When I started my blog the first thing I needed after getting my hosting and domain name was a theme. Like most of you I started out with a free theme.
I did not know the difference between a free and a paid theme at the time.
I am sure you probably started out the same way. Maybe you are still using a free theme.
I eventually moved to a paid theme and am now getting ready to buy another premium theme.
Reasons to Upgrade to a Premium Theme
Support
Free themes do not have the support available that premium themes have.
When you pay for a product, the developer has incentive to provide support for that product no matter what the product is.
I have recently purchased a couple of plugins and they did not work right. I sent a message to the developer and the problem was fixed immediately. I saved hours of trying to figure out how the plug in worked, diagnose where the problem was and then try to fix the problem. In the end if it had been a free plugin with no support, I would of just given up and looked for something else. I am sure I would of never have fixed the problem.
Support is well worth the price of any product.
Hidden Code Embedded
Free Themes can have unwanted code embedded in the theme and you would not even know it.
This code that is embedded into the theme contains spam.
Some of the more elaborate coding in free themes contains spam that if removed disables the entire theme.
Having spam embedded in your theme is not something that makes your blog very desirable.
Updates
With a premium theme that you pay for there will be regular updates.
Many times a developer will start out creating free themes. When they have become proficient at developing themes the developer will start creating premium themes that they can charge for.
The developer will then stop providing any updates for the free themes and start only providing updates for the premium themes.
SEO
SEO is an important part of any blog. You will find SEO built into very few Free Themes.
Most Premium Themes have SEO built in to the theme. This makes your blog much more search engine friendly and greatly reduces the number of plugins required to run a blog.
Many plugins cause a blog to load slowly and the more plugins the slower a blog will load. Reducing the number of plugins needed to operate a blog is a huge benefit.
Features
Creating themes is a very competitive market so developers will add the latest features and web integration to make their theme more attractive than another one. This is something that does not exist in Free Themes.
Encrypted links
In Free Themes you will find encrypted links in the footer of the theme. These links are selling something for the developer. These encrypted links is one reason the theme will be free. You get to use the theme if you advertise for the developer. Many times these links can not be removed.
When you purchase a theme there are no encrypted links and hence you are not advertising for someone else on your blog.
Which Is Better?
Using a Free Theme is a great way to get started. It gets your blog up and running with very little expense.
Many times when someone starts out blogging they are not sure if blogging is something they want to do for an extended period of time. It does not make sense to spend a lot of money figuring out if it is something that you want to continue doing.
After deciding that blogging is something you want to continue and especially if you want to start to make money off of your blog in one way or another, it is time to purchase a Premium Theme.
What About You?
Do you use a Premium Theme? Would you recommend using a Premium Theme to other bloggers?
Do you use a Free Theme? Do you feel that the Free Theme is adequate for your blog?
Let me know what you think!
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi DeeAnn
I think it depends what you use it for I suppose.
I’ve got a free theme I use on demo blogs that is quite good (flexibility theme) but for my personal blog and sites I use for paid products and services I’ve always used paid themes.
As you’ve said, you do get support with them and that in itself is worth the investment in my opinion.
Hope you are well
Dawn
Dawn,
I totally agree there are places for free themes and I have used them also.
I use paid themes for my products and my blog that I want to look good and be seo friendly.
The support really is worth the investment.
Great to see you hear Dawn. I am doing great now and am working hard on getting some things going that I had to let go.
Hope all is well with you. We will have to talk sometime.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Ways To Stay On Track For The New Year
Hi DeeAnn
I think if you are just starting out then going with a free theme is fine but later on it is best to upgrade to a paid version. You get what you pay for
Hope you have a great week.
Pauline
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Pauline,
You do get what you pay for and I think that is where allot of people go wrong when blogging.
I agree when starting out using all of the free services is great but if this is something you are going to do as a business then looking into paid services is really beneficial.
The support with the paid services is more than worth the price of the product.
Thanks for your comment.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Perseverance Pays Off
Hey Dee Ann,
I started out using a free theme but soon realized that if you’re building a business you need much more leeway. As you mentioned here, you can’t do as much with free themes.
I am using Thesis and have now for several years. I would never go back to a free theme and I use it on all my sites.
I love the built in SEO feature that it has and you’re right, when they upgrade I’m right on top of that.
Great post and one I know a few of my blogging friends need to read. You know, so they can make an informative decision.
Enjoy your week.
~Adrienne
Adrienne,
I believe free is great for the beginner but where I think people tend to fall down is they do not upgrade to a paid theme when they should.
This actually is true of a lot of areas of blogging. Free is great when starting out but there is a need to upgrade as you get going.
The theme I am using is a paid theme so I know it is clean but it lacks the built in seo so I am preparing to upgrade again. Probably something that I should have done a while ago.
It is awfully tempting to just keep using what we are using as that is the easy way out.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Dee Ann
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Hi Dee Ann
I use the Pagelines theme and for now I’m using the free version.
As far as I know there’s nothing secretly embedded and for being a free version there’s actually tonnes of options available and it’s regularly updated.
I will eventually upgrade to the paid version though. You’re right about having options already built in with the paid version as this theme does. Getting the number of plugins down to a manageable amount is certainly a priority.
Tim Bonner recently posted…Will The Real Tim Bonner Please Stand Up?
Tim,
There are good free themes out there and they do work.
The options on the premium themes are really great and being able to reduce the number of plugins is great.
Glad you have found a theme that works for you.
Thanks for your comment.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…How Should I Host My Blog?
Hi Dee Ann,
For now I have stuck with a free theme, I’m waiting for the website to get more traffic. Once it’s built up and going strong, I will probably switch over to a paid theme that will have less “accidents”.
Thanks for this post, I enjoyed the read!
~Dakota,
Pianolessongirl
Dakota,
A free theme is great to start out with. After your website gets up and running that will be the time to move on to a paid theme.
Good luck with your blog.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Ways To Stay On Track For The New Year
HI Dee Ann
For beginners Free theme is the best option as they can set up their blog up and running very quickly and without any investment but after few months it is better to switch to the Premium theme for the reasons which you have mentioned and the most important being the support for that theme.
Thanks for sharing this.
Sapna
Sapna,
I definitely think Free Themes have their place. Like you said someone just starting out would be best served by using a free theme. It is the fastest way to get a blog up and running.
I also think you are right about the need to move on to paid themes after a few months.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Dee Ann
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Perseverance Pays Off
Yes you`re right, even I started with free theme.
I completely agree that premium themes helps to get more traffic.
Reason behind this is, it reduces number of codes. Which in turn increases site loading time to improve SERPs.
~@Khajamoin1
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Khaja,
Yes, I think there are places for both free and paid themes.
As you point out, when your blog starts to get more traffic it is time to convert to a premium theme.
Thanks for the comment.
Dee Ann
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Hi Deann,
I have used both. At the moment I am having major problems since the get go with a paid theme on a different site..it’s a constant and I can’t get it the way I want. And the time difference is set to UK time where the theme is based, yet they claim it is on my server – checked with my hosting account and they say no it’s on there’s and the theme owner denies it, but I know it is on them.
As far as SEO – I use SEO Yoast and like it the best, while the theme comes with it, I need to override so much cause it’s just not correct in so many ways
I have never had problems with free themes, thankfully! Never knew they had spam involved with them, but good to know.
Hope you are having a great start to 2013.
Linda
Linda,
I am sorry to hear you are having so many problems with your theme. I really hate it when I purchase something and then it does not work.
It is even worse if the developer does not respond with good customer service.
I have used my share of free themes and liked them. I think it is more when your website starts to get more traffic that you need a premium theme.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Dee Ann
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Hello Dee, first time here
I think when we all started out we use a free themes, But as you progress and learn more you then what to advance and improve your designs.
I use StudioPress themes and just love how easy it is to configure them.
Thanks you so much for a interesting post
RobG recently posted…How important is it to Display Leadership Online And Share Strategy Tips
Rob,
I think you are right. We all start out with free themes. At first I think many of us are looking at this and wondering if it is really something that we want to pursue or just play with. It does not really make any sense to purchase a whole bunch of stuff for something we are not going to be serious about.
Free themes are a great way to get started.
I am glad that you have a theme you love. It make blogging so much easier if we have something we like to use.
Thanks for sharing.
Dee Ann
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I recently moved all my website on premium themes. Found a cheap but very popular provide with awesome themes, I only used them as foundations since I can do most of the web design on my own, but nevertheless, they don’t even come close to free themes that are usually full of bugs and will probably never get updated.
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Christian,
I agree with you there, Premium themes do not compare to Free Themes. I just changed to Thesis and my blog is loading faster than it was before. I was not using a free theme before but a really good premium theme really makes the difference.
Thanks for you comment and have a great day.
Dee Ann
P.S. Sorry for not replying sooner. For some reason I did not see your comment even though they are supposed to show up in my dashboard. Thanks again
Dee Ann Rice recently posted…Picture It!
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Saanvi,
I also use the All In One SEO plug in and I totally agree it is great.
It is really easy to use and works really well. I think they just did a major upgrade on it and it is even easier I think.
Thank you for your comment.
Dee Ann
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