Choosing the right WordPress theme is a crucial decision that can ultimately determine the success of your website.
It’s common for amateurs to simply choose a theme based on whether it’s using images related to their niche. Unfortunately, this is one of the biggest mistakes made when choosing a WordPress theme.
Choosing the wrong WordPress theme can lead to security vulnerabilities, design limitations, plugin compatibility issues, difficult to work with, poor site performance and other disadvantages.
Seasoned WordPress experts understand that a theme should be used as a framework in which it can be customized to meet their design specifications. This is why choosing a multi-purpose website is probably the best choice.
WordPress themes have evolved tremendously over the last decade, adding an additional layer to a website with added features and flexible design capabilities.
In this article, we will examine 10 of the most popular WordPress themes recommended by top affiliate marketers from Matt Diggity’s Facebook page.
1) GeneratePress Theme
This WordPress theme was overwhelmingly rated as the favorite according to web developers and affiliate marketers.
It currently boasts a 5-star rating and over 300,000 installs at the time of this writing.
Generate Press is a light-weight theme which makes its loading time lightening fast which is important as site performance can impact user experience, conversions and even search ranking according to Google.
Whether you’re a seasoned web developer or have no coding experience, this WordPress theme can be a useful theme for deploying any type of website.
In just minutes I was able to download beautiful templates that can be modified using its easy to use drag-and-drop interface.
Cost:
GeneratePress has a free version available through the WordPress theme library however it’s worth paying the $249 lifetime membership which covers up to 500 websites and provides more features that in my opinion are essential to building a quality website.
Disadvantages:
The theme does not include the premium version of the Elementor page builder plugin. You are required to purchase it separately. If you’re buying the lifetime version it will cost an additional $199 which can bring the total cost to $450 USD.
2) DIVI Theme
DIVI might be the most well known WordPress theme launched in 2013 and currently boasts over 550,000 installs.
Do it’s ease-of-use, flexibility and scalability; the DIVI theme is a favourite among web developers and site owners alike.
It has evolved tremendously over the years to become a complete solution. It’s drag-and-drop page builder & templates allow a non-developer to create beautiful landing pages.
This premium theme is regularly updated along with introducing new features which empowers WordPress developers to build quality websites.
Cost:
The cost of the DIVI theme is $89/year or lifetime access for $249.
Disadvantages:
Some find that DIVI is quite bloated. However, this might be common among several premium themes which act as a framework.
Adding blog posts can be annoying trying to work with their post editor when I would have preferred simply using the default WordPress editor.
3) AVADA Theme
Avada website builder has an impressive 625,000 purchases making it #1 selling WordPress theme of all time.
It is a truly flexible theme with its own easy-to-use custom page builder that allows you to bring almost any design to reality.
It comes with over 70 pre-built templates which can be downloaded with just a couple clicks in the theme options.
The support for this theme is very responsive and helpful for any questions or issues.
Cost:
The Avada theme currently currently sells for $60 on Themeforest.
Disadvantage:
Similar to DIVI, this theme can be quite bloated even though it now comes with its own performance settings. I recommend installing an advanced cache plugin like WP Rocket or SG Optimizer if you’re site is hosted with SiteGround. I’ve been able to get almost every Avada-built website loading under 2 seconds.
Unlike many of the themes in this article, you need to purchase a license for every website and there is no agency or bulk discount.
4) Astra Theme
The Astra theme is another fan favorite among WordPress developers. If you’ve experienced working this theme you’d understand why.
It currently boasts over 1,000,000 downloads and touted as a go-to theme by many well known affiliate marketers.
This theme is fast, lightweight and easily customizable. It has a massive library of pre-built templates available to as a starting point for your next web project.
Cost:
You can pick up the Astra Pro theme from $59 which includes additional features such as 100+ free starter templates, one-on-one support, extensive training and unlimited website usage.
Disadvantages:
Many have complained about the support and compatibility issues with certain WordPress plugins such as AMP.
5) OceanWP Theme
OceanWP is another multi-purpose WordPress theme that makes developing beautiful websites quite easily.
It has been downloaded 3,408,808 and counting and a fan favorite from thousands of developers across the globe.
It’s a lightweight theme that is very extendable and can be used for almost any type of WordPress website including: portfolio, personal blog, ecommerce, business and more.
It doesn’t have its own page builder but is compatible with the major ones including beaver builder, DIVI, Visual Coposer, Brizy and SiteOrigin.
Cost:
The cost of the OceanWP theme starts from $39 per website. If you’re likely going to use it more than once then you’ll probably want to purchase the Business plan ($79 for 3 sites) or Agency plan ($129 for 25 sites).
Disadvantages:
This theme doesn’t really get a lot of hate overall which is a good sign. A lot of complains from WordPress.org are over support. However, I recommend always purchasing themes to get top support and unlock features that can make development smoother.
6) Kadence Theme
Kadence is becoming an extremely popular WordPress theme among WordPress developers and has been downloaded over 30 thousand times.
It’s both lightweight and scaleable. If you’re looking to develop beautiful and effective websites quickly, Kadence theme can help you get it done easily.
It’s developed with performance and accessibility in mind with a 100% speed grade and meets WCAG 2.0 standards.
Once installed, you’ll have access to many gorgeous templates that can be used to get your project started.
It features its own drag-and-drop header and footer builder to allow easy customize.
Kadence theme is extremely versatile and allows anyone to build any time of website including online course builders, business websites or online shops.
Cost:
You can download a free copy of the Kadence theme through WordPress.org. However, for commercial and larger scale websites, it’s recommended to purchase a license to unlock many features that can supercharge your website.
Disadvantages:
Some of the disadvantages assocaited with Kadence theme is it’s lack of starter templates, better documentation, need for conditional headers and needs a white albel option.
7) REHub Theme
This hybrid WordPress theme is ideal for building websites that have different models such as multi-vendor websites, directories, online magazine, comparison shopping, coupon repositories and many more.
Several of the features that are used to improve the SEO within this theme typically require adding additional plugins with other themes.
REHub is a modern theme which is fully responsive and up-to-date with design trends.
It includes WP Bakery Page Builder so that beautiful landing pages can be easily created through a drag-and-drop interface.
This WordPress theme is great for product catalogues and online shops since it provides useful tools for managing inventory such as Import WP Pro for bulk product importing and advanced product filters.
Cost:
REHub is currently available through ThemeForest for $59. Currently REHub holds a 5-star rating and over 24,000 sales.
8) Soledad Theme
Soledad is a multi-purpose theme that is flexible, powerful and easy to customize.
It has been downloaded over 30,000 times from Themeforest with an impressive 5-star rating.
This WordPress theme is ideal for different types of projects including magazine/news sites, personal blogs, ecommerce stores and more.
This theme comes packaged with many different templates to give you a solid base when starting your website.
It comes with a powerful page builder and allows you to easily combine styles, layouts and elements freely to build beautiful & engaging websites.
Cost:
Soledad can be purhcaed for $59 from Themeforest and includes 6 month support.
9) StudioPress
StudioPress is the original creator of the Genesis Framework which is one of the best-known frameworks built for WordPress.
Genesis empowers users to easily and quickly build engaging websites regardless whether you’re a novice or seasoned web developer.
StudioPress was acquired in 2018 by WP Engine (one of the leading web hosting companies in the world). It offers StudioPress themes to WP Engine customers for free with a growing library of templates.
The appearance of a website can be easily modified by installing one of the many child themes covering a broad range of styles and used as a foundation for your project.
Cost:
You can purchase the Genesis Framework for $59.95. If you’re hosting with WP Engine then you’ll get free access to all Premium StudioPress themes and Genesis Framework whether you’re on the Startup, Scale and Premium plans.
10) Woodmart
Unlike the previous themes which are flexible to build almost any type of website, the Woodmart WordPress theme is built specifically for WooCommerce online stores.
This best-selling premium theme currently holds an almost perfect 5-star rating and has sold over 25,000 copies through Themeforest.
It is highly customizable and integrates well with most top WordPress plugins such as Elementor, WooCommerce, MailChimp, Contact Form 7 and includes WPBakery’s page builder.
This theme is super-face, responsive and allows users to build websites with the ultimate user experience.
Cost:
WoodMart currently sells for $59 on ThemeForest.
