My blog/site - Helping Entrepreneurs find the best WordPress themes

[DustinG]

Shameless plug (although I hope a lot of people here will find it very useful) - I've had this site for about a year & 1/2, but recently re-designed it, and narrowed my focus - gearing the site toward entrepreneurs.

I know a lot of folks on here use WordPress for their sites, and there's often discussion on here revolving around suggestions for the best WordPress themes. When I started the site early last year, I tried to showcase nearly all WordPress themes from all the top theme designers. I eventually asked myself why I was spending time showing people themes I thought were poorly designed. Wouldn't it be simpler, cleaner, and much more helpful if people could view all the best themes - themes that they would actually want to use? I know, I guess it seems kind of obvious looking back on it. So I recently shifted the focus of the site to be more of a blog, aimed at showcasing only the very best WordPress themes for entrepreneurs.

As someone else posted on here earlier today, 16% of the web currently runs on WordPress. While WP was started as a blogging platform, it has become much more than that, and it can now power nearly any type of business website...from directories, to daily deal sites, ticketing systems, classified ad sites and more. There are also a TON of themes out there. I am a geek about WordPress and web design. I am constantly demoing all the new themes (and am on the email list of virtually every theme designer, so I get notified of all their new releases), reading different WP & web design message boards, and simply like talking about it.

I've personally spent literally weeks worth of time searching and visiting the websites of every theme designer to try to find the best themes for sites I've started in the past. My site is Themespotter.com, and the goal of the site is to help people find the perfect WordPress theme for their business. I am constantly looking for the best themes out there, and feature them on the site. While I focus mostly on premium themes, if you are looking to use WordPress, and are serious about your business, spending a small amount for a quality theme can have a huge effect on your business (and on your stress level dealing with a poorly designed theme ). Many of the links on the site are affiliate links (I don't display any ads), but I do cover free themes and plugins as well if I think they're great.

Anyway, I'm really interested in your feedback, and really value the opinions of everyone on this forum. Are there any ways you can think of that would make the site more helpful?

Please check out the site and let me know what you think: the best WordPress business themes.

Thanks.

 

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[LightHouse]

Let me just give you a small piece of advice. you site lacks direction.

When i land on the site... i see theme posts... great right? but thats all i see, i dont know what im looking at, are these themes for lawyers, ecommerce themes, personal site themes, how do i find themes that fit me best.

What is this site helping me accomplish? Right now its just showing me themes from everywhere, chances are i can find this easier searching the web, because on google i can narrow my focus and look for specific themes.

Try getting some direction built into the site.

- ecommerce themes
- personal brand themes
- photographers themes
- information themes
- simple themes
- crazy future design themes


The lack of direction and focus on the site is what will prevent it from going anywhere.

Think of your ideal viewer, then take that situation and give it to someone that is new to the web and ask them to do it with no help and just observe and ask for their feedback.... give them 0 direction... just listen.

you will quickly figure out all your issues. If im going to come to your site, you have to guide me to what i want, not make me find it myself.

 

[DustinG]

Let me just give you a small piece of advice. you site lacks direction.

When i land on the site... i see theme posts... great right? but thats all i see, i dont know what im looking at, are these themes for lawyers, ecommerce themes, personal site themes, how do i find themes that fit me best.

What is this site helping me accomplish? Right now its just showing me themes from everywhere, chances are i can find this easier searching the web, because on google i can narrow my focus and look for specific themes.

Try getting some direction built into the site.

- ecommerce themes
- personal brand themes
- photographers themes
- information themes
- simple themes
- crazy future design themes


The lack of direction and focus on the site is what will prevent it from going anywhere.

Think of your ideal viewer, then take that situation and give it to someone that is new to the web and ask them to do it with no help and just observe and ask for their feedback.... give them 0 direction... just listen.

you will quickly figure out all your issues. If im going to come to your site, you have to guide me to what i want, not make me find it myself.

Thanks for responding! My homepage is currently set up to mainly display recent blog posts, while this page displays what you're referring to: Theme Gallery. I've been considering basically adding this functionality to the homepage - making that the focus over the blog.

 

[Allan44]

Great initiative! I agree with LightHouse, you need some focusing on different niches when it comes to content and online businesses. I would like to add on the list, from my point of view as a freelance web designer, inspirational themes. I never use pre-made themes, but always look for inspiration in design from the already available layouts that can be found online, piece by piece - banners, logos, a catchy navigation menu, a quirky sidebar etc. Your audience might expand in diversity, remember that a great number of people choose to make their own WordPress themes, in PSD, or in a theme editor, like Lubith, or by using codes. Your website could have a great success, if you organize it a little bit.

Best of luck!

 

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[DustinG]

I just made a bunch of changes to the homepage. I still need to do some CSS work and add some color, but let me know what you think: Themespotter

I'm trying to make the site very clean and simple, and am working on removing any crap that's not helpful.

 

[DustinG]

I would like to add on the list, from my point of view as a freelance web designer, inspirational themes. I never use pre-made themes, but always look for inspiration in design from the already available layouts that can be found online, piece by piece - banners, logos, a catchy navigation menu, a quirky sidebar etc. Your audience might expand in diversity, remember that a great number of people choose to make their own WordPress themes, in PSD, or in a theme editor, like Lubith, or by using codes.

That's a good idea, but I am specifically trying to target entrepreneurs looking for themes, and not developers.

 

[LightHouse]

I like that much better. Here is a few more suggestions.

1 get rid of the email submit, why would i give you my email? I am just looking to find the themes i want and be done, i dont want to hear more from you. (no offence) also even if you did have something to email me, i wouldnt want a newsletter, i dont care whats going on with your business, i just care about what is going on with mine.

2 add more info and previews to the themes, an advantage to your site is I can quickly pour over themes of a certain style looking for the one i like. give me a live demo link and a buy link(affiliate) and tell me either the author or company on that page. i dont like digging for info, i came to you to find the perfect theme and buy it quickly after seeing a demo or whatever.

 

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[DustinG]

I like that much better. Here is a few more suggestions.

1 get rid of the email submit, why would i give you my email? I am just looking to find the themes i want and be done, i dont want to hear more from you. (no offence) also even if you did have something to email me, i wouldnt want a newsletter, i dont care whats going on with your business, i just care about what is going on with mine.

2 add more info and previews to the themes, an advantage to your site is I can quickly pour over themes of a certain style looking for the one i like. give me a live demo link and a buy link(affiliate) and tell me either the author or company on that page. i dont like digging for info, i came to you to find the perfect theme and buy it quickly after seeing a demo or whatever.

1. I've thought about getting rid of the email link, but as an affiliate site, I have no data on visitors unless I collect email addresses. I email people about new theme releases, blog posts etc. - not about what's going on with my business.

2. Full descriptions, additional screenshots, reviews, & links to demo and purchase each theme are on the details page when you click through for each theme. I guess I can try to change the thumbnail rollover to make it more obvious (& say something like 'click for details').

 

[another]

I'm currently writing the content of my first (informative) website. I planned to set it up using themed WP, so your initiative really comes in handy. Thank you for your work, I wish you all the best with this project.