Story: Free WordPress theme or paid WordPress theme
In June 2020, acquaintances asked me to help to develop a website for starting a blog. Both people are trying it themself and hit the wall. I can understand that.
I, even graphic designer 5 years ago, did not like WordPress at first. Because I could not layout what I wanted. I had a finished image, but CMS didn’t install the function which I needed(or I just didn’t know how to achieve it).
Time fries and developing websites become easier and easier. In 5 years, I learned WordPress intensely. I don’t have any worry about developing websites.
One of my acquaintances uses free theme. Then, he asks me help. It doesn’t makes sense to me. If he has a certain finished image, why not buy a theme?
One problem is what should I recommend to beginner? I feel that my recommendation won’t help people who have never developed website by WordPress. So, I cannot send the this blog.
There are tons of WordPress themes in the market. I use a specific WordPress theme. I relatively satisfied the cost performance.
I would like to make a list of WordPress themes for graphic/web designer in this blog.
Problem: Too many WordPress themes in the market
Goal: Pick up just a few, don’t consume time for choosing the theme
WordPress.org
As you see, this is the home page of WordPress. It looks 2000. They are platforms. There is no need to be fancy. Like a baseball stadium. A professional player cannot show extraordinary performance without stadium. I get that.
WordPress NEWS! HUGE UPDATES coming to WordPress.
©Darrel Wilson
I don’t use a free theme for client work. I don’t want to face unnecessary struggle cause of the free theme. I prefer to work efficiently and achieve a certain quality as soon as possible. As a premise, I make an estimate included a WordPress cost and the right choice.
WordPress installs Gutenberg which I never use. It’s good for people who enjoy a personal blog. I don’t think these people need to buy a WordPress theme.
I compare the WordPress theme as a graphic/web designer.
In 2020, the visual page builder became quite popular. Web development becomes easier than ever before. The template covers graphic design skills for beginner. Generally speaking, everyone can build a website, but why do we see much different quality of websites on the internet?
I can say that therefore, graphic/web designer has still demand. or this is on the process of transformation. Very insecure… So, I need to find what really people need.
I like clear prices, $89/year or $249/license. I cannot choose a yearly subscription. For the client project, $249 is not so expensive for me. If I compare Divi as a WordPress theme, it’s the one of expensive WP theme in the market.
However, Divi is one of the top popular WordPress theme. Great reputation actually.
Like:
– Available 1 time only payment
– Unlimited: Build unlimited websites with a single license ✔️✔️✔️
– Build pages visually on the front end
– The most powerful design tool for WordPress
– Promote: Split testing, lead generation, and social media integration
– Sell products online with tailored WooCommerce integration
Tutorial on YouTube: Elegant Themes
If a web design agency uses the Elementor theme, it’s affordable. $199 for 1,000 sites sounds like a joke. $199/year is same as nothing. I cannot choose a yearly subscription theme as a freelance, but if you build a website for many clients, Elementor also nice. What will happen if the user stopped subscription?
Like:
– The world’s leading WordPress page builder
– The only complete design platform to offer pixel perfect design, yet produces 100% clean code
– Design forms visually, integrate them with your favorite marketing tools, and generate more traffic, leads & conversions.
– Thousands of developers have contributed to the Elementor open source project, building themes, add-ons, and products, further extending the functionality
– Create any website you can imagine
– Customize every part of your website
– Enjoy over 80 design elements
Tutorial on YouTube: Elementor Website Builder for WordPress
Customize Everything Easily – Not only will your website be fast, but you will be able to make it look exactly how you want with our visual theme customizer, fast & easy! – ASTRA
Like:
– Pre-Built Websites
– Customize Without Code
– Made for Page Builders
– Super Fast Performance
– Customize Everything Easily
– Unparalleled performance, no jQuery, less than 50 KB, just 0.5 seconds!
– Largest library of pre-built websites
– Seamless WooCommerce integration
– SEO friendly markup
– Translation & RTL ready
Introducing the most powerful and flexible WordPress theme created by Themify, making it easy to create any site quickly and beautifully (and responsive, of course). Take full control of your theme design from header to footer. Ultra is a “must-have” theme for designers and developers. – Ultra Theme
The Master club included below.
– 42 WordPress Themes
– 12 Plugins
– 25 Builder Addons
– 5 PTB Addons
– All Theme Photoshop Files
– Includes One-year Support & Updates
Like:
– Once purchased you can use it on an unlimited number of sites. Just note that only users with an active Themify membership will be able to access support and updates.
– You can still use the themes/plugins once my Club Membership expired ✔️
– The membership does not auto-renew ✔️
In 2016, I started to use WordPress. My fellow Canadian creator introduced Avada to me. I simply followed it. I didn’t search alternative until recently.
It took a long time until I get used to Avada. I need to stick to the 1 WordPress theme to learn deeply. There are many themes priced around $60, but a backend is very different. I cannot spend the time to find the theme for each project. WordPress theme should be flexible even there is no specific template.
Avada is not a top WordPress theme, but it’s popular. Avada is flexible and affordable if you develop a website for yourself. I sometimes don’t satisfy about support, somewhere in Asia I feel. I developed this website by Avada. I bought a mulch licenses on Black Friday. It costs $39.
Memo:
– I like onetime payment for 1 license
– I needed to learn how to use CMS for a while
– There is 6 months support
Tutorial on YouTube: ThemeFusion
Conclusion: Buying good theme is saving
I know that there are many free themes for WordPress. I used it when I started to use WordPress. My fellow Canadian introduced a paid theme in 2016. Since then, I’ve never used a free theme.
I picked up 5 themes. Because when I searched for the best WordPress theme, I found the site which recommends over 10 themes. It does not work for me. Just too much. I cannot take a look at all of them. Just time-consuming.
I am going to stick to 1-2 theme for my client work. It’s for me to save time. It’s for a client to improve quality. I am learning Webflow to develop an interactive website, but WordPress improves rapidly. After all, I am learning both.
