In a previous post, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WordPress themes so attractive to website owners, then make sure to check out the post here: About WordPress Themes – A Practical Guide
In this blog post, we show you where to browse hundreds of free and paid themes for your website. You will also learn about the different types of WP theme resources and get tips on how to ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and avoid having to deal with problems like lack of product support and poor theme coding.
As we’ve explained in another post, a WordPress theme is a unique type of web template used on WordPress-powered websites and blogs and designed to work specifically with WordPress in mind.
Many individual website designers and website design houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of exciting themes covering a wide-range of applications.
Finding Great WP Themes: Let’s Keep Things Simple!
If you were to browse over to Google and search for the following:
- best responsive themes for WordPress
- WordPress themes free
- best paid WordPress themes for artists (enter whatever your business, search topic or website is about)
You are probably going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in the 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 WordPress themes simple.
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Themes
Before we get started, you need to know that WordPress offers both a hosted and a self-hosted version. We’ll explain these differences in a later post. For now, 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 the design of your site.
Free vs Paid WordPress Themes
Next, it’s useful to know that you will easily find many Free and Paid themes being made available. Free WordPress themes are normally distributed as Free Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, or they will be sold as Premium (i.e. paid) themes.
Theme Marketplaces vs WordPress Theme Agencies
There are two kinds of places where you can find WordPress themes. The first place is in WP theme marketplaces and theme directories. The second type of place are the commercial and independent theme stores.
WordPress theme marketplaces and WP theme directories are large aggregators of themes. theme developers (both commercial and independent) list their themes (both free and paid) in the marketplace or directory and customers search for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.
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 premium WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme designer or a small team of theme designer, to large theme design and development companies.
Many commercial 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 WordPress theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to search for great WP themes for your website.
Finding The Best Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Themes Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the biggest and best place to download free WP themes. In fact, it’s probably the only free WordPress theme directory you should use when looking for free WordPress themes. The reason why, is because –as some free software users have learned– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can contain malicious code and place your computer, digital presence … even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress directory is not only a trustworthy and reputable place to download themes for your WP site, but it also uses a theme review team comprised of dedicated and code-savvy volunteers to review and ensure that each theme listed in the directory meets certain quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of professionally-designed FREE WordPress themes from the official WordPress Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find Themes Inside Your WP 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 WordPress admin panel with only a few mouse clicks.
Use The Theme Filters
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 easier to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with a pink colour design, with a two-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.
Note: in the post mentioned earlier where we present an overview of WordPress themes and discuss the importance of choosing “responsive” themes, we explained how these allow your site to be viewed correctly across all devices (e.g. the computers, smartphones and tablets used by visitors to browse your site information) …
You should use responsive themes, and the WordPress theme filtering option lets you do just that …
… and bring back only themes that have been built using “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free WordPress Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that it costs nothing to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and offer a number of customizable options, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.
The ”cons” of 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 developer to provide urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many free themes will ask you for a donation to help cover their support costs.
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 you should think carefully about downloading it, as WordPress changes quite frequently and this can result in conflicts and 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 a paid theme. 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 themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to narrow down your search for themes that meet your specific criteria, it’s time to turn our attention to finding premium themes.
Premium 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 responsive support, then search through the WordPress theme galleries of the “Premium” theme design agencies listed below:
Theme Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the largest and best-known theme directories online.
ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme designers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are well over 15,000 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the images above to see more themes on ThemeForest)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, you will be able to browse for specific WordPress themes in a range of categories, such as:
- Blog/Magazine – themes for personal blogs and administration sites, etc.
- Corporate – themes suitable for legal sites and advertising purposes.
- Creative – themes for portfolios, writing professionals, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes suitable for sites about travel, holiday rentals, community resources, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for selling products online, membership sites, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to training, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, cafes, 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. commercial property, etc.)
- Retail – themes for beauty products, trades or professionals (repairers, engineering, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to hosting, landing pages, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage consellor 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)
Go here to find quality premium WP themes in the ThemeForest themes marketplace:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to browse more Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory 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 marketplace, but you can easily go through all of their WordPress themes and narrow your search using theme categories (e.g. Blog or Photography themes, etc.) using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market marketplace here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the above images to browse all WP themes at Mojo.com)
Mojo is a marketplace for premium 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 WP themes, but you can easily browse hundreds of 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 great WP themes in the Mojo directory here:
Now that we have looked at WordPress theme directories, let’s turn our attention to commercial theme developers.
Commercial And Independent Theme Stores
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of high quality themes and the option of accessing all themes through a WordPress theme membership.
(click on above images to view all SoloStream themes)
Woo Themes
Woo Themes designs great premium themes for WordPress and offers a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their growing theme collection.
(click on the above images to view more themes from WooThemes)
StoreFront
StoreFront creates beautiful 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 above images to view all themes from StoreFront)
StudioPress
StudioPress builds WordPress themes based on a framework that allows users to quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, and provides an auto-updating design architecture, turn-key designs with beautiful frames for your 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 regularly updated to reflect best coding practices and to ensure that themes remain 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 themes built with the Genesis framework 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 design.
If this all 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 you pay just 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 browse more themes from StudioPress)
Theme-Checking Tools
To round things up, here are a few more useful WP theme-related tools worth knowing about:
What WordPress Theme Is That
What WordPress Theme Is That? is a free web tool that allows you to easily detect what WP theme a site 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 WP theme the website is using.
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 site is powered by WordPress: Is Your Web Site 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 then not only confirm if a site is powered by WordPress software, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used and list any plugins it detects.
- To use the online tool visit the website here: What WordPress Theme Is That.com
- To learn how to use this tool go here: Tell-Tale Signs It’s A WordPress Web Site And WordPress-Checking Tools
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC)
We said this before and it’s worth repeating again: If you decide to use FREE themes for your WordPress site, we highly recommend sticking with the approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme repository.
A strategy that is commonly used by a number of hackers 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 modified themes and plugins containing malicious code. 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 safer, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress.org directory, or use well-known and reputable theme merchants.
If you have any doubts about whether a WordPress theme that you have installed on your site could contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to scan your WP theme files. The plugin scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and presents you with a report with the results …
(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Source: Plugin)
I hope that you have found this information useful.
***
"I love the way your email series "Infinite Web Content Creation Training Series" is documented and presented. It is very absorbing and captivating. The links and tutorials are interesting and educational. This has motivated me to rewrite my content following the concepts I am learning from the email series." - Mani Raju, www.fortuneinewaste.com
***