WordPress is one of the best blogging CMS scripts on the Internet today. To speed up your WordPress development, buying a coded WordPress theme can save you time and money. Currently there is a high demand for WordPress themes and so there is even a higher chance of paying for something you didn’t expect. Once I purchased my WordPress theme for BlueJar, I realized that not all WordPress themes are created equal. Here are a few tips on buying a WordPress theme and some tips are good for non-WordPress themes too.
Coded theme or non-coded theme
This can mean different things to different people. Ask questions! Ask them exactly what they coded and if they don’t know the answer, good chance you will need to be modifying that section yourself. If you are just looking for a theme so that you can code it yourself, you can certainly save some money. Coded themes typically run 50% more than non-coded themes.
Unique design and full rights
If you want to be the only one using the theme you purchased, make sure it is unique and comes with full rights. Basically full rights make you the new owner of the theme, allowing you to do what you want with it. The previous owner will no longer have rights to sell or distribute the theme.
A few questions to ask your seller
If you’ve never coded a WordPress theme, you might not know all the different areas that need to be modified to make the theme truly unique. Here are some of the questions you can ask your seller to make sure you know what your are purchasing.
- Header and footer been modified?
- Individual posting area been modified?
- Is the template widgetized? (basically if it is compatible with the new widget sidebar)
- Are comments section customized?
- Is it tested on Firefox, IE6, IE7, Opera 9, Other?
- Does it come with original .PSD file?
- Is the design 100% unique and only sold once?
- Is it XHTML/CSS valid coding?
The best way to test the theme to verify their answers is to see a live working demo. Go through each area such as the individual posts, the comments section, and pages sections to see if everything looks okay to you.
If you see something you don’t like
If you like a theme but there are parts that seem to be missing modifications or that you simply do not like, don’t worry. Just make sure you offer a price you want for the theme. You can always go back in and make changes later or hire somebody to fix those areas for you. You might also want to try to get the original designer/coder to do those changes for you before sending you the files. They might just do it for free!
Where to buy coded WordPress Themes
There are a lot of places to buy WordPress themes. The most affordable place to buy unique and full rights themes are at webmaster forums marketplaces. The following 3 forums are very popular sources for buying themes:
- SitePoint Forums – Members regularly post excellent themes for sale. Since it requires a fee to post their themes, usually brings in very high quality themes.
- DigitalPoint Forums – The quality here is not as good as SitePoint, but they do have a lot of affordable themes for sale.
- TalkFreelance – This is a freelance forum, so many of the members are just starting out in freelance and can offer affordable themes.
Template websites have now started to create WordPress themes. They generally will sell non-unique themes for about the same price you would buy them from webmaster forums marketplaces. If you want to buy their unique themes, it can be a bit costly.
- TemplateMonster – They do have a large selection of high quality themes. If you want a unique one, you will probably have to pay quite a bit.
- ThemeShock – With their membership package, you can just download all the WordPress themes you want. They also have premium themes you can get that are unique for a higher price.
If you are unable to find any templates at marketplaces or template selling websites, you might want to try to get your WordPress theme designed from scratch. It can be cost effective to have your design created for you because you will be able to make changes throughout the process and will most likely be happy with your theme.
- Freelancer – Hire a freelancer to create your theme. Sometimes this can be affordable if hiring those entering the field and looking to build their portfolio.
- Design Firms – This might be the most expensive. If you check out their portfolio and love their work, than you will probably be satisfied with what you get for the price.
- Contests – Hold your own contest! With a contest you will get many different contestants entering and you will get to pick your favorite theme.
There is nothing more disappointing than to be excited about your new theme just to find out that there is still a lot of work ahead of you. Following these tips outlined here can help you to save time and money. Having a unique theme on your blog will certainly help you create a unique presence in the blogging world!
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[...] you get a chance, head on over to BlueJar and read a new post entitled How to Buy a WordPress Theme. It has some interesting points that shouldn’t be forgotten when looking into spending some [...]
Great article for those interested in buying a theme. Make sure it’s xhtml/css valid.
Thanks Lukey, I hope this can help others looking to buy because I didn’t realize all the different areas when I first bought my theme to check for.
[...] – How To Buy A WordPress Theme Coded theme or non-coded [...]
Found you through Brown’s website, great article. What about hiring someone to work on an existing theme to make it unique, would that cost less or more? And where would you find that person?
@Wendy: Even when you buy a WordPress theme I suspect there will be need for some adjustment, so I would say you might just want to stick with your current theme and it may cost less this way. Unless you want MEGA changes, than maybe a new one would cost less.
I would suggest you go to freelancetalk.com and sitepoint.com or you can go to freelance project websites to post your project for others to bid on. Freelancers will give you quotes and provide you with previous examples to verify their work. Freelancers tend to be the most affordable in my experience.
Thanks I’ll go check it out. I am really thankful you did this post because it answered so many questions I’ve had for a while.
Great article – Bookmarked and Dugg
Holding a contest or browsing themes for sale at SitePoint Marketplace is for me the best option. You can find great unique themes for under $300. Make sure you have a good feeling about the author and ask to see a live demo before making payment. A good author should allow you to do a few tweaks to the theme.
Cheers,
Sam
Thanks Sam! Glad you like it. Awesome, I don’t think I’ve been dug’ before! :c).
Hey
I’m not a prominent figure at Digg in any way but great articles like that deserve some rep!
For those of you who want to design your site yourself, have a look at some software called Artisteer.
This has a M$ feel GUI and outputs valid XHTML, its very easy to use to get you started. We have used it serveral times for a quick make-over, albeit we generally add our own custom code along the way.
Give it a try
greast post, i have free themes but i´m interested in buying others. thanks for the info!!
Some one offer me a WP themes that generate with artisteer for $10 (exclusive/unique design). How do You think, is it to expensive?