In a separate article, we have written a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.
If you haven’t yet discovered themes and what makes WP themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then make sure to check out the article here: An Introduction to WordPress Themes
In this blog post, you will learn where you can explore many professional 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 make sure that you get the right themes for your needs and how to avoid having to deal with problems like lack of product support and poor coding.
As explained in another post, a theme is a special type of web template that is used on WordPress-powered blogs and designed to work specifically for the WP platform.
Many talented website designers and website development houses create themes for WordPress. Consequently, members of the WordPress community can access thousands of uniquely-designed themes designed to cover many website uses.
Finding Themes: Too Much Information … Where To Begin?
Let’s say you were to fire up Google and type the following:
- best themes for WordPress
- WordPress themes free
- best paid WordPress themes for musicians (type in whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)
Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of 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 article. To keep things simple, let’s just cover 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 Themes
Next, it’s important to know that you will find thousands of Free and Paid WordPress themes being made available. Free themes for WordPress 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 & WP Theme Design Houses
There are mostly 2 kinds of places where themes can be found. The first type of place is in WordPress theme marketplaces and WordPress theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent WP theme shops.
Theme marketplaces and theme directories are big theme stores. WP 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 directory.
Some of the bigger 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 WordPress theme development firms can also develop both free and commercial WordPress themes, and can vary in size, from an individual designer or a small team of developer, to large web and theme development companies.
Many commercial or independent theme stores 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 WP theme directories .
Let’s now show you where to find great WP themes for your website.
Finding Themes For Your Website Or Blog
WordPress.org
(WordPress.org – Free Theme Directory)
The official WordPress.org theme directory is the biggest and best place to search for free WP 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 some free software users have discovered– downloading free software, add-ons, apps, templates or themes from untrustworthy places can place your computer, digital presence and even your entire business at risk.
The WordPress.org 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 ensure that each theme listed in the directory meets specific quality and security standards.
To browse thousands of great-looking FREE WordPress themes from the official Themes Directory, go here:
http://www.wordpress.org/extend/themes
Find Themes Inside Your WP Dashboard
Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WP theme in the WordPress.org directory and not only find a great theme for your website or blog, but also easily install and activate it directly from inside your WordPress dashboard with just a couple of clicks.
Use WP Theme Feature Filters
WordPress provides a 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 easy to find what you are looking for. For example, you could search for themes with predominantly light color design, with a three-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” WordPress themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will work on all devices (e.g. laptops, tablets and smartphones) …
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 up only WordPress themes that use “responsive” design standards …
Pros & Cons Of Using Free Themes
The obvious “pro” to using free WP themes is that it costs you nothing to download and use the theme on your site. An added plus, is that many free themes are professionally designed and provide a number of built-in customizable features, 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 you shouldn’t expect the developer to provide dedicated support, especially if they are not getting paid. Many freely distributed themes ask 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 well over one year since any changes were last made, then you should think carefully about downloading it, as the WordPress software is frequently updated and new features can result in conflicts or errors with older code.
If you’re just getting started and your site 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 money on a paid theme. Who knows, the free theme you’ve downloaded could be exactly what works for your site and for converting your site visitors into customers.
Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress theme directory and how to filter your search for themes that meet your specific requirements, it’s time to turn our attention to premium WP themes.
Paid WP 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 Directories
ThemeForest
ThemeForest is one of the biggest and best-known theme marketplaces online.
ThemeForest allows many professional WP theme creators to showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are currently over 15,000 premium WordPress themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …
(click on the above images to see more ThemeForest themes)
If you visit the ThemeForest theme marketplace, 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 corporate sites and marketing purposes.
- Creative – themes suitable for portfolios, ebook authors, etc.
- Directory Listings – themes that suit sites related to travel, dining out & restaurants, social directories, etc.
- eCommerce – themes for e-commerce, event bookings and registrations, etc.
- Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
- Entertainment – themes for celebrity blogs, dining out, 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. rentals, etc.)
- Retail – themes for stores, trades or professionals (electricians, legal practitioners, etc.)
- Technology – themes related to apps, landing pages, etc.
- Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage counselling 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 sends you theme update notifications)
Go here to browse many great premium WP themes in the ThemeForest directory:
Creative Market
(click on the above images to see all Creative Market themes)
Creative Market is another leading WordPress theme directory where you can search through many quality premium WordPress 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 WP themes and search through their theme categories using their dropdown “Themes” menu …
Browse through hundreds of great themes crafted by independent WP theme designers in the Creative Market directory here:
Mojo Themes
(click on the images above to see all WP themes at Mojo.com)
Mojo is a directory for premium 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 narrow your search with theme categories using the dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …
Visit the site to find great WP themes in the Mojo themes directory here:
Now that we have looked at WP theme aggregators, let’s take a look at commercial and independent theme stores.
Commercial And Independent Theme Stores
SoloStream
SoloStream provides WordPress users with a selection of professional quality premium WP 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 creates functional themes and offers a membership option that lets you access all themes in their growing WordPress theme collection.
(click on the images above to see more WooThemes themes)
StoreFront
StoreFront specializes in WordPress themes for e-commerce. StoreFront themes also integrate well with some of the most powerful e-commerce platforms and plugins available.
(click on the above images to see more StoreFront themes)
StudioPress
StudioPress provides WordPress themes based on a framework (called the “Genesis” framework) that lets users quickly and easily build a professional and search optimized WordPress website, 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 like this framework not only because it’s well-coded and well-supported (the development team at StudioPress keeps the framework consistently 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 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 framework and gives your site its unique look and feel.
If this 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 themes from StudioPress 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 above images to view all StudioPress themes)
WP Theme-Checking Tools
Here are a few more useful WP theme-related tools worth keeping in mind:
What WP Theme Is That – WordPress Theme And Plugin Checker
What WordPress Theme Is That.com is a free online tool that allows you to easily detect what WordPress theme and plugins a website or blog is using.
This is a great resource if you ever come across a WordPress site that you like and would like to know what theme the site is using.
Tip: If you don’t know if a site uses WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that shows you how to tell whether or not a website is WP-driven: Was My Website Built With WordPress? Tell-Tale Signs & WP-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 if a site is built on the WordPress CMS platform, but it will also list the WordPress theme being used by the site and list any WordPress plugins it detects.
- To use the tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That?
- To learn more about this tool go here: How To Tell If A Website Was Built Using WordPress
Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) – WordPress Plugin
We suggested 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 reviewed and approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.
A well-known strategy used by many hacking groups and networks that engage in cyber-crime is to put up sites offering “Free” themes for WordPress 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 key phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free themes for WordPress”” etc. It’s safer, therefore, to stick with the official WordPress.org directory, or use established and trusted theme vendors.
If you are in doubt about whether a WordPress theme installed on your blog could be infected with malware or unwanted code, use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to run a scan of your theme files. The plugin searches the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of malicious code and then outputs a report as shown in the screenshot below …
(TAC Report Page – Screenshot Source: WordPress.org Plugin Site)
I hope that you have found the information on how to find great WordPress useful.
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"This is an awesome training series. I have a pretty good understanding of WordPress already, but this is helping me to move somewhere from intermediate to advanced user!" - Kim Lednum
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