When starting a website – whether for a business or personal venture – it makes perfect sense that you would want to keep costs as low as possible. And, with so many open-source WordPress themes available, why would you pay for a premium one, anyway? It just doesn’t seem to make financial sense.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with using a free theme for your site, the question of whether or not it is the best choice ultimately boils down to what its intended purpose is.

Here’s what you need to know about them.

Benefits of Premium WordPress Themes

If you want to set up a website for your blog and have no intention to monetize it in the future, then using open source WordPress themes that come with free tools and plugins will suffice.

However, if you’re looking to stand out from the competition by enhancing the functionality of your website with different features and maybe even monetize it, then investing in premium WordPress themes for business is your best bet.

Some of the top benefits of purchasing include:

• Easy customization without having to touch the underlying code
• Full access to tech support
• Great value for money since it saves you the cost of hiring a web developer and SEO expert
• Plenty of built-in SEO features
• Regular security and compatibility updates
• Their responsive design makes them ideal for mobile viewing
• Uniquely designed website since the price acts as a barrier to stop multiple instances of the same theme on several sites

Genesis Framework

If you’re new to WordPress and are still learning about all the different themes and plugins, it has to offer. You also need to understand the various frameworks involved. One of the most popular ones that you’ll come across is the Genesis framework.

This is a high-quality premium theme framework for WordPress, developed using clean and efficient fast-loading code. The platform allows users to build powerful, secure, lightweight, and SEO-friendly websites.

The genesis software was originally developed by a company called StudioPress, which was later acquired by WPEngine – a WordPress owned hosting company. Genesis, on its own, is what is referred to as a “parent-theme” framework and works perfectly well straight out of the box.

But, to reap the full benefits of what it brings to the table, you need to use an accompanying child theme with it. Why is this important, you might ask?

Well, if you make any customization changes to the menu, font, background color, etc. in your child theme, you don’t lose them any time an update becomes available to the parent – as was previously the case. When this would happen, the new updated theme files would override all the changes you made prior.

This is precisely why themes built on this framework stand out from many of the other premium ones you’ll come across. So, to sum up, Genesis is essentially the layer of code that serves as the intermediary between the WordPress code and your favorite (child) theme.

Best Premium WordPress Themes

Here’s a roundup of some of the best premium Genesis StudioPress themes you should consider using for your website.

AgentPress Pro

It’s no secret that real estate is one of the most competitive and profitable industries in the world. After all, you have multiple agencies all trying to sell the same listing for the chance to cash in on some huge commissions.

With that said, it only makes sense then, that your realtor website reflects an aura of professionalism to build confidence among your prospective clients. It shows them that you’re a legit establishment.

AgentPress Pro guarantees to do just that. It is available in four different templates and a six-layout design making it highly-intuitive to use both during the development process and when visitors use your site. This theme is tailor-made for real estate professionals.

Altitude Pro

One of the unique features of this StudioPress theme is the fact that it is designed with parallax effects. For the non-techies in the house, these are essentially the 3D effects that you see when scrolling the mouse over the page.

Research shows that parallax effects on a website make site visitors linger longer, therefore, reducing the website’s bounce rate. Other unique features of the theme include a floating header that moves with you as you scroll down the page, SEO-ready pages, mobile responsiveness, and several widget options to choose from.

It’s a great theme for small businesses, agencies, and photography portfolio sites, and is guaranteed to add pizzazz to your content.

Authority Pro

Establishing an online business can be a tricky affair. Having a website that you can use to describe your knowledge, experience, and competence is an essential ingredient in growing your brand and increasing your audience.

The Authority Pro theme provides a seamless way to make yourself stand out as an authority in your specific area of specialty. It has four built-in widgets that are great for positioning important articles or information that you wouldn’t want your audience to miss.

Its overall clean and minimalist design makes it one of the best Genesis themes from StudioPress you’ll come across.

Magazine Pro

If you’re looking for a beautifully-designed, multipurpose theme that’s built on the Genesis framework, then you can’t go wrong with Magazine Pro. The theme has six different layouts with stunning header and footer designs that turn your website into a crystal-clear feature-rich mobile-responsive magazine blog.

It is available in four different templates, each of which is optimized to rank on search engines. It is perfect for WordPress magazine blogs as well as political and sports websites.

Outfitter Theme

The Outfitter theme is specially designed for eCommerce websites. It has a neat and clean look to highlight the products you have on display. The header’s minimalist look only has three menu options – Shop, Find Products, and Add to Cart – although you can customize it to add more options if you like.

It displays the product listing with sections for a brief description and product review attached. If you’re just setting up your online store and are looking for a great theme for it, you can’t go wrong with this.

Once You Go Premium, You’ll Never Look Back

As they say, you get what you pay for. This couldn’t be any truer for open-source WordPress websites. The benefits of buying premium themes make it all the more worth it.

They’re unique, SEO-friendly – which is the ultimate goal of every website owner – and most of all, come with tech support. So, get it right from the get-go and invest in a premium theme for your website.