This will be another newbie, friendly guide on how to install a premium WordPress theme on your WordPress installation. And for this tutorial, I will be using the WordPress installation on my Windows 10 computer.
But, the same procedure is valid if you are installing a premium WordPress theme on your cPanel. Installing a premium WordPress theme can be a difficult task if you are new to the WordPress ecosystem, and I have had multiple real-life experiences and failed several times.
The purpose of this guide is to make you aware of the process and give you a headstart. Learning from real-life experiences is the best teacher of all, and let’s get to it.
Table of Contents
Why I need a premium WordPress theme?
If you are just starting your WordPress journey, I suggest you read the guide I did on Installing WordPress in less than 30 minutes.
And I also did a guide on installing WordPress on your Windows 10 computer. Installing WordPress on your local machine is the most economical way of learning WordPress. Yes, it literally costs you nothing!
Okay, then, let’s answer the burning question, why I need a Premium WordPress theme!
There are plenty of Free WordPress themes, and if you are good enough, you can make those free themes way better than a Premium WordPress theme. The thing is, it is not as easy as it looks.
Especially if you a newbie and struggling to get a professional-looking WordPress site for your business, then a free WordPress theme may not be the ideal for you.
None like most of the free WordPress themes, Premium WordPress themes are well documented. If you can read, you can do almost all the customizations to your WordPress website at ease!
I can list several reasons why they should go for a Premium WordPress theme instead of a Free WordPress theme. But, before that, you should keep in mind that Premium WordPress themes come with a price.
They are not free. And for every penny spend, a Premium WordPress theme should worth the money.
And if you have long term goals (You should Have to have longterm goals), then your digital properties (Your Website especially) should follow your goals.
And using a free WordPress theme creates a stressful situation when the developer of the free WordPress theme stops updating the theme. If you are not getting updates, then you are basically missing a lot.
One of the biggest reasons that you should go for a premium theme is, you will be getting frequent updates, and you can always stay up to date with WordPress’s core update.
Yes, almost all the premium WordPress themes come with pre-made websites. Before purchasing the theme, you better take a closer look at the theme’s demo. You should check all the demo-sites the come with the theme.
If the site you planned on doing is already a template of the theme you looked, then you should purchase that premium theme.
With one-click demo import options, you can literally have the basic structure of the website ready in a matter of seconds. Having this much flexibility is one of the most significant advantages of purchasing a theme for your website.
Once the site and the demo content imported, you can start editing the content to the way you need your website to be.
When you import the demo content, it will not just get you a ‘ready to edit’ site. It will also get you a professional website ready within a matter of minutes. All the hard work put into work by the designers and the developers of the theme should be valued, and that’s why we pay for the theme.
Where to buy a Premium WordPress theme?
If you are thinking of going for a premium WordPress theme, then you should look for a place to buy it. The Internet can be a misleading place if you don’t adhere to the basics.
Always purchase the theme from the original theme publisher or buy from an authorized, reputed marketplace.
Usually, a modern WordPress theme may cost you around $40-$60/year. But, if you check on the Internet, multiple websites are offering premium WordPress themes for a crazy low price.
I’ve seen some are selling themes for as little as $5/theme for life. That is too good to be true, and you should never ever purchase.
Themes purchased from these sites may come with ‘backdoors,’ and hackers may exploit these backdoors to gain access to your site. If that happens, they will insert malicious codes into your WordPress, and that is the end of your website.
My goto place for WordPress premium themes and plugins is Themeforest.
Themeforest is known for its reputation, and that is the biggest marketplace for purchasing high quality, authentic WordPress themes.
Also, MyThemeShop is another famous publisher for WordPress themes and Plugins. They are known for their lightning-fast, Lightweight WordPress themes, and of course, Rank Math is one of their amazing products. (If you are wondering what Rank Math is, well Rank Math is Yoast Killer.
If you are into SEO and you should try Rank Math, instead of Yoast and you know what, Rank Math is absolutely free)
10 Things to consider before buying a Premium theme
1. Design
One of the biggest reasons to buy a premium WordPress theme is design. Selecting a well-designed theme will save you time and money as you can simply complete your website without hiring or outsourcing expensive designers.
2. Updates
Always check the changelog of the sales page of the theme and check whether the theme publisher release updates frequently. If a publisher rarely releases updates, that is not a good sign, and I’d rather avoid such themes.
3. Support
Before buying a Premium WordPress theme, always check the publishers’ support form. Most of the theme publishers have their own support forums, and you should check for these forums if the publisher is addressing the issues accordingly.
If you see an unanswered customer request for weeks, then that is not a good sign and avoid such themes and publishers.
4. Feedback from buyers
One major thing that you should take into consideration is customer feedback. When you see a theme with a large number of positive feedback, then it is a pretty good sign that the theme you look is a better one.
And if you see a theme with a 5-star rating from just 10 customer feedback and a 4.2-star rating from 3000 feedback, you should go for the second theme. I don’t have to explain why you should go for the second one, right?
5. Compatibility with the latest WordPress updates
No matter how good your theme is, if it is not compatible with WordPress, then the theme is good for nothing. Compatibility issues become serious as WordPress released ‘WordPress 5.0’ Gutenberg. It is highly recommended to check whether the theme is compatible with the latest WordPress release.
6. Compatibility with new plugins
Since WordPress is highly customizable, plugins play a vital role in all these customizations. If you are going for a theme that is not compatible with the latest WordPress updates, you are highly likely to get lots of plugin compatibility issues.
Make sure you select a premium theme that is compatible with WordPress updates, and ultimately the theme will be compatible with the plugins.
7. SEO friendliness
Selecting a theme that is optimized for Google (Or Search Engines) is vital. I know for a fact that many people mainly think of the design of the theme.
Which is fine. But, if you have long term goals with your website, then you should think of SEO.
Because of No SEO, no long run.
It is that simple. Always look for a theme with better SEO compatibilities. And the Good news is, theme developers are fine-tuning their themes for SEO.
If you are buying from a reputed seller, it is highly likely that your theme is ready for almighty Google!
8. Mobile compatibility
The way people access the Internet has changed with the rise of smartphones.
If your theme is not ‘Mobile-friendly,’ then you are giving your mobile users a bad browsing experience. Always go for a theme that is mobile friendly.
And having a Mobile-friendly site is also good for your site’s ranking as well. With the rise of Google’s ‘Mobile-first indexing,’ now Google is giving higher credibility to your content when your site is ‘Mobile-friendly.’
9. Theme performance
You should be selecting a theme that loads fast (r). Even though you purchased your premium theme from a reputed vendor, still there’s a chance that you are not going to get a high performing theme for your needs.
Always do your background check before buying. Themes like Astra, are well-known for their light-weight and lightening loading speed. When you chose a high performing theme, you almost created a high performing website.
10. Theme options
When your theme has lots of options, sometimes people think that it is too complicated for them. But, that is not always the truth. What I think is, when a theme has lots of options, that gives you a lot of control over your theme, and ultimately it will give you more control on your site.
How to Install Premium WordPress theme on your WordPress
Let’s get to it. The process is simple and easy to follow
1. Download theme from Vendor
The first thing you should do is purchase the theme you like and download the theme from the Vendor.
In this guide, I will be explaining the process of downloading a theme from Themeforest. If you have purchased your theme from a different vendor, then the process might be a little different. But it is easy to learn.
How to download a theme from Themeforest
Log into your Themeforest account and hover the mouse over your username. There will be a menu and click on ‘download.’
In the download page, you’ll find all your ThemeForest purchases (If you have purchased other plugins, themes, etc. Themeforest.
Find the theme you need to download (If you just purchased the theme, your download list will only have the theme you purchased) and click on the download button. Once you click, it will give you several options.
If you select ‘all files and documentation,’ it will download the theme and the associated files.
I personally see it is somewhat troublesome if you are new.
So, I recommend you click on the ‘Installable WordPress file only’ option.
Once you have downloaded the WordPress files, then you can start installing a premium theme on your WordPress.
2. Installing the Premium Theme on WordPress
Log in to your WordPress backend and hover the mouse over ‘Appearance’ and click on ‘Themes.’
It will take you to a new window.
This is where you can install a new theme for your WordPress.
The interface is almost self-explanatory!
First, click on ‘Add New,’ and in the next windows, click on ‘Upload Theme.’
Once you click on Upload Theme, you will be asked to browse or select the theme file you want to install.
Browse and locate the theme file you downloaded from Themeforest and select it and click on ‘Install Now.’
Once the installation completed, click on ‘Activate’ and congratulations, you just installed a Premium WordPress theme!
Once you activated the installed theme, it will be your active theme, and you can quickly see the new changes in your site as soon as you completed the activation.
3. How to find your Themeforest License Key
If you purchased your Theme from Themeforest, you should download your license key from ThemeForest and activate the theme.
This way, you can get updates for your theme as they updated. And sometimes, finding the license key may be a difficult task. But it’s not.
All you have to do is, go to your ThemeForest download area and click on the green download button.
In the dropdown, click on License Certificate and Purchase Code (either text or PDF) and download your license key.
Once you have your license key ready, you should enter your license key where it is requested.
Enter your Themeforest username and the license key to activate your theme properly, and you are done!
FAQ: How to Install a premium WordPress theme
How do I install a ThemeForest theme?
The process is super simple and easy to learn. Log into your Themeforest and go to the download area. And download the Installable WordPress files from ThemeForest. Then log into your WordPress backend. Go to Appearance, then theme. Click on Add New and then Upload. You will be asked to browse for the theme file. Locate the file and click on Install. Finally, activate the theme and done!
Should I update my WordPress theme?
Yes, you should update your WordPress theme whenever there’s an update. In a way, Updates are here to correct the existing errors, add new functionality to the theme, or maybe to improve the theme’s functionality. That’s why you should update your WordPress theme. But before updating the theme, make sure to back up your WordPress site. If something goes wrong, you can restore your site to normal if you back up your WordPress site before updating the theme.
How can I download paid ThemeForest themes for free?
Literally, there’s no way of doing such. But I’ve seen there are plenty of market places, which are not authorized by the theme developer to sell their themes are selling these premium themes for crazy low prices. You shouldn’t purchase themes or anything digital from such marketplaces. Because almost all these digital products are altered, and they may contain malicious codes in them. If you use such a theme (or any digital product) with your WordPress, then you are exposing your website to hackers.
How to install a WordPress theme manually?
There are several ways to install a Premium WordPress theme. One method is using an FTP to upload the theme to cPanel. If you are not a ‘Tech-Person,’ then FTP may not be the answer you need. Uploading the Zipped WordPress theme directly into your WordPress backend is the easiest way to install a new WordPress theme manually.
Conclusion: How to Install a premium WordPress theme
WordPress CMS can be tricky and sometimes hard-to-learn platform. But, it is not always the case.
When you step into the WordPress ecosystem, you should look for a well-designed website with a userfriendly interface. Sometimes it is hard to achieve everything with a free WordPress theme.
That’s why people love to spend some money on a premium WordPress theme. Purchasing a theme is easy, yet Installing the theme on WordPress can be tricky.
This simple guide was prepared to keep such people in mind.
You should pick a theme that suits all your needs. Premium themes aren’t free. They come with a price and don’t afraid or hesitate to pay the fee.
It will make sure you get the best out of your theme, and it will also keep the developer of the theme encouraged.
Never ever buy thems for crazy low prices form anyone but the theme developer or an authorized vendor. Cybersecurity is one of the major concerns these days. If you are using a ‘nulled’ theme for a crazy low price, you are risking your digital property.
Almost all the premium themes come with support and at least up to 1 year of free updates. That is a good sign that your money is in safe hands.
I hope this guide on How to Install a premium WordPress theme has provided value to your WordPress journey and feel free to share your comments and suggestions to improve this super simple guide.
