Tag: Premium WP Themes

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

If you would like to learn more about the benefits of using themes and what makes WP themes so attractive to website owners, then go here to read the post: An Overview of WP Themes

In this blog post, you will learn where you can browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your website or blog. You will also learn about the different types of WP 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 product support and poor coding.

As we’ve explained in another post, a theme is a special kind of web design template that is used on WordPress-powered sites and designed specifically in WordPress.

Many web designers and website development companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of professional WP themes covering an extensive range of uses and applications.

Finding Responsive Themes For WordPress: Too Much Information … Where To Begin?

Let’s say you were to fire up Google and type a key phrase like the following:

• best responsive themes for WordPress
• WordPress themes free
• best free WordPress themes for musicians (type in whatever your business, area of interest or website is about)

You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized 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 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 explain these differences in another article. For now, 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 the design of your website.

Free vs Paid WordPress Themes

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

WordPress Theme Marketplaces And Directories vs WP Theme Design Houses

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

Theme marketplaces and 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 search for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.

Some of the larger theme stores don’t just sell WordPress themes. They can also sell WordPress plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)

Commercial and independent theme developers typically will design both free and paid WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of theme designer, to large theme development companies.

Most commercial theme developers 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 find great WP themes for your website or blog.

Choosing The Best Responsive Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)

The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest and best place to download free WordPress themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WP 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 contain malicious code and 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 site, but it also uses a review team to review and make sure that each theme uploaded to the directory meets specific standards of quality and security.

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

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

You Don’t Even Have To Leave Your WordPress Dashboard

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

Use WordPress Theme Filtering

WordPress provides a filtering function inside the dashboard 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 orange colour design, with a 3-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in an earlier post 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 display correctly on all devices (e.g. your PC, smartphone and tablet) …

It’s a good idea to use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function 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 it costs nothing to download and use the theme. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and offer a number of built-in customizable options, 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 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 change was made, then we advise you to think twice about using it, as the WordPress software changes quite often and this can result in conflicts or errors with older code.

If you’re just getting started and your site is still relatively new, there is nothing wrong with using 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 paid themes or even on custom theme design. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that works for you and for your business.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free WordPress themes in the WordPress theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to premium themes.

Paid WordPress 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:

WordPress Theme Marketplaces

ThemeForest

ThemeForest is one of the largest and best-known theme marketplaces online.

ThemeForest lets many professional WordPress theme creators showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,000 premium themes to choose from (some starting from as little as $3) …

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

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

• Blog/Magazine – themes for personal blogs and administration sites, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for government sites or marketing purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for portfolios, crafts, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites about employment opportunities, buy & sell, community resources, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for online shopping, membership sites, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, music venues, 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 travel, trades or professionals (plumbers, medical practitioners, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to software, newsletters, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing environmental issues, parenting 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 themes directory here:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory 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 directory, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and narrow your search using theme categories from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

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

Mojo is a marketplace 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 WordPress themes, but you can easily find themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or eCommerce themes and theme frameworks, etc.) using the site’s 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 WordPress theme marketplaces, let’s turn our attention to commercial WP theme stores.

Commercial WordPress Theme Developers

SoloStream

SoloStream provides WordPress users with a great selection of professional quality premium WP 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 eye-catching themes for WordPress and offer a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their theme portfolio.

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

StoreFront

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

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

StudioPress

StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that lets you quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress site, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.

Many website 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 practices for coding and to make sure that it always remains compatible with the latest version of WordPress, 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 theme framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.

If this sounds way 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 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 images above to view more themes from StudioPress)

WP Theme-Checking Tools

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

What WordPress Theme Is That – WordPress Theme Search Tool

What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free WordPress theme and plugin-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a site 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 uses.

Tip: If you don’t know if a site uses WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that helps you tell if a website is WP-driven: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Blog And WordPress-Checking Tools

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

• To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
• To learn more about using this tool go here: Is Your Website Built With WordPress?

Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin

We suggested this earlier and it’s worth repeating it again: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the approved WP themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.

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

If you have any concerns about whether a WordPress theme installed on your site 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 scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and then outputs a report with the results …

(TAC Report Page – Source: WordPress.org Plugin Site)

We hope that you have found this information useful.

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