Tag: Free WordPress Themes

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

If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes themes so revolutionary in terms of web design, then go here to read the article: A Non-Technical User’s Guide To WordPress Themes

In this article, you will learn where you can 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 how to avoid having to deal with problems like lack of customer support and poor coding.

As explained in our previously-mentioned article, a theme is a unique kind of web design template that is used on WordPress-powered websites and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.

Many professional website designers and website development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of great WP themes designed for many purposes.

Finding WP Themes: Your Time-Saving Guide

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

• best premium WP themes
• best free WordPress themes
• best paid WordPress themes for business (or 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 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 get started, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a separate post. To keep things simple, we’ll only be covering the topic of 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 your site’s web design.

Free vs Paid WP Themes

Next, it’s important to know that there are both Free and Paid WP themes being made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they are listed as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

Theme Directories vs Commercial Theme Development Firms

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

WordPress theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are large aggregators of themes. WordPress theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and buyers shop 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 theme design companies typically develop both free and premium WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of theme designer, to large web and 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 directories .

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

Choosing A WP Theme For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)

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

The WordPress directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your WP site, but it also relies on a theme review team comprised of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to review and ensure that each theme in the directory meets high quality and security standards.

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

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

Search For Free WordPress Themes Inside Your Own WordPress Dashboard

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

Use The WP Theme Filters

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 easy to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly pink colour design, with a 2-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 using “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will display correctly across all devices (e.g. your visitors’ computers, tablets and smartphones) …

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

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

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that there is no cost to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and offer a number of customizable features, 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 theme developer to provide immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most freely distributed themes ask users for donations to help cover their costs of providing support and updates, bug fixes, etc..

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 carefully about using it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.

If you’re just getting started and your site 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 any money on paid themes. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free 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.org theme directory and ways to filter your search for themes that meet specific criteria, let’s turn our attention to premium 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 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 theme marketplaces online.

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

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

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

• Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and green living blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for medical sites and advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes for photography, freelancers, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to directory listings, holiday rentals, community resources, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for film & tv blogs, cafes, 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. commercial property, etc.)
• Retail – themes for catalogs, trades or professionals (plumbers, medical practitioners, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to software, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and wedding advice blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing political issues, 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 themes in the ThemeForest directory here:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory 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 WP themes in its directory, but you can easily go through all of their themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

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

Mojo is a marketplace for premium 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 browse hundreds of WP themes and search through their theme categories from the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

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

• Mojo Themes

Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s turn our attention to commercial and independent WP theme stores.

Commercial And Independent Theme Agencies

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 images above to view all themes from SoloStream)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes designs stunning premium themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and offers a membership option that allows you to access all themes in their WP theme portfolio.

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

StoreFront

StoreFront creates gorgeous 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 all themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

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

Many web developers like the Genesis framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework consistently up-to-date 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 StudioPress themes use something called “child themes,” which are like “skins” that sit on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.

If this all 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 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 browse all StudioPress themes)

WordPress Theme-Checking Tools

Let’s finish this post with a few more useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WordPress Theme Is That WordPress Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free web tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme a website or blog 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 is being used on the site.

Tip: If you don’t know whether a site runs on WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a website uses the WP CMS platform: Is It A WP Site?

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 the site is powered by the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the theme being used and list any plugins it detects.

• To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
• To learn how to use this tool go here: How To Check If Your Site Was Built Using WordPress

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – Plugin

We said this before and it’s worth repeating it 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 strategy that is commonly used by a number of hacking groups and networks that engage in cyber-crime is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” WordPress themes all over the web and distribute modified themes and plugins that contain 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 stick with the official WordPress.org directory, or use established and reputable theme download sites.

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

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

We hope that you have found this information useful.

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