Why start from scratch?

There are times when you want absolute control. But having absolute control often times also means having the time, energy, and money to pay for it. Much of the time you can do just fine without having to re-invent the wheel.

That’s what I love about WordPress and WordPress templates (known as “themes”). You can launch a great-looking site, tweak it a bit to match up with the look and branding you’re trying to emulate, and launch it for the world to see…rapidly and affordably. You can then focus your attention on creating awesome content and interacting with the visitors to your site.

I’m a WordPress designer and developer. I’ve built plenty of sites from scratch, and I’ve also launched a growing number of sites for clients on a tight budget using pre-built WordPress themes. To be honest, much of the time I’m happier with the final product of the theme-based approach. Yet sometimes the final product looks nothing like the original theme.

For example, this is my brand’s website: www.liftdevelopment.com

I think it looks decent and it has resulted in increased business and numerous visitor compliments. Well, I have to confess that I didn’t start from scratch. It’s actually based on this theme from ThemeForest.

They don’t really look that similar, do they? Actually they really look nothing alike. I’ve made a few tweaks to the original theme design and ended up with a completely unique website. And it didn’t take long to launch.

The purpose of TheDailyTheme is to bring you a steady dose of premium WordPress themes and frameworks that you can download, install, and tweak. One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve accumulated a nice collection of premium themes is that much of the time I had no idea what to expect before I made each purchase. I didn’t really know what the theme options panel looked like, what was possible, etc. This site will provide you with theme reviews, discovery, pros and cons of each theme, and demonstrations of specific tweaks you can make to improve each theme.

I spend a good portion of my project schedule tweaking themes (see TweakMyTheme.com) and TheDailyTheme is where I will be sharing what I learn…hopefully on a daily basis before too long. Read, enjoy, say hi, and get tweakin’!