If you’re using WordPress to power your blog, you might be wondering if it makes sense to spend a few bucks on a premium WordPress theme.
I used to wonder the same thing, but after building and maintaining dozens of WordPress blogs over the years I have come to understand that purchasing a premium theme is one of the best investments a serious blogger can make.
Here are 4 reasons why you should use a Premium WordPress Theme:
1. Ease of Use
Most quality premium WordPress themes come “right out of the box” loaded with custom widgets and custom configuration menus that make installing and tweaking the theme a snap, even for beginners. Want to change the background colors or the menu items? Just open the appropriate menu and make your choices, then click “Save”. Want to change the layout to display multiple columns of content and/or ads? Yep, it’s usually a simple menu setting!
2. Security
Hackers are constantly probing WordPress blogs looking for security holes that will allow them to break in and take down a site, and one of the first things they’ll do when they find yours is look for vulnerabilities in the theme files. Many of the free WordPress themes out there are loaded with security holes that potentially make your blog a sitting duck for hackers. And trust me, it’s no fun waking up one morning to find that your beautiful photography blog is now displaying porn images! The companies that sell premium themes are constantly checking their themes for security holes and issuing patches and security updates as needed.
3. Child Themes
One of the most powerful features of premium WordPress theme “frameworks” is their ingenious use of “child” themes. A child theme is simply a separate body of code that runs over top of the base theme giving it a distinctive look and feel without ever having to touch a line of code in the base theme itself. For example, I use the Genesis Framework to power several of my WordPress blogs, and whenever I want to switch to a completely new layout I simply head over to the StudioPress website and download a new child theme. Except for installing the frequent security updates to the base theme, I never have to change it at all even if I want to go with a completely different look and feel for the site.
Another advantage of using child themes is not having to re-do customizations made to the theme every time an update is installed. All the customization that you will ever want to do is done to the child theme, leaving the base theme untouched. That means when the base theme is updated it doesn’t have any affect whatsoever on the look or functionality of your blog because all the changes you made in the past were made to the child theme.
4. Cost
All things considered, I honestly believe that premium themes are cheaper than “free” themes. Yes, I’m serious here. When I first started building blogs with WordPress, the procedure I used when setting up a new blog was always the same. First, I would install WordPress and then find the free theme that most closely matched the way I wanted to site to look. Then I’d hire a WordPress guru to tweak the theme to my liking. Usually, after several rounds of “change this” or “change that”, I had a working WordPress blog that more or less met my needs.
Of course that still left me running a blog with a theme that was full of security holes, and before long I was paying another WordPress guru big bucks to restore the site after a hacking attack and remove all traces of the hacker’s footprints. I have since come to realize that “free” themes are way too expensive for my taste!
Conclusion: The question isn’t really whether you can afford to purchase a premium theme for your WordPress blog, but whether you can afford not to? I honestly believe that paying for a premium theme is one of the best investments you will ever make if you’re serious about running a blog based upon the WordPress platform.
WP Kube Recommendations
- Thesis Theme – The Thesis Theme for WordPress is a premium template system designed to serve as the rock-solid foundation beneath any kind of website. The Thesis option panels allow you to command your site with ease, while Thesis does all of the heavy lifting behind the scenes. WPKube is running on Thesis Theme, too. Price – $87
- Genesis Framework – Another rock-solid theme framework that comes with great set of features. It has fantastic option pane that allows you to easily customize the design of your site / blog. Price – $59
- Elegant Themes – I highly recommend Elegant Themes. I love Elegant Themes because they are simply the best designed, most functional themes available for WordPress. Price – $39 / year
Great post, the security is one and should be the main reason to use premium themes,
thanks for sharing
I agree James. Hackers are relentless in their pursuit of vulnerable blogs.
I mean no disrespect but points 2 and 3 are a little flawed or at least incomplete. “Premium” themes can have just as many security holes as free themes. Themes from the WordPress repo are all reviewed for best WordPress practices thus making them more secure. “Premium” themes are not necessarily put under the same scrutiny and as a WordPress consultant I have had to fix many a site because of a “premium” theme that was very poorly coded. You don’t always get what you pay for.
That being said, there are some great “premium” offerings out there that do take security serious, like your recommendation of Genesis which I wholeheartedly agree with. Just don’t get fooled into thinking all “premium” themes are created equal because the most certainly are not.
Totally Agree with you, James. There are bunch of so called premium themes on marketplaces like ThemeForest that have many security holes. I had a ghastly experience with some of the so called premiums from themeforest marketplace.
Thanks for sharing your insights, James.
Those are good points Jame. As always, buyer beware. As with any purchase it pays to buy from a reputable company. My point in the article concerning security is that the web is littered with “free” themes that can be found with a Google search, and many of those themes are filled with security holes and intentional backdoors. I should have been more explicit and not used the term “premium themes” quite so broadly. Thanks for pointing this out.
Exactly!
I learned the importance of premium theme when I used it personally. Really it has many advantages.
One of the best things of Premium themes are Great Support. Whenever you have a issue with a theme, all you have to do is contact the support team.
Thanks for the comment Irfan
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Nice article! I always use premium themes but after buying one, I seem to find a better the very next day. In fact I’ve been looking at the Genesis framework today and I talked myself in & out of buying it several times. I’m sure it’s secure, fast and reliable, but I’m not sure it’s the best for building a business site.
How many of you would recommend Genesis?
Hi Neil,
Glad you found the article useful and nice.
Genesis Theme Framework would work perfect for any type of business site and there are many big brands are using it. I’m using it for some of my niche sites and will be using it for my upcoming project, too.
I’d definitely recommend the Genesis Theme Framework (my aff. link).
Thanks for stopping by. Have a great time.
-Dev
Completely agree! Never search for free WordPress Themes on Google. Always use the WordPress repo for free themes and always do your research on any theme you are thinking of purchasing.
Sorry if I came across to aggressive.
Just trying to help users.
I came into this at the time when no one did any work on their own website. I am glad to see that there are now WordPress themes that work right out of the box and that changes can be made using a child theme without messing with the coding from beneath. Not that I am ready to start creating my own websites, but this is useful information. Thanks, Rick.
Hi Ann,
Glad you found this information useful. Thanks for stopping by.
You’re welcome Ann.
I am new to WordPress. So far, I’m very happy with my free theme (Koi). It’s good to know that other options exist for those who wish to use them.
Glad to hear that, Nicole. Hearing first time about that Theme, so thanks for sharing
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Thanks for stopping by, Luongo. Have a great day.
You’re welcome! I didn’t even think to search Google for free themes – based on what was said here, I’ll be sure *not* to do so!
Nice.. Just hit me up if you ever need help with WordPress or choosing a theme
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Thanks for the kind offer. I’ll let you know if I need help. If you visit my site and have any suggestions, send me a message. Thanks!
Hey Rick,
What you said makes sense perfectly.
I started with a free them but very soon after I switched to a premium one. It’s safer and professional. Once you make this investment you have it for good.
There are many opinions, but eventually your own research saves the day
Thanks for sharing,
Radu
Couldn’t said better myself, Radu. I think I did the same thing, I started with a free theme that wasn’t good but very soon I switched to Thesis Theme and never looked back.
Thanks for stopping by, friend. You’re really doing great work with your blog.
-Dev
Thesis is another outstanding option. I have a couple of blogs running it and I strongly recommend it as well. I use Genesis more often than not these days but you won’t go wrong with either of them. There are a few other good ones out there as well, but these two frameworks fit the bill for 95% of the work that I do.
Hi Rick,
Yes, Thesis is another outstanding option. I use it for some of my sites and that’s include WPKube.
Thanks for writing this fantastic article for WPKube. Have a great day, bud.