Why Do People Create Free Wordpress Themes?
Someone asked me this the other day so I thought I'd give my $0.02.
The reason people make free themes is because of the links in the footer. Some are from the author but more often than not they are "sponsored" by someone. They pay $50-$150 (High End) to be a sponsor. If 100 people download it they just got each SITEWIDE link (sitewide means it appears on every page of content) for $0.50 or $1.50 a link. If 1000 people... Now the interesting part is if say 1 or 2 of the sites that installed it free are powerful PR5+++ suddenly you just got a "lifetime" or until they switch sitewide from a PR5 , 6 or 7 which could cost the price of the sponsorship for a few months let alone permanent.
So basically that is why there are so many free wordpress themes out there. It's like fishing you never know when someone may like it install it and pass on seo benefits to you from a powerful site. That being said if you have a powerful site and you are running a free template you may want to decide if you wish to keep it or if it's worth it to get a custom one made.
I still recommend using a free one when you are starting out or even when you are powerful if you don't care; I do believe you should be informed however
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Best of luck on all your blogs,
Rob