In a previous post, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WP themes so revolutionary in terms of web design, then make sure to check out this post: An Introduction to WordPress Themes
In this article, you will learn where to search for free and paid themes for your website or blog. 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 dealing with problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.
As explained in our previous post, a WordPress theme is a special type of web design template that is used on WordPress-driven blogs and designed specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many talented web designers and website design houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WP community enjoy access to thousands of high quality themes covering a wide-range of uses.
Finding Responsive Themes For WordPress: How To Avoid Information Overload
Let’s say you were to browse over to Google and search for something like this:
- best themes for WordPress
- WordPress themes free
- best responsive WordPress themes for musicians (enter whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of information to sort through in your 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 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 cover these differences in another article. In this article, let’s just focus on finding themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, as these give you more freedom, more options and more control over the design of your blog.
Free vs Paid WordPress Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that there are both Free and Paid WP themes made available. Free themes are generally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be listed as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces Commercial And Independent Theme Shops
There are mostly 2 places where you can find themes. The first type of place is in theme marketplaces and WP theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent WordPress theme development firms.
Theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are big theme aggregators. 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 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 WordPress theme stores typically will design both free and premium themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of designer, to large web and theme design and development companies.
Most commercial or independent theme stores 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 WordPress themes for your blog.
Choosing Responsive Themes For Your WordPress Website
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Theme Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the biggest and best place to download WordPress themes for free. 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 theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website or blog, but it also uses a review team to review and make sure that each theme uploaded to the directory complies with their quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of excellent FREE WordPress themes from the official WP Themes Repository, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find WordPress Themes Inside Your Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WP admin panel with only a few clicks.
Use WordPress Theme Filters
WordPress provides a filtering function inside the admin 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 a pink color design, with a four-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in an earlier article where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” WP themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will work across all devices (e.g. the PCs, tablets and smartphones used by visitors to browse your site) …
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 find only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it’s free to download and use the theme. Additionally, 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 immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most freely distributed themes ask for donations to help cover their costs of providing support.
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been more than a year since any changes were made, then we advise you to think twice about using it, as WordPress is frequently updated and these changes can create conflicts and 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 a theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what works for your site and your business.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to paid themes.
Premium 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 responsive support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
Theme Marketplaces
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and well known WP theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme developers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 15,000 premium themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to browse more themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WP themes in various categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and news editorials, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites or advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for visual galleries, writing professionals, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to employment opportunities, classifieds, social directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for photo gallery blogs, dining out, etc.
- Mobile – e.g. retina-ready themes.
- NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
- Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. home sales, etc.)
- Retail – themes for stores, trades or professionals (electricians, dental practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, landing pages, 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)
Go here to browse many quality premium WP themes in the ThemeForest themes directory:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to see all themes on Creative Market)
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 WP themes in its directory, but you can easily browse hundreds of WP themes and search through their theme categories (e.g. Blog or Popular themes, etc.) using the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market theme directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to browse 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 find WP themes and search through their theme categories by selecting the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find quality premium WordPress themes in the Mojo theme marketplace here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s take a look at commercial and independent theme vendors.
Commercial Theme Design Companies
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality WordPress themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on images above to view more themes from SoloStream)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes creates functional premium themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by website users and also offer a membership option that lets you access all themes in their growing theme collection.
(click on the above images to view more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront creates beautiful WP 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 see all themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress builds WordPress themes based on a framework that allows you to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for the content and unprecedented control of the framework.
Many web developers prefer using the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework consistently up-to-date to reflect best coding practices and to make sure that it always remains 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 StudioPress themes 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 sounds too technical, there’s no need to feel concerned 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 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 images above to see more themes from StudioPress)
Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are some useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WordPress Theme Is That – WP Theme And Plugin Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free web tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme and plugins a site is using (including parent and child themes).
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what theme the website uses.
Tip: If you can’t tell if 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 website uses WordPress: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Runs 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 then not only confirm if a site was built using WordPress, but it will also list the WP theme being used and list any plugins it detects.
- To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn how to use this tool go here: Is Your Site Built With WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – Plugin
We said this before and it’s worth repeating again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A commonly-used strategy employed by a number of hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up sites offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and distribute modified themes containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google’s search results for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free themes from the official WordPress repository, or use established and reputable theme merchants.
If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your blog may contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your WP theme files. The plugin searches the source files of every them you have installed on your site for signs of malicious code and outputs a report …
(TAC Report Page – Screenshot: WordPress.org Plugin Site)
I hope that you have found this information useful.
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