Tag: Free Themes

In a previous article, we provide a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WordPress themes so attractive to website owners, then make sure to check out this article: Understanding WP Themes – A Beginner’s Guide

In this article, you will learn where you can search for free and paid themes for your WP 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 product support and poor coding.

As we’ve explained in our previously-mentioned post, a WordPress theme is a unique kind of web design template used on WordPress-driven sites and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.

Many professional web designers and web design agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of unique themes covering an extensive range of uses and applications.

Where To Find Great WP Themes: Let’s Keep Things Simple!

Let’s say you were to fire up Google and search for a key phrase like this:

• best free themes for WordPress
• WordPress themes free
• best paid WordPress themes for blogs (enter whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)

You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in your search results.

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 WP themes really simple.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes

Before we start, you should know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a different article. In this article, please note that we will only focus on finding 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 Themes

Next, it’s important to know that you will easily find many 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 will be made available to users as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

WordPress Theme Directories vs WP Theme Design Houses

There are 2 kinds of places where you can find themes. The first type of place is in WordPress theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent WP theme development firms.

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

Some of the bigger marketplaces 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 design houses can also design both free and premium WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of developer, to large theme design companies.

Most commercial or independent theme design firms 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 directories .

Let’s now show you where to search for the best themes for your blog.

Where To Find WP Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – WordPress Theme Directory)

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

The WP theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website or blog, but it also uses a team of theme reviewers to review and ensure that each theme in the directory complies with specific standards of quality and security.

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

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

Find Themes Inside Your WordPress Dashboard

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

Use The WP Theme Feature Filter

WordPress provides a filtering function inside the admin area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colours, Layout and Features …

This makes it easy to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a pink colour design, with a 2-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in another article where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes allow your site to be viewed without problems on all devices (e.g. your laptop, tablet and smartphone) …

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

… and find only WordPress themes that use “responsive” design standards …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

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

The downside of using free WordPress 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 freely distributed themes ask 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 over 1 year since any change was last made, then we advise you to think twice about downloading it, as WordPress changes quite frequently and this can create conflicts and errors with older code.

If you’re just getting started and your website or blog is still quite 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 premium themes or even on custom web design. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded may just be the thing that works for you and helps to convert your site visitors into customers.

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

Paid 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, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:

Theme Directories

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and best-known theme marketplaces online.

ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme developers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 17,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …

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

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 personal blogs and news editorials, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for business sites and advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for creative work, ebook authors, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to travel, dining out & restaurants, social directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for selling products online, membership sites, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, dining out, 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. home sales, etc.)
• Retail – themes for specialty stores, trades or professionals (plumbers, engineering, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to technology, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and wedding 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 sends you theme update notifications)

Browse thousands of great premium themes in the ThemeForest themes directory here:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WP theme marketplace where you can search through 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 directory, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and narrow your search using 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 all Mojo themes)

Mojo is a marketplace 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 WordPress themes, but you can easily go through all of their WP themes and search through their theme categories by choosing the 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 aggregators, let’s turn our attention to commercial and independent WordPress theme vendors.

Commercial And Independent WordPress Theme Design Companies

SoloStream

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

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

Woo Themes

Woo Themes creates great WP themes and offer a membership option that allows you to access all themes in their WordPress theme collection.

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

StoreFront

StoreFront specializes in creating 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 above images to view more themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework that allows 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 website developers like this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework consistently updated to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure 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 StudioPress themes use something called “child themes,” which are like a paint job that sits on top of the framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.

If this sounds 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 themes from StudioPress is that you pay just 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 see more themes from StudioPress)

Theme-Checking Tools

Here are a couple of useful WordPress theme-related tools worth knowing about:

What WordPress Theme Is That

What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free WordPress theme-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a website is using.

This is a great resource if you have come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what theme the website or blog uses.

Tip: If you don’t know whether a site was built using WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a site is powered by WordPress: Does My Website Run On 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 not only confirm whether or not the site was built using the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the theme being used on the site and list any WP plugins it detects.

• To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
• To learn more about this tool go here: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Runs On WordPress

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WordPress Plugin

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

A commonly-used tactic employed by a number of hacking groups and networks that engage in cyber-crime is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and distribute themes and plugins containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress theme directory, or use well-known and reputable theme download sites.

If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog could be infected with malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform a scan of your theme files. The TAC plugin scans the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of malicious code and then presents you with a report …

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot: Plugin)

I hope that you have found this information useful.

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