What Makes A Premium Theme Premium?
January 31, 2008
This is a very hot issue right now, and nobody really seems to agree on a standardized list of things that make a Premium (Paid) Theme… Premium.
I’ve been kicking around the idea for awhile now, and I’d like to throw my hat into the ring on the issue.
Here’s what I think should be standard across all Premium themes:
- Quality and Sophistication - Premium themes should be just that - Premium. They should look better than their free counterparts. Granted, “better” is an individual interpretation, so “what is better?” is left up to the designer. (This doesn’t mean all premium themes have to be “Magazine” or “News” themes, nor do they have to make Wordpress function more like a CMS, either)
- Full Documentation - Premium themes should come with an instruction document/manual, even if it’s simply “Upload to your /wp-content/themes/ folder, then log into your admin area and click on Presentation > Themes then click on the XXXXXXXX Theme.” Granted, most customers now would like screenshots, or video of how to do it, but I think that should be up to the designer. The good part is that once you have a manual about how to upload and turn on a theme, it can pretty much be used for any theme you create - free or premium. Then, if your premium theme has more customization options to it, the manual will only need those changes before you start selling it.
- Full Support - If you’re selling a theme, you should be there to support it. That’s just good business. Get yourself a support desk to manage the tickets, or you can use your blog comments, like many designers and plugin coders do now, but support your theme. If someone has a question, no matter how stupid it may sound to you, ANSWER it! Bad support = less repeat customers = less money in your pocket. (Note: Better documentation will generally reduce the amount of support you’ll have to do)
- More Customization Options - Premium themes should be customizable - people want options. Buying a theme sets you apart from the crowd significantly, but since other people will still be using the same theme, premium theme buyers should be able to easily customize the theme further, whether it be for the layout, colors, images, or all of the above.
- Features - This one’s hard to standardize, because every theme is different. But in general, premium themes should have more “Features” than their free counterparts. What does that mean? It depends on the theme in question. But some features could include: Javascript/DHTML, “Ajaxy” sections (dynamic, not necessarily AJAX), “Featured Posts” areas, Multiple options for the home page, etc.
- No Errors - This should go without saying, but for the sake of completeness of this list, I’m including it. There should be no coding errors, misspellings, X images, etc in a premium theme.
If I’m missing anything here, or way off base, feel free to leave a comment to discuss. The community definitely needs some sort of “Standard” for Premium Themes, but then again, since there is no regulation for using the word, maybe we’re all just spitting into the wind?
Other Premium Theme Discussions:
http://www.nathanrice.net/blog/premium-wordpress-themes/
http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/wordpress/premium-themes-plugins/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/01/11/premium-wordpress-themes-are-they-here-to-stay/
http://wphacks.com/best-premium-wordpress-themes-gallery/
http://weblogtoolscollection.com/archives/2008/01/12/what-makes-a-wordpress-theme-premium/
Grainger on 
Ed K on 
Lucas on 
Devin on 
Jon Pruett on 
Jason
drsuccess
Eddy De Clercq
Jeffro2pt0
Jeremy
I think premium themes should include the basic framework that will make it easy to ensure they are search engine friendly.
Header, ALT and TITLE tags at the minimum.
Jerry
SEO Tips For Beginners
Yes, #3!!!
I wish many premium theme authors would make sure to keep their themes up to date.
Having handled a crap load of support for a wordpress plugin that I sell, 90% of the issues came from someone using one of these “premium” themes.
Either the theme only worked on older versions of WP — so the people using it had issues with my plugin — or the theme was missing simple hooks like wp_footer to allow plugins to insert code. Frustrating…
Hi Jason,
I was unable to find a contact form, so I am leaving this is a comment here. Feel free to delete it if you want.
My name is Kyle Eslick and I am the primary author of WPHacks.com (formerly HackWordpress.com).
Due to our domain switch, I am contacting people that have previously linked to our articles in the hope that these links can be updated to our new domain name.
I am hoping that you could update the Hack WordPress link in the above post to the following URL:
http://wphacks.com/best-premium-wordpress-themes-gallery/
This will help avoid dead links on your end. Thanks so much for your help with this! If you have any questions, please let me know.
-Kyle
WPHacks.com
IMHO, premium themes should have full WP features support. I’ve seen a few out there with a sidebar without widgets support!
I completely agree. Not everyone needs premium themes, and there are TONS of free themes out there to choose from.
I’m glad the premium theme you purchased was a good buy, though! There are some places out there not pulling their weight very much, unfortunately.
I bought a premium theme a couple of days ago from a store which has a good name (won’t mention their name) and I thought it was a good buy. Only to download a free theme and alter it.
Premium themes are ok in my opinion, some people can get fooled into paying for something that could not work for their business.
Great suggestions! I’ll be sure to do all 6 of these plus a whole lot more in my premium themes.
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