Tag: Premium WP Themes

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

If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WordPress themes so attractive to web site owners, then make sure to check out our article: Understanding WP Themes – A Non-Technical User’s Guide

In this blog post, we will show you where to 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 make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and how to avoid dealing with problems like lack of support and poor coding.

As explained in another post, a WordPress theme is a special kind of web design template that is used on WordPress-powered blogs and designed specifically with the WordPress CMS platform in mind.

Many skilled web designers and website design houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of professional-quality themes covering an extensive range of applications.

Finding Great Themes: Let’s Simplify Things!

If you were to launch Google and search for something like the following:

• best free themes for WordPress
• WordPress themes free
• best free WordPress themes for blogs (type in whatever your business, search topic or website is about)

You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of disorganized 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 get started, you should know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a later article. To keep things simple, please note that we will only be covering 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 aspects of your blog.

Free vs Paid Themes

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

Theme Directories vs Commercial WP Theme Design Houses

There are mostly 2 kinds of places where WP themes can be found. The first place is in theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent theme houses.

Theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories are big aggregators of themes. 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 marketplace.

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 WordPress theme shops can design both free and paid themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of theme designer, to large theme development companies.

Many commercial or independent theme developers 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 great themes for your blog.

Where To Find The Best Themes For Your WordPress Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – WP Themes Directory)

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

To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, 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 WordPress theme in the WordPress.org directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and start using it directly from within your WP admin panel with just a few clicks.

Use The WP Theme Filters

WordPress provides a filtering function inside the admin area that lets you narrow down your search for themes based on criteria like Colors, Layout and Features …

This makes it easier to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with a dark colour design, with a two-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” WP themes, we explained how responsive themes ensure that your theme will work on all devices (e.g. your PC, tablet and smartphone) …

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

… and bring back only themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that there is no cost 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 downside to using free WP themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and it’s unrealistic to expect the theme developer to provide immediate support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes will ask you for a donation to help cover costs of providing support.

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 twice 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, 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 any money on paid themes. Who knows, the theme you downloaded for free may just be the thing that works for your site and your business.

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, it’s time to turn our attention to finding paid WP themes.

Premium 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 responsive 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 theme directories online.

ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme developers to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 17,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …

(click on the above images to browse 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 green living blogs, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for corporate sites or advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for design, writers, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about directory listings, dining out & restaurants, tourism directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for selling products online, membership sites, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to tutoring, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for music and bands 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. home sales, etc.)
• Retail – themes for shops, trades or professionals (repairers, engineering, 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 environmental 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 great themes in the ThemeForest directory:

• 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 browse many 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 WordPress themes in its marketplace, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and search through their theme categories from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

Browse through hundreds of great WordPress 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 themes at Mojo)

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 themes for WordPress and narrow your search with theme categories (e.g. Portfolio or Business themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by choosing the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

Visit the site to find quality premium themes in the Mojo directory here:

• Mojo Themes

Now that we have looked at WordPress theme aggregators, let’s take a look at commercial and independent theme design companies.

Commercial WordPress Theme Vendors

SoloStream

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

(click on images above to browse all SoloStream themes)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes designs functional premium themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and also offers a membership option that lets you access all themes in their WP theme collection.

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

StoreFront

StoreFront specializes in creating 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 designs WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that allows you to 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 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 this framework regularly up-to-date to reflect best practices for coding and to ensure that it always remains 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 themes built with 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 design.

If this sounds way too technical, there’s no need to feel concerned 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 browse more StudioPress themes)

Theme-Checking Tools

To round things up, here are a couple of useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WordPress Theme Is That?

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free online tool that lets you easily detect what WordPress theme a website is using (including parent and child themes).

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

Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site uses WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell if a site is powered by WordPress: How To Check If A Web Site Was Built With 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 using the WP CMS platform, but it will also list the theme being used and list any WordPress plugins it detects.

• To use this online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
• To learn more about using this tool go here: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Web Site Was Built Using WordPress

Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – Plugin

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

A well-known tactic used by a number of hackers and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” WordPress 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 come up on Google’s search results for key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress repository, or use established and reputable theme merchants.

If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site may be infected with potentially malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WP theme files. This plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of suspicious code and outputs a report with the results …

(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Screenshot: WordPress.org Plugin Site)

We hope that you have found this information useful.

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