Do you think the same that when thousands of WordPress themes are available for free then why do people go for paid themes?
If yes then you are landed on the right page and I will discuss all the pros, cons and why it is important for you to get premium themes and many more. If I conclude this topic in a single sentence then you can say paid themes have easier customization, higher functionality, dedicated support, and don’t require a single line of code to create a good-looking website.
What Are the Benefits of WordPress Premium Themes?
Consider paid themes as an investment in your business just as you would do for web hosting. You’re at the web development phase, so I would recommend you to go with the lowest-priced shared hosting plan which is the first choice of every business startup, freelancer or developer. Premium themes charge a price for a reason and it is their premium features.
Generally, paid themes are superior to freebies, for beginners who don’t know how to develop a website due to their more advanced functionality and required features. Every well-reputed and popular premium theme should be customized for multiple purposes and include more than one homepage demo. In this manner, you pay for one solution, but you receive a variety of designs and are able to build different types of websites. This option is amazing for those who are currently working on a variety of projects. Moreover, you can get custom icons, multiple colour schemes, pre-installed widgets, and WordPress plugins.
Choosing the right theme as per your required layout and business niche not only gives you access to a fully functional theme, but also gives you access to professional support, frequent updates, more customization options, and the highest level of security. In addition to that, a paid WordPress theme is highly unique compared to a free one.
Premium WordPress themes should have the following characteristics:
- Feature-rich: Fully compatible with the latest versions of WordPress, PHP, Bootstrap or CSS etc.
- Responsiveness: Fully Responsive for any size of the device which is compulsory by google to be a key ranking factor
- Compatibility: Support a variety of browsers
- Customizability: Highly customizable to develop a website as per your requirements
- Integration: Better integrates with a range of plugins
- SEO-Friendly: Clean code and SEO-Friendly site structure
Why is it Important to use a Premium WordPress theme?
Following are the main reasons why it is important to go with a paid theme while thousands of free themes are available.
1. Innovative Design:
While free WordPress themes may appear attractive but they have very limited design customization options. Beginners and freebies tend to look somewhat similar, which makes it difficult for anyone to find something unique for himself. There are plenty of premium WordPress themes available on the different marketplaces for users to choose from. Developers of these premium solutions care about the unique design, customization and wide range of features. In terms of ready-made layouts, they would deliver unique, and innovative designs to meet a variety of tastes and needs. For those who would love to create their layout manually, this is also possible with WordPress page builders such as Elementor.
2. Extensive Functionality:
There are multiple essential features included in a premium one that you will not find in a theme which is freely available. You will get the features such as dynamic galleries, custom widgets, social share buttons and many more. Moreover, they have better SEO-friendly code and structure along with a higher level of responsiveness to different screens.
3. NoCode Needed:
When you choose one of your desired themes, you just have to install it, customize it and use it. You don’t need to be a professional web developer or a tech-savvy person who knows to program.
4. Consistent Updates:
The purchase includes frequent updates and time-by-time functionality improvements and resolves possible bugs and issues. To be more specific, all marketplaces require developers to perform updates at least once or twice per year.
5. Enhanced Level of Security:
Free themes are not guaranteed to be updated regularly and have security holes, which makes them more susceptible to bugs and attacks. There are many security tools are included in paid solutions to protect your site from hackers or other malicious attacks.
What Are the Disadvantages of WordPress Premium Themes?
It is understood, that all premium themes are not perfect. The code is often weak, and may not work with all plugins. People don’t pay attention to the developer’s note and neglect the theme requirements, which is the main cause of this problem.
A large number of features can also be a problem for some users who don’t want to use all of them. Both beginners and experienced users can find too many confusing features that they don’t see before or set according to the developer’s precision confusing.
The fact of the matter is that a free WordPress theme isn’t entirely free but we have to understand a few things to think about while choosing a free WordPress theme:
- Most business and professional websites need a corporate look and extra functionality, which a free theme does not offer.
- Over 1 million themes have been downloaded already! People recognize the repetitive features and layout of these free themes because there is no payment or any other barriers to downloading and using them.
- The WordPress repository site contains a large number of free themes that are rarely updated and might not be compatible with updates to the WordPress CMS.
- Free themes don’t have any support and WordPress can’t identify the developer due to a large number of contributors. It means you can’t get any quick response directly from the theme developers.
- Free WordPress themes that are not available on the official theme repository may contain bugs or poorly sourced code leading to security compromises.
- There are different licenses for free themes, so it is recommended to know what you can do before downloading the theme.
Final Words
I heard about one most common objection, and I admit it: a custom theme is more expensive than a free one. However, when the business gets higher traffic then the amount you paid for premium web hosting and custom theme should be worth it. Your website will look professional and always have the latest features and eye-catching design for your visitors to enjoy. It will load your website faster and keep it more secure.