Discussion: Advertising in themes

Advertising in themes is always a bit of a tough subject to discuss. It can be hard finding a balance between elegant marketing and providing a quality free theme that doesn’t get in the way of the user if they don’t want to purchase anything from you.

Many on the theme review team have commercial ventures based on our free themes, so we’re all in the same boat.

Recently, some people have pointed out some themes that might be taking things a bit too far in terms of marketing theme upsells (e.g., “pro” versions). We’re not really looking to fall into that trap of adding guidelines for everything under the sun though. That’s the old way of thinking.

Providing users with high quality free themes is always our first concern.

So, the team wants to put a question up for discussion: What solutions do you have in mind for balancing between providing free themes and upselling/marketing?

This is an open discussion for users, theme authors, and theme reviewers. Please share your thoughts on anything related to this subject.