WordPress Themes – Which One Should You Buy?

Well, I promised y’all this post last week, so here we go.

First of all, you’re probably wondering what a WordPress theme is and why should you buy one in the first place, right? Well, put simply, a theme is kinda like a Blogger template, and then some. Each WordPress blog runs off of a theme. And kinda like Blogger does with their templates, WordPress comes with tons and tons of free ones. But, going with one of the free themes might not be your best choice. Why? Cuz, unlike on Blogger, free themes easily get over-ridden every time you update to a newer version of WordPress (which happens every few months). So, let’s say you’re using one of WordPress’ free themes, like its default one, Twenty-Ten (< -UGLY & boring!- just sayin’), and you’ve customized it a little bit to your liking. You’ve “tweaked your CSS,” if you will. You moved the sidebars around. You added or removed borders around your blog posts. And you’ve changed your background. So, finally, you have your blog looking like you want it. And then the following day, a new version of WordPress becomes available, and so you click the all-too-easy “Upgrade” button in your dashboard. And what d’ya know, after your upgrade, all your customizations are *poof* gone! All that hard work just went swirling down the Custom CSS toilet bowl.

How do you prevent that? Well, it’s quite simple, actually, as long as you can afford a few extra dollars to throw into your blog hobby. You buy a custom theme. There are plenty, plenty, plenty of options out there. Just try googling WordPress themes and you’ll see what I mean. So, now you’re probably wondering which one I chose, right? No? Hmmm, well, I’ll tell you anyways:

In the beginning, when I was researching themes, I was thisclose to buying one of the Studiopress Genesis framework child themes. They have some great colorful options, and your WordPress blog could look amazing & professional in just a few clicks. For those that are unfamiliar with CSS and don’t really want to learn, one of these themes is your best bet.

However, the more I researched it, the more I was drawn toward the Thesis theme. Mainly because of its built-in SEO capabilities, like perma-links and meta-tags, etc, etc, etc. SEO is uber-important when you’re trying to bring traffic to your site. And, yes, other themes allow for SEO, too, but you have to research, download, upload & install extra plug-ins to do it, and that all takes time. So, choosing Thesis, with its built-in SEO, seemed like less of a headache for me. Also, Thesis is easily customizable. You don’t even have to know that much about CSS to trick out your site. And when you want to do something specific, your theme comes with a lifetime support forum. So, just ask the Thesis gods your design question, and they’ll tell you how to do it. Simple as that. And, sure, I have simplified my site into a clean, white layout, but really, the sky’s the limit with Thesis.  I mean, take a look at this Thesis-themed site and you’ll see what I mean. Cool, right?

(((Update: I am no longer using Thesis, but I still love it very much for the DIY-er.)))

So, that’s my 2 cents on WordPress themes ? You should definitely buy one. Cuz in this particular instance, ‘free’ is not the best option.

Thanks for stopping by! And, ohhh, for all you Blogger peeps out there, don’t forget to sign up on Gravatar. Having your pic to go with your comments on WordPress blogs has never been easier!