Trying to build a review type affiliate site using WP... I'm new to using WP..is it better starting with a free theme or jump into paying for a theme like Thesis theme or Affiliate theme? I assume the free one's allow for less customization ? What are some good themes to use for a review type site?
If you go with a free template, you'd be safe sticking with the ones on the WP extensions pages. You can customize them all you like. Use their search bar for some in your niche. Going with any number of people offering them will find sponsored links in the footer that are very hard to remove and will affect your SEO and page rank.
If you are not yet making money, and are new to this, stick to the free ones for now. I know a few marketers personally who do really well using purely free wordpress templates. How far you can customize them really depends on the theme itself, but some of the free themes allow quite a good level of editing etc. I use free wordpress themes for my affiliate sites, but if I was working on a bigger, more important project that might need a lot of time, effort, energy, money and promotion, it would definitely be worth while buying a premium theme for the SEO and editorial benefits.
If you are new my suggestion is to stick on with free themes and if you are new to wordpress, today The challenge 2010 has just started, you can enter the challenge and learn every aspect of wordpress, niches, SEO, marketing etc. You can check the website thechallenge.co
Thx for the replies. I guess my concern is how easy are the free themes as far as customization. From what i've read about Thesis and the Affiliate theme is that you can customize fairly easily without digging into the code
Free theme at first. After you earn some money, I suggest paying someone to make a theme for you. I know it`s way cheaper than buying a theme, but this way you can make it exactly how you want.
I agree with this. I know there are sites out there (like this one) where you can hire freelancers for relatively cheap, but any time I want a great looking theme but don't have the time to make it myself, I check out this theme broker type site where buyers and developers are linked up and you can buy pro-quality themes for less than $30 USD. I wont post the URL I use because I'm not interested in advertising for a company I'm not affiliated with
totally agree with you on this one--when you make some money then upgrade to some paid ones, thesis is good, socrates is another one I like or you can try elegant themes $20 one time fee for access to all of their themes! Can't beat this offer
I dabbled with free themes for a long time but then purchased Thesis. I don't use or need anything else now cos it's so adaptable. Example on my site in sig.
free themes are good if you can make your own graphics etc.... there is a plugin for review websites in wp.. i forget the name of it, but it costed a little money
You can try free themes at first, i see no reason paying money unless you have a lot of it. try build the basics and then when the time is right bring up a paid theme or even unique paid theme to your website. if you go with a free theme expect less support and mostly if you are not a developer and don't know html you will have problem editing most of the free themes because they are not user friendly and don't allow you to do changes in such a way that even a beginner can handle it. I wrote an article about this topic couple of days ago http://www.alivethemes.com/wordpress-themes-free-vs-paid/
Paid ones make your site look more professional and customization will be easier. But having said that, even free ones can be highly successful if you just optimize them a little.
I love free themes, find the great one and customize by your self, I have bad experience with paid themes, some hard to customized, even-thought they give support.
free themes will be ok, not bad if your wp using free themes.you can search on googel.use key word "free word prees themes" even your wp for earning money. now no body will sue you
I am looking at getting a theme for a new online iphonecase site which i would like to use the latest worpress 3,i have the domain but i am willing to pay to get a good theme made as i have no idea on how to make one,or i am also open to some other form of script once again i am willing to pay for a good but easy to use script so does anyone have any thoughts on this one please.Thanks
I'd suggest you using free themes for start and later when you need some more advanced ones, have a look on my blog (check sig below). You can find some wordpress 3 tutorials also.