Steps to consider before purchasing paid WordPress themes from shops or marketplaces

Steps to consider before purchasing paid WordPress themes from shops or marketplaces

Well there are several thousands or more of WordPress themes available in the market nowadays and with more and more themes coming out in the market it is really difficult to choose where to buy your theme from and which one to choose.

Some authors are very good while some are bad to worst depending on the customer service and support they provide and how good their documentation is.

However having said that first time buyers often feel confused and do not understand which theme authors are responsive and often see the design of the theme.

Whereas after they purchase and go to the implementation stage it feels very awkward and sometimes not as advertised.

Thereafter they feel like giving back the theme or just waiting hours or even days for response from the author.

We will discuss some of the ways on how to evaluate a premium theme:

• Check reviews and testimonials online and not on author website: It is important to check reviews and testimonials elsewhere because author would remove any negative reviews normally from their website hence its better to search somewhere and see if people are talking about the product elsewhere and if the reviews are good or bad.
  

If they are bad then you can stay clear away from the theme company no matter how good the theme appears in the demo.

• Check documentation: Documentation which is extensive will cause less hassles and problems later on than the ones which have very less documentation. Go through the documentation and see if they are easy to understand and you can easily set up the theme without much hassle or worry.
  
• Ask questions if you have before purchase to the author: Ask several questions to the author before purchase of the product. This ensures 2 things for you. First is that whether the author is responsive or not. If he took too much time to respond then understand that the author isn’t responsive. And if the response isn’t good and all questions weren’t answered then also understand this isn’t a good option to consider.
  
• Check if the theme is heavily dependent on plugins or is standalone: Check if the theme depends on page builder plugins etc because if it does then it doesn’t make much sense because all the work in the theme is done by the plugins itself and the theme in itself is blank or empty.
  

Always consider themes which have their own shortcodes have loads of functionality and features which are independent of plugins.

• Check for theme check and authenticity checker: Theme check and authenticity checker aren’t checked by most theme authors but if they are passed or checked then you can be 100% sure that the theme is better. Not all are 100% passed but above 70% should be considered a fair number.
  
• Check support forums/tickets area and response times: Check support forums/tickets area and see the response times of the author and also check if the solutions are accepted by users and if everyone gets an answer or not. Forums and support tickets are a great way to understand response times and how response is given. They are also a great way to understand how author responds and their tone and if he is helpful or not. Also satisfaction of users is also understood in the support/forum area. 
  

Conclusion: It is better to consider download free WordPress themes than paying for premium ones initially because you can understand how the theme works and be sure about the support than pay before and then regretting later on.