I have been blogging with the WordPress CMS since 2012 and hence I would say that it has a high range of flexibility with remarkable features.
Here, it is more likely to customize any website with the trendy look and exclusive functionalities.
But, picking the perfect WordPress theme for a blog is a tedious task for me. Not only me, but most of the bloggers and website owners find it difficult as we need to consider a lot of factors to choose an ideal theme for a WordPress blog or website.
I always recommend “Premium WordPress Theme” for the WordPress users as it has several benefits. By the way, do you know, what is a Premium WordPress theme?
Yes, it is a paid one and not available for free of cost!
I got several queries from the newbie bloggers and digital marketers related to WordPress themes like,
There are so many Free WordPress themes available, why should I buy a premium WordPress theme?
Do I really need a paid WordPress theme for my blog? Why so?
How are premium WordPress templates better than free WordPress themes?
Is premium WordPress design worth the money?
And so on.
Even, I have started blogging with Free WordPress theme but later settle down with a Premium Genesis theme.
Who should use the free WordPress theme? How to choose a good one?
Every one of us likes freebies, and we usually don’t find it comfortable to shell out bucks as something is available for free. Besides, if you are a newbie with a tight budget, you may get a free WordPress template with the following guidelines!
- Get the high-rated freebie WordPress design from a reliable source like WordPress Theme Repository.
- Ensure that the free theme developer offers regular updates.
- Check the loading speed of the Free WordPress theme.
- Look for the support option to fix the theme installation issue and other difficulties.
However, if you are a dedicated self-hosted WordPress blogger or an online business owner who would like to deal with a professional WordPress website, then you should consider getting a premium WordPress design for some significant reasons.
Top 5 Reasons To Get Paid WordPress Themes
Free themes may suppose to add a beautiful design framework for your site, but a premium theme can do much more than the common design. I have used many free themes for my blogs and a bunch of premium ones as well.
I like using the premium WordPress themes like Sahifa and InPress child theme for my blogs. Now, let me list out some paybacks that come up with premium WordPress themes and not with freebies.
1. Numerous Functionalities
1. Page Builder
A quite a lot of premium themes come with an inbuilt page builder with which you can create beautiful landing pages, blog posts and static pages as well. You would need to have an extra plugin to do the same in case you use a free theme. Here, premium themes reduce the database load by decreasing the plugin count.
2. Ad Management
Advertisements are the best web monetization method but Click Through Rate (CTR) depends greatly upon the ad placements. On premium themes, you will get dedicated menus to place your ad code at exact places.
3. Different Color and Layout Variants
Sometimes we don’t like the color options of a theme, yet we can’t let it go because of the features it has got. This is where we need some color variants. Free themes do not permit you to play much with colors or layout. But you can make your site look fabulous with different color combinations in WordPress paid themes.
4. 100% Responsive & SEO Friendly
Most of the WordPress premium themes are likely to be designed with recent web standards in mind, and thus your site will be 100% responsive & look great on small screen gadgets. Likewise, they have inbuilt SEO features with secure codes, and you can boost the visibility of your site in search engines with fewer efforts.
5. Other Functionalities
Premium WordPress themes boast a variety of other features like Intuitive user interface, Pre-made Widgets, Custom CSS, Shortcodes, Advanced WordPress plugins integration and much more. You will not get these additional features in the free WordPress templates.
2. Documentation & Support
How will you properly install a WordPress theme and do customizations as per your preferences without a detailed guide? It would be a hectic task, Am I right? I have experienced it before!
Moreover, I have written many detailed theme documentation for my clients when I have offered my freelance writing service. I was wondering with their specifications to write the comprehensive guide for their theme buyers.
Yes! Most of the premium theme developers wish to provide an easy-to-installation and theme optimization guide for their customers. So, you never need to worry about the WordPress theme installation with paid WordPress themes.
Similarly, WordPress theme customization may sometimes be a tiresome task. I have come across instances of extreme tiredness when it comes to theme editing.
The task will be a tough row to hoe if you know nothing about coding. Even though you have a detailed guide for theme optimization, you would need proper support to sort out your problems.
Regrettably, you can’t avail support for free themes. Free theme developers would not be interested in offering free support, and there is no guarantee that they will help you even through emails.
But premium WordPress themes creators do not disappoint you without a support system. You can get your problems solved via email, support ticket system, live chat or via phone call. If you take the Genesis Framework and its alternatives, you will get great assistance to solve your difficulties.
3. Regular Updates
WordPress delivers regular updates as the entire cyber world is undergoing changes day by day. If you are free WP theme user, you will soon realize that the theme you are using now can never be used again as it would become incompatible with newer WP versions.
Because most of the developers might not be interested in providing the updates for their free themes. Only very few well-known free WordPress themes are still receiving regular updates and well-matched with the latest WordPress version.
On the other hand, paid WordPress theme developers would like to get your feedback to improve the features and offers official updates to fix the bugs. Thus, they create quality products that will exactly work with the fresh WordPress updates.
Do you still you want to use a free theme? Then, I got three solutions to go with.
One – Never update WordPress.
Two – Ignore the glitches and use the theme as it is.
Three – Use a new free theme.
I don’t think the three solutions are ideal. Therefore, it would be better to get a premium theme so that you can have peace of mind forever be it regarding regular updates or whatever.
4. Security
WordPress sites are vulnerable to hackers! How do you feel when you find out your site to be hacked all of a sudden? It will be painful, isn’t it?
A large number of free themes available today are not coded well. And to add salt to the wound, some of them contain malicious codes as well.
The harsh truth is that you can’t even know whether a theme is malicious or not. If you are ready to go gambling with your website, get a free theme and install it right away.
Your pick must be a premium one if security is your prime concern. Not any security Plugin can add the level of security that your theme can.
Yes, the premium WordPress themes use the best coding practices and ensure that they are loading fast. They also often undergo security audits and code & speed validation process.
Now tell me, do you still wish to opt a free WordPress theme?
5. Uniqueness/Customization
Don’t you want your website to stand out from the crowd with its design, color combinations, header, footer, and sidebar?
It is somewhat hard to claim your website to be unique by using a free theme as it must be using on thousands of websites.
Free themes don’t get a massive user base. You can give your site a fresh look with paid WordPress design as they are easy to customize and get uniqueness.
So, don’t let your site look generic with free WordPress template; instead, capture your brand awareness through an amazing premium WordPress theme.
Wrapping Up
If you’re still using a WordPress theme of no cost, it is the right time to upgrade your site with a Premium template because the theme plays an essential role in the website. I don’t think it’s a good thing to go for free themes as it involves risks of destroying your site by rookie hands.
I don’t mean every free theme is worst. But it is really impossible for us to distinguish between coal and gold. Also, if you want to perform better on the web, you should not step back from choosing a premium WP theme.
So, do you agree with my viewpoints on getting a premium WordPress theme for your blog/site? Does your site run a free WordPress theme or a paid one?
My top recommendation would be the GeneratePress theme, you may also have a look at the GeneratePress Theme Alternatives to pick the right theme for your business site.
I would advice you to go through the pro features of Elementor, so that you can build your business website in a better way!
Did I miss any valid reason for preferring premium themes over free themes? Are you still wondering why premium WordPress theme?
I would like to know your wonderful thoughts and experiences; use the comment section to reveal your opinion relevant to this post.
Hi Nirmala Ma’am!
another informative post indeed.
I prefer premium themes because they’ve the best thing i.e., support.
In case of any issue, we’re save and sound!
Thanks for sharing.
~ Ahmad
Hi Muhammad,
Thanks for getting time to read my posts and glad that you are my loyal reader.
Good that you too prefer the paid WordPress theme and yes, we get constant support from the repututed theme developers.
Stay tuned, have a good day!
Hey Nirmala,
One of my friend got higher Alexa ranking and I was wondering how he did it? The reason he got that rankings so fast is Premium WordPress theme. From that day I have been thinking do Premium Themes are better at ranking?
In this post you mentioned Premium Themes are good for SEO. I got to know the reasons why premium themes are better at ranking because of professional coding, responsiveness and speed.
I am just wondering whether these premium themes are good to edit or customize for non-coders?
Thanks for sharing and inspiring us Nirmala Ma’am.
Regards,
Yogesh Shinde
Hi Yogesh,
Welcome to my blog and thanks for reading the post.
Yes, a well-developed theme has the search engine benefits and boost Alexa rank as well. As you said, the reason for this is clean coding and responsive feature.
Yes, I would recommend the premium WordPress themes for the one who doesn’t have coding knowledge as the support team of the paid theme will do help in the customization part.
Glad I could inspire the dedicated bloggers like you. More to come, keep visiting!
Hi Nirmala,
I totally agree with your points. Another point to mention are for those looking to brand their blog with a free theme, with a free theme it will be highly likely others, could have seen the theme before. This could be very challenging to the brand as they may not be considered as authentic. I have left this comment in Kingged.com as well.
Welcome to WPGlossy, Upchurch
Good to know that you have landed from Kingged.com, thanks!
Cheers that you are agreeing my viewpoint why should we avoid free WordPress theme and yes, the paid one would boost the brand awareness. I have already mentioned it under the subheading “Uniqueness” .
Thanks again for reading my piece of content, keep coming!
Hi ,
Nirmala , I’m agree with you that having Paid Premium wordpress theme for blog is not less than win-win thing.Like If buy Premium theme then we do not need to worry about Speed load , Seo , Hacker even placing ads which is must have thing for any blogger. Even I’m not using Premium theme for my blog but I’ll be using same in future as I know benefits of Paid theme.
Thanks for reading the post, Ravi. Yes, paid themes have a lot of features and benefits which would tweak your blog to the next level.
Good that you wish to a premium WordPress theme. If you want a good one, please reach me at any time, I’ll help you in getting a good Paid theme at free of cost. Have a good day, stay tuned!
Another great article Nirmala. I think the free themes are not efficient and responsive. Also with WordPress update, they might have problems. If you are a serious blogger, sooner or later you have to switch to premium or paid themes.
Some free WordPress themes have responsive features but they come with limited functions that would make our WP blog a limited platform. To extend its functionalities, it would be good to use the premium WordPress themes and plugins.
I agree that the free themes would get problems with the WordPress upgrades. Thanks for coming by, keep visiting to leave your wonderful thoughts.
Wow There are many benefits of paid WordPress them but where will I get these paid themes?
Hi Emi,
Thanks for reading my post. Good that you have recognized the benefits of paid WordPress theme. I have published another post “Best Marketplaces to buy WordPress Themes”, please check that post.
Thanks for coming by, stay tuned!
Thank you Nirmala and I completely agree as I myself prefer to use premium themes for my blog and there are many benefits of using premium themes as compared to free premium themes which are quite dangerous to use.
Thanks for accepting my viewpoints on purchasing the paid WP Themes, Rohit. Good to know your thoughts, keep coming!