We get quite a few requests in our inbox each month for paid reviews. Almost all of which have nothing to do with business or have any relevancy to you guys and gals.
Thankfully, we were approached by a young entrepreneur for a review a week or so ago.
That young go getter’s name is Adriaan Pienaar (aka Adii), whose based in Cape Town, South Africa. Adii is a freelance designer who’s also completing his Honours Degree in Business Management.
Having begun the chronicling of his life and work in January of ‘07 at http://www.adii.co.za (quite the popular blog), Adii is approaching the one year anniversary of his foray into the world of blog design and development.
Labeling yourself as a “Wordpress rockstar� takes quite a bit of confidence, of which Adii doesn’t seem to lack. With a portfolio that includes Chris Garrett’s site and what seems to be a new WordPress theme every other damn day, Adii is definitely setting out to label himself as a specialist when it comes to blogging. And the content of his blog and work in his portfolio reflect that.
While Unique Blog Designs got quite a bit of hype over the past month for the redesign of John Chow’s and Shoemoney’s sites, what you may not have noticed is the name behind almost all of the out-of-the-box templates UBD sells. Adii is the creative responsible for six of the seven themes currently up for sale. Two of the more popular ones, Block Magazine and Your Revolution, can be seen below.
These themes fall into a new category that Adii seems to be at the helm of: premium WordPress themes. While most themes are released free to the public for the purpose of self-promotion, premium themes are sold at an affordable rate (usually $50 to $100) in hopes of moving a dozen or so and repeating the process.
Having lined himself up against Michael Pollock of Solostream and Brian Gardner, Adii is a prime example of success by association in this newfound market. As much as selling premium themes is a new trend, so are news and magazine layouts. Adii’s latest theme, Premium News, is a fantastic example of this direction. Look for plenty of blogs to go this route (maybe even YGG ;)
Our contest closed last week, but Adii still has his own up and running until October 29th. You can win one of the themes mentioned above along with several other prizes. Check it out.
While in most industries Adii would be labeled as a rookie or intern, having only been in the game for a year, it’s remarkable to see how far he’s come in such a short period and established himself as a serious contender. Or as he’d prefer to be labeled, a “Wordpress rockstar�. : )
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