Category: WordPress Themes

In another post, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WP themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then make sure to check out this post: A Basic Guide To WordPress Themes

In this article, we will show you where to search for free and paid themes for your site. You will also learn about the different types of WP theme resources and get tips on how to ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid having to deal with problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.

As explained in another post, a theme is a unique kind of web design template used on WordPress-driven websites and designed to work specifically in WordPress.

Many talented web designers and website development agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community can access thousands of quality WordPress themes designed for many website uses.

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

Let’s say you were to launch Google and type the following:

• best paid themes for WordPress
• best responsive themes for WordPress
• best paid WordPress themes for artists (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 listings.

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

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes

Before we start, you should know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a later article. For now, we’ll only focus on finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over the design areas of your site.

Free vs Paid WordPress Themes

Next, it’s useful to know that there are both Free and Paid WordPress themes being made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be made available to users as Premium (paid) themes.

WP Theme Marketplaces And Directories vs WordPress Theme Design Companies

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

WP theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are large aggregators of themes. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and visitors search for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.

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

Commercial and independent theme vendors can also create both free and commercial WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of developer, to large web and theme design and development companies.

As you will see, most commercial theme shops 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 search for great WP themes for your website.

Where To Find Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – WordPress Theme Directory)

The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest and best place to download free WordPress themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason for this, 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.org directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your WP site, but it also uses a theme review team to review and ensure that each theme in the directory meets their standards of quality and security.

To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress Themes Repository, go here:

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

You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WP Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress.org theme 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 WordPress dashboard with just a couple of clicks.

Use The Theme Filtering

WordPress provides a 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 what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly dark color design, with a 4-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in another post where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will display correctly on all devices (e.g. the computers, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to view your website) …

It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you search across its entire database of free themes …

… and display only WP themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and come with a number of built-in customizable options, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.

The downside of using free WP themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and you shouldn’t expect the theme developer to provide urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes will ask you for a donation to help cover their support costs.

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been more than a year since any change was last made, then we advise you to think twice about using it, as WordPress changes quite often and this can result in conflicts and errors with older code.

If you’re just getting started and your website is still relatively new, it’s a good idea to start with 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 paid theme. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for your site and your business.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free WP themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to filter your search for themes that meet your specific criteria, let’s turn our attention to finding paid themes.

Premium Themes

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

WordPress Theme Directories

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the largest and best-known WP theme directories online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 17,500 premium WP themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …

(click on the above images to view all themes on ThemeForest)

If you visit the ThemeForest theme directory, you will be able to browse for specific WP themes in various categories, such as:

• Blog/Magazine – themes for personal blogs and administration sites, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites and advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for design, writing professionals, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about directory listings, classifieds, business directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for online shopping, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, cafes, etc.
• Mobile – e.g. mobile-switching themes.
• NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, churches, etc.
• Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. rentals, etc.)
• Retail – themes for boutiques, trades or professionals (plumbers, engineering, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to hosting, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing environmental issues, parenting 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)

Go here to browse many quality premium WordPress themes in the ThemeForest directory:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

(click on the images above to view more Creative Market themes)

Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can browse many quality premium WP 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 find WordPress themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Minimal or Popular themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …

Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market marketplace here:

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

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

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 go through all of their themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. BuddyPress or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by selecting the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

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

• Mojo

Now that we have looked at WordPress theme directories, let’s look at commercial WP theme design companies.

Commercial And Independent Theme Development Firms

SoloStream

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

(click on images above to see all SoloStream themes)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates great premium themes that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and offer a membership option that lets you access their entire theme portfolio.

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

StoreFront

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

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

StudioPress

StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework that enables users to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.

Many web developers like this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework regularly updated to reflect best coding practices and to ensure that themes remain always compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update your themes without losing any customizations you have made to your theme.

This is because StudioPress themes use something called “child themes,” which are like “skins” that sit on top of the framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.

If this sounds too technical, there’s no need to feel concerned about it. StudioPress themes are easy to work with, just like all other WordPress themes. The great thing about choosing StudioPress themes is that one low price allows 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 images above to see all themes from StudioPress)

Theme-Checking Tools

To round things up, here are a couple of useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WordPress Theme Is That

What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free online tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme a site is using.

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 website.

Tip: If you don’t know if a site was built using WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that helps you tell if a website uses the WordPress CMS platform: Was My Website Built Using WordPress? Tell-Tale Signs & WordPress-Checking Tools

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 not only confirm whether or not a site has been built using WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used and list any plugins detected.

• To use this tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
• To learn more about this tool go here: Is My Blog WordPress?

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

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

A well-known tactic used by many hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and then distribute themes and plugins that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google’s search results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress repository, or use well-known and trusted sites.

If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site may contain malicious or unwanted code, 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 suspicious code and outputs a report …

(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin)

I hope that you have found the information on how to find the best WP free and commercial themes useful.

***

***