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We have decided to stop supporting our themes for internet explorer 6, this legendary web browser came out 10 years ago. Per Microsoft’s website ie6countdown.com, only 12% of the world’s population is using it today (February 2011), where most of it comes from China.

It’s been a hard time for developers to support old browsers, it’s time for a change.

Several reasons have led us to this decision and among them is the complexity and the flexibility of our themes, low % of it being used in western countries and the expectation of it being dropped to the 5% area in just 1 year.

We are following other big companies that have dropped their support for IE6 such as Facebook and YouTube.

The following chart shows the drop of this browser in the past year:

The resources that you can have access to for free on the internet are virtually limitless. This begs the question: why would you ever pay for something you can get for free, such as a WordPress theme? If you have any level of familiarity with WordPress, then you’ve probably seen the hundreds of different free themes out there. Some of them have very dedicated authors and can make your blog or website look completely professional, even though they are free of charge. So why bother going with a paid premium WordPress theme?

There are actually quite a few reasons. Obviously some paid themes are worth buying, or people would not bother selling them! If you’re trying to decide between free themes and paid themes, then the most important thing is to simply know your own needs and your own capabilities. Let me outline some of the differences between free and paid themes so you can figure out which option will work best for you.

Support & Longevity

Two of the biggest selling points for themes are support and longevity. Paid themes are generally maintained by teams that are affiliated with companies. This means that there’s no risk of the author or authors losing interest in maintaining the theme. It also often means that you’ll be able to get support if you ever have technical problems while utilizing a paid theme.

Free themes are, in many cases, maintained by individuals with a flair for web design. These people, while generally talented, cannot always be relied upon to maintain a theme indefinitely. This means that a theme may not keep pace with the newest advances in web technology such as new widgets and the like. WordPress itself updates fairly frequently, which can wreak havoc on your site if you don’t know how to make the necessary changes. Not having a regularly updated theme may mean you have to keep changing your theme every so often, and it may mean a complete overhaul of its look and feel, which can hurt your site’s level of recognition.

Along the same lines, a free theme author may not have the time or inclination to help you if you run into trouble when installing or modifying a theme to fit your needs. If that’s the case, then you’re on your own!

Ease of Use: Theme Options Interface

Another thing to consider when choosing between free and paid themes is your own level of technological prowess. If you want something that’s exceedingly simple to use that you have to interact with minimally, then a paid theme is probably best. Free themes tend to require a little bit more tech savvy in terms of installing or modifying them. For some paid themes, the company who sells the theme will do most of the work for you and you just get to enjoy the end result with an easy-to-use theme options interface for making changes and updates.

By and large, it’s hard to deny that premium themes are better than free ones. The question then becomes: is a paid theme actually worth it? It can cost over $30 for a top quality premium theme! It can be difficult to justify that level of spending if you are just using WordPress as a platform for a blog or a small business website.

Unique or Not Unique – That Is The Question

Another thing that you have to consider when it comes to both free and paid premium themes is the fact that these themes are not unique and can be sold and distributed to many different clients. Therefore, even if you shell out the cash for a premium theme, there will likely be many other sites out there that look nearly identical to yours because they paid for the same theme. If you want to actually get a completely unique theme, then you may have to pay hundreds of dollars.

Conclusion

So ultimately, whether or not a premium theme is worth it to you; is a question that only you can answer for yourself. If you have the budget for it and you want all the advantages that premium themes can offer, then purchasing one of these themes is a great choice. However, if you aren’t sure or if it simply isn’t in your budget, then there’s no harm in at least trying out a free theme.

Even if you can’t find a free theme that is super easy to use, this can be a great way to introduce yourself the basic elements of PHP, CSS and HTML that are used in WordPress themes. You may find that it’s easier than it looks at first. Then, by the time you’re ready to buy a premium theme, you may find that you don’t even need one anymore.

Quite often owners of small businesses question whether or not it is really necessary to establish an online presence. After all, they do the bulk of their business on a local level and it just never occurred to them that by developing a website they could greatly increase traffic and literally own their market area. Many proprietors make the mistake of thinking that because they are not selling online they don’t really need to establish a website. Whether or not you intend to do business online is irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that exposure (advertising) is the key to success and you have no greater tool at your disposal than the World Wide Web to get your name out there in lights.

Today’s consumer is Internet savvy: 2009 Internet Statistics

In order to understand just how vital a website is to the growth of your business, just consider these facts. According to the Nielson Online ratings, 74.1% of the population in the United States had internet access in the year 2009. That was almost double the figures from just a decade ago. In the year 2000 only 44.1% of households had access to the internet. Because we are living in an age where information is passed on literally at the speed of light, today’s consumer wants answers to questions almost before they are asked.

What do internet statistics have to do with my business?

In terms of your business, if you have a product or service to sell, you can have that buyer ‘pre-qualified’ long before he or she even walks in the door. They will have had the opportunity to see what you have to offer by browsing your website, they can do all the research they need from the comfort of their own home and will be prepared to sign on the dotted line when they walk in your door. If they were not ready to do business, they wouldn’t be there – they would still be searching online! This saves you valuable time and expense because your staff will not be tied up answering questions that can be found online. And of course, the customer is already sold on your product or services because they found you online, they liked what they saw and made the decision to make the trip to your physical location.

A website provides more advertising for your money.

The cost of radio or television ‘spots’ have gone through the roof. They are just not affordable to the average small business owner unless they are featured during the wee hours of the night, and then who’s up to view or hear them? Newspaper ads don’t reach the audience they once did unless you are talking about coupon inserts and direct mail can only say so much. With a website you can advertise literally every product you carry or service you provide because the space available is literally unlimited. Prospective customers can find what they need at the click of the mouse and you can go into as much or as little detail about that item as you so desire. You can include pictures, product specs, instructions, or whatever information you would like to highlight. On the web your possibilities are endless.

Online searches win out over the yellow pages every time!

Recent surveys have proven that shoppers find it easier to find a local business online than by looking through the yellow pages. When questioned why, many people responded jokingly that it is easier to ‘misplace the phonebook than it is my computer.’ While there may be humor in that, the reality is that it is much easier to sit down and do a quick “Google” than it is to leaf through a huge phone book with microscopic typeset. Then, the consumer can simply click on a link that takes them to a map for directions to your location. This helps to prevent lengthy phone calls that tie up your staff who are trying to give coherent directions to your location. It is easy to get indexed in Google or any of the search engines so consumers can find you quite easily and they don’t even need to know the name of your business! All they need to know is what kind of product or service they are looking for and the city they want to shop in. Once you are indexed they can easily find your business with a simple search.

A website can expand your market area significantly.

Many small businesses started out on a local level and gradually expanded their market area by promoting their business online. Creating an online merchant account is quite easy to set up and if you currently take the major credit cards it is just a matter of establishing a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) that enables online shoppers to purchase safely. There are a number of Payment Gateways who provide this service for you so that you really won’t need any specialized computer skills to take online payments. You can literally do business worldwide if your product is one that can be shipped.

Online presence gives you the Competitive Edge.

With a website it is easy to stay one step ahead of the competition. First of all, if you are competing with other small businesses in your market area, many of them may not yet have a website. When that customer Googles a product which several businesses carry, they are going to find your company because you have a website that Google can index. And then again, if your competition is online as well, it is easy to keep up with specials and promos they are offering. By keeping tabs on your competition’s websites you can gain the competitive edge.

Conclusion and an insight into the next article in this series.

Taking all of this into consideration, it is easy to see the necessity of developing a website for any small business. Not only will it help you to survive in today’s highly competitive market, but a website can also help you significantly broaden your horizons. The object of being in business is to make money and it just stands to reason that you can make more money if you can reach more prospective customers. Promoting your business online is proven to be the most effective method of building a customer base while streamlining your operations to save yourself a great deal of time and money. In the next article we will discuss how to actually go about developing a website and getting it hosted online.