Ralf Skirr

Hi,

I'm building a blog network and I'm looking for the perfect theme.
Many recommend Semiologic or Thesis.

Best Blogging Software

Thesis Theme for WordPress

Which do you think is better?
Why?

Thanks for your feedback,
Ralf

Jillian Slack

Hi Ralf,

Thesis is a great theme. Their main site has a "showcase" section, which you've probably already taken a look at since you've boiled the choice down to two.

Never heard of Semiologic, but when I clicked on your link it went to a sales page rather than something substantial to show us what it can do. Can't really see what this theme is capable of by their sales page and I don't see any links to see the theme in action.

Care to share?

OK -- I just took the time to copy-and-paste the URLs from the testimonials on that sales page to see if those sites were done with Semiologic.

I'm still partial to Thesis or the Studio Press themes by Brian Gardner, but that's just my opinion.

Jill

LB

Thesis by far.

Semiologic was good a few years back...now I just find it clunky.

Not that semio is bad, but WP has come so far since it first came around.

J Elizabeth Dize

WP Flex is definitely my choice... (I know it wasn't one of the options ) It's amazing how flexible the theme is to be whatever you want it to be.

I used to use Semiologic, but agree with LB that it's a bit outdated.

Daniel Molano

Semiologic hands down for SEO.

Now, if you want a "pretty" theme, it might not be a good choice.

Flex would probably be better in that case.

Why Sem Pro for SEO? Simple, Denis used to be a search engine algorithm developer, the guy knows what he is doing. Sem Reloaded is coming out soon.

Ralf Skirr

Thanks for your feedback so far. So we have 2 votes for thesis, 1 for semiologic.

I'll be checking out the flex theme, the site seems to be:
http://wp-flex.com/

SEO by the way is VERY important to me.
Would be cool to learn more about sem reloaded.

Ralf

TheRealDomainer

I use flex and give it to flex

J Elizabeth Dize

That's good to know! Something to keep our eyes on

Lindsay Brynn

I am also a happy WP Flex user.

Ralf Skirr

I checked the flex page and it either:
- gives very little information or
- actually has very few features compared to the other 2

From reading the sales letters semiologic and thesis seem more advanced.

I'd be interested in any information on how thesis and semiologic handle SEO.

Ralf

nick1123

I really like the thesis theme for WordPress. It seems to do a pretty good job for search engine optimization. But putting the title of you are posts in the title tags. I also love how it's very extensible.

InternetMarketingIQ

Semiologic is an eyesore. Thesis is good. Actually there are about a dozen designers that are making some great stuff. Themes like One Theme that most people have not heard of... Gorilla Themes, Gabfire, etc. The themes you mention get a lot of press because they have been around awhile... but there are a lot of really good themes in existence, they are just hard to find sometimes.

TinkBD

I know it wasn't included in the choices, but I LOVE RapidNicheWebsites, especially if you will be building multiple sites...

Tink

Ralf Skirr

Here's the link for those interested:
Rapid Niche Websites | Build Niche Web Sites | Create Websites | WordPress Websites

Looks pretty good.

patJ

Elegant Themes - Theme Gallery - have great themes.

Ralf Skirr

I know there are many great designs. The reasons why I mentioned semiologic and thesis:
- They are both known for good SEO
- They have a history of updates that adjust the theme to the current wordpress versions

For my main blog I shelled out 200 bucks or so for a theme from a designer who - as it turns out later - does not do much to update it and adopt it to the new wordpress versions. I'm totally NOT happy about this.

This is why a reliable history of updating the theme will be one of my main buying criteria.

Given how fast wordpress changes having a great looking theme isn't enough. It's absolutely necessary that the theme is under continued development.

Ralf

LB

I don't think any of these options are bad.

I like Thesis because it is very flexible and there are a LOT of big sites using it. They have a great private support forum as well.

Some of these less popular products may go out of production or be slow to upgrade when WP is updated.

What happens when there is a vulnerability in WP but your theme isn't compatible with the new version? Either you risk getting compromised or you're forced to another theme anyway....something to think about.

Daniel Molano

Ralf, Sem Reloaded is in alpha stage. The bleeding edge version is available to Sem Pro customers I believe.

The Semiologic.com site is currently using that theme. It's looking pretty good.

cashcow

I've used them both and I like them both, but I think the Thesis theme looks better and is easier to use.

mistyone

I have a site Faster Internet Speed | Internet Speed Check | Free Internet Speed Software and Instructions Show How To Speed Up Your Internet Connection. that I purchased over a year ago that has this Semiologic theme version loaded:
Semiologic 4.3.7 by Denis de Bernardy

and I have never been aware of any theme update but maybe that is because the person who developed the site and sold it to me is the person who purchased the theme and would be getting the upadate notices. There doesn't seem to anything that says to go and update it either. But in it's defence, I must say that it doesn't cause any trouble, it is definitely more complicated that the plain old Kubrick Wordpress version

So I guess you could say Semiologic gets the thumbs up from me

Cheers
Viv

Daniel Molano

Viv, you should head to Semiologic.com and update that, the theme is currently in version 5.7.1.

Swastik

I've not used Semiologic so am not commenting on it.

But, I love Thesis. It's got so many functions & is one hell of a theme, a very good investment.

My vote goes for Thesis.

Ron Kerr

Semiologic was very good but went through a lot of problems with a potential sale of the business and the wheels really seemed to fall off. I could not justify renewing after that experience although it does seem to be getting back on track now.

kmg

Hi Ralf

If you watch some of the videos at WP Flex WordPress theme | WP Queen you'll see why those of us who use WP Flex really love it's versatility.

Hope that helps.

tuxonio

Hey guys how is it going?...

I am relatively new to WP and find the system ideal for internet marketing I think there are pros and cons on the themes that you are mentioning above Flex...is very flexible and seems to be very easy to handle and customize, but probably lacks the potential of the others...I find thesis very slick and for what I could check out rich in optimizing content, but strangely enough did not find any video showing the features, so i don´t know how it really works, or probably I missed it,....semiologic seems to be dense in its probable-looks but as Daniel puts it seems to be very compatible with SEO...probably all are...

I am using Elegant Themes and the designs are fantastic but I am finding them difficult to customized, does anyone know any tutorials concerning these themes?,... and definitely not as friendly as Flex...what I am trying to say is that all themes could be adapted to your needs and they should be used depending in what you want out of them...

Take care everybody!!
Best
Arturo

SteveJohnson

One point in favor of Thesis is that it doesn't touch core WordPress code; Semio (at least the last version I saw) did. To me, that's a terrible no-no. It leaves you at the mercy of a private developer, and one that has had some recent troubles at that. I wouldn't touch SemioLogic now with a 10 ft. pole.

I liked Thesis when it was first released. Chris Pearson has done a phenomenal job on it. That said, I think he has gone too far and made the theme much more complicated than it needs to be, it is especially difficult for the average blog owner to customize. I know he's trying to create a 'framework', but the damn thing is almost as complicated as WordPress itself.

Can't comment on Flex as I haven't looked into it, from the comments here it sounds like I should put that on my to-do list.

Ralf Skirr

@all: Thanks for your continued suggestions, good to get feedback about your experience and about what you've used.


That's a very good point. I didn't know that. If this proves to be true for the current version then it is not a theme I would use.

After all the purpose of a theme is to leave the CMS code untouched, that is why themes were invented in the first place.

I'm using wordpress because it's continually updated and expanded, and because it has a huge developer base. If I would switch to an 'altered' branch then I could as well use any other CMS that might have good features but not a solid developer base. I think it's important to stick to the main wordpress development.

I've seen too many small software companies stop their development, expecially the typical 1-person-business. Then you've been left with a software that's outdated in no time.

Ralf

Craig Desorcy

Probably not going to make any friends with my thoughts on this
and that's cool.

What a waste of time it is even thinking about a theme being the best for SEO.

New people to IM are now being trained to think this is so important.

Take the most crappy theme you can find, add the "All in one SEO plugin",
Get mega back links for your targeted keyword (slowly), do some deep linking,
make sure you have your inner linking game down and you'll rank in the
search engines. Give it three to six months as long as you're not trying
to rank for "golf clubs" or some other impossible word or phrase.

When talking themes being SEO friendly we're talking "On Page Factors".
Not as important as it used to be and based on my results it's all about
back links.

We have people here wasting time on getting the best SEO friendly theme
when they don't even have an offer online that converts. And lots of new
people come here, see threads like this and now think "Man, I have to find
a search engine friendly theme!"

How about, "Man, I have to find a way to create killer content people are
going to want to link to!"

Craig

abelacts

I choose a theme based on design and flexibility in customizing. I have used StudioPress and like it. However I might give Thesis a try as I have heard many good things about it. Another one to watch out is Woo Themes.

Ralf Skirr

I can assure you I have great results with on page SEO and there's a lot a theme can do for your seo that the seo plugin can not do. If you don't see that maybe upgrade your seo knowledge and think creatively.


Using the seo plugin plus having an optimized theme gets great results and tons of free traffic.

BTW: why do you assume that working on on page seo excludes writing good content that people want to link to? Imagine one would combine it...

Ralf

Daniel Molano

How about ranking top 5 for business consulting, an "impossible" keyword according to your standards, I did it in under 2 months with a 4 month old domain. 100% white-hat and that's only 1 of my power rankings.

That keyword alone has generated me over $120,000 USD net profit in the past 2 months.

That's how good Sem Pro is. Go ahead, Google it.

As I said, Denis was a search engine algorithm developer, the guy knows what he is doing. He only messed with the code because he had to. WP has some issues believe it or not.

I agree that the theme is not much of an eye candy, but who needs that when you can gain amazing rankings.

The Sem Pro SEO plugin is by far superior to the All In One SEO Pack.

Sem Pro is not just a theme, it comes with over 40 plugins.

Advanced SEO is NOT just about backlinks, half the battle is ON site SEO.

Craig Desorcy

Danial,

What I wrote is my option. You can have yours. Yours does not affect what I do
and I'm sure mine will not affect what you do.

Ralf, I hope you choice the theme that works best for you.

Best,

Craig

Daniel Molano

Yes Craig, but your opinion is far too strong, as if there was no other option.

I'm just showing that there is, with proof.

Craig Desorcy

Cool. Let's show off...

What's the search count for "How to start a blog" and how many competing pages?
I'm on the first page and will be in the top five in three months.

Your way works and so does mine.

If my opinion was too strong and came off as "THE ONLY WAY" then I apologize. That
was not my goal.

Back on topic: I'd pick Thesis just for its looks.

Craig

Paid Surveys

for me it would be Thesis, looks professional and clean.

Daniel Molano

How to start a blog = 992,000 competing pages under quotes and 12,100 exact global monthly searches according to the Google Keyword Tool (5 words).

Business consulting = 5,120,000 competing pages under quotes and 49,500 exact global monthly searches according to the Google Keyword Tool (2 words).

You obviously know what you're doing, "how to start a blog" is a great ranking.

I'm just showing that in my experience the theme does indeed matter and so does the CMS. But as you said, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Leonard Holmes

I think that Thesis has overtaken Semiologic. Semiologic, as someone already said, is clunky and it breaks every time there is a Wordpress upgrade. While this happens with many themes, the update process seems much more cumbersome with Semiologic. I dropped my subscription to Semiologic Pro in favor of Thesis and I am finding great SEO results with Thesis.

Daniel Molano

I couldn't have said it better myself Steve, Semiologic is not a standalone theme, it's a platform. An improved version of Wordpress I might add.

robertvance

I like Semiologic Pro. I have used it on several sites and I find the support from Dennis to be top notch. I also use flexability2 on some blogs. I like it for its ease of customization.

internetwarrior97

Neither seem interesting enough to draw the attention of a customer who probably has a 2 second attention span. However, I suppose if you're going to have a catchy and bold headline the somewhat bland theme will not distract the customers eyes....

With that said:

Between those two I choose Semilogic solely because it goes down linearly and doesn't distract the eyes to other buttons and words like Thesis does. It is important to keep the flow of the customer's reading and not distract them.

yaji

I don't think theme is a big deal at the beginning. Sure you can upgrade later on if you have made enough money but to start with IM I don't think theme plays a big role.

Just my 2 cents.

Ralf Skirr

Uhm, I'm not exactly 'starting' with IM, been doing it since 2001.


And I went through testing several CMS platforms before I decided to stick with wordpress.

When building a blog network with 50+ blogs it might be good to put some thought into the theme upfront. Why would someone want to start with an inferior, non-optimized and uncomfortable theme in the first place?

Ralf

NetMan

Ralf, Wordpress ROCKS! indeed

The flex theme people are talking is probably this one here http://flexxtheme.com/ in case you haven't seen it yet

Regards,

Andre Foisy

ptwain

Great comment Craig! People need to stop worrying about the little things that don't really matter in IM. The very first thing is to find a starving crowd(niche) that buys, market it, and build traffic. Once you have that traffic, then you can optimize or use these SEO themes to get better rankings. But I admit the Thesis theme is pretty slick.

Ryce

So...... just to make things more accurate

The Flex Theme discussed here is http://flexxtheme.com or | WP Flex premium wordpress theme

NetMan

Absolutely NOT the same at all what's discussed really is http://flexxtheme.com the link should work correctly now

Regards,


Andre Foisy

DennisFMaloney

Originally Posted by Craig Desorcy
Probably not going to make any friends with my thoughts on this
and that's cool.

What a waste of time it is even thinking about a theme being the best for SEO.

New people to IM are now being trained to think this is so important.

Take the most crappy theme you can find, add the "All in one SEO plugin",
Get mega back links for your targeted keyword (slowly), do some deep linking,
make sure you have your inner linking game down and you'll rank in the
search engines. Give it three to six months as long as you're not trying
to rank for "golf clubs" or some other impossible word or phrase.

When talking themes being SEO friendly we're talking "On Page Factors".
Not as important as it used to be and based on my results it's all about
back links.

We have people here wasting time on getting the best SEO friendly theme
when they don't even have an offer online that converts. And lots of new
people come here, see threads like this and now think "Man, I have to find
a search engine friendly theme!"

How about, "Man, I have to find a way to create killer content people are
going to want to link to!"

Craig



Thank you from a newbe

Alle-Cat

I've been setting up a fair number of blogs over the past few months and have tried quite a few "premium themes" including Brian Gardeners, Elegant Themes and several others, all of which I liked. This is the first time I've ever seen Semilogic mentioned anywhere...

I discovered Thesis a month or so ago and have never looked back. I really like its out of the box clean style. It can be a bit complicated if you want to modify it to any great degree, but any changes are kept in a couple of separate style-sheets which don't touch Wordpress at all.

Thesis has a very active support forum and people are ready and willing to help you with any problems you may come across.

Thesis gets my vote.

Ryce

Hi Andre!

I know they are not the same.

Jenn Dize on post #4
Ralf Skirr on #6
kmg on #25

seem to be talking about WP Flex wp-flex.com or www.wpqueen.com which seem to be the same

malcasid

I've never heard of semiologic. Thesis is surprisingly extremely customizable.
I have seen a lot of great blogs based on Thesis. You would never know that they were build on Thesis.