If you look at the various different WordPress themes that are available at the moment you will quickly figure out that there are thousands to choose from. Whenever you launch a site, no matter the reason, you want it to look great. This is something that every single site owner wants. Since the range of options available is so wide, you want to be sure that you know some things when creating a blog. This is what helps you choose something that will be perfect, based on why you build your blog in the first place.
Paid Versus Free
Some time ago WordPress theme price was highly indicative of the quality that was offered. Most of the free themes were not coded well. They were even used in order to get sensitive user data from those that used them. Nowadays, things are different. The community developers that use WordPress actually built hundreds of themes that are 100% free and that look perfect. They are safe and can be used.
What you should realize is there are various disadvantages and advantages of both free and paid themes. With the free themes we obviously have the huge advantage that they do not cost anything. This makes them perfect for those with a limited initial investment budget.
When we look at the premium WordPress themes, the main advantages are the following:
- More Updates – Premium products will often be updated so that users are always up-to-date with technology. Since WordPress evolves really fast, it is really important that the chosen theme is often updated. This will help deal with all latest security issues that may have appeared since you got the theme.
- A Much Less Common Design – With a free WordPress theme there is a huge possibility that there are thousands of sites that use it. This means that uniqueness basically does not exist. With the premium themes you have something unique since customization options are numerous.
- Great Documentation – The premium theme is going to include a lot of documentation so users will be able to take full advantage of all the features available.
- Full Support – The premium theme developers will offer high quality support through public forums, live chats and even email tickets. Free themes just offer a public forum support.
- No Attribution Links – A free site theme normally has a footer link that will credit author. This is not the case with the paid themes.
The disadvantages associated with paid WordPress themes are the following:
- The Price – anywhere between $50 and $200 can be paid for a theme.
- Complicated Configuration – Premium themes can include custom administration panels that have complex settings for customization. Understanding what can be done and the set up are much more complicated and require advanced knowledge.
- Features You Do Not Need – A premium theme will always have dozens of features you will not use. For instance, you can have a portfolio manager added and never want to present a portfolio on the site.
Think about all the features available at the theme that you want to use for your site and think about whether or not it is good for your personal needs. It is impossible not to find something you will appreciate.
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