Tag: Premium WP Themes

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

If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WordPress themes so revolutionary in terms of web design, then make sure to check out our post here: Understanding WP Themes – A Handy Guide

In this article, you will learn where you can look for free and paid themes for your website. 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 support and poorly-coded themes.

As we’ve explained in our previously-mentioned article, a WordPress theme is a unique type of web template used on WordPress-powered websites and designed specifically with the WordPress platform in mind.

Many talented web designers and website design firms create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of quality themes covering an extensive range of uses and applications.

Finding Great Themes: Let’s Simplify Things!

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

• best themes for WordPress
• best free themes for WordPress
• best paid WordPress themes for musicians (type in whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)

You are probably 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, we’ll just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WordPress themes 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 post. In this article, let’s just be focusing 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 areas of your website.

Free vs Paid Themes

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

WordPress Theme Directories vs Commercial WordPress Theme Development Firms

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

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

Some of the bigger theme stores 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 can develop both free and premium themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of designer, to large web and theme development companies.

As you will see, many commercial or independent theme companies sell their 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 WP themes for your website.

Finding WP Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to search for WP themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free WP theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason why, 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 theme directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your website, but it also relies on a team of theme reviewers to review and make sure that each theme in the directory complies with their quality and security standards.

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

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

You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WP Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WordPress theme in the WordPress directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and start using it directly from inside your WP dashboard with just a couple of mouse clicks.

Use 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 what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly light color design, with a 2-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in the post where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display without problems on all devices (e.g. the laptops, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to view your site) …

It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you search across its entire database of free themes …

… and display only themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes

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

The ”cons” of using free themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and it’s unrealistic to expect the developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes will ask you for a donation to help cover 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 updates were last made, then we advise you to think carefully about downloading it, as WordPress changes quite frequently and these changes can result in 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 premium theme. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that 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 theme directory and how to filter your search for themes that meet specific criteria, let’s turn our attention to premium themes.

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

Theme Marketplaces

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the biggest and most popular WP theme marketplaces online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme designers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 17,000 premium themes listed (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …

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

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 activism blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for government sites or advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for design, freelancers, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about directory listings, dining out & restaurants, social directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for selling products online, membership sites, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, restaurants, 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. rentals, etc.)
• Retail – themes for retail stores, trades or professionals (plumbers, dentists, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to technology, newsletters, 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)

Go here to browse many great premium themes in the ThemeForest site:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can browse thousands of 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 find WordPress themes and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Wedding themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …

Browse through hundreds of quality premium themes crafted by independent WordPress theme designers in the Creative Market directory here:

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

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

Mojo is a marketplace 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 WordPress themes, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and search through their theme categories from the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

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

• Mojo

Now that we have looked at WP theme directories, let’s look at commercial WordPress theme design companies.

Commercial And Independent WP Theme Design Companies

SoloStream

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

(click on images above to browse 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 offer a membership option that allows you access to their entire theme collection.

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

StoreFront

StoreFront specializes in creating WordPress themes for e-commerce. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.

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

StudioPress

StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework that lets you 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 prefer using this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework regularly up-to-date to reflect best coding practices and to ensure 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 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, don’t worry 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 one low price allows 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 see more themes from StudioPress)

WP Theme-Checking Tools

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

What WP Theme Is That? WP Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That is a free WP theme-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress 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 theme the website uses.

Tip: If you can’t tell if a site uses WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a web site is powered by WordPress: Is Your Web Site Powered By 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 if a site has been built on the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used by the site and list any plugins detected.

• To use this tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
• To learn more about this tool go here: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Blog And WordPress-Checking Tools

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)

We said this before and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.

A commonly-used strategy employed by a number of hacking groups and networks that engage in cyber criminal activities is to put up sites and directories 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 key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress repository, or use well-known and reputable sites.

If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site may be infected with malware or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WP theme files. The TAC plugin scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of suspicious code and presents you with a report …

(TAC Report Page – Source: Plugin)

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

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