Let’s face it. More often than not, every new blogger will opt for free themes, simply because it’s easily searchable with thousands of free themes available on the net.
That’s the beauty of WordPress. Due to its popularity, it makes it all worthwhile for theme designers to craft the next best themes to serve the large WordPress community.
However, finding the right theme can be a tiresome search. Sure, you can google for WordPress themes any time of the day and you’ll be going back and forth demoing all the themes.
But when you are faced with choices, how often do you make the right choice? and before you know it, your favorite theme is the exact theme shared and used by thousands of others.
Point being, it isn’t uniquely “You”.
First Impression Counts
Your blog is very much a reflection of yourself and the theme you are using is pretty much that of your unique personality. I’m all for “Content is King” but folks, your design (or the theme you choose) is what appeals to your first time visitors to stop and read your content and decide if it’s worthy of a king.
As in most cases, “First Impression does Count the most” and I can attest to it.
I was lucky to be the first person who was offered the premium theme design (Sketch’d) you are seeing right now prior to its release and not only I’ve seen a 300% increase in my readership level, my subscribers base has increased by three fold ever since.
It’s one of the best decisions I have ever made and never regretted since.
Free vs Premium
If you are on tight budget and good at tweaking html, php and css, free theme is not a bad option after all. Otherwise, a premium theme may be the way to go. Though some premium themes may be too popular and fast becoming the norm and losing its uniqueness.
One of the primary reasons it takes so long for the majority of us to move away from free theme to premium one is the cost factor. How affordable can a premium theme be, you may ask?
A premium theme may set you back for $80 to $200 depending on the popularity of the theme designers. Understandably, the investment involved may be considered too steep a price to pay for beginners.
Now what if you can have unlimited access to 16 awesome and elegant WordPress premium themes for as low as $19.95 per year and it doesn’t take a genius to work out that it costs you less than $2 per theme.
I really wish I knew it early when I was simply wasting my time searching for the right WordPress theme. Blame it on the perfectionist side of me.
Elegant WordPress Premium Themes
What separates Elegant WordPress Premium Themes from the rest is undoubtedly the low cost of its membership access. All other things being equal, where else can you find WordPress premium themes for as low as $2? and yet without compromising on its quality.
Each of these themes comes coded in valid XHTML 1.0 transitional and CSS. Every theme is made in compliance with the latest version of WordPress, and is compatible with Firefox 3.0, Internet Explorer 7/6, Safari, Opera, and Netscape.
Here’s the list of all the features you can get from each theme
- Valid XHTML + CSS
- Smooth tableless design
- Wordpress 2.6 compatible
- Firefox, Safari, Opera, Netscape and IE6 + IE7 compatible
- Site-wide search bar
- Widget ready
- Adsense ready
- Gravatar ready
- Social bookmarking ready
- Theme option pages
- Custom thumbnail images
- PSD files
The package includes the WP theme files, plugin files, as well as fully layered PSD files and blank logo images that can be edited with any graphic design software for easy customization. Besides, you are not required to retain the credit link if you decide not to.
In My Humble Opinion
I’m all for using a free theme, it is perfectly fine when you are a new kid on the block but if you want to take your blog to the next level that will guarantee an increase in your readership level and subscribers base, right now it’s time to think about what you can do to differentiate yourself among the crowd.
Stop searching for the right theme, leave the worry to Elegant WordPress Premium Themes and maximize your time writing quality contents worthy of a king.
Besides with unlimited access for only $19.95 per year, Elegant WordPress Premium Themes offers some of the most affordable premium WordPress themes on the planet.
With the membership, you can have full access to the entire collection of its premium themes, as well as themes released in the future and there is no more excuse that your blog is not getting the deserved makeover sooner.
If you are still hesitating, folks, here’s the take away message, “You have to spend a dollar to make a dollar” and I hope it does make some sense to you.
This is not a sponsor review. This article is written with all beginners in mind and for those who couldn’t handle a $80 price tag for a single license premium theme.
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You know what, I actually think I might go for this! When I do I’ll make sure to do it through your link ;)
Elijah´s lastest post..Friday Night Smack Talk – Special Guest
Appreciate it, E. I think it’s the most affordable one you could ever get. Besides, it’s good to use it for site flipping…if you know what I mean..
Question is – how premium is something that affordable? That may work as new business model for themes… But I doubt it will still create premium feel if those eleven themes shoot out in all directions for their low price.
For now I am sticking with free (but heavily tweaked) theme. When I decide it’s time to move further I am going to gather as much as I can and spend it for best I can afford.
Buying premium is investement. Subscribing to premium is cheap shortcut.
Rarst´s lastest post..Determining file type with TrID
Yeah, we all love cheap shortcuts and so do beginners who couldn’t afford the “real” premium that doesn’t shoot out in all the four directions.
For me, I don’t look at it as either a “cheap” premium or a “real” premium, it’s a question of worth over cost and for $2 a theme, it’s all worth the investment.
Yan
Well… Worth can be different.
“shared and used by thousands of others” for free.
by hundreds for cheap.
by dozens for considerable sum.
only by you for pile of money.
Every step has price and worth. I am only saying that cheap shortcut for premium theme reduces it overall worth a bit.
Rarst´s lastest post..Determining file type with TrID
@Rarst:
“shared and used by thousands of others” for free.
by hundreds for cheap.
by dozens for considerable sum.
only by you for pile of money.
Couldn’t have said it better myself…. and it does make sense.
Well said, Rarst. :)
The themes over at Elegant WPT are really elegant. I mean, with all those features and sleek designs, who could resist such a measly amount? The only trouble is, as Rarst said, many people can take advantage of this offer and the “premium” in premium themes might be lost.
Lucas´s lastest post..Question and Answer Time (10 Sep 2008) – Answers
Yan,
Nice post. Right now I am just using an incredibly basic them and then making tweaks on it myself. It still needs a lot of work though.
If were ever to spend money on a theme though, it would HAVE to be a completely custom one. I can’t stand seeing sites that have the same theme. For me, it lowers the credibility of each one substantially.
I think your design should reflect your content… unique and high quality. Well, that reflects YOUR content, Yan, not mine yet :)
- Jack Rugile
Simple Sapien
…..If were ever to spend money on a theme though, it would HAVE to be a completely custom one…..
Completely agreed with your statement. If you do have the budget, custom design will definitely push your credibility higher as a blogger.
Thanks for dropping by, Jack and glad to see you here again.
Actually, I’ve had just as much problem sorting out professional themes as I do the free ones. The main problem being parting with the cash and not liking the product.
Even with the free themes you can personalize it if you choose the right ones.
Sire´s lastest post..Developing Good Blogging Habits Is Essential
Yeah, if you good with CSS coding, a free theme can be as good as a premium theme. I have seen how impressive others borrow the structure of the theme and completely change everything.
Personally with any of my sites, I like to try a free theme, I then reevaluate if the design needs a professionals touch and then have it done.
Susan´s lastest post..Acosmin Tech
Sound good, Susan. You have a nice collection of themes so I guess you have seen it all, haven’t you?
Wow…definitely a cool prize for 11 premium themes…i think 2 dollars per theme is the cheapest you can get for premium themes…it is more like a token money and not really the price for the effort spent on designing them…
You bet it’s the cheapest, I’m actually quiet impressed with the quality of its themes.
What I look for in a Wordpress theme – premium or free – is decent support. I know I can’t expect it from free themes, but the support from some free theme designers is remarkably good, while with premium theme designers, some give great support, but others very little. And that is what makes my decision.
But I am actually looking for something a little different at the moment and I wonder if anyone reading this can help me, lol!
I am looking for a Wordpress theme – free or premium – which does not mangle the code (or make it disappear completely) from flash videos in RSS feeds (and yes, I post them legally, from sponsors).
I know a lot of this is a problem with Wordpress itself, but the videos still show (even in the latest Wordpress) on the default Wordpress theme, but on hardly any others….
Now if anyone could help me with that…?
Thanks Yan, nice post, and I will check out those themes. They look like a very good option for me :)
hey Zania,
It’s been a while, how are you? Glad to see you again.
I don’t really get it. If the flash video is showing in the default theme, why can’t it show in other theme? OK, maybe I don’t understand the technicality of it.
Can flash video be shown in RSS feeds?
Hi Yan,
Yes, I’m fine – just incredibly busy of late with my ‘real work’ online….
And I am having host problems too, for the same reason as you – large hits on certain blogs (mainstream and ‘other’). In fact I have quite a number of different hosting accounts, but none perfect and am considering VPS or dedicated very seriously, but the only reasons I haven’t moved this way yet is because (a) I am not a techie and (b) I would then have a more limited number of IP addresses than I have right now…
But for you, I would definitely consider at least VPS if you want to keep your blog online.
Congratulations by the way on the high number of hits, lol!
And yes, flash video is inserted in the RSS feeds provided by a number of my ‘non mainstream’ sponsors – very good feeds too – morphing and very SEO friendly. They work well on many blog types, but not Wordpress. Which is a pain, because using Wordpress is so much easier in all other ways than the other blog types I have to use.
I will reply to Rarst about the issue on the themes :)
Congratulations by the way on the high number of hits, lol!…
I wish I could be happy about it but alas, it gives me more problem than I could have expected…
I’m moving to another host pretty soon and hope everything will be back to normal in a couple of days…
Anyway, thanks for the VPS suggestion and a little heads up on the RSS videos and hope things are great over at your end.
I don’t think it’s theme related. I am bad at php but I poked it figuring out some RSS stuff (I am good at RSS) and as far as I understand it simply takes post content from database to paste in feed. Theme is not involved at all.
Rarst´s lastest post..Determining file type with TrID
Hi Rarst,
At first I didn’t think my problem was theme related either. I use Feedwordpress and followed the instructions they give for making sure that any wordpress upgrade doesn’t interfere with RSS feeds (as it always does…).
And this worked for the few blogs I have with a default theme, but for none of the others. Strange, I know.
Evidently there is a plugin I can use, but it may not work with the latest version of Wordpress… as usual…
I am about to check out your blog by the way, to see what you have to say about RSS :)
@zania
Interesting. So you are pulling sponsor’s RSS feed in as posts. right?.. Lot’s of stuff than can go wrong in the process. :) I hadn’t used feedwordpress but I had issues with wordpress eating embedding code for widgets from static pages.
I am agregating some content (my own) to sidebar by generating RSS feed on my home PC, publishing on my host, pushing it in feedburner and pulling it from feedburner with wordpress widget. Works flawlessly without any plugins in the link (I am thinking about upgrading from widget to more customizable solution).
But doing same with posts could be trickier… I think wordpress has RSS import capabilites but not automated ones.
Ahem… We are way off topic. :) Well, you know where my blog is if you need boring technical details on RSS.
Rarst´s lastest post..Determining file type with TrID
Good that I can now visit your blog. Just a while ago I can’t.
I honestly don’t like the themes from them :(
Hussein´s lastest post..Question and Answer Round 1
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
My account was suspended twice today for sudden spike in traffic…I’ve completely forgotten to enable WP Super Cache when I restored my database…What a day!
oh yes this happens to me as well, now-a-days…i need to move to another host (may be a dedicated server) soon…
Yan, Is google analytics confirming the spikes? or it is just being reported by the host?
Yes, my stats shows that I had about 130K page views in 3 days out of nowhere…and was told to upgrade to VPS…..
Still considering my option now…
i have once checked their site. The price is no excessive. good actually. There are some themes that i really enjoyed. But there is one at least that is available to download freely on other sites.
Hugo Santos´s lastest post..Feeling Sick
@Hugo: Well at least you still have 10 others that are not readily available…:-) for $19.95 what else could I ask for more?
Awesome themes , thats the cheapest price I ve seen on themes …definately worth the prize
@ZK: You bet it is… thanks for dropping by…
Yan,
Very nice post… I am still using free theme. Should think of getting a premium theme..
Nihar
Nihar´s lastest post..whos.amung.us Web Stats got a Whole New Look!
@Nihar: Yeah I think it’s about time you should…and thanks for dropping by..
Wow, $19.95 for 11 WP themes is a ridiculously low price. I mean, this membership site costs like 5 Cents/day.
PS.: I clicked on the affiliate link in the post, but somehow it’s not working.
I have checked all the links and it’s working…. anyway, thanks for the visit and hope to see you again..
Well, it’s kinda strange to me, cause compared to other prices it’s really cheap. But I still don’t want to pay 20$ to something that can be learned or I can get for free…
@Jani: Free themes can be equally awesome if you have the know-how to tweak it but if you are in a hurry, this could be the closest alternative at an affordable price.
This is really interesting. When I am able to grow my personal-business blog, I may go for that. But for my business blog that’s attached to my web store, I need the blog to match my store as much as possible (and I’m having a hard time with that now!). I really need someone to help me with the CSS though it’s not in the budget yet.
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Hey Carla
Thanks for stopping by. I couldn’t exactly remember the name..I think it’s something WP-ecommerce.
I recommend to get yourself a nice theme (free or otherwise) and install it for your web store. So merging the two is the best option I could think of.
Hope it helps..
Thanks for the tip!
Carla´s lastest post..“I have a headache!” – A word about perfumes
Premium themes I think will become more and more mainstream as people begin to earn with their blogs. It is one of the simplest ways to separate yourself from the crowd and although free doesn’t mean bad – it is often less professional.
Great post!
Alex´s lastest post..“Intense Debate” On Blog Comments “Automattic”-ally Ended
@Alex: Thanks, Alex… what a pleasant surprise! I simply agree on your point. We need to stand tall among the crowd in such a competitive blogging world.
I like the title of your latest post…superb choice of words.
i think this post is paid to review.. ;) :lol:
@Aku: It’s good to make a presumption once in a while but I’m afraid you are missing the point.
Thanks for the visit..
Hi Yan,
As you know I just recently purchased a premium theme and couldn’t agree with you more about a premium one vs a free one and about first impressions last. On the first day I activated my new theme, I got a reader who said he liked it and the layout and design and so he subscribed to it. Can you imagine, gaining this subscriber because of how my theme looks and not about the contents. Hey what do you think of the new makeover.
Peter Lee
Work At Home Ideas´s lastest post..OMG, I Got The Google Ban?
@Peter: That proves my point. Differentiation is the way to go. You wouldn’t go wrong with a premium theme and I don’t have to say anything further to convince any skeptics because the end result speaks itself.
You’ve already a great collection of articles and now with a great blog design, I see no reasons you couldn’t go better.
Oh ya, one more thing, get yourself a nice logo. What you are currently using doesn’t seem to blend very nice with your theme.
Anyway, I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you much on your theme these two days as I was having quite a number of issues with my current host. Perhaps, in the next few days, I can avail myself to assist you.
My sincere apology but you are doing great on your own.
Hi Yan,
Yeah, I know my logo sticks out like a sore thumb. But I just wanna get it out first considering I only managed to fix all the teething problems. You know some of these problems I had, I learned the hard way. Thanks for offering your help and I gladly accept it…you seem to be a real pro in this area, so I look forward to some new tricks from you to make my blog look more “presentable”. Yeah speaking about your host problems just the other day, I couldn’t access your blog and got a shocking page saying your account has been suspended…what’s that?
Peter Lee
Work At Home Ideas´s lastest post..OMG, I Got The Google Ban?
Hi Peter
I was receiving spikes of traffic God knows from where and it was loading the shared hosting. My account was suspended thrice in a span of 2 days.
I’m still contemplating to move to another more stable host in the next few days or so.
Yan
This situation has forced me to create my own theme, but I find that it’s interesting because I can share it with others now. So, others can use my own design.
@Armand: I wish I got the talents….. great to see you around, pal.
Yan,
Do you know any theme that will suit me. any suggestions let me know…
Nihar´s lastest post..CommentLuv Plugin is now Ajaxed – AjaxedCommentLuv has more exciting features
@Nihar: I presume you are referring to the gallery, aren’t you? I think the GrundeMag would be more suitable for you. Trust me you’ll never go wrong with that.
It’s time for a good makeover on niharsworld.com..
Some nice looking themes for the price. May have to look into this for my next blog.
Thanks Yan.
Yan, I am actually pretty bad with CSS and the first thing I look at changing is the header. Although I do play around with CSS, it’s all trial and error
I browsed for some free WP themes yesterday and found 9 of them that I really like. But spending $2 per theme sounds great if you ask me.
I honestly don’t see how u could go wrong with that deal – it’s so cheap I’m really, really considering it
as of now, i am happy with my free wp theme, but let see if i try to buy paid theme
Dilson Decano´s lastest post..Yaahoo Yahho or Yahho Mail
Dilson
You could never go wrong with a paid theme. However, if you know a bit about coding, you can tweak it to be as unique as possible.
Yan
It’s interesting. Any preview?
@Flashlights Tips: Perhaps you could have missed it while scanning the article…:-) but the preview link is actually there
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
Thanks for your informing tips Yan…I will take a second thought of it…
Handbag for life´s lastest post..Roberto Cavalli winter floral Silk Bracelet Clutch
My problem with paying for premium themes is that I like to change them every so often… I guess paying for something as inexpensive as this is a viable alternative.
Of course if I paid for a theme I could stop wasting my time looking for new ones!
Chic Nicola´s lastest post..Sensitive Skin Care, the Basics
Those are actually pretty great themes and for that price – a bargain! I might invest in them as I’m sure I can make use out of them at a future date! Thanks! :)
Wow, some of these really look great. But I’m a kind of person who likes to change themes a lot, so this won’t be so great for me ;) It’s good to know that there some professional themes for cheap if I decide to finally settle down.
Nina´s lastest post..Cheap Foam Mattress
Wow the price is quite reasonable. Thanks for the useful information !
Hello , where can i see the sample of the $19 premium templates? is this available? well in my opinion i rather go for a premium templates because it’s better to be unique
Mocha Fudge´s lastest post..I love the way I am..
Hey Mocha
Welcome! You can access the gallery from here. In fact, you are now getting 21 themes for the price of $19.95 which is a steal if you ask me.
Anyway, you are absolutely right that getting a premium theme is the way to go. Good luck, gal…and thanks for the visit.
Yan
I’m going to change my “free” theme to a better one!
Just have a thought though, if we buy a premium theme, there’s still a chance of someone else on the blogosphere having the same theme again
But I guess, it’s still better than having to pay $300 for a fully customized theme :(
Michael Aulia´s lastest post..Is my blog cool?
Hey Michael
I suppose a little modification is necessary to make it a little unique, is it not? Are planning to change your theme soon?
Yan
I am :( It’s the only thing left (for now) that I need to do on my blog
and honestly I love their themes (The elegant themes). Considering to get one now (sign up). I just wish that I can “trial” the themes first on my blog to see whether I like it or not.. sometimes the demo just doesn’t cut it
Michael Aulia´s lastest post..Is my blog cool?
Let me know which one you like, Mike. I’ll demo it to you…not an issue.
Yan
Well I love that StudioBlue v2 but not sure how you can demo it for me :D I entered a contest last week to win a subscription from this site but still waiting for the result whether I win or not -_-’
Michael Aulia´s lastest post..Upload files and serve your own Google AdSense ads
I’ve actually bought my first ever theme for my BS blog. Not bad but I still have some work to do on it.
Sire´s lastest post..Bloggers, Overworked And Underpaid
That’s pretty good themes for that price.
BlogAngry´s lastest post..BIGMAC OF THE FUTURE
You bet it is……. by the way, how did you come out with the name, “Blog Angry”?
I have a license from Elegant themes and and this is one of the best premium theme deals around. I have had used Bluesky theme from the pack before switching to something more “elegant”. $19.95 is, nevertheless, a good bargain for anyone looking for good themes to kick-start their blogs ;)
DomainMarvelous´s lastest post..Announcements and Updates
I have always had free themes cause I don’t like paying for a theme. I also have a friend who makes them so if I got them anywhere, It would be with him cause he makes some awesome ones. There are some really cool ones for sale though.
I’m using Elegant Themes on two of my blogs now and I’m very impressed. I love how easy they are to tweak and customize for a little more unique site.
for just $20 I think that I could afford that. I’m going to try them.
Paul U´s lastest post..Make Money Online with Linkshare
You can join affiliate programs that help promote premium themes. You just need to help sell about 2-3 premium themes to get your money back so you pretty much have the premium theme free.
Kai Lo´s lastest post..Increase Traffic and Backlinks With Blog Comments
Great themes, I am a member already!
Hesham´s lastest post..New Cherry Truffle WordPress theme from Elegant Themes
You’ve hit a great point there, its not about finding wordpress themes, its about going for the right one that often leads to failure.
ya that’s right i agree on the same it’s easy to find a word press theme but difficult to find the right one without failure.