The premium WordPress themes market has been around now for well over 6 months now, and the number of people willing to buy their blog’s WordPress theme still continues to amaze me.  In addition to bloggers and small businesses wanting to give their sites a professional and unique look, I’ve also noticed that web developers have really embraced using these premium themes as templates to start with when creating a design for someone, saving them a lot of time creating the general layout and code of the theme. 

With the success of these premium WordPress themes, more and more theme designers are coming out of the woodwork and taking the time to create and release their own premium themes, because they feel that it is now worth their time due to the potential profit.  Why make a theme for a client for a one time fee when you can spend a little extra time and have a consistent flow of income over the coming months/years that far surpasses it?  This also gives theme authors a chance to generate large numbers of backlinks and increase traffic to their site.

So, how far will premium WordPress themes go? In a recent post at ThemeShaper, this question was asked of several of todays top theme designers. I will warn you that this is a very long post, but definitely worth the read if you have an interest in this sort of stuff.  Now, I know noone asked my opinion, but when have you known me to keep my opinions to myself?

My take seems to be closer to what Nathan Rice is saying in the post above.  With all of the new themes entering into the premium marketplace, we are beginning to see what I feel are a lot of average quality themes that are now being charged for.  These authors may counter the lower value by asking a lower price ($20.00-$49.99 per copy), but really many of them are just charging for a theme that in the past would have been free to the WordPress community.  I’ve even seen a previously few free themes that now have costs associated with them! 

Many of the leaders in the premium WordPress themes market charge more because they take it a step further than free themes, with most providing a control panel allowing you to enter your personal information directly from your dashboard and custom widgets. I’ve also found these themes to contain multiple versions of the homepage, the single post template, and/or the page templates.  This adds a tremendous value to the buyer because it allows them to separate themselves from others that have purchased the theme and avoid any manual coding.   I personally own copies of a few premium themes and can say without a doubt that their value can in many ways exceed the price associated with them.

So, what is the future of premium WordPress themes? To be honest, I feel there is a limited number of people that will be willing to purchase a WordPress theme for their site/blog. Many current buyers are small business owners and web developers.  As more bloggers and web developers switch to WordPress, premium WordPress themes will continue to sell, but probably not at the pace that they are right now.  All of the newcomers offering premium themes seem to have missed the rush. 

I’m also waiting for some more good premium templates designed specifically for blogs, which I think is a niche some of these designers could really capitalize on right now. Eventually, the market will become saturated causing many bloggers to frown upon using certain premium themes.  At this point, theme designers will have to look for new ways to generate income, so I think at this point (a year or two down the road) we will coin a new term, “elite WordPress themes.” These will be WordPress themes that raise the bar again and go even further than the premium ones.  Just like the internet and pretty much everything else, the industry will continue to evolve and grow, and the competition will continue to drive authors to release some incredible themes.   We’ve got CSS3 coming out soon, a new version of HTML, plus WordPress enhancements to look forward to, all of which may also influence the direction of these WordPress themes.

So, where do you think premium WordPress themes will be a year from now?

iThemes, which is one of the newcomers to the premium WordPress themes market, has released their third series of themes, this one called Deep Order Web 2.0.

There is no doubt that the premium WordPress theme market has gotten a little crowded lately, but iThemes has separated themselves from the competition with a true business look for small businesses.   Their Deep Order Web 2.0 theme series includes the following features:

• Change header images easily — upload a new header graphic straight from WordPress with our new Custom Image option! (PSD included)
• Integrated blog component
• Static home page
• Widget ready sidebars
• Dropdown navigation

Another thing they are known for is the variety of colors they make available with each theme.  This one is no exception, with four colors available (Blue, Brown, Green, and a Mixture).  Here is how the blue one looks:

If you are interested in purchasing this theme for yourself or your clients, you can now do so for $79.95 or pay $149.95 for all four colors and a multiple-use license.

I know we’ve been focusing a lot on premium WordPress themes this week, but that is because they have been getting released in a flurry lately. Based on the rate that these themes are being released, it appears that these authors are finding a lot of success selling them.   This means, in my mind, that premium themes are here to stay, so I will be placing some focus on them when they are released.

The newest premium themes that I’ve run across are the Flash News/Magazine Theme and the Premium News theme: Gazette Edition, both of which are now available for purchase at Premium News Themes.

In staying true to the previous themes put out by Adii and crew, these themes have a similar look and follow the same trend as previously released versions.  Here are the new looks:

Flash News/Magazine Theme 

Premium News theme: Gazette Edition

Both themes are available for $99.95, or $249.95 for a developer’s license.  To read more about these themes or to purchase a copy, check out Premium News Themes.

Looking for a premium WordPress theme to give your small business or blog a professional look and feel? There are a ton of great premium WordPress themes out there these days, but most seem to cater to a small community of businesses and bloggers that are looking for a affordable content management system. What about regular WordPress bloggers?

If you own a small business, but aren’t looking to report the news or create an online magazine, I recommend you check out the recently released Industrial Business WordPress theme. It was designed for with professional business websites in mind such as technology, construction, consulting, accounting and even medical firms, however it great for just about any type of small business website/blog.

For only $49.95 (or $99.95 for multiple-use), you get this professional looking small business theme that has a great front-page display to give information about your business. It is also a fully functional WordPress blog, so you get the best of both worlds without worrying about setting up a subdomain or directory.

Here is a screenshot of the blue version of the theme:

In addition to the choice of 6 different color schemes (you get all 6 with your purchase), you will also get the following features:

• Drop-down menus
• Front page feature section (Tabber)
• Bread-crumb interior navigation
• Archive Page Template
• Two sidebars
• Website look and feel 

Want more information? I recommend you check out the iThemes website.

[Last Updated: July 15, 2008]

In the past we’ve devoted a lot of time to creating and maintaining our various free WordPress theme galleries in the hopes that people will find them useful when searching for that perfect theme for their website that they are about to launch.

Over the past few months, a new trend seems to have developed where bloggers and small business owners are bypassing paying a web designer a lot of money and instead purchasing a premium WordPress theme. These themes feature a unique look and lot more functionality than the free WordPress themes currently available. Magazine style themes seem to be the most popular premium themes right now, but pretty much all content management system (CMS) themes seem to be selling really well.

There is some great work out there, and more and more web designers are releasing premium WordPress themes each day, so I figured this was a good time to put together a premium WordPress theme gallery to help people looking to purchase a unique and highly customizable WordPress theme. In order for this post to maintain its relevance, it is updated regularly with new premium WordPress themes as they are released. When possible, I’ve also provided feature descriptions for the theme and links to purchase the theme from the author.

Currently these premium WordPress themes are divided into 4 categories for easy navigation.  Simply click the link to go to the section you are wanting to browse through:

• News and Magazine Premium WordPress Themes
• Small Business Premium WordPress Themes
• Premium Blog WordPress Themes
• Video Premium WordPress Themes
• Premium WordPress Theme Clubs

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Magazine and News Premium WordPress Themes

Revolution Pro Media Theme

• Featured homepage tabber area
• Featured photos from Flickr
• Featured YouTube video
• Other featured areas using custom fields
• Google AdSense integration in between posts and comments
• Section, Archive, Blog page templates

Single-Use ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($199.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP-Magazine 1.0 Theme

• Widget-Ready, User-Friendly, and Optimized for Wordpress Versions 2.2 and Above
• Five Different Home Page Layouts
• Four Different Category/Archive Page Layouts
• Home Page Featured Article Glider Box
• Built-In Banner Ad Blocks
• Built-In Site Guide in Right Sidebar
• Customized Recent Comments in Sidebar With Gravatar Support
• Author Bio Information and Gravatar Included on Single Post Pages
• Alternating Color Comments With Gravatar Support
• XHTML Valid

Basic (Single License $99.00), Premium (Multiple Use $199.00), Developer ($299.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

One Theme (5 Color Choices Included)

• Five Color Schemes: Blue | Green | Pink | Black | Red
• Custom Control Panel
• Widget Ready
• Javascript Drop Down Menus
• Custom Search Result Page
• Archive, Links & Sitemap Templates
• Child Pages Ready
• Child Categories Ready
• Numbered Comments
• Valid XHTML/CSS - Full div layout (no tables)
• SEO Optimized Code
• FREE Updates forever
• FREE Support
• Logo Design Service Available
• Theme Installation Service Available
• Two Homepage Layouts
• Tracking Ready (Statcounter/Google Analytics)
• Gravatar Ready
• Thumbnail Ready
• Unique “Hot Conversation” Plugin
• Featured Homepage Article
• Featured Homepage Categories

Single-Use ($99.95), Three-Use ($199.99), Developer’s License ($299.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Fresh News Theme

• 6 Different Colors to Choose From
• Automatic Image Resizer (requires PHP GD Library to work)
• Custom Page Templates for Archives, Sitemap & Image Gallery
• Built-in Gravatar Support for Authors & Comments
• Author Profiles & Archives
• Featured news section
• Video Panel (for use with Flash videos)
• Traditional Blog Layout (for homepage)
• Integrated aside / sideblog section within the sidebar of the theme (optional)
• Navigation Dropdown Menu’s
• Sidebar Tabbed Box
• 2 different homepage layouts (featured section)
• Widgetized sidebars
• Integrated Banner Ad Management
• Integrated Flickr & Feedburner

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Live Wire 2.0 Theme

• Auto Image Resizer - No more do you need to upload various sizes of images to make the featured posts and thumbnails look great - instead you now only upload one image of any size and our back-end does the rest.
• Author Profiles - We focused a lot of attention and making the author profiles and archives in this theme, really, really pop. This feature makes the Live Wire theme perfectly suited to multi-author blogs. We also included our built-in Gravatar support to display author thumb images.
• Built-in Gravatars - As mentioned above, we’ve included Gravatar functionality into the theme and it works without you having to install a plugin. The use of Gravatars can also be easily switched on and off.
• Custom Page Templates - The theme now includes custom page templates for General Archives, a Sitemap and Image Galleries.
• Color Schemes - Every theme also includes 4 different color schemes to cater for everyone’s taste!
• The Rest - Featured panel, video panel, drop-down menu’s, a tabbed box in the sidebar, integrated banner ad management and lastly easily integrated Flickr & Feedburner.

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Live Wire Edition Theme

• Auto Image Resizer - No more do you need to upload various sizes of images to make the featured posts and thumbnails look great - instead you now only upload one image of any size and our back-end does the rest.
• Author Profiles - We focused a lot of attention and making the author profiles and archives in this theme, really, really pop. This feature makes the Live Wire theme perfectly suited to multi-author blogs. We also included our built-in Gravatar support to display author thumb images.
• Built-in Gravatars - As mentioned above, we’ve included Gravatar functionality into the theme and it works without you having to install a plugin. The use of Gravatars can also be easily switched on and off.
• Custom Page Templates - The theme now includes custom page templates for General Archives, a Sitemap and Image Galleries.
• Color Schemes - Every theme also includes 4 different color schemes to cater for everyone’s taste!
• The Rest - Featured panel, video panel, drop-down menu’s, a tabbed box in the sidebar, integrated banner ad management and lastly easily integrated Flickr & Feedburner.

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Live Wire Style Theme

• Auto Image Resizer - No more do you need to upload various sizes of images to make the featured posts and thumbnails look great - instead you now only upload one image of any size and our back-end does the rest.
• Author Profiles - We focused a lot of attention and making the author profiles and archives in this theme, really, really pop. This feature makes the Live Wire theme perfectly suited to multi-author blogs. We also included our built-in Gravatar support to display author thumb images.
• Built-in Gravatars - As mentioned above, we’ve included Gravatar functionality into the theme and it works without you having to install a plugin. The use of Gravatars can also be easily switched on and off.
• Custom Page Templates - The theme now includes custom page templates for General Archives, a Sitemap and Image Galleries.
• Color Schemes - Every theme also includes 4 different color schemes to cater for everyone’s taste!
• The Rest - Featured panel, video panel, drop-down menu’s, a tabbed box in the sidebar, integrated banner ad management and lastly easily integrated Flickr & Feedburner.

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Tauren Pro Theme

Single-Use ($69.00), Multiple-Use ($128.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Chimera Theme

Single-Use ($59.00), Multiple-Use ($109.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Revolution Magazine Theme

Single ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($199.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Flash News/Magazine Theme

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Premium News: Gazette Edition

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

NewsPress Theme

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Premium News WordPress Theme

• Uses jQuery technology to allow readers to display/hide the posts.
• Built-in Video Player to publish your YouTube easily and seamlessly.
• Integrated Banner Management script to display randomized banner ads of your choice.
• Widget-ready
• Color Scheme (7 different color schemes are included with the standard package)
• The layout of your homepage
• The amount of posts being displayed on your homepage
• Which categories to display in the highlighted areas of your homepage
• Integrate your Flickr & Feedburner accounts
• Banner Ad Management

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Revolution News Theme

Single ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($199.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Revolution Sports 2.0 Theme

Single ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($199.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Revolution Tech Theme

Single ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($199.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

News Friendly Theme

• WEB 2.0, W3C Valid XHTML / CSS / DIV markup.
• Wordpress 2.5 supported (2.3 as well)
• 2 column theme with left widget sidebar and Ajax widgetized Tabs block.
• Hot Ajax Tabs block features support of widget spots for news, recent comments, your favourite YouTube videos, yours or random Flick community photos, list of blog categories.
• Custom templates for front page, single post, pages, archives, search.
• Front page layout featuring recent post with custom large image (custom field) and 2 columned posting of specified categories.
• Easy ads implementation, 125 x 125 banners on left side, other sizes are supported.
• Top header, widget spot for keywords, short description or adsense unit links placement.

Multiple-Use $65.00

Source/Demo | Purchase

DeepBlue Theme

Source/Demo | Purchase

Gabfire Theme

Source/Demo | Purchase

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Small Business Premium WordPress Themes

Revolution City Theme

• Featured tabber and thumbnail section on the homepage
• Drop-down menu navigation
• All 3 sidebar areas are widget-ready
• Theme options page inside WP dashboard
• Comments section coded for Gravatars
• Google AdSense integration in between posts and comments
• Blog page template

Single-Use ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($199.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Essence Theme (6 Colors to Choose From)

• 7 inside page layouts
• Elegant look and feel of traditional website
• Static home page
• Integrated blog templates
• Two header options: Text or graphic

Single-Use ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

VibrantCMS Theme

• Easy-to-use featured scroller to broadcast your business’ most important information;
• A separate company blog that is tucked away from the homepage; and
• 20 amazing color schemes that will definitely fit with your corporate branding.
• Integrated Theme Options (for WordPress) to tweak the layout, color scheme etc. for the theme;
• Built-in video panel, which you can use to publish any web-based Flash videos;
• Automatic Image Resizer, which is used to dynamically create the thumbnails and featured images;
• Custom Page Templates for Archives, Sitemap & Image Gallery;
• Built-in Gravatar Support for Authors & Comments;
• Integrated Banner Management script to display randomized banner ads of your choice site-wide;
• Pretty drop-down navigation everywhere; and
• Widgetized Sidebars.

Single-Use ($70.00), Developer’s ($150.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Revolution Pro Business Theme

• Featured homepage with section for recent company news
• Featured section page with area to focus on latest blog posts
• Blog sidebar to accommodate 125×125 advertising banners
• eNews & Updates section configurable with Feedburner
• Google AdSense integration in between posts and comments
• Section, Archive, Blog page templates

Single-Use ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($199.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP-Remix Theme

• 7 Color Schemes
• Includes free PHPBB3 Forum Template
• Gallery module for managing photos or artwork
• WYSIWYG Page editor
• Smart Drop Menu
• Over 50 Page Templates
• Dynamic Codes
• Flexibility
• Add-on modules
• Support Forum
• Grid Based Layouts
• Compatible with Many Popular Plugins
• Widget ready
• Printable Pages
• Contact Form
• W3C valid, Cross browser Compatible
• SEO ready

Personal ($75.00), Multiple-Use ($275.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Revolution Real Estate Theme

• Featured listing section, about me section and recent blog posts on the homepage
• Drop-down navigation menu
• Short contact form in the sidebar
• Page template for real estate listings

Single-Use ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($199.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Deep Order Theme

• Web 2.0 look and feel
• 4 Pre-built Color Schemes
• Change header images easily — upload a new header graphic straight from WordPress with our new Custom Image option!
• Drop-down menus
• Integrated blog component

Single-Use ($79.95), Multiple-Use ($249.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

eCommerce Theme

• eCommerce Plugin Compatibility - Easily integrate with the popular eCommerce Plugin from Instinct Entertainment.
• Easily customizable – Make it your own by tweaking the CSS stylesheet and your own images (includes 6 pre-built color styles)
• Search engine optimized — We’ve built our themes to get the most search engine benefit for you and your products
• Manage your store online – WordPress is an online software program; you log in and edit your store from the web
• Use your own domain name — Most online shops require you to use their domain name, with Ecommerce Themes, you can install the template on your custom domain name and hosting account

Single-Use ($49.00), Multiple-Use ($199.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Industrial Series Themes (Includes 6 Different Colors)

• Drop-down menus
• Front page feature section (Tabber)
• Bread-crumb interior navigation
• Archive Page Template
• 6 Pre-built Color Schemes
• Two sidebars
• Website look and feel

Single-Use ($49.95), Multiple-Use ($99.95)

Source/Purchase | Demo

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Premium Blog WordPress Themes

Omni WordPress Theme

Single-Use ($79.95, Multiple-Use ($199.99), 4-1 Pack ($299.95)

Source/Demo | Purchase

RealWD Theme

• Columns: 2
• Widget Ready: Yes
• XHTML Valid: Yes
• CSS Valid: Yes
• Browser Compatible: IE 6.0+, FF 2+, Safari 2.0+, Opera 9.0+
• SEO Optimized: Yes
• Gravatar ready: Yes
• Feedburner ready: Yes
• WP Version: 2.2+
• Lifetime Support: Yes
• Layered Photoshop source file
• Installation Guide
• Widget Map
• No link credit required
• One copy per domain name

Single-Use ($75.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

WP-Glory Theme

• Widget-Ready
• Drop-down navigation for sub-pages.
• Tag support for WordPress 2.3.
• Tabbed top content box.
• Featured article functionality.
• Built-in archives page.
• Drop-down boxes for categories and monthly archives.

Personal ($49.00), Developer ($159.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Shifter WordPress Theme

Source/Demo | Purchase

Blog Experiment Theme (Blue/Orange)

Multiple-Use $75.00

Source/Download | Download

Blog Experiment Theme (Blue/Green)

Multiple-Use $75.00

Source/Download | Download

Blubs Theme

• Clean and Elegant Design
• 2 columns flexible layout
• Navigation Dropdown Menu
• Widgets ready on sidebar
• Serach bar at the top
• Ready for125px and 250px ads integration
• Separated comments/trackbacks
• Built-in gravatars in comment section
• Print.css stylesheet
• Author Profiles & Archives
• Clean & valid codes - XHTML 1.0 Strict + CSS 2.1
• Cross browser compatible - tested on IE/Win, Opera, Firefox, Safari/Win.

Single-Use ($49.95), Multiple-Use ($99.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Killian 1.0 Theme

• Widget-Ready
• Drop-down navigation for sub-pages.
• Tag support for WordPress 2.3.
• Built-in archives page.
• Drop-down boxes for categories, monthly archives and site tags.
• Gravatar integration on comments.
• Gravatar integration for author photos.
• Multi-author blog functionality.

Personal ($49.00), Developer ($159.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

Solo stream 3-Column 1.0 Theme

• Widget-Ready
• Drop-down navigation for sub-pages.
• Tag support for WordPress 2.3.
• Built-in archives page.
• Drop-down boxes for categories and monthly archives.
• Tabbed top content box.
• Featured article functionality.

Personal ($49.00), Developer ($159.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

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Video Premium WordPress Themes

Video Elements Theme

Single-Use ($25.00), Multi-Use ($75.00), Developer ($125.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

TV Elements Theme

Single-Use ($50.00), Multi-Use ($125.00), Developer ($225.00)

Source/Demo | Purchase

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Premium WordPress Theme Clubs

Single Subscription (3 months = $150.00 or 6 months = $250.00), Developer Subscription (3 months = $225.00 or 6 months = $375.00)

Source | Purchase

One of my favorite things about WordPress are the themes that users have access to. Overall, themes are generally broken down into one of three categories: free themes, premium themes, and custom themes. You’ll find free themes littering the blogosphere (especially the good ones), so this can often leave a bad impression when people first visit your blog. This leaves bloggers the option of paying a lot of money for a custom built theme, or purchasing a premium theme for their website that won’t be found very many places.

If you are looking for a content management system (CMS) for your website, the first place I recommend you look is the Premium News WordPress theme. Here is a quick look at the homepage:

And here is a same of a post page:

There are a lot of wonderful things about this theme, but here are a few of my favorites:

• Uses jQuery technology to allow readers to display/hide the posts.
• Built-in Video Player to publish your YouTube easily and seamlessly.
• Integrated Banner Management script to display randomized banner ads of your choice.
• Widget-ready

This theme also features an Options panel that allows anyone to set the following from their control panel:

• Color Scheme (7 different color schemes are included with the standard package)
• The layout of your homepage
• The amount of posts being displayed on your homepage
• Which categories to display in the highlighted areas of your homepage
• Integrate your Flickr & Feedburner accounts
• Banner Ad Management

If you want to use plugins, the theme supports the following WordPress plugins “out of the box”:

• flickrRSS
• Most Commented
• Popularity Contest

I’ve looked through many of these themes and this is by far the most advanced one I’ve run across yet for WordPress. I recommend you check out Premium News Theme if you are interested in purchasing a professional content management system for your website.