Are Free WordPress Themes Really Free?

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To some of you that might sound like a dumb question. "Of course they're really free!" you might say. But, if you build a lot of WordPress blogs and try to find a different free theme for each of them then you know the time it takes to figure out all the special little features and sometimes less than friendly CSS and theme code.

Plus, you have to be aware that many free themes not only include bad code and misuse of tags they also include Spammy links to sites that you probably wouldn't want to link to. Many times this poor coding can cost you in SEO rankings and reputation. So, be careful and only use trusted WordPress theme sources.

One good resource that I've mentioned before is Court Tuttles SEO'd themes. Court really knows his stuff and you can bet that he's gone over every one of these with a fine-tooth comb and they can be trusted.The only down-side to most of these themes, in my opinion, is that they just don't look really original. Granted that's not Court's fault. He didn't design them he just optimized them to be more search engine friendly.

Another free theme that I love is the Free WP Premium Theme by the creator of the WP Remix Premium Theme. I've used this theme on several sites and I absolutely love it! Not only is it easy to use it does not look like a "free" theme. Here is a site I designed using this theme: Deeper Than Dating

My latest favorite is the most recent free WordPress theme from Brian Gardner. Brian is the author of the WordPress Revolution themes and iThemes series. I use his Revolution Magazine theme on 1Cat.biz.

His new theme comes in two layouts and is extremely easy to customize. In fact all I had to do was upload my own logo and replace the 468×60 ad banner at the top.

I used it on a clients site last week and they loved it! You can check it out here… http://www.TrafficAndConversion.com/

So, if you create a lot of blogs, and don't want to purchase a premium theme for all of them, find 3 or 4 free themes that you like, trust the coding and can find your way around easily and stick with them. It will save you time and in the end make you more profitable.

Sincerely, Barry O.

Tell me what you think, comment below.

Technorati Tags: WordPress themes

Written by Barry O · Filed Under WordPress Themes

Comments

2 Responses to “Are Free WordPress Themes Really Free?”

Michael on May 1st, 2008 12:39 am

That's really good advice Barry. I've tried dozens of themes over the years and each one requires intensive work to tweak it.

I'm using two of Brian Gardner's pro themes and decided to modify his new free blog theme for my personal site.

I think I'll stick with that in future for other blog sites I might set up.

Michael's last blog post..Man died at desk
Barry O on May 1st, 2008 1:22 am

Michael,

Very true on the theme tweaking. It can be hard to find the right theme that meets all of your needs for any given blog. They almost always require a little, and sometimes a lot, of modifying.
WordPress is one of those things that can be quite simple in one regard and very difficult in others.
That's why when I find a theme that I like I stick with it. It takes too much time and energy to learn your way around a new theme for every blog you set up.

Barry O.