.2 will offer.

Faster Release Cycle than WordPress 3.1

The WordPress team initially set a goal of three point updates (2.9, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) during the year 2010, although only the final version of WordPress 3.0 was released on June 17, 2010. A number of bug/security fixes were issued through the end of December, and version 3.1 wasn’t released until February 23, 2011. Version 3.2 will have a more focused set of features to keep it right on track.

Faster and Lighter

When it comes to writing, things could be simpler in the main write panel, and many agree to this. It’s a reason why Twitter and Tumblr are so easy to use, comparatively speaking.

List Tables and API Improvements

More flexibility will be added for third-party plugin and theme developers, so look to see more improvements on this front. List Table API has also been stabilized.

Requirement of PHP 5.2.4 (or higher)

This next release of WordPress will require a more modern version of PHP, dropping support of older versions.

MySQL 5 Required

Requirements are being changed, but not much else.

IE6 Support Dropped (for Admin Panel)

A nag will (possibly) be added for users still using the 10-year-old browser. Not much CSS will be dropped, as IE7 still shares many of the same issues.

Distraction-Free Writing

The fullscreen implementation will be replaced with a more usable and beautiful implementation. WriteRoom, OmmWriter, and QuietWrite can be used as an example of what is to come.

Upgrade Improvements

When upgrading from version 3.2 to 3.2.2 (for example), only the changed files will be upgraded, with no changes to the WordPress core. According to a comment, it also appears as though Akismet and Hello Dolly won’t be re-installed each time you upgrade, which was considered a bug.

Speed Improvements

Even though WordPress can run on small, shared servers or larger, dedicated servers, there are still ways to make the admin panel appear faster-loading. For one, improvements will be made to the admin panel by doing the expansion in PHP.

Conclusion

I like many of these changes that are slated for version 3.2. Although none are really going to change the way you blog or use WordPress, it’s still good to see that speed and further optimization are going to be the focus, with support dropped for old technologies.

In this post, we hope to solve some of the myths surrounding the “premium themes” market that have been spread around, and in the process, you’ll also gain some insight into how to properly look for a new theme for your site. Whether you have a budget of $50 or $500, there is an ideal theme out there for you.

Aren’t Free Themes Just as Good as Premium Themes?

Yes, to a degree. However, paying for premium themes, there is a very high chance that you’ll get “free” support with your purchase. If you ever have a problem with the theme, you can just shoot an email over to the designer or have your question answered in their forums, and you’ll be on your way. Premium themes typically pack better designs and features, so you’ll have no hassles getting the theme configured and running as you intended.

Premium Theme X Costs $50 But Premium Theme Y Costs $100, is there a Difference?

Some premium theme designers price their themes differently based on the number of features and depending on the niche the theme is intended to fit in. Generally, you’ll find lower-quality themes at a lower price point, but in general, premium themes are priced around the same. Browsing the showcase, you’ll find you pay nearly double for developer licenses, although you can generally make up the difference through development work using the theme.

What Type of Theme Do I Need?

Generally, you want to have a clear description in mind when looking for a theme. The most popular themes today are CMS themes, which aim to serve multiple purposes. In other words, you get multiple themes for the price of one. If you want to run a business site, you can either choose one of these themes or a more specific business/professional theme.

Here are some additional categories of themes, to help you get started.

• Personal/blog
• Corporate/business
• Magazine/news
• Photography/portfolio/showcase
• Custom – generally in a more specific niche

Is There an Advantage of Choosing Theme Developer A vs. Theme Developer B?

Yes. Some theme developers don’t put as much effort into the documentation and back-end of their themes, meaning it will take you more time to edit their themes, having to resort to editing the code. In other cases, the code simply isn’t editable, as it isn’t well formatted and up to standards. Like most things, you get what you pay for.

What License Do I Need to Purchase?

There have been many discussions around the licensing behind premium themes, but what you need to know is that there are generally two licenses. A single/personal license lets you use the theme on a single site or domain. PSD files and additional development files are generally not included. A second license, either a multiple-use or a developer license includes these files, making it easier to edit the theme and provide customized versions for clients.

In some cases, you can choose the basic version and upgrade at a later point, should you choose to begin doing development work using the theme. However, you should choose the license based on your needs and budget.

What are Some of the Benefits to Purchasing a Theme Subscription?

Many of the top premium theme designers offer subscriptions to their themes, otherwise known as a themes club. Instead of paying a set rate per theme, you are given the opportunity to pay a set price plus a rate each month (or quarterly/yearly). You can then use and download all of their themes, as per the license/terms. Some of the main features are as follows:

• You don’t have to choose a single theme, as you are given access to all their themes.
• Pricing is generally better than purchasing single themes.
• You’ll get access to all the support files and documentation.
• With developer licenses, you can even use these themes for development and client work.

Should I Buy a Theme Based on Available Features?

I have found that the feature sets included with premium themes are sometimes exaggerated. For example, just because a theme has fifty features, it doesn’t mean it is any better for your needs than a theme that has just twenty features. You want to choose a theme that is best for your needs. If you want a simple, easy-to-edit theme, then all these extra features are likely to get in your way.

What are Some of the Limitations of Premium Themes?

Most premium themes have less limitations than free themes, as you can remove the footer credit links, and there is a very slim chance that these themes will contains sponsored links. For most people, the main reason they choose a free themes is simply due to cost and their ability to customize themes on their own. Today, most premium themes include option panels that allow you to completely customize the look of the theme without editing any code.

I Want a Theme Framework — Can You Recommend One?

There are a number of great theme frameworks available, most of them being in the premium theme niche. Thesis is one of the main themes, although Headway also offers competing benefits. These themes serve as a blank framework for building a complete site, ideal for people who have a background of coding and design, although they are still easily customizable.

How Much Experience is Recommend for Customizing Premium Themes?

As mentioned briefly, premium themes are completely customizable. Most include a custom options, while others give you the flexibility of hooks, which give you more power and flexibility. For the most part, you only need to know basic HTML and some CSS to edit these themes. Of course, the more experience, the better. You’ll then be able to customize the theme to give your site a more professional look and feel.

For a limited time only (through Wednesday, October 20 at 12:00 PM, Australia Time), you’ll be able to get more than $250 worth of WordPress products for the low price of $30, or less than the price of the average premium theme.

While you can usually get discounts buying multiple themes at once, this is the ideal package for anyone who loves WordPress – you’ll get a starter kit plus a number of custom/premium plugins.

I have outlined some of the items included below. You’ll receive access to all these files after purchasing the pack.

Aspire WordPress Theme

The ultimate theme, you’ll find ten unique color schemes to choose from, full support for WordPress 3.0+, easy-to-use theme options, two custom portfolio galleries, and step-by-step installation and customization instructions.

PerfectPixel WordPress Theme

With ten color schemes, you’ll find this theme ideal for business/company, blog, and portfolio websites. The homepage includes custom jQuery Sliders, a homepage sidebar with custom widgets, multi-level drop-down menus, and the PSD files for customizing the theme further.

Intersect WordPress Theme

A bold, striking theme built with a number of layouts, colors, and an easy setup. Eight different skins are included, plus a custom portfolio and themed administration form.

Mobility WordPress Theme

A mobile-ready (iPad) theme that makes it possible to use WordPress with all the standard finger sliding capabilities plus a custom drag-and-drop gallery panel. Seven color options, an AJAX contact form, plus three page templates are included.

Photon WordPress Theme

The ultimate photography theme, with automatic image resizing, two different color schemes, and easy uploading of new photos, albums, and pages.

WordPress Plugins

The following WordPress plugins are included. You can find more information about each of these, including screenshots on the WordPress Package page.

WP-Membership Plugin – This plugin lets you sell your content through your site, you only need to create a category for your private content, set the prices, and you’ll begin earning through PayPal.

Extend Google Analytics Plugin – Although Google Analytics is powerful, this plugin lets you add the code to your site, track events (downloads, email addresses, and outbound links), and more.

uBillboard Plugin – A sleek slider front-end plus an admin panel for displaying images on your site. Eighteen transition effects, customizable resolution, automatic image scaling, and more have been built into the plugin.

Relevant Search Plugin – A plugin that replaces the default WordPress search with relevant results, which is great for people who don’t want to configure their own search method and still want to have some integration with their standard search form.

WordPress Book

The Rockstar WordPress Designer book is included, which will guide you through the process of building WordPress themes, plus lots of tips on how to build a WordPress theme starting with a standard HTML file.

Tutorial

The WordPress, Beginner to Master tutorial is included, giving you a six-part tutorial to guide you through all the advanced features of WordPress to create your own portfolio and blog template, complete with an options page, multiple styles, and more.

PSD

The BrandMedia Modern PSD file is included, which contains five standard PSD files you can customize and build a site around.

Purchase Today!

It isn’t too often that you see discounts like these on WordPress themes, so it is important that you take a look at this while the sale lasts. There are some great plugins and themes (plus a PSD, tutorial, and book) included in this package for the low price of just $30!

Disclaimer: I will earn a percentage of each sale through the links on this page. For more information, read the Disclosure Policy.

Within this post, I hope to bring together a collection of some of the best WordPress resources, whether you are looking for WordPress news, themes, plugins, or other topics concerning the platform. Included is a brief tidbit of information about each site.

I have not tried to include all the sites for WordPress users, but a collection of some of the most respected and dedicated. If you have any others that you wish to share, please leave them in the comments area below.

1. WPCandy

WPCandy focuses on news about the WordPress community, but you’ll also regularly find tips and other resources that relate to the platform.

2. WPBeginner

WPBeginner is a dedicated WordPress resource that has been designed to provide quality tips, hacks, and other resources to the WordPress community. The focus of this site is on beginners, although you will surely find something new here.

3. Theme Lab

Theme Lab regularly releases free themes to the community, but also publishes reviews of WordPress themes and plugs. A great resource for any WordPress user.

4. WordPress Blog

This is the official blog for WordPress.org news, and you’ll also find important news about upcoming versions, security releases, and other tips.

5. WordPress.com Blog

Although most of the sites are related to the self-hosted version of WordPress, this blog will often provide hints as to what will come in future versions of WordPress.

6. Weblog Tools Collection

Weblog Tools Collection provides tips, updates, and other information about topics that relate to WordPress.

7. WordPress Tavern

WordPress Tavern includes tips and resources for everything that relates to the WordPress community, ranging from BuddyPress to bbPress. It is a great place to have a discussion about WordPress.

8. WPRecipes

WPRecipes was founded nearly two years ago to help provide quick and useful tips to the WordPress community. You’ll find lots of tips here that haven’t been covered before.

9. WPQuestions

Whether you have a question that can’t be solved using a few web searches or you need to implement a custom function into your blog, you’ll likely find the answer here. Questions are answered (for a fee) by experienced WordPress developers.

10. WPVote

Created to be the “Digg” for WordPress blog posts and news stories, this site includes lots of resources for the WordPress lover.

11. WPMU.org

WPMU.org is a community site for anyone who uses WPMU for powering their site. Resources, news, and tips are covered on the site.

12. Justin Tadlock

This is the personal blog of Justin Tadlock, a WordPress developer and designer. You’ll find tips and resources on the site.

13. WordPress Hacks

WordPress Hacks was launched nearly three years ago for reviewing WordPress themes, plugins, as well as providing tips and resources to the community.

14. The Blog Herald

The Blog Herald is more focused on blogging, but they also cover WordPress news and announcements, as well as general blogging news.

15. ThemeShaper

This blog has recently become inactive in terms of new content, but you’ll find lots of WordPress resources and news to help you build a better, more powerful site.

16. Digging into WordPress

This blog is a compliment to the WordPress book and includes many great tips and resources.

17. WPCanyon

You’ll find lots of great tips and general hacks that you can use to make your site more powerful.

18. We Love WP

Who doesn’t love a little good inspiration? You’ll find lots of sites powered by WordPress on this site.

Although WordPress 3.0 was released about 2.5 months ago, it is now time to begin looking ahead at the next version of WordPress, version 3.1. This version wasn’t originally planned to include some “major” updates, but it is looking that way according to some of the discussions. Please note that not all of these features will be implemented by the time of release, some will be put on hold until a later version, especially if deadlines are not met.

In this post, I will be providing some discussion around each of the planned features and how they will help you in your everyday use of the WordPress blog/CMS platform.

Media Overhaul

The media management system of WordPress certainly needs some work still, but significant changes probably won’t come until version 3.2 or later. Minor updates will likely come with 3.1, which is still appreciated. A key feature that will be included later is the ability to implement HTML as a caption. This is simply a suggested feature, as it isn’t too difficult to add this after using the built-in image uploader to insert some HTML below the image (whether in a “caption” or not).

Advanced Taxonomy Queries

This is a feature/change that will allow site owners to better manage content and may even tie into the creation of more powerful themes. I figure some of the features included in this plugin will be included (currently, WordPress will ignore one of the parameters). For example, if you want to filter posts, you can add additional queries to help your visitors find content.

Internal Linking

If done correctly, this could be a great feature. Essentially, when you click the “insert link” button, you’ll be presented with an option to insert a link to one of your other posts or pages. Obviously, it’ll help you save time having to open up a new tab to find the link to the article. However, if it is implemented in the same insert link area, it might be a little counter-productive.

AJAX-Powered Admin Screens

Few details were provided about this, although I suspect you won’t have to re-load each admin page to change settings. Currently, one of the main complaints about WordPress is how many “clicks” it takes to change settings, so this should help alleviate some of the problems, at least until other solutions are created.

WordPress.com-Styled Admin Bar

If you’ve ever used WordPress.com, you’ve likely noticed an admin bar at the top of your blog (when logged in) as well as from the admin panel. This makes it easy to get quick access to commonly accessed areas, like the “add new post” page and to moderate comments, for example. In WordPress 3.1, this feature will likely be added, with an option to turn it off/on.

UX/UI Cleanup

Some changes to the UX/UI, ranging from cleanup to other modifications will be made. No specific target was made,  but I figure it’ll address some of the inconsistencies or other issues experienced by users.

Also included are changes to the UI of the searching/browsing installed themes page, with a WordPress.com look (the “Install Themes” tab may be migrated onto the main page).

Separate Network Dashboard

For multisite users, a separate dashboard will be added, and a personal dashboard to replace the global dashboard may also be considered for this release.

Custom Post Types API Fixes

Some changes to the custom post types API will be made, although nothing major.

Post Templates and Post Styles

Likely another way to style post templates and page styles. More than anything else, it might just mean the ability to style individual posts much like pages.

QuickPress as a Template Tag (Front-End Posting/Editing?)

This could be a big feature in upcoming versions of WordPress, as you won’t have to spend as much time within the back-end to write posts – you’ll (eventually) be able to do it simply by logging in, navigating to your blog, and clicking where you want to edit. Again, I don’t know how far the WordPress team will go with this, whether with this release or in the future, but it could be a great feature.

Conclusion

With a feature freeze by October 15, beta releases by November 15, and a release sometime around December 15, WordPress 3.1 will shape up to be a great update for WordPress users. Although I am not an expert at back-end coding or involved heavily into the future of the project, I hope that many of these features make it into upcoming versions.

What features are you looking forward to in the upcoming versions? Please leave your comments below.

It’s time to once again time to take a look at the state of the premium themes market. I last did this in late October 2009, comparing some of the developing trends and looking at the future of the market. It has now been more than three years since the beginning of the premium themes craze started, and it is time once again to look to the future.

Overall, there have been more start-ups in the past year than recent times, although fewer of them have been as successful than, say WooThemes, iThemes, StudioPress, and a few others (which are still leaders today). However, since the market has expanded, some of the traffic has distributed amongst some of the smaller providers that are able to offer some of the same quality and features.

On the traffic front, there has been a decline across most sites of about 10% for the month of July, with up to a 50% drop in traffic since last year. Is this a sign of things to come? No one can say for sure, but it may simply be a sign that the market is more saturated – the people who wanted a premium theme have purchased them and are not returning as frequently to the sites to purchase them. Otherwise, it could also signify a larger slow-down in these themes as people look to save money – creating their own themes or using the existing frameworks rather than purchasing new themes.

Overall Trends

• I cannot say whether there was an overall slow-down in sales, but if traffic is any indication, there has been a shift in where people are purchasing their themes. Most are searching for theme clubs that offer more themes for cheaper rates, or else they are looking for themes that aren’t quite as pricey.
• This slow-down has been taking place since March of this year, although there were quite a few drops in the time period before this. I can only base this trend off information from Compete, although you will notice that the sharp drops aren’t exactly normal, especially for the more trafficked sites.
• With more than fifty theme providers, this drop may simply be a sign that people have more choice now. Simply comparing some of the top theme designers may not indicate the overall picture unless there is more meaningful information. For example, I don’t have any exact figures from these sites.

Traffic Information

You can see the trend in the image below. I have included all the relevant information for reference, the entire graph can be found at Compete.

More premium themes are being sold today than ever before. Since WordPress became popular, a rise in premium themes arose, as users wanted something that was both affordable, more unique than most of the free themes, and support for the themes. The top theme designers are raking in millions annually, and many have wanted to cash in on this growing market. Although the concept of “premium” themes is nothing new, the WordPress craze (since roughly 2007) helped increase the popularity of premium themes both for the platform as well as other growing platforms, like Blogger, Tumblr, and Posterous.

Now, this guide certainly isn’t for the well-established theme designers out there, as they have found what is successful, but it is for the new ones that may be looking to start their own theme club or site. These are just rough guidelines for pricing your themes, and you can certainly adapt them to suit the needs of your business. I am sure that additional tips could be included, so please feel free to share them in the comments area.

What Do You Plan on Offering?

This is the first question you need to ask yourself. Of course, you will be providing premium themes. However, you need to think beyond this. For example, some of the premium theme designers have branched out into “paid/premium” plugins, which offer more features and better support than many of the free plugins. This is only natural, since many of them have these features integrated into their own theme, but they can’t be ported onto other providers’ themes.

Basically, the more you offer, the more you will be able to charge. If you include one of your premium plugins or a theme framework, then you will be able to charge a little more than a provider that offers less features.

Along the lines of support, include support for all of your themes. Sure, customers expect a nice looking theme, but there is a good chance they are new to WordPress, they’ll abandon their site if they can’t solve the problem. If you price themes too low (generally less than ten dollars each), you’ll have a difficult time making a profit if you are spending all your time offering support.

How Feature-Packed Are Your Themes?

Although I briefly mentioned pricing appropriately for features above, this isn’t as big of a problem as when premium themes first became popular. Most themes now come standard with all the latest WordPress features, so be sure not to ever exclude these. For example, with WordPress 3.0, Custom Menus, Custom Backgrounds, post types, and more. Of course, implementing a better solution, building on the existing WordPress frameworks.

Here are some features commonly found in WordPress themes today:

• Parent-Child Theme Frameworks, which provide easier updating and better customization.
• Easier posting, otherwise giving your theme users the ability to post more quickly than using the default WordPress interface (as the result of the growth of microblogging sites like Tumblr and Twitter).
• Custom widgets are always nice to implement.
• Alternative color styles. Don’t make your customers pay twice for a simple CSS or image set change!
• SEO options and other implementations for improved rankings in search engines. You want your work to stand out too, right?
• Multiple page layouts. This feature is a must. With premium themes, people expect to have some of the work cut out for them. They shouldn’t have to search for an ideal plugin (unless they want to) for a contact form or archives page.

Assuming you are able to match what other theme providers offer and whether you are able to retain your customers (resulting in additional sales from recommendations), you should be set on getting your theme site up and running. Remember, there isn’t any clear path to becoming the “leader,” you just need to prove that you are able to consistently deliver a product that is both profitable and well-designed.

Disclaimer: I am providing this information purely for informational purposes. Please adapt the information to match the needs of your business. None of this should be taken as financial advice, so please consult a qualified adviser if you are setting up a business.

Theme clubs aren’t new. They’ve been around for a number of years for Joomla and other popular CMS platforms, offering users a way to get themes at discounted rates. This makes them attractive for people who want to take advantage of more of their themes, use them on multiple sites, or customize their website on a “monthly” basis. Theme clubs aren’t for everyone, and that’s why many companies offering these theme clubs still sell themes individually, although for rates slightly higher than when you purchase the themes in one package/through a themes club.

As more premium theme companies have launched over the past few years, a few problems arose out of competition. While there is a lot of competition amongst the popular theme designers, there is also a lot of steadfast loyalty among some providers. For example, if you purchase a theme from Designer X, you are satisfied with their offering, you are likely to either continue purchasing themes from them, or you will continue your membership. However, there are certainly some people who will jump from designer to designer to see which one offers the best price vs. features.

The Theme Clubs market could be considered more competitive, as each is trying to win the customer over to continue purchasing a membership – whether it be a monthly, quarterly, or annual subscription. Generally, these theme clubs charge a rate about two to three times the cost of a standard theme (although this rate varies widely), then a monthly charge about two to three times lower than the standard price of a theme. This way, you’ll still be able to save money if you decide to change a theme.

Some of the problems I’ve seen stem around these main issues:

• Theme designers are over-promising and not delivering. For example, if you claim that you can pump our two new themes for your paying members, then deliver it. You shouldn’t have to apologize to them if you can’t meet what you promised. If it really gets down to it, prepare for the future with themes that are still well-designed, which leads into the next point.
• Some designers have simply released themes that aren’t as high of a quality as I would like to see them. Simply repackaging a theme and re-selling it with a new color scheme doesn’t work and you won’t be able to sustain this approach. Be innovative and don’t cut any corners. With these membership plans, make sure you aren’t rushed to release a theme to meet the “two new themes per month” deadline.
• Obviously, with these commitments, it is also important to keep in mind the other aspects of your business. If you want to be known for good support, there is also a high chance that you’ll need to reduce your workload for creating and designing new themes, otherwise you’ll end up with the desire to outsource your work (which often results in coding that doesn’t appeal to your tastes).

I would have hoped that some of these issues would have been resolved by now, but as I see more new theme clubs/designers opening their sites for business, the problem continues to exist. If you promise two new themes each month, deliver – don’t release a theme in April and a new one in August. That’s not what your paying customers want to see. It’s quite easy for someone to cancel a monthly plan and move on to someone (or a company) that offers what they are looking for.