I have been working for some time as a "hair Straight Back" newbie Blogger. I have set up and installed a Wordpress blog, www.hillbillydirect.com I have tried twice to hire someone to redesign the site for me. I haven't had much luck. So I think I need to do it myself. The problem is, I have looked and looked and looked and I just can't find a Theme that I like. I found Semiologic Pro. It looks great, but I just can't afford that much. Can anyone suggest where one might find a good clean theme package that is close to Semiologic, but more affordable? A theme that has a user friendly back end and a good clean design. I thank you for your ideas! Cheers! Jeromy
Why dont try the new Revolution Themes, they are free now: http://www.revolutiontwo.com/ All of those are Free Premium Themes (read the small letters at bottom on the theme page)
Hi did check those out. There are some very nice themes. But I didn't find anything there that quite suite my needs. I very much like the package offered through semiologic Pro. Thanks so much for sharing that site though. I need something that has various options for customization and layout, seo, ect. I don't mind paying a bit, but just can't afford $295 for Semiologic Pro(www.semiologic.com), which is by far the nicest set up I have found. I need the same thing, but on a budget Thanks, Jeromy
You can get most of the features that semiologic provides using free wordpress plugins and with some help to modify the theme, paying 300$ bucks for what they offer is a scam.
Scam is a strong word. Do you really think that? I am not sure its a scam. Pricey yes. I have installed numerous different plugins and I suppose I should continue to explore that avenue. Perhaps there are some new themes since I last looked. Cheers! Jeromy
Look in http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ and you will see most of the addons that you are able to install in wordpress for free.
You can have a look at elegantthemes.com they cost only $20 for an years package and give all their premium themes. You can customize their themes easily as well.
I checked out both of those sites, elegantthemes.com and woo themes. Woo themes seems to have a higher end product, while elegant themes has a great price $20/year for full theme access. They are great designs. I didn't see that they had the same custom user friendly back end that Woo themes and Semiologic Pro mention. Hmmm so many themes but to find just the right one....wordpress has lots free, but I do like the feature of custom backend. Thanks again! Jeromy
True that Sylv3rblade. I have tried outsourcing a few times to design my theme, but without luck. I know if I could spend a good sum of cash I can get a kick a#$ theme. I am trying to learn options. Thanks!
You can also check this thread going on here regarding free premium wp themes too: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1095031
ok, looks like I have some research to do. Thank you so much for the links!! Jeromy www.hillbillydirect.com
I suggest you to go to the site in my signature, you will find affordable wordpress themes. These themes are premium themes coded by professionals and costs starts at $10 onwards. There are lot of attractive themes suitable for all type of blogs.
Smashing Magazine has quite nice Wordpress designs. OR You could also try out my service. (My signature)
It is a real toss up. Does a person spend a bit to outsource a customized theme or simply find/buy a premium theme from one of the great links above? My thought is, perhaps a bit of both. My experience with outsourcing is this, you must have examples of past work, references (feedback) and a very clear idea of Exactly what you want. I made the mistake of requesting the person I hired through elance to display some creative design. I let him loose with the gist of my site to come up with a 'fun' creative design, that would help the site 'stand alone' in a tuff tuff niche "make money Online". My comparison was http://www.johncow.com/ . This is a site in the same Niche that has put an original twist on the niche. Consequently, in the short time the site has been live it has done very very well. I think my site, www.hillbillydirect.com has the potential to exploit originality and 'fun' in this niche(and others). Unfortunately, After months and months the attached image is all I have managed to get from my outsource choice (elance). Its a reasonable start, but not, in my opinion, worth the cost we agreed to. I could do just as good a job myself with Gimp (I found the truck image). So my newbie steps to a custom and pro theme. Find your 'base' theme. Think about what your logo will look like (when its designed for you) and how it may fit with the theme. Many of the sites listed in this thread are great sources for themes, some free, some not too pricey. Spend some time reviewing your theme choice. What do you like? What do you not? Make a detailed list of any and all items you may wish to change/customize. Take great care in selecting you outsource service provider. You will need graphic design experience and wordpress/php experience. Ask for it and look at thier examples of previous work. I am not convinced elance is the best place to go, but it is where many say to go. I am thinking right here on Digital Point might be a better place to go. I keep forgetting that one can buy digital products/content as well as various development services. I think the approach I will take is as I have just described. So as soon as I find the theme I want to work with as my base, I will be back here to find someone to help me get my site www.hillbillydirect.com lookin sharp. Thanks all for your help!! Jeromy
OK so finding a Wordpress theme (premium or free) can either be very very easy if your flexible in the layout/feel of the site. If you have very specific needs, then it can get much tuffer to find exactly what you need. So if the design/layout of your wordpress site is very specific, it is best to either find a theme that is close and hire someone to customize it for you or hire someone to build it from scratch. I finished the design of my make money blog, http://hillbillydirect.com. I did this by purchasing Affiliate Theme and hiring a (skilled) person from eLance to customize a logo and colors for the site. I was careful not to accept the lowest bidder, rather I was very anal about the work history/experience, work examples and proposal. Taking a bit more time to id my elance job and what I wanted resulted in some very good artists interest. THis was really cool as my last attempt went so poorly. So I got a guy (American living in Asia) with a lot of logo design experience, high feedback rating and examples that were top knotch. Even though the budget was higher than I wanted to be, I hired this guy knowing that I should get a good job. And I did, he designed a kick ass logo for me, fine tuned my colors and fixed a widget on the sidebar. The logo he came up with is currently live on my blog (link above). In hindsight, this is the best way to go. Get your theme that is as close as you can get it to what you want. If you can't customize it yourself, go to elance (or other freelance site) and post a very specific job to customize it for you. You should expect to spend upwards of $100+US (plus whatever your theme costs). Otherwise, find someone right here on this site to do the customize work, or design a theme from scratch. Cheers!