During the past month, I’ve had the opportunity to evaluate several themes before deciding on CleanSlate by Brian Casel. All three present themselves as clean corporate looking themes with an emphasis on webpage look over a blog look.

First to evaluate was “Application” by Manish Gori. Very clean, reasonably priced, however forum tech support is questionable at best. As a reply to my many questions, Manish’s single reply was use it as is or we’ll refund. So much for the first theme, I accepted his refund. Quick and without issue.

Next, I tried Linen Pro by The Theme Foundry. A bit more expensive, however one expects to pay more for American. Forum tech support is the best part of Theme Foundry. I think they have 3-4 support people who respond within 10-15 minutes of a post. Only problem is that their technology is limited. Theme has many holes and their slider many problems. As responsive as they were, the limiting factor was product quality. Especially when tech support finally asked me to redesign their software to fix the multiple issues. When I said that wasn’t the reason I bought their theme we reached an impasse. The Theme Foundry offered a refund and I accepted. Quick and without issue.

Nearly frustrated that maybe my expectation were too high for a WordPress theme, I stumbled on ThemeJam’s CleanSlate. Working with CleanSlate has been fun. For the first time, I found a theme designer who has really designed a fantastic package. He has added features no one else has even conceived of. Personally I think Brian Casel is brilliant. Additionally, I have no idea how this guy makes money. Just how many can he sell. With the quality received in CleanSlate, I think he could more than double his cost. There is only one negative comment and that is Brian seems to be the only support guy, and questions take about 24 hours for an answer. On the other hand, when Brian answers, his answers are worth the wait.

So, if you are on the fence, unsure of which theme to go for, my recommendation is CleanSlate by ThemeJam. And I will go on further to say, that the industry should watch Brian Casel. The guy is talented and more good things from Brian are bound to happen.

Now, when you purchase a theme from themejam.com (or our new WP Bids theme from wpbids.com), you will be automatically registered and granted access to the customer support forum.

At the time of your purchase, you will receive an email containing your forum username and password.  You can then use this to log in, browse, and post customer support questions to the forum.  As always, your questions will be addressed usually within 1 business day (often within the hour!).

Existing Customers… nothing changes

You can continue to use the same forum account login you’ve been using.  This change only concerns new customers moving forward.

What Changed?

In the past, customers had to register for the forum themselves, then request access to the restricted theme support area.  We would then manually verify and upgrade paid customers to grant them access to the theme support area of the forums.  Needless to say, this was a tedious and often confusing process.

Now it all happens automatically.  You purchase a theme, you’re in.  All you have to do is log in and you can begin getting answers to your questions right away

• WordPress 3.0 Menu Management capability
• Our fully redesigned theme options page.

As of today, we’re proud to announce that all six themes in our current catalog have been updated to include these features!

We also improved the WordPress 3.0 Menus integration… Now, instead of first “enabling” this feature in the theme options, WordPress 3.0 Menus are automagically enabled.  Simply create a custom menu and it will display as the main navigation.  Haven’t created one yet?  Still running WP 2.9?  Then the navigation will automatically revert to displaying all pages with proper heirarchy.  Easy

Stay tuned for some exciting stuff coming up in the next few days/weeks/months.  ThemeJam is just getting started…

If you’ve been following us since our launch, you know that we don’t offer major sales like this very often. But hey, it’s 4th of July weekend here in the USA, so we’d like to invite everyone to come celebrate with us!  And what better way to celebrate, than…

50% OFF EVERY THEME

NOW THROUGH MONDAY JULY 5TH

That’s right.  Get any theme in our catalog for $29.50 (regularly $59)!

If you’ve had your eyes on the sleek and flexible Clean Slate theme, the crafty Industry theme, or the elegant Noble theme, now is the time to grab them!  Go! Go! Go!

No discount code necessary.  The discount will automatically apply when you add any theme to your cart.

Remember, this sale ends on Monday, at 11:59 EST so get going!

And Happy 4th of July to all!

Kind of like anxiously awaiting a shiny new iPad and tearing open the box to give it those first few taps, or firing up the transmission of a brand new car, breathing in that new car smell, or… you know what I mean.  WordPress 3.0 has arrived, and in case you’re not aware… It’s quite awesome.

We – being the WordPress enthusiasts that we are – have been using the 3.0 beta releases for quite some time now.  So I’m happy to report:

All ThemeJam Themes Work With WordPress 3.0

All of the theme demos have been upgraded, tested, and approved to work flawlessly with WordPress 3.0.  No theme updates necessary.  Of course, we are planning on rolling out ongoing feature enhancements over the coming weeks and months.

Speaking of feature enhancements, a few of our themes already include some WordPress 3.0 awesomeness.  Clean Slate and Gadget both include options to enable custom menu management, giving you full control over your navigation links.

What’s new in WordPress 3.0?

Check out a guest article I wrote on Mashable about a month ago:  The Five Most Important New Features in WordPress 3.0.

You can also watch this official video from today’s blog post on WordPress.org:

So the time has come to give this theme a fresh round of updates.  Here’s what has been added:

• Industry now sports our fully redesigned Theme Options page.  This design is more closely tied in with the user interface of WordPress itself, making for a familiar experience with snappy controls.  Take a look at the theme options page expanded.
• You now have the ability to upload your own logo image – both for the top and in the footer.
• The featured posts slider now has the option to display WordPress posts or pages.
• Several minor fixes throughout.

If you already purchased the Industry theme, you should have received an email containing a link for you to download the update.  If you haven’t purchased Industry, now’s the perfect time to grab it with all of the fresh new features!

Industry Theme Details page

Industry Theme Demo

Buy a WordPress theme, get 1 hour of free, private consultation

Let me explain what this means and why this can be so valuable to you:

It’s a scheduled one-hour block of time for private, 1-on-1 professional consultation.  What type of consultation are we talking about?  Well… anything!  Here are some examples of what we can cover during your hour:

I can help you set up your new WordPress theme

That means helping you to install and activate it and configure the theme options to your liking.  If you haven’t done so already, I can recommend a suitable web host for your needs, and help you install WordPress on your server.

I can offer tips and advice for running your website or blog

This can cover any topics related to blogging, web writing, managing your site’s content, interacting with your visitors, etc.

Social media consultation

From building a strong following on Twitter to using Facebook, Flickr, Video, and other tools to spread your brand online.  I’ll consult with you on how to merge these things with your website and build your audience.

Development consultation

Are you a web developer interested in talking code?  We can discuss how to go about making modifications to your theme and other development-related topics.  This could include general tips and best practices for web development and WordPress.

Small business consultation

I’m passionate about small business, particularly running a small business on the web.  We can bounce around ideas – specific to your business – for getting the most out of your web presence and building a strong customer-base around your product or service.

Anything you want.  Really.

How we spend the hour is totally up to you.  Whether you’re a freelancer, developer, blogger, or newbie, there are so many different ways you can benefit from a one hour consultation.

So who am I?

Check out the about page for a quick bio.

I am a professional web designer, developer, and founder of ThemeJam.  CasJam Media is my custom web design business.  I also blog about business, freelancing, and the web on my personal site, briancasel.com.  You can follow my personal twitter account @CasJam.

How does it work?

After you purchase any WordPress theme, send me an email at brian@themejam.com.  After verifying your Invoice ID, we will then schedule your free 1-hour consultation.

A few things to note:

• If you’re based in the U.S. we can have a 1-hour phone call.
• Worldwide customers have the following options:  Skype voice call, Instant message conversation, or a conversation over email.
• Consultations can be scheduled only on Monday through Friday between the hours of 9:00am and 7:00pm EST.
• Consultations will be scheduled up to one week (or sooner) from the time you send your email request.
• IMPORTANT: When you send your email to request your consultation, you must include your Invoice ID number from your April 2010 purchase.  The invoice ID number can be found in the confirmation email you receive after purchasing a theme.
• This promotion is only available to customers who purchase a WordPress theme during the month of April 2010.

Ready to get personalized expertise?

Go ahead and pick out a WordPress theme, and let’s get in touch!

Here’s how the launch week special works:

25% Off Everything

This applies automatically.  When you add any item to your cart, you will see the 25% discount applied to your total.  No discount code necessary.  Just click purchase, then proceed to checkout.

Special Deal for WordPress Themes & Deluxe Theme Packs (discount code)

As you may (or may not yet) know, we have a permanent Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off discount for WordPress Themes and Deluxe Theme Packs.  But this doesn’t mean we won’t offer this week’s current 25% Off deal on top of that!

If you add 2 WordPress Themes or 2 Deluxe Theme Packs to your order, you are eligible to enter the discount code:

LAUNCH25

Entering this discount code will discount your entire order by 50%, effectively turning the discount into a 2 for 1 offer.  So if you’re interested in grabbing the Industry WordPress Theme, you might as well add the Noble WordPress Theme to your cart as well, because for this week only, it’s a 2 for 1 deal!

Remember, the 2 for 1 and 25% Off deal are active now through Sunday, February 7th, 2010.

After nearly half a year in preparation, we have finally launched ThemeJam!  Today (2/1/2010) is our first day open for business and we cannot be more excited!

Today’s launch has been a long time coming.  From planning the business and conceptualizing our product line to the nitty gritty of the theme design process and testing, testing (and more testing), it has been grueling but passionate work every step of the way.  Not to mention all of the effort put into designing and building themejam.com!

Launch Week Special!

To celebrate our grand opening, we’re running a 25% off sale on every purchase now through Sunday, February 7th!  That’s on top of our permanent Buy 1, Get 1 50% Off special on all WordPress Themes and Deluxe Theme Packs.

Looking Ahead

As much as we’d like to step back and take relief in the fact that we’re finally live, that’s just not our style.  We’re pushing full speed ahead.  We’re already designing and prepping several new themes, which will add depth and variety to our catalog.  But we’ll unveil the details and teasers for those in upcoming posts, tweets, and Facebook updates.

Please have a click around our shiny new website and check out everything we have to offer.  If you haven’t been following our preparation process, you might want to check out the following areas:

• About us
• Pricing
• WordPress Theme Gallery

And if you have a website or blog and you’re looking to earn serious cash, you might want to consider signing up for the ThemeJam Affiliate Program.

Feedback Welcomed

What do you think of our new site?  Let us know what you think in the comments section or on Twitter.