Tag: Premium WP Themes

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

If you would like to know more about WP themes and what makes WordPress themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then make sure to check out our article here: A Basic Guide To Understanding WordPress Themes

In this blog post, you will learn where to search for free and paid themes for your WP 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 how to avoid dealing with problems like lack of product support and poor coding.

As explained in our previous post, a WordPress theme is a special kind of web design template that is used on WordPress-powered websites and designed specifically for WordPress.

Many professional web designers and website design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users enjoy access to thousands of uniquely-designed WP themes covering a wide-range of uses and applications.

Where To Find Great Great Themes For WordPress: How To Avoid Information Overload

If you were to open up Google and type a key phrase like the following:

• best WP themes
• WordPress themes free
• best responsive WordPress themes for musicians (type in whatever your business, area of interest 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 things easier, let’s 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 both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a later post. To keep things simple, we’ll only cover 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 your web design.

Free vs Paid Themes

Next, it’s important to know that you can find thousands of Free and Paid WP themes being made available. Free themes are generally distributed as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they can be licensed for use as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.

Theme Directories & Theme Shops

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

Theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are big theme aggregators. WordPress theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and customers 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 theme agencies can design both free and premium themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of designer, 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 directories .

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

Choosing Great Themes For Your WP Website

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 WP theme directory you should use when looking for free WP themes. The reason for this, is because –as many free software users have discovered– 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.org 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 their 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

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 activate it directly from inside your WordPress admin panel with only a couple of clicks.

Use The Theme Filtering

WordPress has a built-in 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 easier to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with a blue colour design, with a three-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 using “responsive” WordPress themes, we explained how responsive themes allow your site to be viewed correctly across all devices (e.g. the PCs, tablets and smartphones used by visitors to browse your site) …

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

… and find only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WP 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 customizable settings, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.

The downside of 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 developer to provide urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed themes will ask you for a donation to help cover their support costs.

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been over one year since any changes were last made, then we advise you to think carefully about downloading it, as the WordPress software changes quite frequently and new features can result in conflicts or errors with older code.

If you’re just getting started and your website or blog 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 paid theme. 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 WP themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and how to filter your search for themes that meet specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to premium WordPress themes.

Paid WP 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

ThemeForest

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

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

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

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

• Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and environmental blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for business sites and advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes for visual galleries, ebook authors, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to travel, holiday rentals, tourism directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, cafes, etc.
• Mobile – e.g. responsive 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, dental practitioners, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to hosting, landing pages, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating 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 emails you theme update notifications)

Browse thousands of great themes in the ThemeForest theme marketplace here:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme marketplace where you can search through 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 marketplace, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories using their dropdown “Themes” menu …

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

(click on the images above to browse all Mojo themes)

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 WordPress themes, but you can easily go through all of their themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories (e.g. BuddyPress or Business themes and theme frameworks, etc.) from the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

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

• Mojo Themes

Now that we have looked at WordPress theme marketplaces, let’s turn our attention to commercial WordPress theme developers.

Commercial WordPress Theme Shops

SoloStream

SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality premium 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 designs great premium themes and offers a membership option that lets you access all themes in their theme collection.

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

StoreFront

StoreFront Themes creates stunning 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 StoreFront themes)

StudioPress

StudioPress designs 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 a self-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for the 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 regularly updated to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure that themes remain always compatible with the latest WordPress version, but because you can update your themes 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 framework and gives your site its unique design.

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 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 themes from StudioPress)

WP Theme-Checking Tools

To round things up, here are a couple of useful WordPress theme-related tools worth knowing about:

What WordPress Theme Is That – WP Theme And Plugin Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That is a free WordPress theme-checking tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a website or blog uses.

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

Tip: If you don’t know whether a site uses WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a website uses WordPress: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Website Was Built Using The WP CMS Platform

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 the site has been built using the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the WP theme being used by the site and list any WordPress plugins it detects.

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

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

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

A method that is commonly used by many hacking groups and networks that engage in cyber-crime is to put up sites offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and then distribute themes and plugins with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even display on search engine results for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to only download free WP themes from the official WordPress theme directory, or use well-known and reputable sites.

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

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin)

I hope that you have found the information on how to find the best free and premium themes for WordPress useful.

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