One of the first things you should do when launching your blog is decide upon a theme that is perfectly suited for your style and goals. For me, this decision making process took about 3 weeks before I finally chose a theme that I felt comfortable with and it took that long because I just did not want to leave any stones unturned.
Having been in web development and on the blogging scene for a while, I’ve come across the good, bad and ugly in WordPress theme development and design; and have seen many bloggers spend money on themes they grow to regret.
Here are 7 very important factors that you need to consider before spending the cash or start getting attached to a theme that ends up being a complete waste of time.
1. Design Compatible With Your Goals?
Think about what you will be trying to achieve through your blog and how you will want to interact with your readers. For example, if your blog is about photography, don’t purchase a theme that doesn’t have portfolio page options, fancy lightbox effects or does not offer unique control of your image files. Get the picture?
Before choosing your theme, make a rough sketch of what you would want your site to look like with the primary components at the positions you think will be most beneficial for your readers. Always aim for user-friendliness and straight forward designs.
2. Admin Panels Included
If you’re going to be spending money on a premium theme, ensure that it comes with theme / customization options which will enable you to change colors, header images, logos, CSS styles and add supporting code like google analytics, etc. These features will give you a great level of control over your blog’s design without the need to learn too much code required for manipulating your design.
3. Technical Support & Community
Does the site from which you’re purchasing your theme have a supportive community of developers and users who are ready to answer your queries and assist with problems if they arise? Ensure that this community is vibrant and take a look at past queries and posted user difficulties and observe how they are handled. If you see many questions unanswered in their forums or blog then that’s a sign of how they treat customers.
4. User Manuals & Documentation
Purchased themes must come with user manuals and other types of documentation. These will help you to get started with your new theme easily and the learning curve would be shortened.
5. Theme Updates
Once a theme is purchased you should not have to pay for future updates, improvements and additions. Web development is constantly changing and improving, so there will always be newer versions of your theme released on a regular basis. If the developers want you to pay for updates or just don’t offer any at all, then don’t buy it.
6. Price – Is It Worth It?
The price of WordPress themes can range anywhere between $10 and up to even $100 depending on the type of package you’re purchasing, features and complexity of the design.
Do not spend more than $40 on a theme that does not have customization options which will allow you to easily tweak and personalize your blog. Look for theme developers like Elegant Themes who offer a yearly membership of $39 which will allow you to download all their cool themes.
Free or Premium
It really does not make a difference whether your theme is a free one or if you paid for it. As long as it accomplishes your goals, then you should do just fine. However, paid premium blog do tend to consistently offer more features, more unique designs and their developers provide more support.
7. Caution!
Never download and use themes from sites that are giving away premium themes (which are usually sold by their developers) for download when they themselves are not the theme’s developer. 90% of the time, these themes will contain hidden malicious code that can potentially harm your reputation as a blogger and eventually cripple your site and cause loss of data.
Always download themes from their original source which is usually from the developer’s website.
WordPress Theme Resources
There are quite a few developers online who are simply awesome at developing and consistently release killer WordPress themes on a monthly basis. Below is a list of both premium and free WordPress theme sites. Note that premium sites do occasionally release free themes like the Morning After theme from WooThemes.
Free WordPress Themes Sites:
Premium WordPress Themes:
Conclusion
Having the perfect theme for your blog will play a key role in determining its initial success and developing your image as a blogger. Take pride in your design, keep your readers in mind and always aim for the highest standards.
Which theme are you using for your blog design? Are you satisfied or are you thinking of making a switch or doing an upgrade? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below, we would love to hear from you.
Basically, your points rule out free themes, and it should be that way. Having support is a huge deal for us. We are novices and have relied on the support of the Thesis folks on a few occasions.
I think one thing to consider when choosing a theme is how much knowledge is needed to make modifications. We have limited knowledge, so a theme that is easily adaptable is perfect for us.
Hey Colleen,
You are correct in all that you have said. I have found a few free themes that actually boast highly customizable features and option panels. However, the only thing missing is generally a supportive community. So you’re basically on your own in that case.
Thanks for commenting.
Whether or not to get a premium theme depends on your budget and whether you intend to have a unique blog design. Support and features are a plus for premium themes, however you need to know or learn some coding in order to customize the themes yourself. If you can do that, you will have a unique design all done by yourself.
I am a coding idiot, so i rather stick to a free theme that suits my needs. Anytime if i need to change to premium, these 7 elements will be something that i will remember. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks a lot for commenting Lye
If you ever need any customization help / advice, I’m here to help.
I guess it depends on who uses it as well. To me, i prefer the theme which doesn’t have admin panel, because i want to edit the files myself.
I dont know why, admin panel makes me more confused and makes the theme more complicated..
Thanks for commenting Kimi
Its good that you are able to edit and customize your own code. This means there’s basically no limit to how far you can go with your design. Admin options are limited only to what they were designed for.
On the flip side, when you can afford it, fudge them all and grab yourself a good designer to go from scratch; you’ll thank yourself, and want to buy him/her something big and shiny when you’re finished.
One word of the caution Sam, even if it is a free theme, depending on where you find the theme free, it can still have some potential dangers to it. So, I would say, unless you have an understand of code, try your best to see if a friend that you know who knows about coding, can just take a quick look at the code. I actually found one time when I downloaded from this one site a free theme, I found in the footer some pretty nasty code, that basically linked “invisibly” to some bad websites
Till then,
Jean
Blogs are generally considered more “real” and inherently trustworthy compared to self-serving corporate or e-commerce sites.
Can you tell me which wordpress theme is more SEO friendly – 2 column or three column and how do you decide which one to choose??
@Tej, it really doesn’t matter if you ask me… whether you choosiness three or 2 column… they can all be effective when it comes to SEO, at least that’s how I feel.
Till then,
Jean
Thanks for sharing