WordPress Themes: The Authoritative Guide

WordPress Themes

WordPress Themes Make or Break Your Website

WordPress is by far the most popular blogging platform on the web.

Litterally millions of websites are powered by WordPress.

This is no surprise because WordPress is extremely powerful and flexible, but with so many theme options available it can get really confusing.

Our goal is to create a resource that outlines the pros and cons of using free vs premium themes. We’ve also collected a list of the top premium themes along with links to useful guides and tutorials.

Overview of Themes

With so many sites using WordPress you may wonder how they all don’t look alike.

Well this is because WordPress uses a template system known as Themes.

Basically themes control how the content of your website is delievered to the viewer.

Themes can be very robust in functionality or they can be very basic offering no additional features.

Because programming your own theme requires knowledge of PHP and CSS, most people opt to use a theme that is already readily available whether free or paid. If you are really serious about your website you can even hire a designer.

As you can imagine paid themes come with different options than most free themes, but before we jump into what premium themes offer, let’s look at the pros and cons of using a free theme.

Free Themes

Recommended Free Theme: A Dream to Host

Features – 2 Column, Easy Header Image Uploader, Custom Background, Multiple Menus, SEO Friendly, Fast Loading, and light weight.

Benefits of Free Themes

  • No Costs to Get Started
  • Abundance of Designs
  • Sometimes Basic Support
  • Easy Install

Draw Backs of Using Free Themes

  • Poor Code practices
  • Can be bad for SEO
  • Basic functionality
  • Lack of support
  • Potential Malicious code
  • Security Issues

Bottom Line

If you decide to go with a free theme make sure you get it from a reputable source. We have a free theme called A Dream To Host that is reliable and reputable if you are interested. ;)

Why You Would Pay For a Theme

The premium theme market came about because people wanted more options with less coding. They wanted great support and a great product.

Many of the drawbacks of having a free theme are address by having a premium theme.

If you are serious about blogging / ranking well in the search engines you should think about using a premium theme.

Top 3 Premium WordPress Themes

To start your premium theme search we suggest that you check out the most established premium themes.

Thesis Theme for WordPress

Robust and flexible. One of the first theme frameworks on the market. Has been a main source of innovation in the Premium Theme Space. Thesis is also known for its huge user base, outstanding support forums, and abundance of tutorials..

Genesis Theme Framework

Genesis Theme Framework is put out by StudioPress and it offers multiple skins and uses child themes. Over the past couple years Genesis has grown to be a major player in the space after being acquired by Copyblogger Media. Genesis is definitely a theme worth looking at.

We also went into a ton of detail comparing Thesis Theme vs Genesis Theme a while back.

Headway WordPress Theme

Headway Theme is a visual theme framework allowing people without experience in coding to create outstanding looking designs. Headway has really pushed the limits when it came creating a user friendly interface.

Closing

This page has a lot of information to digest. Just be sure to decide on one WordPress theme and get your blog up and running as soon as you can.

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It’s filled with information, that if you take action on will get you onto the right path of becoming a full-time pro blogger.