I think that WordPress is one of the greatest CMS tools around. I’ve blogged a bit about how WordPress can be used not only to blog, but also to run an entire website. Part of the reason that WordPress and other open source CMSs have developed into such a powerful tool is the strength and size of the community behind them. With thousands of plug-ins and themes, a not-so-saavy web entrepreneur can easily create a personalized and feature-rich website in a matter of minutes.

One way to contribute to the WordPress community and also build the strength of your website is to sponsor or create free WordPress themes. Within the footer of your theme, include a keyword-rich link back to your website. As WordPress users download your theme and implement it into their website, you gain backlinks. Since a typical free theme offered on WordPress.com can be downloaded thousands of times, a single theme can eventually be the source of several hundred or thousand links.

Tips for using wordpress themes for backlinking

* Create a theme relevant to the website you are promoting. For example, if you sell auto parts, create a WordPress themes have to do with cars or auto racing. This makes it more likely that the content of blogs linking to you are relevant for your niche.

* Build a great theme – Truly great themes are downloaded more often and utilized for longer periods of time. Since the most valuable links can come from established and reputable websites, you want to do everything you can to encourage bloggers to keep your theme for a long time. As blogs using your theme gain reputation, the benefit to you becomes greater. A slick, feature rich theme is more likely to accomplish this. In short, build crap and that’s the result you can expect…

* Don’t link-stuff – Don’t go and stuff multiple links in the footer of your theme. Wordpress users can easily delete your links anyways and stuffing several spammy links in the footer is a sure way to make this happen. Most WordPress users don’t mind giving a little credit to the theme creator but they don’t want to support spam either. Be reasonable and you’ll be rewarded.

The downside to WordPress theme linking

For every 10 people that start a blog, probably only 1 or 2 probably stick with it past the first couple of months. Many of the backlinks that you will get from this strategy will be from low-quality blogs. In fact, many of the links you get will come and go before you see any search engine benefit. However, the greater number of downloads you get, the better chance you have that an existing, established blog switches to your theme or that the 1 or 2 new bloggers mentioned above take your theme and build something great with it. The secret is in the marketing.

Marketing your WordPress theme

The best way to get your theme out there is to submit it to Wordpress. If they accept and your theme and it is unique and pretty good, you’re certain to get at least hundreds of downloads over time. Read the WordPress requirements before submitting as they are stingy about accepting themes. Whether you get into WordPress.com or not, consider submitting your theme to several of the other websites that promote WordPress themes. There are a bunch of these and some are worth more time than others (I especially like this one). It’s worth putting some quality time into marketing your theme!

Tags: link building, wordpress | Category Organic Search