Difference Between Free and Paid WordPress Themes

You have finally decided to build your WordPress blog or website but you still don’t know how it should look like.

First of all choosing WordPress is an excellent choice for 3 reasons:

It’s fast
It’s easy
It’s free but…

But, if you are using your blog for your business or to attract a large amount of readers, using the default theme will make you look like everyone else which is not good for business.

You can still obtain free themes or you can spend from your business budget and obtain a premium WordPress theme.

Before doing anything, you should research so that you know the difference between free and paid WordPress themes:

1. Functionality

You will notice the difference between the two due to one very obvious reason: one type is free and the other, premium, is paid.

If you are asked to pay for a website, there will be obvious aspects of the theme that make it premium, such as different layouts or increased functionality.

The default theme is very minimal in its functionality options which is just one of the reasons that this is a non-paid theme.

2. Support

The support that you receive should be of quality if you opt for a paid WordPress theme. Theme designers test and retest their themes to assure the end user that the end product will be user friendly and free of viruses and any bugs in the system.

There are also add-ons and extensions that you can purchase to extend the use of your theme, and some are even free. It is also noteworthy to mention that the support you receive if you have paid for a theme comes freely given.

3. Design & SEO

The main difference between the two is that the designer of a premium theme will pay much more attention to the design and the outcome of the theme, whereas designers of free themes do not put in as much work to ensure that the theme will work correctly simply because there is truly nothing in it for them except for the notoriety.

Not to mention that premium theme is designed more optimally for Search Engine Optimization – SEO. Don’t forget you want your pages ranking high in major search engines.

4. Update

From a premium theme provider you can expect frequent and regular updates. Free ones tend to be “forgotten” through the years by their creators.

Conclusion

I think that spending less than $100 for your premium design is a good investment. Professional looking blog or website will surely attract more visitors, and more visitors mean more sales.

I personally use and highly recommend StudioPress themes based on the Genesis Framework.

If you’re just starting your site I’m sure you want a mobile responsive design with iPhone, iPad etc.

Is your site running on a free or paid platform? As always I’d like to hear your experiences and thoughts on this.

Don’t forget to leave your comments below…