When I started Laptop Millionaire I struggled to find a wordpress theme I actually wanted to use, until I discovered premium quality wordpress themes that is. When you start looking for really high-end, well designed blog themes you can find some really beautiful designs with great functionality built-in – it’s just a case of knowing where to look. I’ve found a handful of websites that sell brilliant themes for all types of blogs so I thought I’d save you some time and list them here. The thing with premium themes is that you do have to pay for them; anything from $20 to $95 but in my experience they’re well worth the investment.
How do premium quality wordpress themes differ from free themes?
Premium themes are different to the standard free themes for several reasons including:
- You have to pay for them!
- They are designed by professional designers so the design is of very high quality
- They are usually built to validate with W3C coding standards in HTML & CSS – which is vital to your search engine optimisation activities
- They are tested to work in the latest browsers & wordpress release
- The designers offer support in case you come unstuck – vital for beginners
- Each theme is targeted to a niche and so very well thought out in terms of the functionality you will need
- Because you pay for them you won’t see them being used everywhere i.e. they are a little more exclusive
What are the benefits of using a premium wordpress theme?
First impressions count and with a premium theme you instantly look credible and professional. The designs are always well laid out so all your information looks well-organised and easy to access. They are especially valuable to beginner bloggers as you don’t have to hunt around for plug-ins to extend your theme, they either come bundled with it or the documentation lists those you need to get with links to them. You can literally be up and running with a theme design that looks like it costs hundreds of pounds in five minutes flat, having spend a fraction of that.
I mentioned earlier that the premium themes come with a much higher level of support from the developer and I’ve found this support absolutely invaluable. There is usually a forum that you get access to once you’ve paid for, and downloaded your new theme. It’s that simple, choose your theme, pay for it, download it, unzip it, upload it to your wordpress themes folder and then select it from within your admin area. Any problems, get yourself on the support forum.
Most of the websites that offer premium wordpress themes have two-tier pricing; you can either buy a single theme or buy a membership which gives you unlimited access to current and future themes plus support. If you’re planning several blogs it would be more cost effective to choose one of the sites below and join their membership scheme.
Laptop Millionaire’s list of top places to buy premium quality wordpress themes
These are the best that I’ve come across but if you’ve found any others, leave a comment below and I’ll update the list.
1. Woo Themes
Woo Themes has a permanent 2 for 1 offer on their themes and has one of the largest selections I’ve found, all categorized by blog niche. They also offer a Woo Club membership where you get access to all current plus up and coming themes. A truely impressive selection. Prices are $70 for a single theme and $150 for a developer’s version of it – a three month Woo Club membership costs $150 or $225 respectivley.
Elegant Themes is a little different from some of the other sites in that you pay $20 for an annual membership and for that you can download as many of the available themes as you like, and it includes access the support forums (one per theme). The guy who runs this is constantly developing new themes… and they’re beautiful.
3. StudioPress
StudioPress is more of a one-stop-shop. You can just buy one theme or you can upgrade to an ‘all-theme’ license where you get to download as many themes as you like, including access to unlimited support. These guys can also design a logo for you plus install and set-up your wordpress blog with your chosen theme, complete with plug-ins and some search optimisation to boot. This one’s great for beginner bloggers or those short on design skills and/or time. A single theme costs $59.95 and the all theme package costs $199.
4. Thesis
Thesis is just one premium theme but it’s the mother of all search optimised wordpress themes and the one I finally decided to use for Laptop Millionaire. If you’re into your SEO then this is the one for you, no question. A single version of Thesis costs $87 and the devleoper’s version $164.
*All prices quoted are correct at time of writing but you should check on the individual websites for latest pricing levels and offers.
