When and Why You Should Buy a WordPress Theme
“Should I buy a WordPress theme or opt for a free one” is a question that confuses the brain many times. People interested in launching their website and starting a new blog might get tempted to opt for free ones, so that no budget-related issues can ever challenge their launching plan. It is also justified to think that when free WordPress themes are capable to meet the expectations and satisfy the demands quite well then why spend bucks on premium ones unnecessarily?
Well, if the premium ones had really been unnecessary, there would not be such a vast market for them. A lot of startups and companies already are willing to buy and use the themes. So, definitely it has merits. Remember, a theme is in control of the website along with its content presentation.
In this article, let us discuss WordPress in a precise manner, the advantages and disadvantages of free and premium WordPress themes, and finally why the Premium ones should be given any attention at all.
WordPress and Themes
Many people going through this article already are familiar with what WordPress is, but still those who want a simple definition and understanding of this can go through this section. In the simplest form, it can be said that WordPress is an online open source website and blog creation tool. It is a free yet robust and very popular website and blog content management system based on MySQL and PHP.
A WordPress theme is responsible for customizing the design of a website, including its layout. It influences and decides how the website is portrayed visually on the front-end when a web visitor browses through the site content. It supports the addition of quality design elements, in order to make the website and web content more engaging and appealing.
Factors to Consider While Selecting WordPress Theme
Selecting a WordPress theme poorly like a complete novice will prove to be devastating for your online goals. Before deciding on whether to opt for free ones or buy premium ones, it will be a good idea to know the vital points to consider while selecting a WordPress theme.
The WordPress theme should be high quality, for example:
- It should work for you for at least 3 years.
- The website should not crash every time you try to update the theme
- The theme should support changes easily whenever you require down the road
- It should be SEO-optimized
- It needs to be fast
- It should offer a time-effective customer support service
Now, gearing our attention to the main subject of our article, we have to discover whether this mandatory WordPress list is better fulfilled by free themes or premium ones.
Several questionable sources are known to distribute online free WordPress themes that users need to download and install. They are not to be relied on. Free WordPress themes are primarily the ones that are listed in the official WordPress themes directory.
You can install a new instance of WordPress on the chosen web host. WordPress’ official theme directory contains multiple searchable options that one can accessed by following this navigation guide:
WordPress themes that are available only when you make a payment for them are termed Premium WordPress themes. One can purchase these from several third-party WordPress theme digital stores and marketplaces. My favorite is Theme Forest.
When buying a theme, you can enjoy attractive features, such as diverse layout choices, drag-and-drop builders, beautiful templates, fabulous plugin capabilities, customizations galore, pre-built templates and features to choose from (if you want), and limitless color options.
These themes come with several lucrative advantages over free themes and that is why people pay to use them.
Let’s see some of the points below:
Always make sure you judge the reliability of the sources from which you are buying WordPress themes.
Do think judiciously about what features you require and what not. Do not fall prey to the temptation of buying themes that come packed with a myriad of features. Appropriation is desirable while selecting a premium WordPress theme.
Now, hopefully, the confusion of buying (instead of just enjoying free stuff!) WordPress themes can be a good decision for your personal and/or business websites. You know your online presence needs to be attached to goals and weigh them against the cost involved, as well as the added advantages of buying Premium WordPress themes. An understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of both free and premium themes will surely play a major role in your future selection process.
Free WordPress themes
Several questionable sources are known to distribute online free WordPress themes that users need to download and install. They are not to be relied on. Free WordPress themes are primarily the ones that are listed in the official WordPress themes directory.
You can install a new instance of WordPress on the chosen web host. WordPress’ official theme directory contains multiple searchable options that one can accessed by following this navigation guide:
Appearance > Themes > Add New Theme
Advantages
- Free themes do not require any payment
- Free themes listed in the official WordPress themes directory come officially reviewed and approved
- The themes in the theme directory are such that they can be easily used by an inexperienced user/beginner. This is because a WordPress developer has a heavy testing process (approving the theme) to ensure that the themes can be used by beginners
- They usually feature a minimalist design that actually can favor the loading speed of your WordPress website
- Speedy websites are known to improve a website’s SEO
Disadvantages
- If you have an admiration for uniqueness then you need to buy premium themes
- There are very minimal customization options in free themes
- If anything wrong goes, you are to resolve it as there is no warranty. It’s after all free of cost! No one is obliged to respond to your support queries (unless you have at least a Business-level WordPress subscription).
- Standard features are present, but that’s it – not extra ones that might be useful to you
Premium WordPress Themes
WordPress themes that are available only when you make a payment for them are termed Premium WordPress themes. One can purchase these from several third-party WordPress theme digital stores and marketplaces. My favorite is Theme Forest.
When buying a theme, you can enjoy attractive features, such as diverse layout choices, drag-and-drop builders, beautiful templates, fabulous plugin capabilities, customizations galore, pre-built templates and features to choose from (if you want), and limitless color options.
Why Opt for Premium Themes?
These themes come with several lucrative advantages over free themes and that is why people pay to use them.
Let’s see some of the points below:
- Countless features are available with premium themes
- You are able to personalize the theme and website look and feel as much as you desire
- You can access reliable support and theme updates
- Not everyone is using the same themes. Your design will be unique, even before all of your customizations, so your website gets a better opportunity to stand out
Wait … Disadvantages are Awaiting, as Well!
- Some people buy themes from unreliable sources and they mistakenly get stuck with attractive-looking, but poorly-coded themes. These themes are known to be incompatible with some plugins, have poor SEO, poor page load time, and so on
- You are not going to use all of the theme’s features, but you cannot get rid of them – thus slowing down your website
Always make sure you judge the reliability of the sources from which you are buying WordPress themes.
Do think judiciously about what features you require and what not. Do not fall prey to the temptation of buying themes that come packed with a myriad of features. Appropriation is desirable while selecting a premium WordPress theme.
Now, hopefully, the confusion of buying (instead of just enjoying free stuff!) WordPress themes can be a good decision for your personal and/or business websites. You know your online presence needs to be attached to goals and weigh them against the cost involved, as well as the added advantages of buying Premium WordPress themes. An understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of both free and premium themes will surely play a major role in your future selection process.
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