The Web Wrangler

I’ve been building and customizing WordPress sites for a couple of years now. I’d even go so far as to call it one of my specialties. I confess that I don’t know PHP well enough to create a WordPress site from scratch; so typically, I start with a basic free theme and alter it, changing out graphics and re-writing the CSS, HTML and, sometimes, PHP codes until it meets my client’s specifications.

I won’t lie — the money’s pretty good. When you charge by the hour, all that markup code adds up pretty fast.

So then how come lately I’ve been recommending premium themes to my clients?

Premium WordPress Themes = Fewer Labor Hours

I only recently experienced for myself what it’s like to work with a premium theme, and I became an instant believer. If I had it my way, I’d never waste time altering a free theme again. The great thing about a good premium WordPress theme, from a web design standpoint, is that you can make all kinds of customizations without ever having to touch the markup code.

Believe it or not, I tend to be budget-conscious on behalf of my clients. Web sites can be expensive, and I’m constantly on the lookout for ways to save my clients money while delivering high-end results. I have this crazy idea that keeping things reasonably affordable will lead to repeat business and good word-of-mouth referrals–and I have yet to be proven wrong.

So, yes, I lose money when I use a premium theme in a client project. But since I don’t have to edit all that code, the projects go much faster AND typically come in under budget, which means happier clients. It also means I have more time to fit more projects into my schedule. And I can usually use an affiliate link to earn a commission on the theme, which somewhat makes up for the money I lose on decreasing the amount of labor required on a project.

Pros & Cons

There are, of course, other benefits to using premium themes:

• Premium themes usually have SEO helpers built in — just fill in a form to optimize for search engine listings, for the entire web site, individual web pages, or each blog post
• Premium themes have active customer support in case something doesn’t work properly — no more blindly e-mailing the developer or leaving a comment on their site hoping they’ll find time to help you and reply
• Premium themes usually allow you to remove all of the theme creator’s branding and links, allowing a cleaner, more professional-looking web site
• With a premium theme, you usually get automatic updates as the theme continues to be developed

Of course, premium themes aren’t totally without cons. The only real con I can think of is that you have to purchase a license to use them, which for a single web site typically runs anywhere from $25 to $100. But when you weigh that against the three to five (or more) hours that it typically takes to get the CSS and other markup just right, at a typical web developer’s hourly rate, that definitely translates to savings.

Recommended Themes

If you’d like to dip a toe into premium waters and see for yourself if premium WordPress themes are worth the price, Natty WP has some great-looking premium themes starting at around $25–and they always include a bonus theme with a purchase, so that’s more like $12.50 per theme.

Mojo Themes also has some awesome premium themes for under $40.

If you’re totally convinced and ready to pay for high-end functionality, WooThemes has some of the best premium themes on the market.

And of course there’s the grandaddy of all premium themes, The Thesis Theme for WordPress, a completely customizable high-end theme with features galore.

Please note that those are all affiliate links. But also note that those are some amazing themes. Almost all premium themes have an affiliate program attached. I only sign up to the ones I think are truly worthwhile.

Whether you’re going the DIY route on your WordPress site, or hiring someone to create a polished and unique web presence, a premium theme will shave hours off of your project time and give you an advantage over the competition in search engine rankings.

Until next time,