Start here to learn how to make or manage a Joomla template : LINK I am not so good on Wordpress templates. Maybe someone else would like to help?
Don't use artisteer. It's crap. The templates break, have poor code, and look terrible. I'd suggest buying a joomla template if you can't build your own. The $ you spend will pay for themselves in quick loading, good graphics, and SEO-friendly features. RocketTheme has some amazing templates.
The problem with free templates is that most of the time people who don't know how to build their own won't see the link-back code, or sometimes even malicious code put into those templates. Also, free templates rarely have SEO benefits, built-in modules, plugins and components that are very helpful to newbies to Joomla (and those who have been using it for a while).
Yes, you are right about most of that, Wordpress is the same. But they are... free. Nothing is really FREE in this world, just you do not pay at times. But Joomla is SEO friendly on its own. The plugins for SEO for Joomla are not usually necessary.
Perhaps I wasn't clear. I didn't speak about plugins, modules and components related to SEO. SEO benefits in many paid templates are delivered by the order in which certain things are loaded, for example, having the body content loaded before extraneous materials.
I agree, but that is search engine preference. "Heat maps" of a page indicate where people look first on a page. I am sure you have noticed that links are now being shown at the top or on the right side of a page on more popular sites. CSS controls the loading sequence more than the CMS. For this point, a Joomla template would need to have the needs of the reader come first. Having said all that, your readers/visitors are still the ultimate judge. If they want the links on the left... give it to them.
Again, I'm not being clear. I'm saying that no matter WHERE your navigation (for example) is visually to your customers, some templates are SEO-savvy enough to load the code AFTER the main body. As I'm sure you know, it doesn't matter where the code loads, it matters where it's styled to be.
You are right again. I make joomla templates. It is not that hard. If the content needs to come before the other data, it is coded in first in the index.php file.
So that's what I'm saying. For those who don't know coding, sometimes it's better to pay a bit to get something that is RIGHT.