As an online publisher you have to make hundreds of important decisions a day, so why leave the biggest ones to chance?
If you’ve chosen to self-host your site (instead of becoming a digital sharecropper) using WordPress as your platform, you’re already miles ahead of the competition. But finding the right face for your business or brand can be one of the hardest choices you’ll make.
There are thousands of WordPress themes to pick from. Unfortunately, they aren’t all created with the same integrity, style, and security that you deserve.
You could just shut your eyes and throw a dart, but that’s not going to help you build the long-term, profitable audience you need.
Where do you begin?
Here are a few simple solutions that can help you along in the hunt for the perfect website.
Find a quality WordPress theme you can trust
When it comes to finding a great theme design to frame and highlight your best content online, you have to carefully consider the ideal fit, what works for you.
Design, navigation and great content are the three big factors to online success, so when you choose a theme, 66.66% of your attention should be focused on the look and usability.
And just because it looks pretty doesn’t mean it’s going to drive nice.
No matter what kind of business or brand you’re building, for starters you need:
- Out-of-the-box control and flexibility
- Highly adaptable and secure platform with built-in SEO
- Easy customization, multimedia and social media integration
- Easy, logical navigation that makes a visual impact
- Unlimited support and updates
Thankfully, through diligent research and countless man hours, the pioneering team at our StudioPress division has designed some of the most stylish and secure themes on the market, and they have all of this goodness — baked in from the start.
And if you want to go mobile? Check out our growing lineup responsive WordPress themes
They’ve made the hardest part of the decision process a snap. Now, all you have to do is narrow it down and add your personal touch (and lots of kick-ass content).
Between the in-house StudioPress themes and the StudioPress-approved Community Themes, we’ve got 64 stunning WordPress designs you can lay on top of the rock-solid Genesis Framework for WordPress.
Having trouble deciding?
The StudioPress Theme Chooser was designed specifically to help you narrow down your options with ease.
Use the Theme Chooser to sort our premium themes by:
- Narrowing down your ideal color palette
- Choosing by niche: business, e-commerce, education, enterprise, photography, politics, real estate, tumblelog, video, or women
- Categorizing by specialty theme features, layouts or designers
It’s easier than ever to find the perfect WordPress theme for marketing your business online.
And, if you’re still having trouble deciding, let me introduce you to a couple of recent themes that we love:
Built-in wow factor
If you want to wow them from the start with bold lines and sophisticated flavor, this timeless theme might be it.
Prospective customers and clients will savor the rich, easy-to-use, upscale design that puts the emphasis on your great content.
This mobile-responsive theme will share the experience on-the-go, and easily connects you through social media.
Click here to be “in demand” with Mocha theme.
Streamlined for the future
Tumblelog style sites are becoming more popular by the minute, and this theme captures that speed and connectivity.
With 9 unique post types, ranging from simple quotes and asides to multimedia, you can easily capture what’s new and important in a minimalist, impactful style.
Inspire your audience and share all of your best content quickly with a clean design that highlights your mood, and keeps them coming back for more.
Click here to make a statement with Mindstream theme.
And one more thing …
If all of these options still aren’t enough to help you along in your decision, you can simplify the whole process by grabbing the StudioPress Pro Plus All-Theme Package.
The Pro-Plus All Theme Package gives you every theme we build at StudioPress (Community themes not included) with the same unlimited support and updates … forever.
A good option for developers, designers, and those that merely want it all.
Happy hunting. See you out there.
75,899 people take WordPress further with StudioPress
Here’s the deal …
Our Genesis Design Framework for WordPress empowers you to quickly and easily build incredible websites with WordPress.
With search-optimized code and functions, over 40 turn-key designs, and unlimited support, updates, and websites you can build, Mashable calls Genesis the “best of the best” among premium WordPress themes.
Serious online publishers trust Genesis to provide a solid foundation for their sites. (And by “serious,” I mean people planning to get somewhere with this whole Internet thing.)
Whether you’re a novice or an advanced developer, Genesis provides you with the rock-solid infrastructure to take WordPress places you never thought it could go.
Click here to check out the Genesis Framework for WordPress and all the turn-key designs today.
Reader Comments (20)
“Design, navigation and great content are the three big factors to online success, so when you choose a theme”
True with that statement and many that need to accept, especially bloggers. Nothing says worse than a poorly designed them or a them that is using a junk one.
Be careful in choosing the right theme and I really do recommend the Genesis platform. They make and design professional themes that I would even use.
What exactly makes the Genesis framework SEO friendly?
I tried to convince a client to switch to Genesis for their blog instead of building a framework and theme in-house. I used the SEO argument, but when they asked for specifics, all I could say was, “Uh…you know, the code is like, really clean, and uh…”
And specifics would be really helpful. I might even get you a new customer out of it!
Genesis gives you comprehensive control of many SEO elements which you can see an overview here. On top of that, the markup structure of it’s code is clean, and the proper H1 tags are in place. We also provide control of elements such as posts, pages, category archives, tag archives with the ability to specify custom doc titles, descriptions as well.
I spent a good deal of this week switching four blogs over to various child themes within the Genesis framework. There is a good deal of tweaking to be done but I could not be more pleased with the results! It is an outstanding way to present a web site. I only wish I had done this sooner. In fact, I signed up fpr all the affiliate programs (Studio Press, Premise, & Scribe) Thanks!
I just migrated my blog from blogger to WP, it is self hosted on my website’s server. The first theme (not yours!) I tried to load crashed my install somehow. In hindsight, I’m thinking I tried to load a .com theme instead of one for a self hosted site. But now I’m twitchy about going beyond the standard theme. My son did the install for me. Can I use one of these themes and not crash my blog? Can I do it from my dashboard? I need my blog. It is key to my book promotion and I have events upcoming. But I’m dying to get a new theme and I’ve followed Copyblogger for a long time. I love your themes (though still trying to figure out right one for a fiction author…)
Hi Pauline,
Its very easy to install and we even just posted a video tutorial on how to install Genesis and child theme from your dashboard.
http://www.studiopress.tv/installing-genesis-framework/
Many thanks. I’m going to do it. Just trying to find the right theme for my blog. I downloaded the ebook on how to install, too. 🙂
“There are thousands of WordPress themes to pick from. Unfortunately, they aren’t all created with the same integrity, style, and security that you deserve.” Amen to that! I have a graphic design background and cringe at some of the web designs out there. The type is too small, fonts are off-the-wall (use a cool and or funky font for a logo), line spacing is too close, backgrounds are too dark, color combinations are off, social media icons are small or are not an option…I could go on and on. Plus, you won’t have support with some of the ‘free’ themes or the support for premium themes is lackluster.
Shop around and find the best theme that works for you and your target audience. Don’t be afraid to purchase a theme that’s aligned with your personality. I love my WordPress theme from StudioPress, and more importantly, so do my clients and readers.
I have used 2 StudioPress themes now and I am seriously considering using more on my other lbogs because they are just SO easy to customise and use. Much easier and better than Thesis.
Finding the right wordPress theme is not difficult if you are know what are after.
Premium WordPress themes are good but can be costly. Personally I only use free wordpress themes on my web sites. I usually alter the theme slightly (mainly the color) to suit my needs by changing the css style sheet.
I don’t agree with you Kelton on this point: Highly adaptable and secure platform with built-in SEO. Easy customization.
When it comes to the built in SEO features which Genesis provide, they don’t offer what the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin offers.
No comparison.
I’m a Genesis user but advise all Genesis users and StudioPress theme users to install this plugin which will deactivate the built in Genesis SEO features.
Poor article which shouldn’t have been approved in my opinion.
Highly adaptable and easy customization would be good but you’re wrong.
Studiopress page templates do NOT work on all Studiopress themes so they;re not highly adaptable and easy to customize based on my 3 years of experience using them as a full time WordPress consultant.
However, out of the box they are great themes and i do highly recommend them to new users but don’t expect easy customization. Everything else is true.
Still got some work to do Studiopress.
By the way, the forum support is far superior at Thesis and Kolakube.
Brad, a little curious why you disagree with the statement that it’s “highly adaptable and secure platform with built-in SEO.” What about that in particular don’t you agree with?
It’s true that Genesis might not have every feature that Yoast has, but that doesn’t mean the aforementioned statement would be false.
Never mean’t its insecure but i do find the page templates don’t work on all themes.
SEO isn’t the problem. Customization isn’t easy. Easy customization (Not true in my opinion)
It would be more flexible if you could use any of the different page templates on any theme. This would truly provide: Easy customization, Highly adaptable, flexibility.
Support wise on your forum is disappointing compared to Thesis. They tried but more than half the time couldn’t help me. When i first started with Genesis it was the same and has’t changed.
Still love your themes Brian but its not like anyone can buy them and fully customize without the need to understand coding.
User guides and tutorials don’t cover all bases either.
You’re giving away graphics but not showing people how to use them.
The tutorials which you have written are great. There’s just not enough. Maybe your new video site can take care of this.
I’d have to disagree with a few points here. I find genesis themes to be highly customisable. I’ve used thesis and genesis and find it easier doing customisation to my genesis themes and i’m not a developer. And brian has offered tutorials for the graphics i followed 2 such tutorials today for my nav menu and for the icons that appear by the date, category etc. As for the forum every question i’ve had has been answered in under 24 hrs. The studiopress blog and brians personal bloog have also been super useful for customisation.
Faye
You’re a designer and offer blog design services.
For the average person who isn’t a designer that wants to custom code a theme, its never easy regardless of which theme or framework you use.
The tutorials Brian offers are very good and i use them myself and i’m also looking forward to watching the tutorials on Studiopress TV. However the section of the forum i post in is disappointing and i’ve never been satisfied with the forum. That’s why i think the TV site is a great idea. Once you’ve got a heap of video’s in there then you can prove its easy customization for anyone who owns a Studiopress theme.
I think this post could have been more compelling.
If you’re going to mention easy customization, prove it.
These comments are focused on the support forum and customization.
Yes, there are really a lot of WordPress themes that really rock. But for me, I would choose something which offers ease of navigation and that looks pleasant to the eyes. But more than that, I’ll choose something that can go with my brand and that represents who I really am.
Design is good, but when it comes to choose a theme, I will prefer those are clean, flexible and well-structured. And Genesis rules it all
I have used many frameworks and themes Such as Thesis, Genesis, and Elegant themes, Which I like the best about Genesis is CopyBlogger Media does provide a hosting plan for users with Genesis Framework. This factor does reduce my sites’ loading time and is one of the most significant reasons why I’m using Genesis on many of my blogs/websites.
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