Why You Should Not Pay for Wordpress Themes

Nina Rotz
Wordpress is a powerful blogging tool, that can also be used to build and organize the entire website. Wordpress is free to download, install and use. It can also be customized with numerous plugins and design appearances.

One popular way to edit the Wordpress blog appearance is through the use of Wordpress themes. Although websites such as freewpthemes.com offers a large quantity of free Wordpress themes, there are web design sites that offer customized theme building for a fee. Some websites also offer pre-designed Wordpress themes, often referred to as premium Wordpress themes, where a fee is required in order to download and use them. Premium themes vary in pricing, depending on the structure and the design. While these themes may appeal to Wordpress newcomers, most experience Wordpress bloggers would never go the route of purchasing Wordpress themes.

These are the reasons why experienced bloggers and other WP users should not pay for Wordpress themes;

Wordpress is a free software, therefore the mutual belief between bloggers is that the themes for it should be free as well. The premium themes do not offer anything new that free Wordpress themes do not have. There is no special tools or widgets used, especially considering that many free Wordpress themes can be found AdSense widget ready, as well as with other popular WP plugins. Wordpress plugin installation is easy, the Wordpress itself allows an easy lookup of plugins and plenty of documentation on how to install the plugins. While this concept may be intimidating to newcomers, it is not difficult to learn.

Wordpress itself is also fully customizable. Be it in the appearance, settings, the PHP language or the widget often found on the sidebar.

The very customization of Wordpress is in the design of the theme. Be it in the magazine style, or having a sidebar on the left instead of the right. Even the placements of widgets and other popular Wordpress tools.

Wordpress themes can also be modified. Many of the free themes allow the user to modify the theme but keep the original designer copyright in the footer. This means that the very colors of the theme can be edited, any graphics and any cascading style sheet attached. Wordpress theme designs are controlled in large by the CSS, editing the CSS can change the colors of the text, links or any of the special styles.

Do not be intimidated by the code in Wordpress themes. Their core is done in HTML and PHP. Learning HTML can be done easily through free online resources. There is a plethora of documentation, including free support sites for anything HTML or design related. It is completely acceptable to lookup information or ask questions about editing a particular theme. No need to pay for something when there is so many Wordpress users offering free help and free resources.

Flashy and tacky graphics are not needed when it comes to Wordpress blogs. Wordpress is built on the idea of being optimized for search engines. It is driven on content, not on the flashy and overbearing graphics that take away from the content of the blog.

In case you would like a logo or a header designed, it can be done so through the use of freelancers. This can be also applied to any particular Wordpress change that you are not capable or knowledgeable of doing by yourself. Pay per project, do not pay for the entire thing. Even the best of premium themes has to be edited to fit the needs of your website. By paying per project, you only pay based on your needs and budget. Freelance designers are a great way to get quality projects done based on the given budget.

Published by Nina Rotz

Nina Rotz is a freelance writer, a blogger and SEO extraodinaire. Nina's experience includes running a web hosting business, fourteen-year experience of website building, programming and blogging. Her educat...   View profile

3 Comments

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  • Cameron 7/29/2010

    You can get some serious value from paid wordpress themes. A lot of advanced javascript/jquery functionality that only a professional would create for you. Advanced design techniques. Built in optional customization, just turn features on and off etc..

    If it's normal to pay hundreds for a web design, why is it not OK to pay $29 for a great theme? Of course do your homework, but don't be afraid to save a lot of your time and get a lot more value from some paid themes out there.

  • Jonathan Howard 5/1/2010

    I have came so close to buying WP themes before... sometimes those looooong pages with opt-in forums and sales pitches at the end nearly get me! :D

  • 3lilangels 1/20/2009

    ooh great info thanks!

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