While we have recently covered the potential to obtain substantial numbers of link backs by sponsoring WordPress themes, sponsorship is an area of online marketing which is starting to show more signs of growth. As more and more people advertise their WordPress themes for sponsor, the strategy is now entering other areas of website design, but will it last?

WordPress themes aside, we are starting to see even the simplest of CSS templates up for sponsorship, flooding the market with free and cheap templates. While many designers can make good money from these sponsorship deals there is a real danger it may effect the sell on value of unique themes, and bring prices lower. While this may not be a bad thing for the end buyer, the bottom line is that if the prices are not there, then we may soon see some of the better designers pull out, thereby reducing the quality of products on offer.

The internet tends to go through different phases, whereby different products and different strategies will become a hot topic for a few months and then die. The sponsorship of website designs may well be a little different, but the internet’s thirst to reduce prices and slash cost will at some point effect the quality of products and services available. We have already seen such movements in the forum paid posting market which has been hit by cheap offers, which are not always to the standard that you may expect.

As we see online prices continue to fall, there will come a point when we will realise the need to pay for quality. Low value and often low quality work is fine for those not looking to make a living off the internet, but the serious business person will always need good quality products and services - and at some point this quality will again show through.