You have probably heard the saying: Nothing good in life is free! WordPress offers many free themes, plugins, and widgets, but you will want to pay attention to the possible downfalls of using a free WordPress theme.

The first concern is what may be hidden or embedded in the code built within your theme. No matter how you are using your WordPress blog, the last thing you want to do is attach potential spam to your visitors. Unfortunately, some of the WordPress themes do have some sort of spam built into the theme. Also, the more elaborate theme creators may have embedded the spam so deep that if you try to remove it your entire site will fail.

You can expect that premium themes – or those you pay for – will usually be free of spam. After all, a designer likely would not embed spam because they have a reputation to uphold.

A second reason for using a premium theme is that you will have support from its creator. Since anyone can create and make available free themes, designers will not usually help with your problems regarding that free theme. WordPress has attempted to improve this issue by creating forums to seek help, but fixing or changing the site will be up to you.

Since designers of premium themes are paid for their design, they want to be sure it works and will usually be available through a dedicated forum or have another method that they can be contacted.

A third potential problem of using a free WordPress theme is that it often will not support the widgets or plugins you would like to use.

Designers of premium WordPress themes generally stay in contact with their users. They listen to the issues and make fixes available through upgrades. Since the designers know who has purchased their themes, they are able to send out notification of upgrades through e-mails.

Please understand that I am not stating that every free WordPress theme is full of spam. I am only suggesting that you should be aware of these possibilities and do some research before you jump on the first theme you come across. Also, using the themes offered from the WordPress Dashboard are generally safer than something you might find from surfing the internet.

If you are just beginning as a new business or blog writer, using a free theme available from WordPress may be your best solution to get your site up and tested. But as your blog or business grows, consider upgrading to a premium theme. This will give you a site that is more user and owner friendly without worrying about spam or support.

Whether you’re in the market for a fresh blog design or need to start a blog from scratch, there are many blog themes and platforms to consider. Many clients come to us in a quest to find the best blogging theme to fit their needs. Although we always suggest WordPress as the blogging platform they should use, we do recommend different WordPress themes based on specific business needs and personal lifestyles.

This post’s sole purpose is to act as your guide to help you make your WordPress theme decision quick and easy.

Let’s start with the basic elements of what your blog needs in order to work for your business:

1. SEO capabilities that will enable you to rank in search engines.

2. A look and feel compatible with your brand message.

3. Design that is in line with your blog purpose and what you’re trying to achieve with your blog-in terms of generating business.

4. Backend features that work for your specific lifestyle.

Below I have outlined the features and benefits, as well as the ideal users for three types of WordPress themes: Thesis, ProPhoto, and premade WordPress themes.

See the highlights below:

Thesis

**Little Disclaimer:We’re probably a little biased to Thesis as we use it for our own blog and LOVE it! But, that’s not to say it’s perfect for every type of business blogger.

Features and Benefits:

1. Great support: Thesis’ support forum is a collaborative community of other thesis users who use the forum as a place to ask and answer questions. Thesis also has a support and development team who is just a click away if an issue arises.

2. Easy-to-use design panel and font controls: The ultimate in user-friendly design controls, Thesis Design Options enables you to control most of your blog design without any knowledge of code. For example, you can easily add videos and pictures to your sidebar, change sidebar layout and width, and play with font types, sizes, and colors-all without having to know any code.

3. Faster page load times: Search engines look at page load time as an essential factor in page rankings, which is why having a blog that loads quickly is a must in terms of page rank. It’s also important when it comes to your blog visitors who don’t want to wait a few seconds for each item to load on your blog. They’ll leave without waiting. Trust me.

4. Built-in SEO framework:The Thesis creators prefer to call Thesis an SEO-Optimized WordPress Framework rather than a WordPress Theme. I would agree with them, and here’s why:

Unlike other WordPress themes, Thesis has phenomenal, built-in SEO capabilities. No need to find an extra SEO plug-in to optimize your blog. And what’s even better is that Thesis design code is completely separate from HTML code. To understand the benefit of this separated code, you must first understand the basics of blog coding.

Most blog themes don’t separate HTML coding from the design coding. When these themes are used, too much added coding can puff up the code that search engines read. This type of inflammation disables search engines from understanding what your blog is about, and, in turn, deters your blog from ranking.

Because Thesis separates the design code from the HTML code, Google can easily read the clean HTML code and rank your blog. This way, you can do whatever you want in terms of design, and it won’t gunk up the code that Google reads. Also, whenever you want to change the design of your blog, you don’t have to worry about it affecting your hard-earned blog rankings.

5. Affordable:Thesis offers users two options: Personal Option and Developer’s Option. The Personal Option is a onetime fee $87.00 and provides users with the use of Thesis on one live website and one localized development server, access to members-only Answers and Forums, lifetime Thesis upgrades, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

The Developer’s Option is a onetime fee of $164.00 and provides users with unlimited use of Thesis on sites owned by the user, access to all-new beta versions of Thesis before they’re released, access to Client Site Options, which allows users to deploy Thesis on sites for clients, access to members-only Answers and Forums, lifetime Thesis upgrades, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Great for business owners who…

Want a customizable design and the ability to change the design and most layout components of their blog without the help of a developer.

Use their blog as a main component of their online marketing strategy.

Want an online area to showcase their videos and photos and provide additional resources.

Desire to decrease the amount of time they have to spend finding SEO plug-ins.

Are looking for excellent technical support.

ProPhoto

Features and benefits:

1. Easy-to-use design panel and font controls: Changing the look and feel of your blog is super easy with ProPhoto. Similar to Thesis, ProPhoto enables you to control most of your blog design without any knowledge of code. For example, you can easily add flash images to your header and slideshows to your posts, change sidebar layout and width, and play with font types, sizes, and colors-all without having to know any code.

2. Slideshows and Flash: ProPhoto acts as a flash portfolio. Because ProPhoto has a variety of flash features, the tone and design of your blog can have a sophisticated and highly engaging feel. Whether you want slide-out pages, drop-down contact menus, a flash header, or a stylish slideshow, ProPhoto lets users customize their blog flash components easily without having to know code.

3. Faster page load times: As mentioned above in the Thesis description, search engines look at page load time as an essential factor in page rankings, which is why having a blog that loads quickly is a must in terms of page rank.

Great for business owners who…

Are in the field of photography or need to showcase high-resolution photographs in bulk.

Want to feature slideshows and flash videos within blog posts and / or in the header of their blog.

Want a customizable design and the ability to change the design and most layout components of their blog without the help of a developer.

Use their blog as a main component of their online marketing strategy.

Want to use their blog as an extension of their visual portfolio.

Premade WordPress Themes

** Although premade WordPress themes don’t have as many bells and whistles as Thesis, ProPhoto, and other enhanced and customizable themes, they are still a great blogging platform to use.

Features and Benefits:

1. Customizable Style Sheets (CSS):Most premade WordPress themes allow for design and template changes using a customizable style sheet. A developer is required for changing the CSS and other types of blog coding such as PHP and HTML.

2. Customizable sidebars:Similar to all other WordPress themes (including Thesis and ProPhoto), premade WordPress themes enable users to activate widgets on their sidebars to post videos, pictures, and other engaging features. But unlike the Thesis and ProPhoto, you need to have some background in HTML coding to post these features to your sidebar.

3. Plug-ins:When using a premade WordPress theme, consider getting an SEO plug-in to ensure your posts are ranked by search engines. Also, consider using a Share plug-in that allows your blog readers to share your post automatically with friends on their social media networks.

Be careful not to cram your blog with plug-ins as they can bloat your coding. And as mentioned earlier in this post, because code has a direct connection to the design and layout of your blog, too many extra plug-ins can bulk up your code and prohibit search engines from ranking your blog.

Great for business owners who…

Want to test the waters of blogging before committing to a more advanced theme.

Have an on-staff developer or designer who can customize the blog.

Want a minimalistic and more basic look and feel to their blog.

Don’t wish to use their blog as a main component to their online marketing strategy.

Don’t have the time or energy to devote to proper blog posting and marketing.

With the growing trend of online jobs and web-based tools for making money; the world we in live in today is bamboozled by a multitude of such resources; each varying in its design, role, purpose, effects and graphic forms. One such innovative software which has made the realm of websites-their creation and management a tad easier is WordPress.

You might be marketing your products or services through dedicated websites on the World Wide Web and are looking for optimization options to increase you hits via search engines; WordPress is a software that can be used to create web logs or it may be used for the mere purpose of online marketing.

While attracting traffic to your sites is the primary strategy of all website owners there are a few additional features and options that one should be alive to in order to be successful in this large ocean of internet. Your website layout is perhaps the first and the most important thing that is noticed by any viewer or visitor. If the theme is not friendly and attractive; the chances of people not returning to your domain are high. This is where the importance of WordPress themes and their use comes into play. WordPress themes enable website owners to give a new dimension to their website style, presenting itself in a way which is accessible by a majority of visitors.

The last thing you want is to overdo your graphics and give an overtly high-tech look to your website which succeeds in intimidating most of your visitors rather than grasping their attention and interest. You can either make use of the default themes or download and install additional ones from the internet. WordPress themes online are available in humungous varieties, shades and formats ranging from colorful graphics to eye-catching boxes and sidebars.

Moreover, a number of designers worldwide make use of their programming skills to create newer and unique WordPress themes which are featured on their dedicated websites and blogs. Most of these online WordPress themes are available for free download while there might be some which require a small payment.

Online WordPress themes are an excellent source of earning for many. If you find yourself to be apt enough to play with graphics and colors then perhaps you can earn money yourself by creating a website which features all of your theme works. This way you can gain profit and the more popular your themes become; you will find your website hits increasing proportionally.

For those individuals who are still new to the realm of WordPress themes; a good way to start and practice would be to opt for modification of the existent themes. A great many website owners require themes with a little customization and enhancement and this is where you can prove your worth and gain profits.

Want to start your own website and do not want to hire a website designer. You have great chances of successfully starting a website with the WordPress blogging software. WordPress is easy and absolutely manageable and within a day you have mastered the art of maintaining and managing website without too much hassle. There are hundreds of WordPress themes to choose from, moreover for those who cannot spend too much on their website you can use the free WordPress theme for the purpose of starting the website.

Most of the web hosting packages allow use of WordPress, you need to install this software and start using it. Another way of using the WordPress is by logging on to the website and getting your own domain name. For those who want to use a hosting package, using WordPress is the easiest way.

When you start a website, one of the most important components of making it visible to search engines is making it search engine optimized. Not all themes support direct optimization that is putting in of Meta tags, Meta description as well as title of the website. However, some themes allow just this thereby making it very easy for the user to make a great blog which can be modified easily and at the same time make it easily visible to the search engines.

There are some themes which use the tags as keywords and submit those to search engines. This makes it very important that you keep an eye on the keyword and density when submitting website to search engines. There does happen to be a popular belief that Meta tags and description do not have any significance for the search engines. On contrary to this belief, most search engines do make a primary classification and categorization with the help of Meta tags and web page/site description.

Some themes allow ease of use, you can change text color, background color, font, etc. i.e. almost every feature according to your liking. You may not have to pay for each of these fabulous themes. Free WordPress themes are available in abundance. Some do not allow all the features to be used unless you have purchased the theme. However, you can make basic changes.

Benefits of purchasing the themes:

Not purchasing a particular theme will save you money. However, it also means you will not be able to use the theme to its 100% ability. Also, you will get help from the developers, you will get reference material that those using the free version of WordPress theme will not have access to. Moreover, using the paid version is also a way of repaying back all the hard work that is done by the programmers. Only those who are hard on cash end up using the free version.

SEO friendly WordPress themes are most famous. Here are some of the examples like the Atahualpa, SEO Basics, Clearline Theme, etc.

Want to start your own website and do not want to hire a website designer. You have great chances of successfully starting a website with the WordPress blogging software. WordPress is easy and absolutely manageable and within a day you have mastered the art of maintaining and managing website without too much hassle. There are hundreds of WordPress themes to choose from, moreover for those who cannot spend too much on their website you can use the free WordPress theme for the purpose of starting the website.

Most of the web hosting packages allow use of WordPress, you need to install this software and start using it. Another way of using the WordPress is by logging on to the website and getting your own domain name. For those who want to use a hosting package, using WordPress is the easiest way.

When you start a website, one of the most important components of making it visible to search engines is making it search engine optimized. Not all themes support direct optimization that is putting in of Meta tags, Meta description as well as title of the website. However, some themes allow just this thereby making it very easy for the user to make a great blog which can be modified easily and at the same time make it easily visible to the search engines.

There are some themes which use the tags as keywords and submit those to search engines. This makes it very important that you keep an eye on the keyword and density when submitting website to search engines. There does happen to be a popular belief that Meta tags and description do not have any significance for the search engines. On contrary to this belief, most search engines do make a primary classification and categorization with the help of Meta tags and web page/site description.

Some themes allow ease of use, you can change text color, background color, font, etc. i.e. almost every feature according to your liking. You may not have to pay for each of these fabulous themes. Free WordPress themes are available in abundance. Some do not allow all the features to be used unless you have purchased the theme. However, you can make basic changes.

Benefits of purchasing the themes:

Not purchasing a particular theme will save you money. However, it also means you will not be able to use the theme to its 100% ability. Also, you will get help from the developers, you will get reference material that those using the free version of WordPress theme will not have access to. Moreover, using the paid version is also a way of repaying back all the hard work that is done by the programmers. Only those who are hard on cash end up using the free version.

SEO friendly WordPress themes are most famous. Here are some of the examples like the Atahualpa, SEO Basics, Clearline Theme, etc.

Dear Blogger,

You have taken it upon yourself to join the millions of other bloggers and make your contribution to the blogging community, and you have driven a stake into the tiny piece of virtual soil that will represent you in the vast world of the internet.

The internet is still in the exploration stage similar to the early settlers of the United States when one could drive a stake into the ground and call it his/her own because they arrived there first. Even more similar is the land could only remain theirs as long as they were to somehow improve that land, as can be compared to letting your website or blog become abandoned, unused and forgotten.

Many people start a blog with intentions of keeping the contribution updated with fresh new ideas only to find themselves frustrated with the technical challenges that come with designing, promoting or maintaining a blog.

Not everyone who wants a great blog is a technical wizard, and that can become enough of a deterrent for some to just give up, and leave the blogging to those with the expertise, or the money to hire the expertise.

Lets face it, the technical side of choosing the right domain name, getting the blog hosted on a server, properly configuring the blog so that the search engines can find the blog, designing a blog that represents your creative side, and even deciding how to keep a steady flow of fresh content coming to the blog, these are all vital to your blogs long term survival, yet finding answers to all of these questions can be akin to an Easter egg hunt!

One thing for sure is it makes your “”Google Search”" skills fantastic! It’s almost like someone purposefully wants you to have to find everything out in tiny little pieces, first this little bit and then that one, like a cruel joke is being played on you!

The bottom line is that what most everyone really needs are WordPress Tutorial Videos that can show them how each step is accomplished from the very beginning to the semi-advanced stuff. Videos that can be referred to over and over again each time a new blog is set up or if changes are made to an existing blog. If the blogger could spend more time “”blogging”" and less time searching for answers to some crazy technical glitch their success rate would be far far greater.

Learning how to become an accomplished blogger is actually easy!

The world today has become a world of electronic gadgets and high tech everything, if you want to live in this world you must have an edge to keep up with the technological boom that we are all experiencing.

The internet is one such place that technology has not forgotten about, in fact it’s how the world is able to communicate with each other as if we are all within walking distance to one another.

How is this possible?

It’s now possible for virtually anyone to put up their own website or blog and reach out to millions of people with their own ideas and make a real impact on the very things they feel strongly about.

More and more people are coming online each day and many of them struggle with the “”how to’s”" of setting up their web pages or blogs. WordPress has become extremely popular amongst bloggers because of the flexibility and freedom that the platform offers, however it can be challenging for many to learn how to get the most out of all of the features.

I am technically challenged, can I still learn how to use WordPress?

The easiest way for most people to learn is by watching videos that show you as if you were looking over their shoulder as they give the instruction. It’s much more effective than trying to read a manual or book. Most people seem to be more used to learning this way because they have been watching tv their whole life and it seems more natural to absorb the information this way. WordPress tutorial videos are going to break down the steps one by one so that you can stop and start the video as many times as needed until you completely understand the lesson before moving on.

I always thought that WordPress was only for professionals, is that true?

Not at all, in fact WordPress is actually quite simple and it’s why so many people are using it all over the world. It has become widely used by beginner bloggers because once they learn how to set one up they can find thousands of free themes to make their site look unique at the press of a few buttons!

Today I want to talk about a neat little tip for hiding or displaying certain pages from your WordPress blog or site’s navigation menu. It’s really quite simple, and very handy if you don’t know how to do it already.

Here is the line of code that is either already inserted somewhere in your WordPress template files (most likely the header.php file) or needs to be added to your WordPress template files in order to display the list of your website’s pages:

This line of code displays every single one of the website’s pages that you have created in your WordPress admin panel. But suppose you don’t want three of the pages to be displayed in the main navigation? How do you control which pages are displayed and which are not?

All you need to do is simply add to the code mentioned above. We are going to add the page IDs that you want to exclude.

(Note: You can find the page or post IDs by going to the list of pages or posts in your WordPress admin panel. Hover your mouse cursor over the page or post titles and look at the status bar at the bottom of your screen. The ID number is the number at the very end of the link that shows. Leave a comment below if that is not clear and you need more help.)

Now that you know which page or post IDs you plan to exclude, add the numbers to your code, like the example below:

And that’s all there is to it! Now the pages that you want to hide from the navigation menu will not be displayed.

Now – if there are more pages to exclude than to include, you may want to do this the other way around. Add this line of code to define the only pages that you want to display in the navigation menu:

So, there you go – a very easy way to control which pages do and don’t display in your WordPress navigation menus! Let me know if you have any questions or need further help or explanation.

WordPress has quickly become the quickest and easiest way to get a web page online and even complete beginners can have a web site up and running in a matter of hours. The problems start to arise when people become a bit more WordPress experienced and want to start to change header images or maximise their 404 pages.

404 pages are for those that do not know the page people are taken to if they try to type in a page on your site that does not exist. You usually will get a message like “”this page does not exist or this page not found”" By using a simple change in your WordPress you can make sure that any 404 page has content on it or links to your other site pages.

So how do you learn all the more experienced WordPress stuff? Well you can try and find a WordPress ebook or a WordPress pdf that will show you what to do. The only problem with these is that they can be so long winded or include far too much technical details. Soon you get lost and then you revert back to not bothering as it takes up too much time.

The best way I have found to learn these new skills I need is by watching video lessons or video tutorials as they are known these days. The good points of this are that you can watch a bit of the video then pause whilst you carry out the same steps on your own WordPress theme. Then start the video again and move on to the next step.

So what can you learn to do on your theme? You can change the header image to one that is more relevant for your site. You can make sure that your 404 pages are maximised and you can learn how to blog from your desk top as well as alter images and graphics. In fact with WordPress videos you can just about learn anything and everything that you want to.

If you are reading this article then you’ve probably taken a look at WordPress and you’re a tad confused on just how to use it and you could really use a solid WordPress video tutorial. Maybe you’ve tried to install it and not had much luck. Or you’ve got it installed but are overwhelmed with the number of options available. But mostly you are probably afraid that you’re not taking advantage of the features that are right for you and you are horribly frustrated that you don’t have a single source to go to for answers.

Well when it comes down to it, every question you could conceivably have regarding anything about WordPress is available free on the internet. The only problem is you’d have to search through hundreds of links to find all the info you want and there is no guarantee that what you find is current or accurate.

Learning how to use WordPress can be a bit like learning how to swim. You can jump into a pool that’s over your head and just let Mother Nature take her course, meaning you either drown or figure out how to dog paddle, or you can go to the YMCA and get lessons which will not only teach you how to swim correctly but avoid the sheer panic of the natural method. Which one would you be comfortable with?

Let’s just say for a moment that you don’t want to pay the YMCA and you’ll take your chances in the pool and leave it up to Mother Nature. Well if that’s the way you feel, go visit YouTube.com and search for WordPress. You’ll be overwhelmed with the number of WordPress videos.

Then start watching a few. Are they professionally produced, well organized, is the narrator knowledgeable, can you even understand the narrator, and most importantly…did you learn anything. Maybe now you’re beginning to realize the difference between teaching and telling. Teaching is a professional skill set. Simply telling someone how to do something is not.

If you really need a demonstration, look up the free video tutorials. For starters they typically aren’t entirely free as they want you to buy something from them, usually WordPress themes. But play a couple of modules. Then ask the tell tale question, “”Would you want your kid being taught by this guy?”" Nine time out of ten it will be some guy just winging it because he’s done it a hundred times. He’ll speak too fast and he will not be fully organized. If your kid couldn’t learn from him, how can you?

Acquiring a professional WordPress video tutorial will make your website efforts so much easier. The really good tutorials, the ones with professional teachers, are not free but they aren’t expensive either. If you value your time, if you hate having to go back and fix mistakes, if you have a low frustration threshold then you most definitely should consider a solid WordPress video tutorial.