The Ultimate Collection of the Best WordPress Themes for 2014

Here’s our ultimate collection of the best WordPress themes 2014. I’ll be covering the full shabang of places to buy WordPress themes from a variety of sources: including the best ready to go themes, theme frameworks, and child themes.

WordPress Theme Frameworks

Ok, so we will start with WordPress theme frameworks. A theme framework is a really good starting point for creating your own website design. They’re usually very lean so you don’t have much bloated code. They’re usually optimised to help ranking your site on search engines such as Google and Bing. Plus, they’re versatitle so you can do a huge amount of different things with very little effort. I love WordPress theme frameworks as they take the hard work out of creating a beautiful, strong and unique website. I recommend choosing a WordPress theme framework when you want to spend time building and tweaking your website over time.

Genesis

Genesis is the king of all WordPress theme frameworks. We use Genesis for ENM and have used it for most of our client projects. As you can see its fast and versatile. Genesis, by Studiopress, is a really workhorse and has optimised code from top to bottom. We’ve recently been overhauling our website on version 2 of Genesis and it took a few hours to turn the generic design to our own purple & black block design. This is our recommendation for the number one spot of the Best WordPress Themes 2014.

So, check out Genesis. If you need more convincing that this is the best place to start then check out my Genesis Theme Framework Review.

Thesis

Moving on to Thesis which is also a heavy weight in the WordPress world. We don’t tend to use Thesis as much as say Genesis, but that’s more because of personal development preferences rather than anything being wrong with Thesis. Thesis, from DIYthemes, required no code knowledge, so a perfect stepping stone for any WordPress newbie.

Head over to DIYthemes and check out Thesis.

WordPress Child Frameworks

So you have a theme framework, but want to take the solid foundation further. Well luckily you can! You can get child themes which work directly with their parent theme frameworks. If you buy a popular theme framework you will find child themes that will take the design and functionality further. The child theme+theme framework is a top notch approach to getting your hands stuck in to creating your own WordPress site but will a helping hand. Think of it as stabilisers on a bike.

Whitespace for Genesis

Whitespace is one of my favourite child themes for Genesis. It is an elegant WordPress them that has all the nuts and bolts you need to win on the internet!

Whitespace for the win. See it here!

News Pro for Genesis

Want a blog magazine/newspaper style site that brings your content to the fore? Then News Pro child theme for Genesis is the perfect choice. Plus it is really easy to add adverts so you can start earning a crust from your hardwork!

Are you a writer? Check out News Pro

WordPress Ready-To-Go Themes

These WordPress themes are ready-to-go straight off the shelf so if you are a newbie and want a strong, beautiful website then this is a great place to start and stand out from the crowd.

ThemeForest

If you want a ready-to-go theme then ThemeForest is the marketplace you need to check out. With thousands of WordPress themes from hundreds of designers there will be a theme for you. Handily, ThemeForest breaks down themes in to categories where you can find business, bloggging, and pretty much any theme for any type of site you can think of. The place for the Best WordPress Themes 2014.

Go find your theme at ThemeForest.

Choosing the Best WordPress Theme

Getting the right theme is crucial but remember that first impressions count. So, if you see a theme that looks great and you can picture your website like that then take a closer look. We have spend years working with WordPress and know all the angels and all the demons that WordPress has to offer. So themes will be dodgy. Don’t go for a free theme you find online, unless from a reputable source, as it may contain naughty code that code affect your visitors and your site.

Recommendation for the Best WordPress Themes 2014

The best WordPress theme has to be the Genesis theme framework. Not only is it a workhorse in terms of SEO, design and functionality, but it’s by StudioPress who know WordPress like the back of their hand.