As soon as we enlighten our customers to the wonders of WordPress’ free, flexible blog/website management system, we always get two questions: “WordPress is really free?” Once we explain the collaborative and altruistic nature of open-source software, the next question is…
Where can I find an affordable, custom WordPress theme?
Naturally, everyone asks about free WordPress themes. There are a number of good, free WordPress templates out there—but beware of the source!
What a lot of innocent new bloggers don’t realize is that spammers and black-hat marketers often inject malicious code in a WordPress theme—stealing your site traffic, your pay-per-clicks, your affiliate commissions, and much more. This is especially true for non-tech geeks who don’t know how to read XHTML and PHP code and don’t tear apart their themes to customize them.
Be careful what you put on your server and on your invaluable business website. The only place you should be seeking out free WordPress themes is WordPress’ trusted theme directory.
But what if you can’t find a WordPress theme you like? Or you want a professional business template that has custom, flexible features?
Well, now you either have to spend dozens, or hundreds, of hours customizing a free theme, OR you can hire a WordPress developer to create a custom theme from the ground up—a very expensive proposition.
The best solution is to purchase a professional, commercial WordPress theme. These are created by the absolute best designers in the business, and you get the benefit of splitting the cost for their time with thousands of other consumers, rather than paying $175/hour for their programming skills.
Click here to see the Latest Featured WordPress Themes here on FreelanceWP »
You can easily find powerful portfolio templates, e-commerce templates, magazine and newspaper layouts, church blog themes, real estate templates, auto blog themes, and themes for almost every other imaginable business.
You need to find a balance between the investment cost in your business versus what product you’re providing and what your target audience expects. If you’re selling a cheap bulk product, your customers likely won’t expect a flashy, seamless website. On the other hand, if you’re showcasing your consulting business online, or asking clients to trust you with their investment or their reputation for example—you need a slick, professional-looking site.
Here are five professional WordPress Theme companies we have used with great success:
WooThemes Affordable Premium WordPress Themes
WooThemes‘ premium templates are designed by top web designers—Adii, Magnus, and Mark—and they bring in some of the absolute best in the business, so you have dozens and dozens of different themes to choose from—fitting for everything from a professional, conservative corporate image to hip young startups or creative individual freelancers. Many include slick dynamic features like slideshows and photo galleries, and you can always easily customize them with your own logo and integrate them with your social networks.WooThemes basically offers their 3-for-1 special deal on a regular basis now for customers who purchase their Standard Packages, but if you need even more flexibility, the next level up—the Developer’s license—includes the original Photoshop design files so you can customize everything. They also offer a Theme Club where you get unlimited themes plus 2 new theme releases each month. All packages include access to the helpful support community.
Headway Premium WordPress Theme
For do-it-yourself types, the Headway Theme is an incredible theme *editor*, really, that allows you to easily create unlimited layouts and produce beautiful sites. And the best part? With Headway’s drag-and-drop Visual Editor, no knowledge of XHTML or CSS is necessary! Say goodbye to tinkering with code, or waiting on your programmer for days, just to change the color of your text. You can also download easy Headway skins and styles to instantly apply an attractive new look to your entire site!
Besides Headway’s incredibly flexible design options, web developers can also style everything with their own CSS and custom WordPress hooks. And if you ever have a question or problem, you’ll have the support of their helpful community too.
StudioPress Professional WordPress Themes
Brian Gardner has been building WordPress themes from the very beginning, and his studio creates some of the most professional site templates you will ever come across. If you want to look like you mean business, like a venture-funded firm, StudioPress Themes are for you! All of their templates can be customized for your business, and feature high-end features like dynamic slideshows, product-placement styling, built-in ad placement and Search Engine Optimization.Anyone on a budget who wants to improve their image and reach a higher-value client base should invest a few bones in one of the StudioPress themes.
iThemes Business Themes for WordPress
iThemes is one of the leaders in producing high-quality premium WordPress themes for photographers, designers, and small businesses. Cory Miller and the iThemes crew absolutely love WordPress and the open source software movement, and they are committed to creating simple-to-use themes that help you easily maintain your business blogs and websites.
If you’re a developer or designer interested in starting a web design business using WordPress, you can get all the themes you need to start with their new All-Access Theme Pass.
ThemeForest Site Templates Marketplace
Lastly, ThemeForest is a fantastic site template and themes marketplace with over 2,600 WordPress, Joomla, Magento, and other HTML templates starting as low as $3. Again, there are WP themes for every niche and every application here, but make sure you filter for WordPress if that’s what you’re in search of…
The ThemeForest site serves as a bit of a designer community too, and members are continually adding new designs, so you can even follow your favorite designers and find out whenever they put out a new WordPress theme!
