In 2007 Darren and I started one of the first WordPress Premium theme stores – Pro Theme Design. In that time the WordPress ecosystem has changed considerably.
Over the years Pro Theme Design has done well for us as a part time business. We’ve both always done it as a hobby, I have a full time job and Darren has had jobs and done freelance work. Yet as a business selling themes for self hosted sites it’s no longer viable for us – and so, as of October 11th, we are no longer going to sell themes for self hosted sites.
Why Stop Selling?
Over the last couple of years sales have dwindled. In part this is because we haven’t released any new products, and also it’s because of a lack of marketing expertise. However – not releasing new products doesn’t mean we haven’t made any. Our focus has been wordpress.com – and it’s there that we will continue selling our themes.
The benefit of WordPress.com is twofold. First – they have a huge audience, so we don’t have to worry about marketing. Second – they have stable, consistent, hardware and software which means we don’t have to worry about weird server setups or frustrating plugin conflicts.
What about existing customers?
I will continue to offer support to Pro Theme Design customers for the next 6 months – and will keep the accounts control panel online for the foreseeable future – but there will no longer be any theme updates.
New Pro Theme Design
On the 11th of October – that’s next weekend – I will launch a brand new Pro Theme Design website. It will be a single page site – pure html and css. No WordPress, no dynamic content, nothing complicated. It’s simple, and quick, and allows us to focus on our WordPress.com customers.
Over the next few months I’ll be transitioning some of the more popular WordPress and blogging posts from the old Pro Theme Design site onto Binary Moon so look out for more WordPress and blogging stuff popping up here on the blog.
Let me know what you think on Mastodon, or BlueSky (or Twitter X if you must).
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