If you are just about to start a new Wordpress blog then choosing the right theme for your blog will be one of the first dilemmas you will face. Let’s face it, the default Wordpress theme is not very appealing and also when it comes to functionality, it’s very limited or basic. That’s why you need to pick a theme and install it to give your Wordpress blog a boost. There are thousands of themes out there for you to choose from. They have both free and paid ones. So, the dilemma is, should you get a free or a premium or paid theme. I’ll try to point out few things and make it easy for you to decide.

First and foremost, you would have to ask yourself what kind of blogger you want to be or what kind of blog you want to create. If you’re creating a blog just to pass time or for occasional personal entries with no serious plan or goal then the choice is very simple. Pick a free one that you like and enjoy!

But if you want to be a serious blogger or create a blog for your business or establish reputation and identity or make money from your blog then you should make the decision very carefully. Picking the right theme or theme provider from the start will save you lot of money, time and trouble down the road.

Whether you want to go with a free or a paid one, you should consider the following:

•    Is the theme compatible with the latest Wordpress version?

•    Does the theme support all the wordpress plugins or functionality you want to add right away and also plugins that you might add in the future?

•    Is the theme customizable, should you wish to make some modifications?

•    Does the theme work perfectly on all the latest versions of major browsers and as well as the older ones?

•    Is the theme Search engine or SEO friendly?

•    Is there any support available if you need it?

•    Will the theme be updated in the future to match future Wordpress releases?

While it’s true that some of the free themes are almost as good as the paid ones, there are few things you should know about free themes. Most free themes aren’t updated on a regular basis or you won’t be able to find an upgraded version in the future. Support for free themes isn’t good either. The reason is, developer of a free theme is most likely not making any money directly or not being sufficiently compensated in any way. So, there is hardly any motivation or means to address support requests or constantly update the theme. In lot of cases someone just makes a theme and puts it out there for people to download and then disappears. It has also been reported that lot of free theme developers place sneaky codes in their theme for personal or financial gain or just some other malicious purposes. Not only that, lot of themes are poorly written that poses a security risk and also results in degraded server and site performance.

On the other hand, paid or premium themes are usually constantly updated and they go through regular bug fixes. Support is usually good as well because they can afford it and they have to think of their reputation. Premium themes are usually lot better than free ones when it comes to design and functionality because they have to make money off those themes.

Having said all that, you shouldn’t just blindly assume that any premium or paid Wordpress theme will be very good. You should do your home work. Search online to see what others are saying about that theme and/or theme developer. Browse through their support forum to see what type of issues people are having with the theme. Ask them as many questions as you want before you buy. After you have done your research, if you’re comfortable with everything then go for a premium theme and chances are you won’t regret it.

© 2009, Ricepan.com. All rights reserved. You may not republish this full article without permission under any circumstance.

Technorati is changing the way it calculates the authority numbers. A recent blog post on the site by Jen McLean, explains the reasons behind decreased authority numbers. As per their announcement, they are not going to count static blogroll links toward authority numbers and they will rely more heavily on RSS and atom feeds.

If you are a Technorati user and/or get significant traffic from the service then you might want to make necessary adjustments to your blog. If you haven’t really been paying attention to your feeds or feed settings then now is a good time to do so. If you are not using FeedBurner already then, I suggest you start using it. FeedBurner offers you lot more options and control than your default feed options.

Remember, from now on if you want Technorati to count your links towards authority then they have to be published in the feed. Meaning, if a partial feed doesn’t contain a link then it will not be counted at all. So, in some cases you might have to ask other blogs to publish full feed if they’re not already. Also don’t forget to ping after any updates.

© 2009, Ricepan.com. All rights reserved. You may not republish this full article without permission under any circumstance.