Where To Find The Best WordPress Themes

In an earlier post, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you haven’t yet discovered WP themes and what makes WP themes unique, then go here to read our post: About WP Themes – A Guide For Newbies

In this article, you will learn where to discover many professional free and paid themes for your WordPress site. You will also learn about the different types of WordPress theme resources and get tips on how to make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid experiencing problems like lack of customer support and poor theme coding.

As explained in another post, a WordPress theme is a special type of web template used on WordPress-powered blogs and designed to work specifically for WordPress.

Many individual web designers and web development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users enjoy access to thousands of unique themes covering an extensive range of applications.

Finding Great Themes: So Many Choices … Where To Begin?

Let’s say you were to go to Google and search for a key phrase like the following:

• best responsive themes for WordPress
• WordPress themes free
• best paid WordPress themes for authors (or whatever your business, search topic or website is about)

You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized information to sort through in the search results.

So, to help you save time and make your life easier, let’s just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WP themes really simple.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes

Before we get started, you should know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a later post. To keep things simple, let’s just be covering themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this article, as these give you more freedom, more options and more control over the design of your site.

Free vs Paid WP Themes

Next, it’s important to know that typically, you’ll find both Free and Paid themes made available. Free themes are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be made available to users as Premium (paid) themes.

WP Theme Marketplaces And Directories vs Commercial Theme Shops

There are mostly two different types of places where themes can be found. The first place is in WordPress theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second type of place are the commercial and independent theme houses.

Theme marketplaces and theme directories are big theme stores. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and customers shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.

Some of the bigger theme stores don’t just sell WordPress themes. They can also sell WordPress plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)

Commercial and independent theme vendors typically will design both free and premium WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of theme developer, to large theme design companies.

As you will see, most commercial or independent theme companies sell themes exclusively on their own web sites, but some will also list their themes in marketplaces and directories, or even create a free or “lite” version of their themes for free WP theme directories .

Let’s now show you where to find great WordPress themes for your website.

Where To Find Responsive Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Free WordPress Theme Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the biggest and best place to search for free WP themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free directory you should use when looking for free WP themes. The reason why, is because –as many free software users have learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can put your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.

The WordPress theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also uses a theme review team to review and make sure that each theme in the directory meets specific quality and security standards.

To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Directory, go here:

http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes

You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WordPress Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress.org directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and start using it directly from inside your WP dashboard with just a couple of clicks.

Use WP Theme Filtering

WordPress has a built-in filtering function inside the dashboard area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …

This makes it easier to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly dark colour design, with a three-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in the post where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” WP themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display correctly across all devices (e.g. your visitors’ PCs, tablets and smartphones) …

It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you do just that …

… and bring back only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that there is no cost to download and use the theme on your site. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and provide a number of customizable settings, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.

The ”cons” to using free themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and you shouldn’t expect the developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes ask for donations to help cover support costs.

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been over one year since any change was last made, then it’s best to think twice about downloading it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.

If you’re just getting started and your website is still relatively new, there is nothing wrong with using a free theme until you have a better idea of the kind of site design that would work best for your site before spending money on a theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for you and for converting your site visitors into customers.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to premium themes.

Paid WordPress Themes

If you are looking for themes with stunning design, or professional quality yet highly affordable WordPress web design themes with a distinctive look, unique customizable options and great support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:

WP Theme Marketplaces

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the largest and most popular WP theme directories online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme creators to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …

(click on the images above to browse more ThemeForest themes)

If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific themes in a range of categories, such as:

• Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and e-magazines, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites and advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for portfolios, cv and resume writing, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites related to directory listings, holiday rentals, community resources, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for ecommerce, membership sites, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for gossip blogs, nightlife, etc.
• Mobile – e.g. mobile-switching themes.
• NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
• Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. commercial property, etc.)
• Retail – themes for shopping, trades or professionals (electricians, medical practitioners, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to hosting, newsletters, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and advice blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, green living sites or blogs … even themes you can use if your site is still under-construction!

When you purchase WordPress themes from ThemeForest, you will receive email notifications when a new update is available for your theme …

(ThemeForest emails you theme update notifications)

Browse thousands of quality premium WordPress themes in the ThemeForest directory here:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

(click on the above images to browse all themes on Creative Market)

Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can browse thousands of quality premium themes from independent theme creators.

As stated on their website …

“Creative Market is a platform for handcrafted, mousemade design content from independent creatives around the world.”

Creative Market doesn’t just sell WordPress themes in its marketplace, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Wedding themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …

Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WordPress theme developers in the Creative Market theme directory here:

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

(click on the above images to view more themes at Mojo.com)

Mojo is a directory for premium-quality WordPress themes where theme vendors are strongly encouraged to provide customers with lifetime support and upgrades.

According to their website …

“Mojo is a marketplace where anyone can find, rate and buy quality themes & templates in one trusted place.”

Like Envato and Creative Market, Mojo doesn’t focus exclusively on WP themes, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by choosing the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find great WordPress themes in the Mojo directory here:

• Mojo

Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s look at commercial and independent theme shops.

Commercial Theme Development Firms

SoloStream

SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.

(click on above images to browse all themes from SoloStream)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates great themes and offers a membership option that allows members access to their entire WordPress theme portfolio.

(click on the images above to see more WooThemes themes)

StoreFront

StoreFront specializes in e-commerce themes for WordPress. Their themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.

(click on the above images to see more themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework that lets you quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.

Many website developers prefer using the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework frequently updated to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that themes are always compatible with the latest version of WordPress, but because you can update themes built using the Genesis framework without losing any customizations you may have made to your theme.

This is because themes built with the Genesis framework use something called “child themes,” which are like “skins” that sit on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique design.

If this sounds way too technical, don’t worry about it. StudioPress themes are easy to work with, just like all other WordPress themes. The great thing about choosing themes from StudioPress is that one low price entitles you to receive unlimited support and updates, and you can install your themes on unlimited domains.

For more details, click here: StudioPress.

(click on the above images to see all StudioPress themes)

Theme-Checking Tools

To round things up, here are some useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:

What WP Theme Is That? WP Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free web tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme and plugins a website or blog uses.

This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what theme is being used on the site.

Tip: If you can’t tell if a site uses WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that helps you tell if a website uses WordPress: Is My Site WordPress?

Using this tool is very simple. Just enter the site’s domain name into the field and click the search icon or hit “Enter.” The tool will then not only confirm whether or not a site is powered by WordPress, but it will also list the theme being used by the site and list any plugins it detects.

• To use the tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
• To learn how to use this tool go here: Is It A WP Web Site?

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the approved WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.

A well-known strategy used by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and then distribute modified themes that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on search engine results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress theme directory, or use well-known and reputable theme merchants.

If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog could contain malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform a scan of your theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of injected code and presents you with a report as shown in the screenshot below …

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin)

We hope that you have found this information useful.

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