Tag: Premium WP Themes

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

If you haven’t yet discovered WordPress themes and what makes themes unique, then make sure to check out the post here: An Overview of WP Themes

In this blog post, we explain where you can browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your 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 avoid experiencing problems like lack of product support and poorly-coded themes.

As explained in our previously-mentioned post, a theme is a special kind of web design template that is used on WordPress-powered sites and designed to work specifically in the WP platform.

Many talented web designers and web design agencies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of uniquely-designed themes covering an extensive range of uses.

Finding Themes: Your Time-Saving Guide

If you were to launch Google and type key phrases like this:

• best free WordPress themes
• WordPress themes free
• best free WordPress themes for writers (or whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)

You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in your search listings.

So, to help you save time and make your life easier, we’ll 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 need to know that WordPress offers users both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a later article. In this post, please note that we will 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 areas of your blog.

Free vs Paid Themes

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

WP Theme Directories vs Commercial Theme Agencies

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

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

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 WP theme shops can create both free and commercial WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual developer or a small team of developer, to large theme development companies.

Most commercial or independent theme stores 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 WordPress theme directories .

Let’s now show you where to find great themes for your website or blog.

Finding Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – WordPress Theme Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to download WordPress themes for free. In fact, it’s probably the only free theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason why, is because –as many free software users have learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can place 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, but it also relies on a team of theme reviewers to review and make sure that each theme listed in the directory meets high standards of quality and security.

To browse thousands of excellent 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 theme in the WordPress 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 WP dashboard with a few 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 a pink colour design, with a 4-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in another post where we discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display without problems on all devices (e.g. your visitors’ PCs, smartphones and tablets) …

You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering function lets you search across its entire database of free themes …

… and bring up only WordPress themes that use “responsive” design standards …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme on your site. An added plus, is that 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 WordPress 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. Many free themes ask users for donations to help cover support costs.

When downloading free themes, therefore, check to see when the theme was last updated. If it’s been more than 1 year since any change was made, then it’s best to think carefully about using it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.

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 money on premium themes. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded may just be the thing that works for your site and your business.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free WordPress themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to filter your search for themes that meet specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to finding paid WordPress 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, you can 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 most popular WP theme marketplaces online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WordPress theme creators to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 15,000 premium themes to choose from (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …

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

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

• Blog/Magazine – themes for general blogs and political blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for business sites or advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for photography, crafts, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to travel, classifieds, community resources, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for online shopping, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, music venues, etc.
• Mobile – e.g. retina-ready themes.
• NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
• Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. rentals, etc.)
• Retail – themes for specialty stores, trades or professionals (plumbers, dentists, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to software, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for writing or discussing political 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 sends you theme update notifications)

Browse thousands of great premium WordPress themes in the ThemeForest themes marketplace here:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

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

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

(click on the above images to browse all 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 browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories by choosing the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find great themes in the Mojo theme marketplace here:

• Mojo

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

Commercial And Independent Theme Agencies

SoloStream

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

(click on above images to see more themes from SoloStream)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes designs eye-catching premium themes for WordPress and offers a membership option that lets you access all themes in their growing WordPress theme portfolio.

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

StoreFront

StoreFront 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 more themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

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

Many web 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 coding practices 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 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 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 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 see all StudioPress themes)

WP Theme-Checking Tools

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

What WP Theme Is That? – WordPress Theme And Plugin Search Tool

What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free web tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme a website uses (including parent and child WP themes).

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 website.

Tip: If you don’t know whether a site runs on WordPress or not, go here for a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a web site is WordPress-driven: Is My Site 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 WordPress software, but it will also list the WP theme being used and list any plugins detected.

• To use this online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
• To learn how to use this tool go here: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Blog Runs On 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 reviewed and approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.

A method that is commonly used by many hacking groups and networks that engage in cyber-crime is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” WP themes all over the web and then distribute themes and plugins containing malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even display on Google’s search results for 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 theme directory, or use well-known and trusted theme download sites.

If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site could contain malicious 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 installed theme on your site for signs of suspicious code and then presents you with a report with the results …

(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: Plugin)

We hope that you have found this information useful.

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