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Our Channel ReadWriteBiz, sponsored by Yola.com, is a resource and guide for small businesses. Yola.com is an award winning website builder that makes it easy for small businesses to create a website. With Yola's professional templates and easy-to-use tools, you can make a website that helps you stand out from the competition.
When it comes to launching blogs and Websites, small businesses often go with Wordpress, and for great reasons: it's customizable, widely-used and - best of all - free. In addition to the core product, there are tons of free plugins and themes available that make building out the ultimate site a cinch.
Sure, we all love free stuff. But just because there are hundreds of free options within reach doesn't mean you shouldn't be willing to spend a few dollars.
Enhanced SecurityAs we wrote a few weeks ago, free Wordpress themes can come with security exploits. An analysis done by Siobhan Ambrose on the WPMU.org blog showed that most Google results for the query "free Wordpress themes" led to themes containing security exploits that enabled the inclusion of malicious code hidden in one or more of the themes PHP files. In other cases, themes can come with SEO spam baked right in, which can in turn hurt your own site's search rankings.
To be fair, most free Wordpress themes do not contain vulnerabilities of this sort. As Ambrose recommends, you can safely download legitimate, free themes from Wordpress.org, Smashing Magazine and Woo Themes, among others. But in general, premium themes are probably less likely to come with security issues than free ones. If problems do arise, many premium themes come with technical support to help troubleshoot them.
Better DesignLet's face it: In many cases, when a site is sporting a free Wordpress theme, you can tell. A surprising number of business sites even go with the default theme or another very popular option. For personal blogs, this can be forgiven. For businesses, it can look unprofessional.
Even though there are quite a few free themes that look premium, on the whole, the ones that cost a few bucks are more professionally-designed. It's worth investing a little bit to help your site stand out in the cookie-cutter crowd.
We rounded up six especially attractive Wordpress themes for small businesses, but that's only a small sampling of what's available.
We can't overstate the importance of design when it comes to business sites, especially if your site is used to sell products or capture leads. When a crummy-looking site or bad user experience can mean the difference between a completed transaction and a disgruntled would-be customer, investing in a good design is worth it.
While It's Not Free, It's Also Not Expensive
Small businesses are justifiably a budget-concious lot. That's what makes open source products like Wordpress so appealing. Yet while premium Wordpress themes are not free, they're still pretty cheap. Consider it could cost thousands of dollars to get a professional design firm to give your site a facelift, paying $20 or $50 is a drop in the bucket.
A membership to the high-quality theme directory Elegant Themes only costs $39 per year. A subscription gives you access to over fifty premium themes, with new ones being released all the time. Other examples include WooThemes, Premium Wordpress and Theme Forest.
Customization and DocumentationAnyone who knows their way around HTML, CSS and basic PHP can customize pretty much any Wordpress theme, but many premium theme developers make it easier by providing detailed documentation and, in many cases, the original Photoshop PSD files for easy graphics manipulation.
Another perk of premium themes is that many of them offer more options for customizing your site's appearance from the Wordpress admin. For example, Elegant Themes come with their own settings area called ePanels, from which you can control graphics, color schemes, SEO settings, advertisting, the site's navigation and some aspects of its layout. Many of these things are typically only editable at the theme level, which obviously requires some coding ability.
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Share AresWhat about actually paying someone else to develop your own site, to your own needs and requirements? Yes, it may be more expensive, but then if you get the right company you will get great support and do exactly what you want, how you want it.Phil LauterjungI've tried free themes and premium themes for both personal and business sites. After trying different premium themes I have found StudioPress has the best themes and support. They have strengthened their position by merging with CopyBlogger Media; and the related products, like ScribeSEO, really enhance their already great themes. In my case, since I'm not a designer (I can barely draw 'stick people'), it was worth a few hundred dollars to have someone customize the design.Henry NgTotally agree. One should not be "Penny Wise and Pound Foolish". A great design goes a long way.Steve HilliarThe problem with paid WP themes is whether or not there is any support. I have bought three expensive themes from three different outfits and there is pitiful support. Make certain before you buy there is a real accountable person behind the theme.Jeffrey DavisI've used several child themes on StudioPress's Genesis framework and absolutely love Genesis. I don't think anyone could go wrong there.Pete SchusterI really enjoy WooThemes design as well, and I can't help but agree with the power of WordPress and the quality of some inexpensive themes. I've recently consulted several clients who are in the real estate business, and the solutions out their are incredible. For a site that should take a team of designers and develops to make can be built out and live in a few days thanks to some premium theme. Although its not ultimately the best solution, for a small business who is just starting up and has no presence on the net, it can't be beat.Tech LooserPremium themes are the way to .. unfortunately most people do not go that waytechlooser.comDJBI spent £30 on my theme and it was the best thing i ever didBostonDaveSince good themes typically range from $20 - 200, just work out your hourly rate (even if you are working inside a company) and you will see that value of starting with a premium theme and then customizing the simple items.
@Amir Agreed on the plugins as well. For example, you can spend your time working with Contact Form 7 but Gravity Forms ($39+) will get you more and without the hassle. The same logic applies here as my statement above.Roie SExcellent topic, since most free themes (even ones by the likes of Smashing mag) are made with SEO in mind for spreading well crafted footer links, while exploiting a basic human trait...Amir HelzerThe same trend is going in WordPress plugins. There are excellent free plugins, but many authors are moving to some sort of commercial model, so that they can build a sustainable business around their work.Donny GambleAny blog that I start, I always purchase a custom theme and the have a designer customize that themeblog comments powered by Disqus Sponsored by
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yeah it is truly said above that blogs are easier with wordpress and i wanna tel that making website through yola is also easy way...
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