WordPress is the blogging platform favored by a rapidly growing number of bloggers and online business owners. WordPress is free, which is part of it’s appeal, as are many of the enhancements that can be installed to change the look and function of WordPress, including its themes. However, although there are hundreds of free WordPress themes that you can download and use quite easily, sometimes it’s wise to invest in a premium theme instead. Why? Here are 5 reasons:

1. Customization

The best premium themes are far more customizable than the best free themes. If you want to have the most options for design and search engine optimization without having to learn HTML backwards and forwards, a good premium theme is definitely your best choice.

2. Support

It’s common for the developers of free themes to offer very limited support. And sometimes they offer no support at all. The developers of the best premium themes have more incentive to offer support and will usually have both detailed instructions that are updated frequently and an active user forum. Even the best themes can have technical glitches from time to time, so having good support is manditory when using any WordPress theme.

3. Updates

There is also less incentive for developers of free themes to fix bugs and update their theme when WordPress goes through one of it’s many upgrades. Sometimes they’ll stop offering the theme altogether. Purchasing a good premium theme will usually give you a lifetime of bug fixes and updates so any issues with be corrected in a timely way.

4. Quality

There are very few free themes that come close to the quality of the best premium themes. Everything from design elements to search engine optimization is covered by a good premium theme.

5. No unwanted adware

Free themes sometimes contain hidden code that inserts ads or other things that benefit the theme’s creator instead of you. The best premium themes do not have adware and often you can purchase a license to remove the companies’ logo, etc. so you can ‘brand’ your site and your client’s sites as your own.

While there are good free themes available and honorable developers, the 5 advantages of using a good premium theme should be taken into consideration. If you want to create a site that will hold up well over time and give you the most options, the best premium themes are your best bet by far.

It’s a pleasure to post another free wordpress theme that will be available for our readers. As always, please post your feedback or if you have any problems customizing the theme.

Theme Key Features of this magazine style theme:

1. Admin panel inbuilt for managing options
2. Inbuilt Ajax gallery using Flickr or Picasa images (very easy to manage)
   
3. SEO friendly
4. Lightweight, optimized for fast loading.
5. Tested on Wordpress 2.8
6. Compatible with IE7, Firefox 3, Opera and Safari
7. Ready for Gavatars
8. Comments and trackbacks are separated
9. Nested / threaded comments
10. ready for thumbnails – no need to use custom keys, images are pulled automatically from the post.
11. beautiful web 2.0 magazine style design.
12. No sponsored links!

Demo | Download

Theme Key Features of this magazine style theme:

1. Admin panel inbuilt for managing options, social bookmarks and more..
   
2. SEO friendly
3. Lightweight, optimized for fast loading.
4. Tested on Wordpress 2.8
5. Compatible with IE7, Firefox 3, Opera and Safari
6. Ready for Gavatars
7. Comments and trackbacks are separated
8. Nested / threaded comments
9. Ready for social bookmarks
10. Ready for thumbnails – no need to use custom keys, images are pulled automatically from the post.
11. beautiful web 2.0 magazine style design.

Demo | Download Barcia

Theme Key Features of this magazine style theme:

1. Admin panel inbuilt for managing options
   
2. SEO friendly, SEO is managed through admin panel
3. Lightweight, optimized for fast loading.
4. Tested on Wordpress 2.8
5. Compatible with IE7, Firefox 3, Opera and Safari
6. Ready for Gavatars
7. Nested / threaded comments
8. ready for AJAX and… winter and Xmas!

Demo | Download

In my series of eco-friendly wordpress themes I am happy to introduce a brand new, very advanced wp theme that comes with 2 admin panel pages, one of managing the Twitter and Gallery settings, and the other for customizing the header file (if needed). So as you can guess the theme is ready for widgets, gravatars, Twitter, Flickr or Picasa gallery and of course the showcase is jQuery powered. Theme supports nested comments. This theme is really cute and you will love it when it will be up on your environmental blog!

Live Demo | Download Galencia

Many thanks to Patrick who made the backend of this GPL theme available for the web!

Ecodiary is a sleek, fast loading and easy to modify wordpress theme you are going to love, if you are running an environmentally friendly blog. The theme comes with admin panel options page, ready for widgets, gravatars, advertisement and more. Give this theme a try and you won’t be disappointed!

Live Demo | Download Ecodiary Theme

If you like sleek and modern design, you are definitely going yo love this brand new wordpress theme that comes with admin panel and plenty of options. Here is the brief overview of the features:

1. Admin panel inbuilt for managing options
2. jQuery for social bookmarks on post pages.
3. 7 Widget Areas, including custom tabbed widgets built for this theme
4. SEO friendly, SEO is managed through admin panel
5. Elegant and sleek style elements, 3 color schemes
6. Lightweight, optimized for fast loading.
7. Tested on Wordpress 2.8
8. Compatible with IE7, Firefox 3, Opera and Safari
9. Ready for Gavatars
10. Ready for Twitter
11. Comments and trackbacks are separated
12. Nested / threaded comments
13. Ready for Twitter, inbuilt
14. ready for AJAX slider with featured posts

DEMO | Download| Theme URI

Fall is perhaps one of the best seasons for getting cheap deals, and for some reason most web hosting companies are giving away special deals and coupons right now. However, picking a web hosting provider is an important decision and requires a lot of checking and comparing, relying blindly on coupon codes and blatant advertisement can lead you astray and cost you more money in the future. To make sure you don’t fall a victim of blatant advertising, you need to visit a good, reliable and well known website hosting comparison websites, that highlights all the benefits and downsides of each hosting company, based on users’ rating, reviews, website hosting specifications and so on.

I have been in a search for a hosting company myself many times, even though I consider myself a rather experienced user, I still needed to read the web hosting guide since companies tend to change their features, service may go downhills or on the contrary — some hosting companies upgrade to better hardware and become a whole better host over night. You need to keep track with the actual events, read regularly updated blog posts about hosting and most of all I recommend WebhostingRating.com since they feature complete information on all web hosting providers, plans, promotional a coupons, and unedited reviews by real customers. This will definitely help you to make the most comprehensive comparison and come to the right decision.

First of all, when you visit WebhostingRating.com, go to their articles section and read about bandwidth requirements, types of hosting, learn the difference between Windows and Lunix hosting, and of course — find out what are YOUR needs and expectations from a hosting provider. there is no such a thing as “best” hosting company — some will suit best a tight budget, others will be “overpriced” yet will offer features most webmasters never even heard about. it all depends on your specific needs and only the biggest searchable web hosting directory will offer you everything together with special deal and a coupon for almost every website hosting on the planet.