Websites can be hard. Sometimes it feels like everyone else has this amazing website but you can’t translate the blog design you imagine onto the computer screen. Especially when there’s advanced coding involved? Forget it!
I get it. I’ve been there. That was totally me. And I’m such a perfectionist that redesigning pages took up most of my time everyday. I would go in to make a little tweak and end up changing my whole website…. and it still didn’t look the way I wanted. Part of the problem was that I was using a crappy free theme and the other part was that I didn’t want to need a developer or to do any coding. I knew I had to invest in a great design (don’t buy anything you’re half in love with) that also had a great editor.
When I’m talking editor, I mean how you get content onto your pages. Do you have to go in and add coding? Do you have to stick with ALL of the presets or options that the theme comes with? Or do you have a bit more freedom to create something YOU have been imagining? For me, this last option is crucial. I didn’t have my coding experience but I had a specific vision in my head that free themes were not allowing me to achieve. I ended up spending less than $50 on my theme and it was so worth it because it included this one tool that really helped me create the website that I wanted. I stumbled on it accidentally but it’s made SUCH a difference for me so now I’m sharing with you!
Your website is your first impression.
This is where people decide if they want to stay and learn more from you – or if they’ll find what they need elsewhere. It’s so important that it reflects YOU, your brand, and tells your visitors all the value you have to offer. It’s got to be good.
And I think that’s the great part about using Creative Market and Envato Market. These are real people! They’re real creative business owners just like me and you. So you get awesome service and customer support. They GET the need to have a website that looks great and converts visitors. They’re in the same boat as you. Plus, you’re protected by the marketplace if anything does go majorly wrong! It’s just a good place to get your themes or fonts or whatever else you might need.
Now onto the themes. Remember how I said that it was crucial for me to be able to customize my theme by myself? I think that’s crucial for you too. If you’re just starting your blog or not earning any income yet, then you can’t afford to spend big money on designers and developers to make your theme look just how you want it. You need to be able to do it with the theme you choose.
Every theme that is listed below comes with a GREAT editor – Visual Composer. This has been a life saver for me and it’s by far the best editor I’ve used.
-
- Editing my website!
-
- Some of the things you can add to your site!
Here you can see the front-end editor where you can see your changes LIVE as you edit. When you click that plus button, you can add a huge variety of things – photos, text, buttons, maps, video, contact forms, etc. You have all of these different elements you can add to your rows and columns. Then you can change the backgrounds to colors or photos so it makes it SUPER easy to layer text and photos well. You customize your row size to be full page width, or stretch to the edges of your screen. The options are actually endless. I don’t even think I’ve played with all of the cool features yet so if any of you decide to get a theme with Visual Composer, I would love to see how you use it!
You can check out a little tour of Visual Composer. It’s short and sweet – just showing a few different ways that I like to use it – but there is SO much more you can do.
You can actually buy Visual Composer for $34 and use it on ANY WordPress theme, so if there’s a theme you’re dying to use, go for it! I think it is SUCH a good investment. But I wanted to keep this list really affordable for anyone just getting started so all of these themes have that $34 cost built right in! With each of these themes, you’ll get VC for free.
Enough talk, let’s get to the BEST WordPress themes!
SAHARA WORDPRESS THEME – $39
I love this theme because everything is so responsive and modern. You can set all of the text and images to animate when they show up and it really elevates the look of the theme! This is great for anyone who wants a really interactive experience for their visitors.
TUULIKKI NORDIC BLOG + SHOP THEME – $49
This theme just gets me. I love the fonts, I love the simple but beautiful design, and I love the way you can draw people into your blog posts with the beautiful layout of the images. People make their decision to click on a post mostly based on the photo and I think that this theme shows off your blog posts in an awesome way.
MONNIQ MODERN PERSONAL BLOG THEME – $49
This is another one of my favorites because of the gorgeous Instagram feed in the footer. Plus, I really like how you can add videos to your posts that play on the screen and in your slider. It just adds a really nice touch, especially for beauty and lifestyle bloggers who have videos to share.
FRESHY ORGANIC SHOP THEME – $49
Like all of these themes, you’ll get Visual Composer built in. But with this one, you also get Slider Revolution (which is one of the COOLEST slider plug-ins out there. Seriously, check it out. I think it’s the only slider plug-in worth investing in). So you’ll get a beautiful site, plus a ton of gorgeous slider options to show off your best offer.
AMY ORGANIC RESPONSIVE THEME – $48
Amy Organic is another great theme. So many cool options, especially for people who want to sell products on their site. It also comes with Slider Revolution, which means you can get the most interactive sliders out there. It’s a theme that you can do basically anything with.
FLOW NEWS MAGAZINE AND BLOG THEME – $29
Probably the best priced theme on the list, you can get the Flow theme for only $29. There are 20 preset layouts and an infinite number of combinations if you do it yourself. You can showcase tons of posts and content. If you want that amazing $29 price, you better move fast!
BEZEL CREATIVE MULTIPURPOSE THEME – $49
Bezel includes 15 TOTALLY different concept designs – everything from fitness and startups to fashion, photography, and resumes. It’s a very advanced theme with a SUPER professional look. It’s definitely one of my favorites.
HONSHI CREATIVE MULTIPURPOSE THEME – $44
Another one of my favorites is the Honshi theme. It’s simple, it has an AMAZING gallery layout that is perfect for anyone who wants to share a lot of images, and it has lots of page options so it’s great for any type of website.
THE 7 RESPONSIVE MULTIPURPOSE THEME – $39
The 7 brags that it is the most customizable theme on the market. To be honest, I think that’s close to true. Visual Composer makes all of these themes pretty customizable but The 7 has a TON of header and footer options, comes with Revolution Slider and an amazing pricing grid plugin, and just has a tons of amazing customization options. And the price? Can’t be beat.
THE VOUX COMPREHENSIVE MAGAZINE THEME – $49
I LOVE the Voux for beauty and fashion blogs. I think it is one of the most beautiful themes out there that gives a really awesome magazine/editorial feel.
PHOENIX MINIMAL MULTIPURPOSE PORTFOLIO THEME – $49
The Phoenix theme is minimal and bold.
SPECTR RESPONSIVE NEWS AND MAGAZINE THEME – $38
Another really wonderful magazine theme. It has quite a bit going on so this is best for a very editorial site but it’s got a lot of wonderful features that make it look sleek and professional.
And there you have it!
The BEST WordPress themes. They’re all SUPER customizable, no coding required, and they’ll help you design a gorgeous blog. I can’t wait to see what you create. I know you’ll love Visual Composer as much as I do. I really think it will change your life (that’s a BIG claim but it really did change everything for me)!
Need help setting up or designing your theme?
You want to make sure that your blog looks good, reflects your brand, and is set up to convert visitors into subscribers + loyal readers. If you need a bit of help, let’s talk about blog audits + coaching! You can reach out to me here. Good luck biz babes 💕
What do you think?