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WordPress Themes 2013: The Must-Have List

WordPress Themes are here to stay. Throughout the years, we’ve seen many different design styles and trends – some good, some not so good. With WordPress powering a colossal 1/5 of the entire Internet, WordPress Themes have become big business with many individual theme shops and developers pulling in millions every year.

Any way you slice it, WordPress is here to stay, and for that reason so are the free and premium themes we’ve all come to know and love. If you have spent any amount of time searching for the top WordPress Themes, you’ll notice that several names continue to appear at or close to the top of the list. Elegant Themes, Themeforest, and StudioPress to name some of the more popular ones.

In this article, we’d like to introduce you to some very creative and compelling WordPress Themes of 2013. Each and every one of these themes was released in 2013 so you can rest assured these are among the latest and greatest that WordPress has to offer.

Stay in the know with our list of the top overall WordPress Themes as well. Updated at least once per month, this article covers the best WordPress Themes in all the different categories including responsive, portfolio, magazine, business, and E-commerce just to name a few.

For the time being, here are a few of our absolute FAVORITE WordPress Themes for 2013.

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Black Friday & Cyber Monday WordPress Deals 2012

We like to keep our pulse on the latest and greatest in the world of WordPress, and we wanted to bring you a list of some of the biggest and best WordPress deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2012.

Bluehost: You can join Bluehost hosting at the bargain basement price of $3.95/month starting Friday November 23, 2012 – Monday November 26, 2012. Get the Bluehost Promo here.

HostGator: Get 50% off your hosting order on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This includes shared, VPS, and even dedicated accounts. Get domains for $1.95 (this is the lowest price HostGator has ever had on domains). Get the HostGator Promo here.

Themify: Starting now until November 26th, 2012, you can use the coupon code BLACKFRIDAY to get 40% off on all of our Themify WordPress Themes including the Club membership! This is a great opportunity to join their developer club at a fantastic price. You can get all 33 themes (Photoshop mockup files included) for just $53.40 (normally $89). That is $1.62 per theme! If you are an existing member, this is a good time to buy more themes or upgrade to the Club membership. Get the Themify Promo here.

ManageWP: Subscribe to a premium subscription and you’ll receive a 30% life-time discount for any ManageWP package or configuration, which will remain active for as long as you remain a customer, even if you upgrade or downgrade in the future! Get the ManageWP Promo here.

Theme Junkie: This year, Theme Junkie is offering a promo code that allows you to get 40% off with the promo code BLACK. This brings the lifetime membership to $119.40, the 1-year membership to $41.40, the 6-month membership to $29.40, and the single purchase (which lets you get 3 Themes for the price of 1) to $23.40. Get the Theme Junkie Promo here.

Obox-Design: Obox has put together two bundles for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotion this year. The Classic Bundle gives you 4 overhauled classic Themes + 1 Plugin for just $25. The Super Premium Bundle gives you 6 amazing Premium Themes + 2 Plugins for $50 (an incredible savings of $610). Get the Obox Design Promo here.

Solostream: Get 20% off your Solostream purchase with promo code: 5084BE. The promotion is valid through Monday November 26, 2012. Get the Solostream Promo here.

WordPress Theme Marketplaces 2013: Trends

A good way to spot emerging trends in the WordPress themes market would be to look at the behaviour of theme marketplaces like Themeforest, Mojo Themes and other boutique WordPress marketplaces. Here are some of our observations of what is currently ongoing and our take on what is to be:

Themeforest – The WordPress Marketplace Giant

With about 2500 themes in its inventory, Themeforest is probably the largest theme marketplace there is. Collis Ta’eed, founder of Envato which runs Themeforest, observed that the main trends on theme sales for 2012 have been: responsive, e-commerce and app themes (themes that have app like functionalities).

These trends are indeed reflective of trends observed by developers in the industry. With mobile platforms taking their place as the new mainstream it is just fitting to find responsive themes becoming more of a necessity rather than a trend.

The introduction of Jigoshop and WooCommerce plugins are making people realize the viability of turning WordPress themes into robust e-commerce solutions.

Specialized app themes will remain and will continue to flourish because of the specific niches they service. These niche WordPress app themes will continue to evolve as the themes market matures.

Mojo-themes and other WordPress Boutique shops

A look at the top 10 sellers on Mojo Themes similarly shows 4/10 themes are already responsive indicating that the trend towards mobile friendly themes is indeed a phenomenon. Their top selling theme is an e-commerce theme validating the emergence of WordPress as an e-commerce solution. The rest of the themes are multi-purpose or portfolio themes which target professionals, small or medium scale businesses and corporations.

Boutique theme shops and clubs such as StudioPress, Thematic, Press75, iThemes, WooThemes, Templatic and many others continue to thrive with their own loyal following.

Outlook for 2013

Major and minor WordPress theme marketplace vendors are experiencing the trends towards responsive themes and e-commerce. The question is how will these trends influence these marketplaces as they prepare for 2013 and beyond?

It is our opinion that responsive themes will continue to be in high demand as the transition to mobile platforms is still ongoing. About 6.1B mobile subscriptions are still yet to convert to internet ready smartphone subscriptions. The recent introduction of WooCommerce and Jigoshop indicates that the market is also only in the early stages of adaptation and mainstreaming of this technology. 2013 will be a year for continued acceptance as more sites exploit the democratization of e-commerce with these two plugins. Perhaps more eCommerce plugins will be introduced into the market and WordPress users will have more options and solutions to choose from.With a big year ahead for responsive themes and e-commerce, developers now have to bid for the best products to serve these markets as well as look at what lies ahead in 2014.

As ThemeForest continues its commitment to evolve and improve its review standards on what WordPress themes are made available in the marketplace we can expect higher quality WordPress themes that will satisfy even the strictest Code gurus out there. The renewed commitment to become more involved in the WordPress community is also a welcome move that will surely benefit us all.

WooThemes: The Reboot

Just this month, WooThemes introduced a club revamp and implemented new tiered licensing and support packages. Previously you could purchase one theme for $70. With it you get 2 bonus themes plus lifetime support. Now, with the new tiered licensing scheme, WooThemes introduces 3 more packages in addition to its Standard Package offering: the Developer Theme Package, the Standard Club Package, and the Developer Club Package.

Standard Package – $70

WooThemes retains this package everyone has gotten used to. You still get the theme you want with unlimited domain usage plus two other themes of your choice. Previously, however, you got lifetime support for your purchased theme while in the new scheme only 1 year of support is included. WooThemes has explained that revenues gotten from the initial purchase 3 years ago will not sustain the support services obtained during the lifetime of the product. Users have the option to purchase lifetime support service for an additional $30. This package does not include PSD files.

Developer Package – $150

This package is similar to the Standard package. You get unlimited domain usage for the theme you purchased plus 3 other themes. The Developer package includes PSD files for additional customization capabilities. Service is likewise for 1 year with the option for lifetime support for an additional $30.

Standard Club Package – $20 per month + $125 start-up fee

This package gives you access to all 82 themes in the WooThemes inventory with unlimited domain uses as well as an additional of at least 1 theme a month. It gives you access to support services as long as membership is current. This package does not include access to PSD files.

Developer Club Package – $25 per month + $200 start-up fee

This package also gives you access to all 82 themes in the WooThemes inventory with unlimited domain uses as well as an additional of at least 1 theme a month. PSD files are included with this package. Support access available as long as membership is current.

Similarly extensions of the popular WooCommerce plugin are now under a tiered licensing scheme. You can purchase single site use, usage for up to 5 sites or unlimited site usage.

While a lot of folks have accepted the changes in WooThemes some have expressed dissatisfaction with the new setup. One user stated that from his point of view WooThemes jacked the prices up and lowered the support quality. Another user lamented the shutting down of support forums as support is not email based in response to the new system. The majority of users, however, still think WooThemes needs to do what is necessary to sustain its business in response to the growth the WordPress industry.

Sometimes, in order for businesses to survive in an ever evolving business environment, changes have to be undertaken to ensure the viability and profitability of such. Otherwise, to remain in business without profitability is a futile endeavor. Any change, especially in businesses, does not happen at a whim. Surely, the people behind WooThemes have put in the thought process before they arrived at their new scheme. The tricky part is in the area of providing support and for how long. Unless there is a guarantee that every theme that comes out of WooThemes is fail-proof (all things remaining constant) up to a certain point, no matter how many updates and plugins come out, – people will still expect to receive support. And if they don’t they will simply switch providers. It’s as simple as that.

See the WooThemes Reboot

Changing Affiliate Programs is a PAIN

As mentioned in our previous article on ThemeFuse’s new Club Membership, members now enjoy 30% commission on initial fees and 10% on monthly fees of every user that goes through a member’s affiliate links. This scheme departs from the previous direct commission to a multi-tiered referral scheme.

In theory, commissions tied with a membership have the high likelihood of being a continuous income stream because it is associated with a long term business relationship rather than a single purchase. This is why direct selling clubs and multi-level marketing companies have emphasized membership over purchases. The question is whether or not ThemeFuse’s new scheme is truly advantageous to the affiliate or not.

We have done a quick comparison of both commission schemes to determine the advantages/disadvantages of one over the other. It is apparent that a single purchase of an all theme pack has higher yield than a club membership. Membership commission only comes at par with a single theme pack purchase only when the member stays for 34 months. This is too long a period for financial projections in the industry.

	Single Purchase Scheme	Membership Purchase Scheme
Transaction:	$389	$199 (one-time) + $17 (monthly)
Commission:	30%	30% of $199 + 10% of $17
Total:	$116.70	$71.10

In addition to the financial disadvantages of ThemeFuse’s new affiliate programme, one has to deal with the logistics of redoing or changing affiliate links. This tedious and error prone process may lead to referrals being dropped because of un-updated links. In times like these, you wish that an automated link changer was available if ever there was one.

With all the inconvenience and hassle arising from these changes, it somehow makes you wonder if starting afresh under another affiliate program is a more acceptable option. Although, on the other hand, one also has to consider the financial impact of making a switch from one Affiliate program to another because this is a significant business move. Conservatively, it is best to take a step back and study the ramifications of such a strategy to determine a solution that grants a win for all stakeholders involved.

ThemeFuse Launches Monthly Membership

ThemeFuse has recently launched its Monthly Club Membership. For a monthly fee of $17 a month + a one time fee of $199, members get all themes on the ThemeFuse inventory including future themes and updates over the course of your Club Membership. On top of this, Club Members enjoy additional perks such as VIP status on the support forum and can take special sneak peaks in the Members area of the ThemeFuse website with the privilege of deciding what themes to create next. In addition, extra money comes with every user that comes through a member’s affiliate link. Member gets 30% on the initial fee and 10% on every monthly fee of every user that joins through his/her affiliate link.

This scheme replaces the “All Theme’s Pack” product. As a special offer to purchasers of the old scheme, the initial $199 is waived. These members only need to pay $17 monthly fee. All you need to do is email your “All Theme’s Pack” transaction ID and ThemeFuse will email a voucher for the $199 initial registration fee.

Single themes at ThemeFuse cost $49 for standard single domain use and $79 for developer unlimited domain use. These prices do not give the user access to upgrades or new theme releases. A Club Membership takes care of upgrades and new themes. It also gives you access to all themes in the ThemeFuse inventory which is relatively reasonable at $17 a month compared to the single theme pricing if you see yourself using a lot of themes for a lot of websites. The one time fee is valid for as long as you keep your membership current. If you decide to cut your membership and re-continue your membership later, you will need to repay the one time fee.

While other developers offer lower priced membership ($39/$79 yearly), it all boils down to the question of how much are you willing to pay for ThemeFuse themes? If you consider these themes to be the perfect solutions to your clientele’s needs then price should not be an issue. To learn more about the new Club Membership at ThemeFuse, you can visit their blog and read about it.

Check Out ThemeFuse’s Monthly Membership