When I first started blogging, I was running into some blogs that run free themes. There’s totally nothing wrong with using a free theme, but the thing you miss out the most on is uniqueness. This is where custom web designing services come in where you hire a designer familiar with the Wordpress system. Sure it’s going to cost an arm and a leg at times, but you end up having your own theme with your own specifications.
I’m seeing tons of new Wordpress designers popping up and they range in different prices, but usually running at around $300-500 a pop, which still costs an arm and a leg.
If you have finance problems like me, trying to obtain one of these themes are difficult and downloading a free theme is probably something you don’t want to go towards. The last option here is to hire a freelancer from Scriptlance or Rentacoder to do the job for cheap. I’ve seen great themes done by the members there for a huge fraction of the cost. Why they charge so much less…you’ll soon find out.
When you discuss the plans of your new theme with the designer, you would most likely be asked what type of design you’re looking for. He/She would also ask if you have any samples of themes that you want yours to look it. At this moment, a red flag raises because there is a reason why you’re getting charged so less for a blog theme.
I’m sure when you’re searching for themes to purchase or to download for free, you would have the option to view a demo of the theme. The demos actually have no security at all because you may even be able to log onto the backend with an test admin account if you would like to.
Little do you know, but these demo themes could be obtained with a type of exploit that downloads all the files on that particular folder. You’re bound to get all the posts and text, but it’s only the bare minumum and you would be able to delete the content that has been placed by the owner. This is what I call “ripping off a theme”. Ripping off a theme has no difference than if you were to steel from a local shop.
Thousands and thousands of blogs are viewed each day and if you, by a hidden strategy, somehow view hundreds of blogs each day, you would most likely notice blogs with very very similar themes. Of course there are also exceptions with this like the Blogging Experiment theme, the John Cow theme, and the miscellaneous ones that are made public. Now if you do a small research on checking if a theme is ripped off, you would probably do the following:
Check the style/layout - the way that the posts, sidebar, header are placed- Color scheme - if you like to rip themes and don’t change the colors, I spit at you
- Theme author - there is ALWAYS a footer link to the theme author with some exceptions where you may pay the author to have it removed
You must also understand that almost all themes have a theme author that is placed at the footer section. These things could easily be edited out and certain tracking links are removed to keep the author from discovering your blog.
There are many reasons why blog designers and clients decide to rip off themes. Not all of the clients realize the themes are being ripped, but a lot do realize it. Here are the 2 main reasons:
Fraction of the cost - You’re paying a fraction of the cost and when a person hears that, he/she won’t deny the offer and would go forward with the design.- Professional theme - Since professional themes are the ones that tend to cost a lot, bloggers usually steer towards them. A more professional theme usually means a more professional blogger
Now what happens if the blogger you ripped the theme from or the theme author finds out you ripped their theme? They’re going to sue you and take you to jail. MAYBE. You’re not going to get sued or go to jail for stealing someone’s work, but there is still that chance you might. Instead, you do what all bloggers fear the most. You throw away your image to bloggers around the blogosphere because you would be known as the blogger that ripped a blog theme. I know of a few bloggers that use the same theme, but as much as its wrong to do so, I’m not going to mention them here.
Is your blog theme a rip off?
Thanks to Mike Smith for giving me the idea of this post. Before I end this post, please make sure that you check my contest post because I have added some information that may answer some questions that have been asked
No problem for the topic idea
You should have showcased the reason why I gave you the topic though. It doesn’t look like the guy cares much since it’s still up.
If you want it removed, go ahead, but I figured people would like to see the reason behind this post
http://www.Carsonified.com - this is an awesome company, with an awesome blog design. Now, take a look at this:
http://www.romainlibeau.com/ - this guy clearly ripped off the design, the css stylings, the layout, the background image is even the same name!
Mike
My last blog post is..How to: 10 steps to bootstrap your freelance career
I actually didn’t want to post any links so peace is still kept, but I don’t mind those 2
Thanks again Mike for giving me the idea!
-Mike
I use free themes exclusively from Courtney Tuttle because I believe his SEO is second to none. I ALWAYS leave the link to his internet marketing site in the footer as that is his request.
Good post, and I’ll let ya know when I come up with $500 for a custom design.
AL
My last blog post is..Ambit Not Only Saves Consumers Money, But Pays Them Back With Travel Rewards
Well I didn’t mean everyone should go purchase a custom design for that much, but my point was to tell bloggers that some designers are fakes and they steal themes for you to use.
-Mike
Nice post Mike, I don’t think I will ever be happy with any theme,I always find things I don’t like, just get bored with it or it should always be constantly tweaked to keep pace with all the latest strategies that attract customers.
My last blog post is..One Heck of a Giveaway At Bloggin Ads
If I knew designing and coding, I would definitely change my blog looks once in a while, but sadly I don’t
-Mike
Have to agree that when some designer asks for a demo, we should have a feeling that the demo theme is being played with.
High priced designers actually provide the perfect work.
Great post Mike
My last blog post is..Apples iTunes Download for Apple iPod
There ARE some good themes out there for reasonable prices - like http://www.solostream.com/ . I love his stuff.
And with very LITTLE and MINIMAL effort and practice you can then adjust all of the colors and even some of the structure and make it basically original for you. We spend all this time reading other blogs about how to make money, and we try try try all the different ways to monatorize our sites to make money - well why wouldn’t you make the same effort to learn how to make the small changes to your blog to make it original. Whether you purchase a theme or use a free one you STILL can adjust it in many ways that will make it look original, if JUST changing the background color…to more advanced changes. Remember, a free theme is JUST THE SKELETON or the guts for your site. You have to nurture the skin, tan it, or burn it, or whatever you decide to do to make it your own.
Make the effort to make your site original. It is worth it.
You got the point
A lot of designs could be changed to get a new look 
-Mike
I use a theme from Dailyblogtips.com
He’s got some gr8 themes over there.
But I just saw 2 other websites with the exact same theme. May go with a premium one soon.
My last blog post is..Winning A Macbook Air & 1000$ Can’t Get Any Easier!
I wonder if i could use that template into my site too..:D:-)
My last blog post is..Join and win the MacBook Airs + $1,000
I never ripped off a theme…simply because I can’t…i’m not very good at blog theme design…I’m just blind at design…currently using Mandigo…
My last blog post is..Win Mac Air dan $ 100!
As long as you don’t get a rip off theme, you’re steering the right direction
Don’t worry, these things take time.
-Mike
It is tempting to do so, but I’m a big believer in karma…instead what I do is find the blogs with creative commons 3 licenses and then modify the the heck out of them
You can see what I did to the popular Blog Oh Blog BOBv2 theme at my site 
My last blog post is..Sweet Sticky Notes
I understand that it really is tempting to “steal” a theme. I personally have the Revolution/Magazine theme, but have not used or given it out to anyone
BTW, I like what you did to the BOBv2 theme
-Mike
It is nice to have our own unique theme but then looking at the price… I simply can’t afford it.
And not to mention that one it might get ripped off…
My last blog post is..MacBook Airs + $1,000 Giveaway
I think I didn’t make myself clear, but it usually is VERY VERY difficult to rip off a theme if there is no “DEMO”. Lets say my theme is being ripped…the files would include EVERYTHING including posts, files, etc. It would take a long time for the ripper to delete all of these and find all the “tracking”.
-Mike
Oh I see… Now I got it… Thanks for clearing up that one! And that’s why th unique ones would cost us a bomb eh…
My last blog post is..MacBook Airs + $1,000 Giveaway
i think having an unique look on the web is quite important IF you really need it or want to do some business… else if it’s only for simple blogging stuff without money in mind…
if i had some free time to code and design my own theme i would, but i have other priorities in life
My last blog post is..Video: Japan trip 2007
Yup, priorities in life always come first.
-Mike
I know how I want my blog to look but ca not afford to dish out $500 bucks. I will have enough money save by summers end to have it complete.
when I had a domain and wanted to have my own unique theme, i googled on how to designed a wordpress theme and read something about it. am not sure whether i went to the correct place but what i read is exactly like what you said, the site told me how to pick a theme, kinda pick parts of it to copy and paste as a new theme, technically ‘ripping’ the theme off i guess.
My last blog post is..Bloggin-ads contest!
It’s not only premium themes that get ripped off. I realize it’s not as big, but free themes get jacked, too. What I mean is when the credit link is removed. No, the creator isn’t losing any money, but a lot of work can be put into the free themes, also. I created a free theme, and it makes me angry when I find someone using it and removing the credit link. All I asked was for one lousy link to be kept in the footer!
My last blog post is..Green Festival in Chicago
That’s quite interesting…..
I just use a blogger template and quite contended with that…sure to implement it once I gain some exposure!!.
My last blog post is..Adsense Ad Review Center now open for all publishers
Nice topic. I remember when I was choosing my blog theme. I think since last month I had already changed my theme 10 times and it really took me hours to change themes since it’s hard to change and reconfigure widgets. My advice for new bloggers is that before they put all the widgets, ads and postings in their blogs, they should be satisfied with their chosen theme first.
However the option of having paid themes is also of utmost importance if you want to have “uniqueness” in your site as what Mike stated in this post.
I have actually found some very decent free wordpress themes, but I agree the custom ones are much better. They are just a bit expensive, so I am going to try to make one myself.
My last blog post is..Ideas And Updates Part Three