Attention to all the wordpress theme designers / link buyers

They shouldn't put any links in our themes, none of us (im assuming) uploaded to that site.

Also, in their submit page it says one link to the theme site, not 3+ spammy ones.

Sort which issue out?

The 1 million backlinks they have? They can't do anything about them now lol.

 

Not sure I understand what you're saying here. Not only do you promise to submit to wpthemesfree ( and rightly so, because they are, errr... were, the most important download site) in your sales threads (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=871750).

As a WP designer you should also know that wpthemesfree is NOT adding other links besides that single "brought by Wordpress Themes" link.

The google penalty for wpthemesfree is a huge blow to the sponsored themes market, to designers and sponsors alike. As someone selling sponsor links, I am not sure why you'd be happy about the problems wpthemesfree got.

 

The reference you quoted was to Gnet, I believe he was talking about the OP's reference to blogthemesdotcomand wordpresstemplatesdotname, as was I.

----

On the few theme I did download from wpthemesfree, there was NO "brought by Wordpress Themes" link, but a link in the meta pointing to an outside blog theme site, I can only assume it was theirs, as no other link was added beside the theme sponsors. If I could remember exactly what themes it was, I would for sure point you to it.

I'm not sure why you would think im happy about the penalty wpthemesfree got, no where did I say that. I am actually on their side, "sticking up" for them if you would say that.

 

Well to be honest wpthemesfree is a pretty honest site
they offer you a choice
wheteher you want them to include their link or not, so yea if you choose yes you're responsible for the consequences..


I dont have much problems with wpthemesfree

 

Don't get me wrong buddy. I'm not pointing my finger at wpskins or anyone here. Sorry, i disagree that theme sites have a relation to the theme. Yes, they help designers/sponsor to get more attention from the public and i appreciate their help. Btw, if you review any theme sites own by designers ( jinsona, kate, voidix, andrej, me etc etc ), they don't modify anything or put extra "link" to the theme. Why? I believe you know the reason. Once again, nothing personal and no offence please.

Your theme site is awesome because you allow user to choose if they want to put in a link or not. Same case apply to wpthemesfree but the big G seem don't like this concept. Another reason might be designers use the wrong online encoder. Example, byterun, they seem ok at first but you know what, now they put malware Exploit.PHP.Deftool.e after the encoding process. My recommendation is scan the zip file again with kaspersky file scanner ( http://www.kaspersky.com/scanforvirus ) before distribute it.

Usually i don't submit themes to theme sites. I use other method to help my partners, one of them is adwords.

 

Neither do I, and I agree with you. I am not sure where it came about that I am against wpthemesfree in anyway. I regularly submit there, and advertise their site in my dp forum threads.

As I have said, I have no concrete proof wpthemesfree is linking to anything BUT their own site, but I did download a theme that had no wpthemesfree link in it, but another pointing to another theme site. If I could find the theme I seen this in I would gladly share, but unfortunately it was long ago put into my comps garbage can.... so it's just an observation.

Anything negative I have said in this thread is directed to the OP's (and originally what this thread was about) blogstheme(dot)com and wordpresstemplates(dot)name.

 

I don't think wpthemesfree will ever be reinstated by Google. Look what happened to John Chow last year. The only way you can find him in Google is by searching for johnchow.com, the same has happened to wpthemesfree.com and even though they are a PR7 site, the fact when you search for wpthemesfree without the dot com on it shows Google has implemented a manual penalty on them. They will never get their SERPS back.

Sponsored themes are just another link building strategy and Google has made it very clear they are not going to tolerate these type of violations of their TOS. The problem is not with legitimate theme designers or theme distribution sites but with the fact people are sponsoring these links for the purpose of gaming the search engines.

I do believe that a theme designer should get their link at the bottom of their theme next to the Wordpress link but a link to the theme distribution site is pushing it too far. As far as these distribution sites that are embedding links to payday loans, credit cards, etc.. Google should ban them from the SERPS permanently.

As a webmaster and programmer, I work very hard to build solid, relative backlinks to my sites by following the rules. I've written several WP and SMF plugins that are distributed for free and the only way I get backlinks from them is if they get listed in the Codex or some blogger or forum owner is kind enough to recognize the contribution.

It is disheartening to see all the cheaters get good SERPS the lazy way. Imagine if Wordpress or Joomla or SMF put a bunch of spammy sponsor links in their free CMS software just to make a few dollars ??? Nobody would use the software.

 

Ever looked at the Wordpress default blogroll? I guess not...

 

Um irrelevant concern.

They used to have default links to other bloggers but later on they changed the links inner pages within their own site, links that are relevant to the development of wordpress.

 

Then please do tell me how 7 ( seven ) links to wordpress are a-ok when 1 to the download site is not.

 

You're comparing distribution with production/development..

Wordpress is a webscript that is constantly being updated and developed further, the links that they include help people get to know how to work with wordpress better.. Where as a download site link has to be vountary and optional at best, it doesn't ahve relevance to almost any niche, the only service you guys provide is distribution, thats it.

 

If that were true then those links would have to go into the admin area don't you think? I actually do not mind the WP links, but I do not agree that wpthemesfree should be punished for adding a legit, visible link to a service that they provided along with the verification, hosting and distribution of the theme.

You sound as if wpthemesfree didn't do any work at all and had no value. That is clearly wrong. They provided a legit service whereas now there are mostly scam sites on page #1 in google. Those sites are indeed scammers, they collect the (already tested and verified) themes from wpthemesfree and REPLACE (not just add 1) all the links with their own links to poker and credit sites. Leading to possible legal problems for the theme users down the road. That's what google accomplished with this bold move: Removed a legit site and put a bunch of scammers in front of everyone.

And re: "you guys..."

wpthemesfree is not my site and I don't run a themes site

 

Well wpthemes does do alotta advertising and marketing for their site, i think thats pretty obvious to any webmaster thats why they add their theme there at all. But thats not the point.


Just because you have relevant traffic doesnt mean you should hackup other peoples work. Thats what people are trying to say here

 

Yet another link remover / replacer: http://www.amazingwordpressthemes.com/

#6 for "wordpress themes" atm

Found several themes with replaced / removed links. And their save-my-ass line is this:

It has come to our attention that people have been uploading themes and improper credit is being given. If you are the developer of a theme listed on this site and when you download your credit link is not present, please email ...

Yawn... they don't even have a submit link on their site.

(Unlike blogstheme, who at least had thought about that in their scamming game plan.)

Well I am done for now. I sure hope others are unhappy about these sites as well, especially the designers who got paid for their themes by sponsors who now see their links removed and replaced. Designers should file DMCA's to both the hosts of these sites and maybe to google as well.

 

What people other than you? Speak for yourself.

And you should know by now that wpthemesfree were not "hacking" anything.

But whatever. I have no beef with you and gotta go

 

Any website using the word WORDPRESS in it's domain name will be taken down. It's a direct copyright violation.

From: http://wordpress.org/about/domains/

All you need to do is contact wordpress.com/.org and it'll be taken care of. We should all start sending out the emails ASAP...

 

LOL

I rank on the top 100 for wordpress themes at google, so i was looking through the serps, and i saw a sponsored ad.

http://www.wpthemes360.com/

and they add a link for themeselves on everything
like 1 additional link to every theme

how i know this?
well small potato from wpdesigner.com never ever sells links on his themes
and guess what one of his themes on preview here has a link thats not his or wordpress'

http://www.wpthemes360.com/preview/1365/



haha

 

Crap.. Out of the blue, new themesites are appearing every other day..most of them with hidden interests and agendas..

Looks like it is time to define some regulatory measures or rules for themesites in general..

Sites like ndesign, solostream, topwpthemes, justskins, wpdesigner etc belong to exclusive themesites.. They will distribute themes designed by themselves or by their partners.. They will not pick random themes from other sites and inject some extra links and distribute. This is a good practice and they have control over the quality of the themes they distribute..In short they are self regulated..

Sites like web2feel,wordpressgallery, rockkitty, blogflux,themeboss, ithemes etc and wp themes forums, work on a different way.... These sites accept themes from every theme designer and has a loose control over the quality of themes distributed there..... It is because lot of overnight designers are churning out wp themes now.... most of them with crappy quality...instant made in 2- 3 hrs..

Even if good themes are submitted there, they will soon drown in the abyss of the crappy lot..However none of these sites modify the themes uploaded to them or inject extra links on to them.. This protects the interest of the theme designers. Users can be sure that they will not find any extra links to drugs site or porno site on the themes downloaded from here.. All the themes featuring on these sites are submitted by the respective designer or the person assigned by him.. None of these sites go out to hunt for themes to distribute.

Sites like WPthemesfree , wpskins , wordpressthemes do add link to themes submitted there.. But they get the consent from the designer ,and the single linkback is limited to the particular themesite.. Even they have no right to put a link to any other site.

Then there is this new breed of themesites..They will just pop out of no where. They have no idea of whose themes are they distributing , whether they are paid themes, sponsor free themes, or sponsored theme.. They will just setup a gallery , go out and collect as many free themes they can and put some 3 or 4 links to the sites which may belong to them or to the sites they got paid by.

This is completely un-acceptable.. If asked they might say " hey, we are giving exposure to your themes, don't you think we deserve some benefit too".. If it's me I would reply, "I din' F...ng ask you to give F...ng exposure to my F...ng themes with your F...ng links and without my F...ng permission".

This is exactly what happened when I spotted my themes at wordpresstemplates.name with 3 extra links and some sponsor links removed on every theme. He said , he assumed that we are helping each other.. Some help that is.. There are so many similar sites out there now.. They need to be watched closely .

Consider this one.. www.wpthemes360.com. Just a blank gallery of free themes with a link back to site.. No upload field, No contact info, No details about the admin.. No nothing..

An average wordpress user will not have the knowledge about these different type of sites. Un suspecting they will download a decent theme from these c-class themesites . Once they install the theme ,they'll get mad to see links to enlargement pill sites and sites with videos of Tiffani and Gloria in action .
If they spot the same theme sometime later on the original designer's gallery, they will still have the apprehension to download it.. There you lost a potential download.
These things can be treated only on the budding stages like this..and I hope every serious theme designer will lookout for these malpractices..

Cheers
Jinsona