Tag: WP Themes

In a separate post, we provide new WordPress users with a comprehensive overview of WordPress Themes.

If you would like to learn more about the benefits of using WordPress themes and what makes WP themes so revolutionary in terms of website design, then go here to read the article: A Useful Guide To WordPress Themes

In this blog post, you will learn where to look for 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 ensure that you get the right themes for your needs and how to avoid having to deal with problems like lack of customer support and poorly-coded themes.

As we’ve explained in another article, a theme is a unique kind of web design template used on WordPress-driven websites and blogs and designed specifically with the WP platform in mind.

Many web designers and web design companies create themes for WordPress. Consequently, WordPress users can access thousands of great WordPress themes covering a wide-range of applications.

Finding Great Great Themes For WordPress: Let’s Keep It Simple!

Let’s say you were to open up Google and type something like this:

• best paid themes for WordPress
• WordPress themes free
• best responsive WordPress themes for business (type in whatever your business, search topic or blog is about)

Chances are that you are going to get an overwhelming amount of junk to sort through in the search results.

So, to help you save time and make your life easier, let’s just cut through the clutter and make the process of finding great WordPress themes really 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 different article. To keep things simple, we’ll 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 site.

Free vs Paid WP Themes

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

Theme Marketplaces vs Commercial WP Theme Shops

There are two different types of places where WordPress themes can be found. The first place is in theme marketplaces and WP theme directories. The second place are the commercial and independent WP theme shops.

WP theme marketplaces and WordPress 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 shop for these just like they would if they were shopping for apps on an app store or software marketplace.

Some of the larger 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 stores typically develop both free and paid themes, and can vary in size, from an individual theme developer or a small team of theme designer, to large web and theme design and development companies.

Many commercial or independent 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 WP theme directories .

Let’s now show you where to find the best WP themes for your website.

Finding Great Themes For Your WP Website

WordPress.org

(WordPress.org – WP Theme Directory)

The official WordPress theme directory is the largest and best place to download WP 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 some free software users have discovered– 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 site, but it also uses a theme review team to review and ensure that each theme in the directory meets specific quality and security standards.

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

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

Look For Free Themes Inside Your Own WordPress Dashboard

Useful Tip: You can easily browse through every WP theme in the WordPress directory and not only find what you are looking for, but also easily install and activate it directly from within your WP dashboard with a few clicks.

Use 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 Colours, Layout and Features …

This makes it easier to find themes with specific features. For example, you could search for themes with a light colour design, with a four-column layout and a full-width template, or themes that support custom menus, etc.

Note: in another article where we discuss the importance of using “responsive” themes, we explained how these ensure that your theme will work across all devices (e.g. your visitors’ PCs, 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 find only WordPress themes that are “responsive” …

Pros & Cons Of Using Free WP Themes

The obvious “pro” to using free WordPress themes is that it costs you nothing to download and use the theme on your site. Additionally, many free themes are professionally designed and offer a number of customizable features, giving you great flexibility and choice in how you configure all of its various layout elements.

The downside of using free themes are that your themes may not get updated as often with new features and bug fixes, and you shouldn’t expect the theme developer to provide urgent support, especially if they are not getting paid. Most free themes ask for donations to help cover their costs of providing support and updates, bug fixes, etc..

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

If you’re just getting started and your website is still relatively 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 could be exactly what works for you and for converting your site visitors into customers.

Now that we’ve seen how to find free themes in the WordPress theme directory and ways to narrow down your search for themes that meet specific criteria, let’s turn our attention to paid WP 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 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 WordPress theme marketplaces online.

ThemeForest lets many professional WP theme designers showcase their designs through their online marketplace. There are over 17,500 premium themes listed (some starting from as little as $3) …

(click on the images above to see all 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 government sites and advertising purposes.
• Creative – themes suitable for photography, arts, etc.
• Directory Listings – themes that suit sites about employment opportunities, classifieds, tourism directories, etc.
• eCommerce – themes for online shopping, event bookings and registrations, etc.
• Education – themes that suit sites related to teaching, etc.
• Entertainment – themes for music and bands blogs, restaurants, 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 stores, trades or professionals (repairers, dentists, etc.)
• Technology – themes related to apps, affiliate marketing, seo, product reviews, direct sales, etc.
• Wedding – e.g. themes for wedding sites and marriage celebrant blogs
• Miscellaneous – themes suitable for topics related to activism, 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)

Browse thousands of quality premium WordPress themes in the ThemeForest directory here:

• ThemeForest

Creative Market

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

Creative Market is another leading WP theme directory where you can browse thousands of quality premium WP 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 browse hundreds of themes for WordPress and search through their theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or Wedding themes, etc.) using the site’s dropdown “Themes” menu …

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

• Creative Market

Mojo Themes

(click on the images above to view more Mojo themes)

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 search through their theme categories (e.g. Landing Page or Photography themes and theme frameworks, etc.) using the site’s dropdown “WordPress Themes” menu …

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

• Mojo Themes

Now that we have looked at WP theme aggregators, let’s look at commercial and independent WP theme development firms.

Commercial And Independent Theme Design Houses

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 more themes from SoloStream)

Woo Themes

Woo Themes designs functional premium themes for WordPress that are very popular and highly sought after by web users and also offer a membership option that gives you access to all themes in their WordPress theme portfolio.

(click on the images above to see more themes from WooThemes)

StoreFront

StoreFront Themes 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 see all themes from StoreFront)

StudioPress

StudioPress designs WordPress themes based on a framework that lets users 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 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 frequently updated 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 themes built using the Genesis framework without losing any customizations you have made to your theme.

This is because themes built using the Genesis framework 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 way too technical, don’t worry 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 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)

Theme-Checking Tools

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

What WP Theme Is That WordPress Theme Checker

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

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

Tip: If you don’t know whether a site was built using WordPress or not, we have published a a great tutorial that helps you tell whether or not a site was built using WordPress: Is Your Website 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 was built on WordPress software, but it will also list the WP theme being used by the site and list any plugins it detects.

• To use the online tool go here: What WordPress Theme Is That
• To learn more about using this tool go here: The Easy Way To Tell If Your Website Was Built Using The WP CMS Platform

Theme Authenticity Checker - Plugin

A word of warning: When choosing FREE themes for your WordPress site, we strongly recommend sticking with the approved themes listed in the official WordPress theme directory.

A well-known method used by many hacking groups and cyber criminals is to put up sites and directories offering “Free” themes for WordPress all over the web and then distribute modified themes that contain malicious code. In fact, some of these sites even come up on Google’s search results for search phrases like “free WordPress themes“, “best free WordPress themes”” etc. It’s best, therefore, to only download free WordPress themes from the official WordPress 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 blog could contain potentially malicious or unwanted code, you can use a free WordPress plugin like Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC) to perform a scan of your theme files. This plugin scans the source files of every installed theme on your site for signs of injected code and presents you with a report …

(Theme Authenticity Checker Report Page – Source: Plugin)

We hope that you have found this information useful.

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