Category: WordPress Themes

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

If you would like to learn more about themes and what makes WP themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then go here to read our post: An Introduction to WP Themes

In this article, we explain where to explore loads of excellent 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 ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid experiencing problems like lack of support and poor coding.

As we’ve explained in another post, a WordPress theme is a unique kind of web design template used on WordPress-driven websites and designed specifically with the WordPress content management system in mind.

Many professional web designers and website design agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of high quality WP themes designed to cover many website uses.

Finding WordPress Themes: Too Much Information … Where To Begin?

If you were to launch Google and search for something like this:

• best WordPress themes
• WordPress themes free
• best free WordPress themes for musicians (or whatever your business, area of interest or website is about)

Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in the search listings.

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

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes

Before we start, you need to know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a separate article. For now, we’ll only 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 aspects of your website.

Free vs Paid WordPress Themes

Next, it’s important to know that there are thousands of Free and Paid WordPress themes being made available. Free themes for WordPress are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be sold as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

Theme Directories & Theme Design Companies

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

WordPress 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 buyers find these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software directory.

Some of the bigger marketplaces 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 WP theme stores can create both free and paid WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of designer, to large web and theme design and development companies.

As you will see, many commercial or independent theme companies sell their 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 directories .

Let’s now show you where to search for great themes for your website or blog.

Where To Find A Great Theme Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to find WordPress themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress 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 place your computer, digital presence and even your entire business at risk.

The WordPress.org directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website or blog, but it also uses a theme review team comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and make sure that each theme in the directory complies with their quality and security standards.

To browse thousands of professionally-designed 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 WP Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WordPress theme in the WordPress directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WP dashboard with just a few clicks.

Use The 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 light color design, with a 4-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in another article where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will work on all devices (e.g. your visitors’ PCs, tablets and smartphones) …

You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you do just that …

… and display only WordPress themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and provide a number of customizable options, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.

The downside to 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 dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes ask users for donations to help cover costs of providing support.

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been more than 1 year since any change was made, then it’s best to think twice about downloading it, as WordPress is frequently updated and new features can result in conflicts or errors with older code.

If you’re just getting started and your website is still quite 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 any money on paid themes or even on custom theme design. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for your site and for converting your site visitors into customers.

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

Premium WordPress 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:

Theme Directories

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the largest and well known theme directories online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 15,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …

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

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

• Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and activism blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites and marketing purposes.
• Creative – themes for photography, writing professionals, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes ideal for sites about directory listings, buy & sell, social directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for selling products online, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for gossip blogs, dining out, etc.
• Mobile – e.g. retina-ready themes.
• NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, churches, etc.
• Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. home sales, etc.)
• Retail – themes for health products, trades or professionals (plumbers, chiropractors, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to technology, landing pages, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and romance tips and 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 sends you theme update notifications)

Browse lots of great premium themes in the ThemeForest theme marketplace here:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WP theme marketplace where you can browse thousands of 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 directory, but you can easily browse hundreds of WordPress themes and search through their theme categories using their dropdown “Themes” menu …

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

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

Mojo is a marketplace for premium WP 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 WordPress themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Magazine or Business themes and theme frameworks, etc.) from the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find quality premium themes in the Mojo marketplace here:

• Mojo Themes

Now that we have looked at WP theme marketplaces, let’s take a look at commercial and independent theme stores.

Commercial WordPress Theme Developers

SoloStream

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

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

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates functional WordPress themes that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and also offers a membership option that lets you access their entire theme portfolio.

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

StoreFront

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

(click on the above images to view all themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

StudioPress builds WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that allows you to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.

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

This is because themes built using the Genesis framework use something called “child themes,” which are like a paint job that sits on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.

If this all sounds way too technical, don’t worry about it. StudioPress themes are very easy to work with, just like all other WordPress themes. The great thing about choosing StudioPress themes is that you pay one low price 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 browse all themes from StudioPress)

WordPress Theme-Checking Tools

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

What WP Theme Is That WP Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free online tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a website uses.

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

Tip: If you don’t know whether a site uses WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a website was built using WordPress: Was My Website Built With WordPress? How To Tell

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 is powered by WordPress software, but it will also list the theme being used and list any WP plugins detected.

• To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
• To learn more about this tool go here: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WP-Checking Tools

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WordPress Plugin

We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.

A well-known method used by many hacking groups and networks that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and distribute themes and plugins that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free themes from the official WordPress.org repository, or use established and reputable sites.

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

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin, WordPress.org)

We hope that you have found the information on how to find great WordPress useful.

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