WordPress Themes and Templates: Elegant, DIY, or MOJO
It's important you have a good theme/template that will attract visitors to your website, or that may help bring more traffic and potentially more revenue in the long run.
As usual, I will review three websites with great themes and what I believe are the best out there.
I will conclude which one to recommend and the best in designing and value overall.
ELEGANT THEMES Elegant Themes is one of the most popular websites to purchase website themes/templates.
Founded in 2008 by its CEO, Nick Roach (who started this while in college), Elegant Themes consists of a small group (30 members) of people who are dedicated to making creative themes and ensuring customer satisfaction.
They have more than 250,000 users, and have 87 themes and five plugins according to their website (as of November 2014).
The themes/templates Elegant Themes offers are mainly for blogs and businesses, but can be used for any purpose.
The themes are very modern for websites today.
For Elegant Themes, the lowest plan to access services starts at $67/year, which includes access to all 87 themes.
This may be a little high for an annual rate, but getting access to all of their themes/templates is a great deal.
It's nice to know you can try out a variety of themes for your website, and not have to stick or commit to one theme/template after purchasing it.
But if you're not satisfied, you'll get a 30-day money back guarantee.
Elegant Themes have great customer service, mainly by support through their forum or direct contact with them; additionally, they have a good social media presence (Facebook, Twitter) and a great blog highlighting their latest WordPress themes.
Also, their site is trusted by TrustE and accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
There aren't many problems with Elegant Theme's services.
Their payment system certainly needs some improvements.
It only uses PayPal to process and secure payments, even though PayPal is a better alternative than giving out your credit card information.
But their payment system still needs to be improved.
As mentioned, their plans to gain access are a little high (i.
e.
developer, lifetime access) than with other services.
But if you want access to all of their nice themes, the basic plan they offer ($67/year) may be a good deal to have excellent themes for your website.
DIY THEMES As of October 2014, DIY Themes has more than 57,000 users that utilize their services.
This is another popular website for themes/templates, but what they have to offer differs from other services for WordPress themes.
DIY Themes allows you to customize theme options, amongst other special features; for example, features such as boxes, skins, and site tools.
So if you think about it, you can get creative making website themes that relate to yourself or your niche.
Though their pricing options are a little high, their most popular plan is the professional plan ($197), which includes lifetime access to all of their features (not bad).
In regards to customer service, their support is great and if you're not satisfied with the services (similar to Elegant Themes), you'll get a 30-day money back guarantee.
Their payment system is actually a little more secure than with Elegant Themes, though they accept payment methods such as credit cards or PayPal.
In addition, DIY Themes has received some negative feedback from customers about not getting periodical updates about their services or new products.
What I mean by this is they're not sending out newsletters or email updates on a regular basis.
However, it looks like this changed recently and DIY Themes has noted they send out weekly updates about their services.
So this hasn't been a problem recently.
MOJO THEMES As you may know, Mojo Marketplace is a one-place installation center for themes or other products you can have for your website.
I've explored their website and they have a lot of great things that may benefit your website.
Also, Mojo Marketplace offers discounts of WordPress themes that are lower compared to purchasing themes at the WordPress website For example, most discounts start at $49.
00, whereas WordPress offers them at $69.
00; therefore, you can save $20 by taking advantage of the discounts Mojo is offering.
You'll also notice they have other products when you go through the website, but to me, it seems like a bunch of up sells they're throwing out at you.
So if you want to purchase just a theme, ignore these up sells if you don't need them.
The only problem with Mojo is that they offer refunds for a limited time (which can vary, but can be shorter periods), so you want to be sure you're confident and take advantage of the products and services they offer.
RECOMMENDATION: ELEGANT THEMES Though I'm still undecided about what I'm going to purchase, I believe Elegant Themes is probably the best choice because of the variety of choices they have to offer.
As I said earlier, I like how you can get access to all their themes by signing up for their basic plan.
It may be a little high, but it is cheaper than their other plans.
Just think about it: You can go back and forth with which theme you want to set as your website background with the basic plan.
I think it's nice to test things out knowing if you want to change up the look of your website each day.
But if you were eyeing one theme in particular, I would recommend going to Mojo Themes and get a theme at a much lower price than you'll get.
I hope this helps and enjoy exploring different types of themes for your website.