Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Seeking Source For Great Free Wordpress Templates

Posted by Thorsten Strauss on 3/30/2012 at 11:07 AM ET 250 Points
Hello
I want to re-publish my personal website and blog and seek a source for great wordpress templates.

1) for my personal site it should be in line with great landing pages and be simple. All I plan on having on the site is: experience, blog, latest twitter (via plugin), links to my social profiles etc... static online business card

2) for my blog I am more ambitious. Here I want to blog about several "sub topics" packaging, personal branding, small business marketing, b2b marketing etc... Being able to find articles relative to our subject is key. Also I want to show a lot of pictures, videos etc...

Maybe later add an online store for selling e-books and other things.

I am looking for themes that look professional and in line with recent SEO and design guidelines.

Thank you
Thorsten
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Thorsten Strauss on 3/30/2012 at 12:40 PM Author
    Thank you for your comment and the links.
    Builder from IThemes is interesting because it allows me to layout my own grid. Are there free tools that allow you to do that?

    While I like your answer, I have the challenge to build this at zero cost. The challenge is to find the best templates for free. That is why I posed it here instead of searched myself because I am hoping for some Wordpress experts.

  • Posted by Thorsten Strauss on 3/30/2012 at 1:30 PM Author
    Dear KSA,

    That is why I am posting the question here. So I don't have to search and spend time on it. I was hoping that somebody points me to a source of great themes (other than wordpress.org of course) where I find exactly that:

    - great looking themes for personal profile page and blog
    - sustainable
    - SEO etc... current.

    That is my question.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 3/30/2012 at 8:02 PM Accepted
    Themes, like any artwork, are subjective. As you know, there's a plethora of themes. Since you're just starting out, I wouldn't worry too much about how it looks - focus on "good enough". Why? Because while a professional theme makes a good first impression, if your content isn't first rate, then people won't stay. If your content is great, but the look isn't "top notch", people will put up with it. Focus on growing your readership & traffic. And as you have a budget, migrate your site to a theme that you love (and can afford).

    There's a number of great (free) SEO plugins for Wordpress which you can start using now as well (https://www.iblogzone.com/2012/01/the-best-wordpress-seo-plugins-for-2012-p... and https://www.1stwebdesigner.com/wordpress/top-seo-plugins-wordpress/).
  • Posted on 3/31/2012 at 3:17 PM Moderator
    Jay's advice is right on.

    While FREE has a certain appeal -- the price is right -- the fact that you've set this as a mandatory condition suggests that the look and feel of your website/blog are not worth much to you. If that's the case, then Jay's suggestion that "good enough is good enough" applies. After all, it's the content that matters most.

    If it's really important that you get the look and feel (and user-friendliness) right from the outset, then you probably ought to relax the challenge of doing it with only free themes and plug-ins. The constraint you've placed on yourself could be at odds with your real objective.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 3/31/2012 at 10:50 PM Member
    I've recently asked a similar question of a good number of some of the top Wordpress direct response people around the world. I wanted to know what was the best premium template to use. From one of the top SEO people in North America I received three recommendations, one of which I bought just two days ago. It cost me $80 and it was worth every dime.

    In terms of a template that's solid, reliable, SEO friendly, supported, and upgradeable without effort, free is NOT what you need.

    It might be what you want, but ultimately, what you want isn't what you need.

    Free might be ... well, free ... but when it comes to stability, support, upgrades, forum help, tutorials, and any sense of community, free won't help you, not with the laundry list of add ons you want to include.

  • Posted by Thorsten Strauss on 4/3/2012 at 6:21 AM Author
    To all:

    Thank you for your comments and replies.
    I know that free has limitations. My question was not should I go free or not and why. My question was very specific: best free templates.

    This is what 5min of my own research revealed:
    Best free theme sources:

    www.wordpressthemesbase.com
    www.site5.com
    www.freewpthemes.net
    www.wptemplates.org
    www.wpskins.org
    www.premiumwptheme.net
    www.mynewthemes.com
    www.skinpress.com
    www.wpshower.com
    www.wpdaddy.com

    And of course the official at https://wordpress.org/extend/themes/browse/popular/

    Then I wish I had received a theme recommendation for my personal site and my blog.

    I already did that research myself now due to lack of answers.

    The best paid sources are (just for your information):

    www.woothemes.com
    www.iThemes.com
    www.elegantthemes.com
    https://templatic.com
    https://themeforest.net
    https://press75.com
    www.studiopress.com
    https://headwaythemes.com
    https://themify.me
    https://organicthemes.com
    https://thethemefoundry.com

    That is what a basic answer should have looked like.
    A good answer ALWAYS enables action.

    Thorsten
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