How to Buy a WordPress Theme and Why it's Worth it

One of the amazing things about WordPress is that it already comes with all the basic functionality that you might need when creating a simple website for yourself. On the top of that, the level of control it gives you over the appearance and functionality of your website is pretty amazing. This is done with help of themes that you can either create yourself or get from somewhere else.

This tutorial will cover the advantages of using a premium WordPress theme and things you should keep in mind while buying one.

WordPress comes with a default theme out-of-box when you first install it. It usually provides a basic layout and minimal styling. As you might already know, there are also a lot of other free themes available in WordPress theme directory.

But why use a premium theme if WordPress already has a directory of free themes?

Why is Buying a Premium Theme Worth it?

There are four main reasons why a premium theme could be a better choice for you compared to free themes.

1. You Will Get Better Support

Some free themes are created by individuals to either practice their skill or get some exposure. In any case, it usually doesn't make any fiscal sense for them to dedicate resources and provide support for users who install their theme.

You are more likely to get a response to your support questions after buying a premium theme because keeping you satisfied is good for the business of those premium theme developers.

2. You Will Get More Sophisticated Designs

Creating a full-fledged theme is not an easy task. This means that there is a good chance that free themes will not come with an eye-catching design. Since a lot of people prefer to use free themes, your website might also not look as unique as you would like it to be in order to stand out.

On the other hand, you can almost always find a good looking premium theme that sets you apart from the rest of the competition.

3. You Will Get Quicker Updates

All kinds of websites will require an update every now and then. These updates might add some new features to a theme or bring its coding practices up-to-date with modern standards.

Regularly updating a theme is a resource-intensive task and premium theme developers are more likely to undertake it because they have incentive to do so. People will only buy their themes if they are up to the latest standard and have many features.

4. You Can Save Money in The Long Run

There are a couple of different ways in which this might happen. First is that you will probably not have to pay someone money to add a feature to your theme because premium themes are more feature-complete. Another way you might save money is if you buy a theme as a bundle with pre-installed premium plugins.

Buying a theme along with all its premium plugins at a discounted price in comparison to buying each plugin individually can reduce your ownership costs.

I will cover some of these points in more detail in the next section where we discuss how to buy a WordPress theme.

How to Buy a WordPress Theme?

Our focus in this section will be on helping you buy a premium theme from ThemeForest that best fits your needs but the basic principles will be applicable everywhere.

1. Decide the Category

If you are planning to buy a theme, there is a good chance that you have already decided what kind of website you are going to create.

Searching for WordPress themes on ThemeForest will list some primary categories to narrow down your search for themes. The website lists thousands of themes which have been categorized according to the kind of website they will be used for. In our example, we will pick up the category Education.

2. Pick a Theme From the List

Currently, there are over 250 education related premium WordPress themes available on ThemeForest. The website creates a list of bestsellers for you by default. Pick a theme that you like based on its ratings, price or total number of sales. You will most probably have to look at a few different themes at this point.

We will go with Eduma in our example.

If you need some help picking a theme, here on Envato Tuts+ we have curated lists of the best themes on ThemeForest in every niche.

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3. Find Out More About the Theme

Once you have picked a few themes, you can start researching a bit more about them to see which of those will be perfect for you. Scrolling down a bit on the theme description page will show you relevant information like, when the theme was created and last updated.

Ideally, it is great if the last update of the theme was within 9 to 12 months. Some themes developers prefer to release less frequent big updates while others release more frequent incremental updates.

The sidebar on the theme description page also provides a lot of other useful information like compatible plugins and supported browsers. As you can see, Eduma supports a lot of popular plugins like Elementor, WooCommerce and WPBakery Page Builder. Its browser support even goes as far back as IE10.

Make sure that you check all these things in the theme that you pick as well.

4. Check the Live Preview of the Theme

Now, it is time to check the live preview of the theme to see how it actually looks. You should try out the live preview on multiple browsers across different devices to make sure that it is working as expected.

A single theme will usually come with multiple variants to get you started as quickly as possible. The following image shows you a preview of their single course demo.

There are over 20 different demos for Eduma that you can try out.

Each of these demos will be unique in its own way to cater to different users. If you download this theme, you will be able to easily install the one you like the most along with some dummy data.

5. Ask Questions About the Theme

The description page of these themes does a pretty good job of listing all the features that they provide. However, there will usually be some questions in your mind regarding customization etc. that you might like to ask.

The discussion page of the theme is a good starting point for that. Browse the the comments made by other people here or ask your own questions. You will most likely get back a reply with a day or two.

6. Purchase the Theme

Once you have done your due research, it is time to buy the theme with an appropriate license. Most people will probably just need the regular license.

Every purchase will give you access to free updates for a lifetime and support for six months. If you think you will need support for a longer duration, you can extend it to 12 months at the time of purchase to save some money.

Saving Money With Bundled Plugins

A lot of times, any themes you purchase on ThemeForest will come bundled with some premium plugins. The plugins would cost you extra money when bought by themselves. However, they are provided for free when used with the theme you purchased.

The differences between standalone plugins and bundled plugins are explained in detail in the Envato Market help page.

In case of Eduma, you will get the full set of ThimPress premium add-ons for free along with WPBakery page builder, slider revolution and Isotope. While the theme itself costs $69, buying all the plugins by themselves would cost you around $300. Therefore, it will make more economic sense for you to purchase the full package if you were planning on using those premium plugins anyway.

Final Thoughts

Free themes are good for personal websites and blogs. However, you should consider using premium themes for serious projects. They come with all the bells and whistles you might need either now or in the future when your business grows.

Picking out a great theme for your new website can save you a lot of time and money in the long run. I hope this article helped you in taking a step in the right direction. Take a look at over 11,000 themes listed on ThemeForest to choose the one that best meets your needs.

If you need help picking a theme, check out our curated lists of the best themes on ThemeForest!

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