We all know that poorly designed websites can make huge money, but we also know, that a good looking website can make the difference between failure and success. When a webmaster, or in our case, bloggers create a blog, one of the main parts of the process is to choose the right wordpress theme for it. A google search quest starts and practically we all arrive at the same places with equal list of wordpress templates… While having a place that gathers a bunch of wordpress theme makes our life better, it will have a downside: it is most likely that the theme we choose is being used by several hundred other blogs. This gets worse if a particular theme is famous between our fellow niche bloggers.
Now, you have three choices:
- you don’t care about it;
- You have skills to customize the theme;
- You choose another theme;
Now, instead of giving you the Best free wordpress themes as the majority do, i will give you:
7 wordpress theme to run away from:
This is a small list of the most common wordpress themes i find while visiting blogs. IT is an incomplete list though. There are more themes that i wanted to place here, but for one reason or another i decided to let them escape…. this time….
Not so fresh and its predecessors
Blogging Pro theme
Illacrimo
WP Premium
UBD Moneymaker Theme
Langit
DeepBlue
These are only a few of them. There was one that i wanted to add to this list but i couldn’t find the author’s webpage.
All themes are free, reason way they are so used.
Don’t get me wrong. These themes are great, but there are too many blogs using them on specific niches like MMO, SEO, Internet Marketing blogs.
Every day, new free wordpress themes are released, and many of them aren’t that famous, we just need to search further.
I agree with you Hugo. Even though a design is good, if there are a lot of people using it, well it wouldn’t be worth having it as your blog’s theme…
Lucass last blog post..Question and Answer Time – 10 Sep 2008
exactly
with your unique design lucas, you are on the right spot
Nice thoughts. Maybe the function of the themes attracted most of the users. That’s why it was common used. Or else, buy some premium themes or a custom theme which you won’t find anywhere else..!!
Indeed, agree with you.. There are so many great themes out there that haven’t been discovered.
moolahkings last blog post..Let’s Improve Our Alexa Ranking
the key is to find those great templates that aren’t that used on our niche
To me, the most common is the Wp premium and the UBD moneymaker theme. The UBD moneymaker is good because it was custom coded to have subscribe to rss feed at the comment box
those are good themes and made specially for our niches, but because of their success is why i say stay away from them. too many bloggers use them.
interesting point here. not that the themes are unattractive, but that they’ve become somewhat generic. then again, my blog uses a generic blogger theme, so i’m not really one to talk.
yeah. you blog theme is generic. i have seen it several times on other blogs.
I use the langit theme
I choose it because i like it and i don’t know any blog that’s using it.
Nelsons last blog post..Ferramentas para verificar se o vosso site se encontra online.
In you case Nelson, i don’t think that is a problem. You are focusin on the portuguese niche, and i don’t think many portuguese bloggers use Langit.
I feel better now.
Yes you have reason. My blog is a different niche.
Nelsons last blog post..Ferramentas para verificar se o vosso site se encontra online.
I guess it is hard to find the perfect free theme to match your needs. What I do is find the most relevant one and customize it. The thing is with a little effort you can do this by yourself. When I started my blog I knew nothing about PHP but now although I’m not an expert I can tweak a theme to my liking.I think Some PHP knowledge is a must for any serious blogger
Nishadhas last blog post..Win Prizes worth 1000$ From RockFuse
knowing CSS will also help you customize the bog appearence.
btw, i like your blog template
This is really great post idea. Can I steal it? lol
I was thinking about popular WordPress theme compilation but I didn’t think about this post’s title
To add
- iTheme and
- Glossy Blue by ndesign-studio.com
- Mandigo (update from time to time)
WordPress themes which were converted to Blogger template should be avoided too?
—–
I think my theme is unique enough in my (super small) niche
sometimes newcomers compliment my theme (which is just a free theme)
I’m devoping my own WordPress theme
it may look generic (because of white background?) but at least it’s custom made
i didn’t know your theme. it is a nice one
from the 3 you have mentioned i would stay away from glossy blue. it is more recognizable then the other ones
I’m glad theme that I use is save…at this time.
bridges last blog post..conference call bridge
…
Custom made themes for the win! Pay somebody, or do it yourself!
Agree with you. These are the theme that are most used by blogs and most especially by spam blogs. You might want to add the Kubrick theme
Husseins last blog post..Sunday Link Love #8
Ha! Great post Hugo…I must say, I’ve seen these many times over, and may have used one or two in my day lol. They are great, but as you say, when everyone in your niche is using them, it’s time to move on.
Normal Joes last blog post..IMwithJoe.com Weekly Update And Plans
Yup, I totally agree. You have to aim for your blog to be unique, to achieve a noticeable identity on the net over billions of websites.
generic indeed.
guilty as charged. 
Hi Hugo,
This post comes timely as I’m in the middle of a theme change as I write this. I’ve had my old free wp-theme for the last 10 months and decided that it’s about time I changed it to a premium one. I agree having a custom or at least a premium one makes a big difference at least for me as I don’t have the time to make changes through plugins to make it look different than it is. Having an attractive looking blog is important for your prospective reader or subscriber.
Peter Lee
Work At Home Ideass last blog post..Home Business: Start Link Exchange Program in 5 Easy Steps
Hi,
from the beginning, i use(d) free Themes as a Base for my Customized-Themes.
The last WP-Theme is/was Langit.
I customized code and images.
Ok, it´s not perfect, but it´s unique.
mathiass last blog post..Theme-Design abgeschlossen…
making them unique is halfway to success