In another article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you would like to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress themes and what makes WordPress themes unique, then go here to read the article: An Introduction to WP Themes
In this article, we explain where you can look for free and paid themes for your WP website. You will also learn about the different types of WordPress theme resources and get tips on how to make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid dealing with problems like lack of support and poorly-coded themes.
As we’ve explained in our previous post, a WordPress theme is a special kind of web template used on WordPress-powered websites and designed specifically on the WP content management system.
Many web designers and website development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users enjoy access to thousands of quality WordPress themes designed to cover many purposes and needs.
Finding Responsive Themes For WordPress: Let’s Simplify Things!
If you were to launch Google and type the following:
- best WP themes
- WordPress themes free
- best free WordPress themes for blogs (or whatever your business, area of interest or website is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of information to sort through in your search listings.
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 WordPress themes really simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we start, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in a later post. In this post, please note that we will only cover themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this article, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over the design aspects of your site.
Free vs Paid Themes
Next, it’s important to know that you can find thousands of Free and Paid themes made available. Free themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be sold as Premium (paid) themes.
Theme Directories Commercial And Independent Theme Stores
There are mostly two different types of places where you can find WP themes. The first is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second are the commercial and independent WP theme stores.
WordPress theme marketplaces and WordPress 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 buyers shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.
Some of the larger directories 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 vendors can create both free and paid themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of developer, to large theme design and development companies.
Most commercial theme design houses 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 the best themes for your blog.
Choosing A Great Theme Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Theme Directory)
The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to find WP themes for free. 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 some free software users have discovered– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can contain malicious code and put 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 WP site, but it also uses a review team to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory meets high standards of quality and security.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Look For Free WP Themes Without Leaving Your Own WP 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 activate it directly from inside your WP dashboard with a couple of mouse clicks.
Use The Theme Filters
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 themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly pink color design, with a 2-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in another post where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will work on all devices (e.g. the PCs, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to browse your site information) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you do just that …
… and find only themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and come with 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 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 urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most freely distributed themes will ask you for a donation to help cover support costs.
When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been well over 1 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 or errors with older code.
If you’re just getting started and your website or blog 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 theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free could be exactly what 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 theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific criteria, let’s turn our attention to finding premium themes.
Paid 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 ongoing support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
Theme Marketplaces And Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and best-known theme directories online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme designers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 15,000 premium themes to choose from (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to browse all ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific themes in various categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and administration sites, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for government sites or marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for photography, galleries, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites related to directory listings, dining out & restaurants, community resources, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for gossip blogs, restaurants, 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. rentals, etc.)
- Retail – themes for travel, trades or professionals (repairers, medical centers, 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 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)
Go here to browse many quality premium themes in the ThemeForest website:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to browse more Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace where you can search through many quality premium WordPress 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 search through their theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or Wedding themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great WordPress themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market theme directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to view more WP themes at Mojo.com)
Mojo is a directory for premium-quality 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 go through all of their WordPress themes and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Blog or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by using the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great WP themes in the Mojo directory here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme marketplaces, let’s look at commercial WP theme vendors.
Commercial And Independent Theme Developers
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality 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 stunning premium themes that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and also offers a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing theme collection.
(click on the images above to view all WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront Themes specializes in 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 browse all StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress builds WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that allows users to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, 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 prefer using this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework regularly updated to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure that it is always compatible with the latest WordPress version, 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 themes built using the Genesis framework 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 all sounds too technical, don’t worry 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 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 view more themes from StudioPress)
Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are a few more useful WordPress theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WP Theme Is That – WordPress Theme And Plugin Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That is a free WP theme-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme and plugins 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 WP theme is being used on the site.
Tip: If you can’t tell if a site runs on WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a site was built using WordPress: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Website Was Built Using 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 has been built on WordPress, but it will also list the theme being used and list any WordPress plugins it detects.
- To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
- To learn more about this tool go here: How Can I Check If My Website Was Built Using WordPress?
Theme Authenticity Checker - 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 themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A commonly-used method employed by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up websites offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute themes containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google’s search results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress repository, or use established and reputable theme download sites.
If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog could contain malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your WordPress theme files. The plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and outputs a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Source: Plugin)
We hope that you have found this information useful.
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