Wordpress theme?

[farmnwife]

Do I really need to buy Thesis wordpress theme? I have other sites I want to create. So it will cost me $164 for the download. Have others not bought it and still please with their choice? Or will I regret it down the road?

trying to make as few mistakes upfront as possible,
judi

[angienewton]

Judi,
I have never bought a WP theme so I can't help you there. But if you're asking if you need to buy the Thesis theme (or any for that matter) to have a successful blog, no it's not necessary.

[farmnwife]

Yes, I wanted to know what I would be missing out on if I used a free theme instead of buying one.

[cindybidar]

I use Thesis on all my sites, and I LOVE it. But no, you don't need it to have a successful blog.

[angienewton]

To be honest, you wouldn't miss out on much. You can make a free theme work just fine. I have had a free theme (header was designed by hubby) since I started my blog over 2 years ago and it hasn't stopped me from having a successful blog.

[Roey]

Judi,

Thesis is a great theme, but it takes a little knowledge to navigate. I know Cindy uses it and loves it, and she is quite gracious with helping you if you need it.

I ended up sticking with WPFlex because I found it more user-friendly, although it is probably slightly less customizable than Thesis.

If you are new to this, I would suggest using a free template to get started with, and once you get your feet wet, then upgrading.

[jdanielcook]

Take a look at WooThemes (http://http://www.woothemes.com/themes/free/). I have tried several of their free themes and they work quite nicely. It depends what you are looking for. They have pretty good SEO and several options for your site.

As a side note, I am pretty new here, is it impolite to include an affiliate link IF the product is an answer to the question? Not links for the sake of links but ones that point to a solution to the issue?

[angienewton]

As a side note, I am pretty new here, is it impolite to include an affiliate link IF the product is an answer to the question? Not links for the sake of links but ones that point to a solution to the issue?

Daniel,
Thanks for asking. As of right now, I don't have a problem with using affiliate links when recommending products as long as it doesn't get out of hand AND as long as members don't just jump right in and start promoting but interact on the forum. I can read people pretty well so if it gets out of hand I will take care of it by deleting the links or banning the members (not directing at you of course just overall). You are welcome to use your aff link.

[Kayla Fay]

If you are going to buy themes, check out the ones by StudioPress. The forum alone is worth the money. From most accounts, they are easier to work with than Thesis. There are lots of options, and there is GREAT built in SEO.

And I have an affiliate link to those, while we're on the subject! LOL

[DebraLloyd]

You certainly don't HAVE to buy a theme, but I really do believe you get what you pay for.

I have seen others on this forum suggest using one theme that you can make changes to say color and layout [one, two or three columns] to make it look different across multiple blogs and that makes A LOT of sense to me. This would typically be a Premium theme [that you would need to buy] but they do have other advantages in that they have a lot of widgets built in. Widgets will allow you to add sidebars and functions to customize the theme as needed and this is a great advantage as you can make the same theme look very different – think of it as accessorizing an outfit, it’s often the extras that make it really standout form the crowd.

I have had businesses I worked with as a consultant switch over to WordPress and see their SERP’s, traffic and conversions improve almost immediately.

www.themeforest.net – lots of free and low cost options
www.solostream.com – lots of themes, some free, many premium, good support via the forum

Full Disclosure - No affiliate links, but I do know the folks at Solostream very well - I was the listing broker when the business was sold in 2008.

Cheers,
Deb

email or DM me for my list of favorite Word Press PlugIns.

[deniseoberry]

I've used plenty of free wordpress themes in the past for my sites. There are a ton of them out there that are very nice looking. Just pick one and get started.

Last year I bought the Thesis theme package (http://www.deniseoberry.com/go/thesis) and really liked it. But it does have a very steep learning curve. The good news is they have a helpful support forum you can go to to work out the kinks.

I recently got the ProPlus Theme Package from StudioPress (http://www.deniseoberry.com/go/studiopress). It is absolutely amazing. Great templates to work from. I recently implemented one of their themes on my denisoberry.com (http://www.deniseoberry.com) site. It was quick and easy. They also have an awesome support forum. You can get an answer to any question you have.

Just a word of caution on free themes. There are some bad people out there who will stuff the theme with hidden key words. So make sure you are not getting a theme that has something like that in it.

[pmaior]

I have used both free and premium themes and also created my own themes using software(easier than you think)
There are plenty of free themes available and with the newer releases of WP very easy to install and find right from admin panel.

Socrates is another premium theme and not really difficult to set up. You can check the link in my sig if you are interested in a review. I find that it makes it really easy to set up the basic features that used to require the editing of files, in Socrates it is all drag and drop/cut and paste. Makes creating Menus and replacing header images very easy. Free themes are not always that straight forward.

I use artisteer to create my own themes/templates. If I had to pick something to purchase it would be artisteer, because you can use it over and over to customize your own templates and it supports multiple platforms like WP, Drupal, Joomla and HTML.

Pablo

[Clay Franklin]

I love Thesis (http://clayfranklin.com/thesis) and use it just about all my sites.
I also bought the Studio Press developers pack and use it on my Wife and son's sites.

I am also converting http://insuremyjumper.com for my client to Thesis this week to improve SEO. It really does a nice job on automated SEO for your blog IMO