Some of the best free Wordpress themes will take the design of your blog or website to a whole new level  … if you can find them. How to locate a great  Wordpress theme is like panning for gold. Every now and then, your patience is rewarded and you find a free theme that just shines head and shoulders above the rest; a rare nugget that feels like it could almost be a premium theme if the author wanted it to be.

This crop of Wordpress themes moves the “free line” closer to Premium than ever before. Regular readers will know that late last year I featured “413 Best Free Wordpress Themes” which although cool, felt like overload. I mean, sifting through 413 Wordpress themes is no small task. So with this round up, I’ve saved you some time and handpicked what I feel are some of the best free Wordpress themes currently available.

So lets get this show on the road! Let me start with a free theme that I liked immediately.

Irresistible

Preview Theme | Download

Irresistable pushes all the right buttons.  It’s a moody Wordpress theme with texture, depth and class.

Viewport

Preview Theme | Download

Viewport is hands down one of my top Wordpress themes on this list.  Yes, it’s not the most versatile theme. However it’s one of the most unique and well executed minimalist free Wordpress themes I’ve seen in a long time (if not ever).

Definitely check out the preview on this one and tag it for later consumption.

Studio Rachna

Preview Theme | Download

Studio Rachna won a place in this best free Wordpress theme roundup for bold originality.  I loved everything from the colors to the happy fantasy imagery used in header and footer.

Okinawa

Preview Theme | Download

Okinaway Sky is a clean Wordpress theme with dark blue color palette with modern typography that will get the job done.

Composito

Preview Theme | Download

The first thing I loved about this Wordpress theme is the pastel color palette.  The background, typography and grid all work well and won it a spot on the list based on those strengths.

Typebased

Preview Theme | Download

Another modern Wordpress theme from the prolific template creators over at WooThemes.  Everything about this theme is clean and modern.

Openair

Preview Theme | Download

Openair is a Wordpress theme that is sure to fit many occasions. Light, breezy, clean.

Imprezz

Preview Theme | Download

Imprezz is might be one of the older themes featured on the list however this is one Wordpress theme that deserves a second look for all the right reasons.

Magaling

Preview Theme | Download

I thought Magaling would make a great Wordpress theme for a Gamer site.  It’s got a heavier presence and clean lines that work well together.

Maasahan

Preview Theme | Download

Maashan I must admit barely made the cut.  I don’t find it an appealing theme but when I took a second look it’s inclusion on the list was secured for being different yet still clean.

Elegant Grunge

Preview Theme | Download

Elegant Grunge won me over pretty much right away. Just look at it! Is this a theme that lives up to it’s name or what?  I dig it.

FREEmium

Preview Theme | Download

Top Wordpress theme FREEmium has been getting a lot of exposure recently and for good reason. This is one solid theme in every regard and yet another theme that lives up to it’s name in spades.

Robust enough to handle virtually any occasion, FREEmium is another must tag for your list of assets … make sure you take this one for a test drive.

Magazeen

Preview Theme | Download

Magazeen probably needs little introduction.  This clean Wordpress theme is a strong contender and almost (sooo close) got my pick for an Editors Choice.

Deskspace

Preview Theme | Download

Creative and artistic.  The low contrast typography isn’t really doing it for me but aside from that, this theme is tight and would be a great fit for the right project.

Alivapress

Preview Theme | Download

Another potential Wordpress theme for a game site.  Alivapress looks to have the makings of a top game site theme right out of the box.

CorporateMag

Preview Theme | Download

Nothing to write home about but a worthy and solid corporate Wordpress theme without a doubt.

Blues

Preview Theme | Download

I didn’t get Blues when I first saw it … and I’m not sure I do now.  The design choices mess with my head and for that reason, I like it.

Malawak

Preview Theme | Download

Malawak!

Shades of Blue

Preview Theme | Download

Simple without trying to be.  Shades of Blue got on our list for being unpretentious and clean.

Snapshot

Preview Theme | Download

Photo voting has come up a lot in my life lately.  I gravited to Snapshot pretty much straight away when I saw it.  Not sure if some custom plugins would be needed to power the voting or what.  Worth a look if you need a votable gallery of some kind.

Vintage

Preview Theme | Download

How could I go past Vintage?  I couldn’t of course, so here she be!

NewsTheme

Preview Theme | Download

Newstheme reminds me of The Office.  If Dunder Mifflen (sp) had a Wordpress powered site, they’d be running Newstheme.

Green Design Studio

Preview Theme | Download

Green Design Studio just squeaked onto the list.  Maybe it’s the chick in the hat that got me.

Androida

Preview Theme | Download

Thinking of starting a tech blog? This is one clean Wordpress theme that will serve your geeks for years to come.

Conservative American

Preview Theme | Download

Last but not least, Conservative American.  A huge header for branding purposed and dark color palette featued on one of the better political themes I’ve yet to see.

That’s about wraps it up for this batch of what I feel are the best free Wordpress themes currently available.  Have I missed one of your favorite free Wordpress themes?  Think you know of on that should be on this list? Let’s hear it in the comments!

Photo by hamed.

The right SEO plugins for Wordpress get you Google love.

There you go, you’re on your way to being an SEO guru! OK seriously, there is a LOT to know about SEO however you can have Google give you a ton of love by doing some really fast and basic optimization. All you need are Brad’s words in your mind, and two plugins to let you optimize your Wordpress content quickly and easily.

Before you publish

First up, do your keyword research with free keyword tool at Wordtracker (or similar tool). Find the keywords you are looking to optimize any given post or page for. When you’ve got that down, you can publish your post and optimize that post with the following two essential SEO plugins for Wordpress.

Two Essential SEO plugins for Wordpress

All In One SEO
The grand daddy of them all: All In One SEO.

Sitemap Generator
Dagon Design has been giving and getting a lot of love from the Wordpress community. Here is their sitemap generator plugin.

Those are the two I can’t live without. What about you … got a favorite SEO plugin you just have to use?

The Video

First up let’s deal with the video itself. We’re going to assume you’ve got the video ready to go and simply need to get it online. By far the path of least resistance is to upload it to one of the many video sharing sites. Pick one and upload your video. YouTube and Viddler are two sites where you can park your video.

Getting The Embed Code

Now that you’ve uploaded your video, you’ll need to grab the embed code for the video. Select all then copy (Ctrl-C) the embed code. As examples, here’s where you’ll find the embed code for YouTube:

And for the video embed code for Viddler:

Put Your Video On Wordpress

When you paste the embed code into Wordpress, there’s one simple thing you need to do: remove the last OBJECT tag and you should be good to go.

Photo by gustty.

Wordpress baby themes

Personally, if you are looking for a Wordpress baby theme here’s what I would do.

1. Search for any of type of Wordpress theme you want. Don’t worry about the imagery for now. Here are 413 Wordpress themes you can review to get you started.
2. Download a theme that has either the structure (layout) that you want – and/or – has the color scheme you desire.
3. Boogie over to one of many stock photo sites (iStock, Dreamstime, Shutterstock etc.)
4. Purchase a high quality baby image you can use in the header and presto!

You’ve got yourself a good solid baby theme that doesn’t have to rely on some makeshift template that just happens to have a baby photo in the header.

Photo by dotbenjamin.

"Free Wordpress blog hosting makes me happeh!"

Automattic, the makers of the stand-alone Wordpress publishing platform (found at Wordpress.org) also run a service providing free hosting for Wordpress blogs (at Wordpress.com).  Although there are some limitations compared to hosting Wordpress yourself, they do stack a ton of coolness for what is essentailly a totally free service.  This includes:

• Instant setup and activation of your blog
• Free hosting of your Wordpress blog
• Integrated statistics for tracking blog traffic
• Spam filtering
• Loads of free themes
• Multiple blogs and members-only blogs
• Ability to export all your data should you choose to boogie and go elsewhere with your blog

This is just the start.  Automattic stacks a whole lot more into the deal … to the point it’s just silly how much you get for free. So if you or your clients don’t have the scratch for the project just yet; you’d be hard pressed to find a better place to start.

bbPress Theme – Beer Bongs

Preview Beer Bongs | Download Beer Bongs

This is just one of the 40 odd bbPress themes that you can run live previews on, and download for free at bbPressShowcase.org.

Check out 40 bbPress Themes at bbPressShowcase.org

If I were you, I’d tag or bookmark that link for future reference.  If you have any bbPress resources to share, let’s hear it!

If you are any type of creative such as a photographer, designer, model, artist or whatever … managing your portfolio should ideally just be about managing your content.  So, with that out of the way, meet Krop’s entry into the hosted portfolio niche: The Krop Creative Database.

Function has their Premium Icon set for sale at a steal for $12 and their free set which is, er free.

Go check ‘em out and tell ‘em you found them on EliteFreelancing.com.  What about you … have you got a favorite icon designer?

So I cooked up the TopTextures.com project and put together a small team to make it happen.  The site is looking wicked and we’re almost ready to open it up for private access.  If you want free access to some killer textures you can sign up for our private beta. We’re only taking on 100 beta testers on a first come, first serve basis so if you want to add some premium stock textures to your list of creative assets, then you’ll want to sign up quick before the 100 spots are taken.

Photo by nez.

Keyboard shortcuts ... now 66% more profitable than your mouse.

Before you start thinking woopdey freakin’ doo … go ahead and multiply that 4 minutes a day by the 250 odd work days in any given year and you get: 1,000 minutes.    Now replace those mouse actions with much faster keyboard shortcuts — which I estimate are at least two thirds faster — and you’re on your way to an extra 660 extra minutes (11 plus hours)  in your life per year to spend doing something else than mousing for File > Save.

You’re welcome!

Feel free to correct my math, it’s never been a strong suit of mine.

Let’s begin. Note: I know you pros will be like “duh!” about these.  This post is and was inspired for beginners like Anna from Twitter; who asked me what my favorite short cuts were and why. I’ve gone ahead and listed as PC and Mac shortcuts, what I think are the top three keyboard shortcuts that everyone should know. These go a long way to improving your productivity and in the case of our first one, prevent you losing your mind by not losing data.

Ctrl-S / Command-S

As far as I’m concerned, Ctrl-S (for “Save”) is the undisputed King of keyboard shortcuts.  If you only ever learn one shortcut, learn this one and use it every single time you need to save. Do NOT save using your mouse (unless you’ve got food, drink, baby, cat or pistol in your keyboard hand).  Eventually your subconscious will absorb Ctrl-S and it will become a reflex action to the point you won’t even notice you are doing it anymore — and your data will be nice and safe.

Ctrl-Z / Command-Z

Undo is probably the next most useful. The ability to take a step back and undo our last action is incredibly helpful. Out of all the keyboard shortcuts I wish I could have on my mouth, this is one. (My woman will confirm this.)

Alt-Tab /Command-Tab

Fastest way to switch between applications is Alt-Tab. You can switch much faster than trying to mouse for the task bar or dock. I tend to “anchor” my left hand on these two keys while my hand is “idling” e.g. Not using a keyboard shortcut and laying at rest.

Between keeping your data safe with Ctrl-S, undoing your last action with Ctrl-Z and swapping between applications with Alt tab you’ll save minutes a day, hours in a year and just feel like an all round pro level geek.

Your favorites?

Those are my top three.  What about you … got any keyboard shortcuts you can’t live without?

P.S. Those of you who were having trouble with the RSS feed here at EliteFreelancing.com … it should be all good now.  Google ate … er, bought … FeedBurner and I’m one of many sites that experienced a couple small glitches in the transition.  Cheers.