If you're like me, you hear folks complain about Themeforest – a marketplace for WordPress themes (among other things). And the truth is that it's slowly getting better. Some themes over there aren't too bad.
But the reason you hear folks speak negatively is because so many themes (including some of the best selling ones) are seriously bloated, can lack support, and are hard for other developers to later adjust.
So the question arrives in my email, like it did today, with a plea:
“Could you just tell me where I could go to purchase a theme you'd consider trustworthy?”
It's hard, after all, if you're just getting started with WordPress to find the useful tips and distinguish them from some really bad advice.
So today I thought I would climb out of bed (I've been sick for a few days), and share with you three theme stores you may want to check out.
Okay Themes
I first found Mike McAlister's themes on Themeforest. They stood out because they were elegant but not bloated (which can be a tricky thing to pull off). Then I bought a few and looked over the code. And guess what? The code is just as elegant.
Now, many of you won't care much, because all you'll do is look at how it looks. I get that. But when you show up to your developer, or call that premium service provider I wrote about yesterday, they may freak out if you ask them to touch horrible code. Ok, they won't because they're professionals. But ask your friend for a favor, and boom, they won't be returning your calls for a while.
So check out Okay Themes.
Web Savvy Marketing
If you spend time talking to developers, you'll likely hear about the Genesis Framework. It's clean and fast and developers love it. And if you visit StudioPress' site, you'll see great child themes like Metro.
But what if you're looking for a more targeted theme – one that is more tailored to your specific situation? That's where my friend Rebecca Gill's store comes into play – because they create Genesis child themes. You'll still need Genesis, but now you can get a more nuanced look.
Even better is that they provide a “customization” service that will tweak one of their store themes so that you get a custom theme look at a small business price.
Go check out the theme store at Web Savvy Marketing.
Theme Foundry
If you've been over to Post Status to get your WordPress news, then you've likely heard about Theme Foundry from my friend Brian Krogsgard. After all, they sponsor Post Status.
And while that should highlight their commitment to our WordPress community, what makes them attractive is their reliability, support, clean code, and diverse themes.
We've all been to those sites where every theme looks a bit like the other one? That's not the case at Theme Foundry.
So check out Theme Foundry and say hi to Drew for me.
You buy trustworthy WordPress themes from trustworthy WordPress companies
The secret to buying a theme you won't regret later is making sure that the company you're dealing with is part of the community – looking to be a long-standing and effective player in an ecosystem of companies. That's harder than just being a shop that shoves “WordPress” on their site and offers themes or templates that they don't plan to support. Those are the folks looking to make a quick buck off a trend and then take off.
These three stores have not only been around a bit, but they're trustworthy members of our community – and they write good code. So I can highly recommend them to you if you're just getting started with your site and have been looking for a theme you can trust.
Good luck!