Why using free wordpress templates sucks
Posted on January 13, 2012 by EricNo Comments
There are thousands of WordPress templates out there to choose from. Many of them are free, but most of them are crap.
I suppose that most anyone who looks through the dredge of free WordPress templates could have told you that, but I’m here to say that most of the good looking ones are crap as well.
Why?
Because they don’t convert.
You have to ask yourself: “What am I going to try and do with this website?”
Is the answer to make money? Sell stuff? Build a following? Build authority?
Or is it to post updates for your friends to read while you’re traveling to California?
If it’s the latter then go for it. Stuff yourself full of free WordPress themes and let your WordPress installation reach all of about 1% of it’s potential.
If on the other hand you actually want to accomplish something with your new found blog/website, then you’re going to need some customizations.
Some flare.
“But the free themes look so good and get such great user reviews”
True, some of them are worth their salt, but I’d say I could count them on one hand.
Most of the free templates that people rave about just look nice and shiny on the outside. Once YOU start building a site with them, they start looking like boring anyone can do it sites… because anyone CAN do a site like that.
And people are smart.
They can see your free template a mile away, and what you’re telling the world is that you have no personality.
You get what you pay for
I’m not saying that you have to go out and spend 10 grand on a fully customized website either. All I mean is that some care and attention needs to be put into a few aspects of your site each and every time you want to create a blog.
This isn’t 2007 anymore (*Gasp!). You can’t just fire up a blog and expect the masses to come pouring in. There are literally MILLIONS of blogs out there vying for attention.
You have to be different.
What to look out for
- You need to customize your banner
This doesn’t mean that you’re changing the font colour or the logo. I mean you need to make the ENTIRE banner area look unique. Look at TylerCruz.com. He’s gone and gotten his face turned into a cartoon… not something you see every day. - You need to have an easy sign up process
After all, you want to actually build a community here. A simple RSS or newsletter signup is a MUST. If it’s not on your site then you’re already wasting time. If you own ANY site that doesn’t have an RSS or Newsletter signup on it then go change that right now. - Link colours that don’t suck
Link colours can make or break an affiliate site (so this mainly pertains to them). If people glaze over your links then you’re hooped. Then again if they are too bright or bold they may seem to intrusive. Classic old blue seems to work pretty well if you ask me. - Nothing going on on the homepage
If you’re building a site for anything but a blog, you need to have a clear call to action above the fold on your homepage. So many times I’ve seen small companies build a small WordPress site with a template that has rotating images on the homepage of all of their BLOG articles. Are you a blog? Put your content up front. Are you trying to sell a product? Put your product up first!
In the end a little customization goes a LOOOONG way when it comes to setting up a new site. Figure out what you want people to do when they visit your site, and focus on that.
Had any experience with free WordPress themes? Love them? Hate them? Leave me a comment below.
Filed Under: Landing Pages
