To buy a premium template or not to buy – that is the question we all face when we want to start our first online project. In fact, this is the #1 question that many newcomers to the web world asks themselves. Well, in this post, we will shed light on when you might try a free theme and why premium website templates are really the way to goWe will illustrate the key benefits of a premium website template so that you can get the idea what it feels like to run a successful website. Enjoy!
Why Use Free Templates: Two Major Reasons
Before we enumerate why premium templates are often superior, let’s make an experiment, shall we? Find a website you like and contact their support manager to ask what template their using, or better yet use one of these free services to find out if it’s WordPress and to see what theme they’re using. Voilà – you know the truth – a professional web user will not even bother to start a website with a free website template. So why do so many people make the same mistake and still buy free website templates? Read this post till the end and you will connect the dots yourself.
Reason #1: You’re Just Getting Started
If you’re just starting with WordPress (as in today!) then a free template makes sense. It’s a great way to get familiar with how WordPress works, practice writing posts, test new plugins, etc. Of course premium templates will off more features, but a free template is an easy way to learn about your new CMS.
Reason #2: To Try It Out
See an awesome premium theme that also offers a free version? It’s a great way to take the theme for a test drive. When you install a free website template, you start investing time in getting used to it. As you use it you may see it’s missing a few features so in a few of days (or weeks – depending on your website needs), you might find yourself buying the premium website template from the same company. In short, a free theme is a great way to test but for the long run you’ll still benefit from the features (and support) only found in premium themes.
Key Benefits of a Premium Website Template
For your convenience, we tried to summarize the main advantages of premium website templates in the chronological perspective. We will start with a pre-purchase experience, then move to the features you can enjoy right after buying a premium website template, and finish with the bonus you get from quality templates in the long run.
Pre-Purchase Experience with Premium Templates
Quality website templates are designed by renowned marketplaces, like TemplateMonster. Usually, it takes years to build teams of professional web developers that feel responsible for the products they launch. It also takes lots of designed templates to build a renowned theme house, doesn’t it? So, when buying a premium template, you know for sure that you get the website templates that correspond to the latest standards in the web design.
What is more, with premium templates you can always track how satisfied the users are about the premium template you are planning to buy. For instance, check out the positive reviews for JohnnyGo – Multipurpose Home Services WordPress Theme.
No More Pigs in a Poke: Professionalism in Details
It is a small wonder, really, that both “professional” and “premium” start with the same letter. Here are the features (listed in the alphabetical order) that all professional premium website templates have in common. And these features are there for a reason, which is to guarantee that your website functions the way you want it to.
Child Themes
Premium templates are often packed with child themes. Their goal is to ensure that you find the design you need no matter how picky you are or how often you can change your mind about the general concept of your online project. For instance, in Monstroid2 – Multipurpose WordPress Theme, there are 9 (yes, you heard it right!) design options, all ready to be used for your website. See for yourself!
Content Blocks
Thanks to the latest advances in the web design, even beginners can build a website of their dreams using their imagination and the content blocks functionality. Mainly based on the drag-and-drop principle, content blocks are easy to manage as they remind us brick games we all used to play as children. Just imagine how exciting it can be to build your own website with premium page builders using premium templates like Namaskar – Yoga WordPress Theme.
Responsivity
There is no way you can succeed in the online world without a fully responsive website. But how do you know that the one you are looking at is responsive? Well, the best premium templates have live demos which demonstrate how your content will look on a desktop, a tablet, and a smartphone (both vertically and horizontally). Test out Camila – Minimal Blog WordPress Theme to see the real beauty of responsivity in action.
Visual Editor
Another important feature of premium templates is an ability to edit your website without having to reload it. All the changes you make should be visible to you right after you apply certain design tricks. This is exactly what you find in Villagio – Property Booking WordPress Theme.
Post-Purchase Practices for Premium Templates
As you can see, premium templates are called premium for a reason. But what happens once you buy a template? Again, with the renowned theme houses that stand out in the web market, you should be offered the professional tech support. In other words, you will never be left alone and face to face with any unresolved issue.
Let’s imagine that you decide to buy this premium Coffee Shop – Cafe Bar Pub Restaurant WordPress Theme. You install this premium template and want to change its logo to the one you have. For some reason, you can’t do that. With TemplateMonster and its premium templates, you know that you can rely on the free(!) technical support unlimited(!!!) in time. So, your next step can be:
- start a live chat 24/7 with a tech manager
- order a call back from the tech support team
- look for a solution in the Helpdesk
- submit a ticket by selecting the appropriate department (BTW, the ticket system response time is about 1-2 during business hours, at weekends – 3 hours. Impressive, right?)
To cut the long story short, premium templates are created so that you can start your online adventures quickly and safely. Some of the premium features we shed light on have probably come as a revelation to you, some have not. The important thing is that now you realize the difference between a professional website template and its free “equivalent.” So now it is your call. Make the right decision and let the premium website templates be your guides in the storming Internet world.