The Cost Of Giving WordPress Themes Away For Free

If Developers include tutorials online via videos, pdfs or detailed articles; then the number of questions from visitors would definately be reduced. There will always be support questions if you release a product though, just the nature of things.

"There will always be support questions if you release a product though, just the nature of things."

I can imagine! I run a francophone blog to help writers with ideas and practical articles, I have to deal with a lot of questions, and I love helping people.
I imagine that the number of questions coming from new theme users maybe far less than those I receive, and I believe they are less complicated because the problems and solutions are easier to match when it comes to technical stuff, I think.

Yes the more you include the better, but a good step-by-step video will help the users the most. And remember you will get many questions asking about customizations, how to change links colors, background colors, make the images bigger/smaller etc...so get ready. I stay everyday till 3am answering every email, remember customer service is the big one.

I'm sure your visitors appreciate the time you put in. Do you have any other themes in the pipeline?

Yes Kevin, every month I will release at least 1 Free and 1 Premium theme,

Remember to let us know when you release a new free design and I'll let WPMods readers know about it :)

Thank you Kevin, will do in few weeks, will let you know,

Marios

Yup, hard to compete. throw in the ever-growing amount of do-it-yourself theme frames, and the contest really gets difficult. Smart move to include vid tutorials.

That's a good idea Marios. Very few of the websites who release premium themes for free do this (I assume this is due to time).

Kevin, yes, making videos takes time, but in a long run I am saving time by not getting hundreds of emails asking me how to insert photos inside the post. Videos are great,

Because web designers need to make a living. Most designers who contribute to the WordPress community have went above and beyond many times to help others, however this doesn't pay the bills. Designers need to get a return from the hours they spend online.

The freemium model allows people to download quality themes for free but those who need support can pay extra for it. Those who pay a little extra usually get a little more functionality in the theme too.

I agree. Theme stores obviously look at the benefits of releasing free designs such as cheap promotion etc.

Hi Natatalie,

I've heard nothing but good things about Genesis. I'll need to make a point of trying it out at one point in the future.

I've used Headway for two new sites of mine and have been really impressed with the response time to support questions and the improvements to the script they have added over the last year. It really makes a difference.

What I found frustrating with a lot of support questions was that those who asked for helped never helped themselves. I'd point them to a solution online which addressed their problem and on more than one occasion I was asked to just fix it for them. No one I helped ever took the time to help others in the forum too, which I found frustrating and was the main reason for only helping those who paid for support.

Kevin