If you’re considering spicing up your WordPress site by buying a premium theme, this can be a really exciting way to personalize your space and make it unique to your blog. It can be tricky to navigate through all of your options as it seems that they are endless on WordPress. While there are tons of free options, the premium options simply offer more benefits and possibility.

Whether your free theme isn’t making the cut or you’d rather start off with something premium from the beginning, it’s a great time to make the change and know that your theme is going to come straight from a professional developer offering amazing support and features. Here is a look at the five things you should know before you consider buying a premium WordPress theme in order to stand out from the competitors, give your site an extra boost, and help you know how to determine if a theme is good.

Where to find them

You first need to know where to find these themes. There are two main places to find them which is through theme vendors, like a team of individuals you’ll buy it from, through the WordPress Directory of Commercial Themes.

This could be vendors such as Theme Isle or Graph Paper Press. Another route is the Theme Marketplaces, an online store where theme developers pay a commission on sales to the marketplace. It’s great because the highest quality ones are usually at the top and the low-quality themes will show a bad rating.

Popular places to buy themes include WooThemes, ThemeForest, WPMU DEV, Elegant Themes and MOJO Themes.

Where to avoid buying them

You’ll want to make sure you learn where to avoid buying themes. If you were to buy themes from these spots, you could end up with something low-quality or getting yourself hacked. Avoid a discounted or free download of a premium theme because it could end up as a costly mistake. Downloading a bad theme could have a malicious code built-in. Look out for spam sites offering themes for free because you could get hacked. Watch out for misspelled “WordPress” by substituting a lower-case “p.”

Learn about theme quality

You need to understand theme quality next. The top quality theme vendors are good at selling fantastic products and you find resources are making the right decision. You still need to understand things like their rating system, the comments sections, the support forums, and viewing the showcase or demo. If something has a ton of four and five star reviews, you should be fine to choose this one unless it’s simply not the right one for you.

Too many one and two-star reviews is a red flag. The comments section will explain what others’ experience was like while the support forums will show you whether people are getting a quick response to support requests and in-depth responses. Lastly, check out the theme’s showcase to see what others have done with the theme and it may help you with the decision.

What theme elements to look for

Make sure at the least, that your theme is standards-compliant, responsive, compatible, customizable, and will integrate with other WordPress plugins.

The extras

Lastly, there are some extras that you may run into during your search. If you need any of these bonus features, look for them before making your final decision. For example, many people like the support forums, tutorials, and education. Do they have a community like StudioPress? Do they have theme documentation to help you get your website up and running quickly?

Use these tips to make sure you are choosing the best premium theme for your WordPress site.