Tag: Premium WP Themes

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

If you would like to know more about the benefits of using themes and what makes WP themes so revolutionary in terms of web design, then go here to read our article: An Introduction to WP Themes

In this article, we show you where to browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your WP website or blog. 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 having to deal with problems like lack of customer support and poor coding.

As we’ve explained in our previously-mentioned post, a theme is a unique type of web design template that is used on WordPress-driven sites and designed specifically on the WP CMS platform.

Many skilled web designers and website development houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community have access to thousands of uniquely-designed WordPress themes covering an extensive range of uses.

Finding Great Themes For WordPress: Your Time-Saving Guide

If you were to open up Google and type the following:

• best WP themes
• best paid WordPress themes
• best responsive WordPress themes for authors (or 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 the search results.

So, to help you save time and make things easier, we’ll just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WP themes simple.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes

Before we start, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll cover these differences in another post. In this post, we’ll only be covering themes for the self-hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.org) in this post, which gives you more freedom, more options and more control over your site’s web design.

Free vs Paid Themes

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

WordPress Theme Marketplaces And Directories & Theme Development Firms

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

WordPress 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 buyers search for 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 WordPress plugins and templates for other web applications (e.g. Joomla, Drupal, etc.)

Commercial and independent WP theme design companies can also develop both free and commercial WP themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of theme developer, to large web and theme design companies.

Many commercial theme design houses 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 great WP themes for your website or blog.

Where To Find WP Themes For Your Website Or Blog

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – Free WordPress Theme Directory)

The official WordPress.org theme directory is the largest and best place to search for free WP themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WP 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 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 or blog, but it also relies on a team of theme reviewers comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and make sure that each theme listed in the directory complies with high quality and security standards.

To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress Themes Directory, go here:

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

Find Free WP Themes Without Leaving Your Own WordPress Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every theme in the WordPress theme 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 only a couple of clicks.

Use The Theme Filtering

WordPress has a built-in 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 easy to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly orange colour design, with a 3-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 choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will display correctly on all devices (e.g. your visitors’ computers, tablets and smartphones) …

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 bring up only themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it’s free 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” to 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 personal support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most freely distributed themes ask users for donations 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 1 year since any change was last made, then we advise you to think carefully about using it, as the theme may have been abandoned by its developer.

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 a theme. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for you and your business.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress.org theme directory and ways to filter your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to paid WP themes.

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

WordPress Theme Marketplaces And Directories

ThemeForest

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

ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme developers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 17,500 premium WordPress themes listed (you can find great themes from as little as $3) …

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

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

• Blog/Magazine – themes for bloggers and administration sites, etc.
• Corporate – themes suitable for business sites or marketing purposes.
• Creative – themes for visual galleries, arts, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to employment opportunities, classifieds, tourism directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for fashion blogs, music venues, etc.
• Mobile – e.g. responsive themes.
• NonProfit – themes for nonprofit organizations, charities, etc.
• Real Estate – themes for real estate and real estate listings (e.g. commercial property, etc.)
• Retail – themes for shops, trades or professionals (repairers, dentists, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to hosting, newsletters, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and dating advice blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, 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)

Go here to find quality premium WP themes in the ThemeForest site:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can search through 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 WordPress themes in its directory, but you can easily browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories (e.g. Blog or Photography themes, etc.) from the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

(click on the images above 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 WP themes, but you can easily browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories (e.g. Responsive or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) by choosing the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

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

• Mojo

Now that we have looked at WordPress theme directories, let’s take a look at commercial and independent WP theme development firms.

Commercial Theme Shops

SoloStream

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

(click on images above to view more SoloStream themes)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes designs great themes and offers a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing theme collection.

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

StoreFront

StoreFront creates amazing 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 view all themes from StoreFront)

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 website, and provides a self-updating design architecture, turn-key site designs with beautiful frames for your content and unprecedented control of the framework.

Many website developers prefer using this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps this framework consistently updated to reflect best practices for coding and to make sure that it always remains compatible with the latest WordPress version, 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 “skins” that sit on top of the theme framework and gives your site its unique design.

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 StudioPress themes is that you pay one low price 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)

WordPress Theme-Checking Tools

Let’s finish this post with a few more useful WordPress theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:

What WordPress Theme Is That? WP Theme Checker

What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free WordPress theme-checking tool that lets you easily detect what WP theme a site is using.

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 or blog uses.

Tip: If you can’t tell whether a site uses WordPress or not, we have posted a a great tutorial that helps you tell if a website uses WordPress: Is It A WP Site?

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 WordPress, but it will also list the theme being used on the site and list any WP plugins detected.

• To use this tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
• To learn more about using this tool go here: Is It A WP Website?

Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin

A word of warning: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we recommend sticking with the reviewed and approved WordPress themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.

A well-known method used by many hackers and cyber criminals is to put up websites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute modified themes with malicious code embedded in their files. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google’s search results for phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress directory, or use established and reputable theme merchants.

If you are concerned about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site may contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform a scan of your WP 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 …

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

We hope that you have found the information on how to find the best WP useful.

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