MyThemeShop Review 2019

Introduction

Uber important update: I am having some unacceptable issues with my MyThemeShop account at the moment (weekend of February 5th, 2019). I have falsely been flagged as having duplicate accounts, and my paid account has been completely locked. What’s even worse is that when your account is locked you are redirected to a spam-looking website – http://www.nooooooooooooooo.com – this appears to be a known issue and numerous complaints about this in the Account Issues area of the support forum. I will keep you all posted on what happens, and provide a full update and adjust my review accordingly. Until I find out whether or not my account is going to be re-instated, I will refrain from finishing the review. 

Update 1: 7th March, 2019 – received a reply to my support forum post regarding account suspension. Told to email support (which I had already done). Have not heard anything authoritative back yet. Holding out for my account to be re-opened ASAP.

Update 2: 9th March, 2019 – after some back and forth on the Account Issues subforum on Mythemeshop Community, I finally got access back to my account. It is all working fine now. Turns out that when I tried to check the current monthly pricing of MTS for the purposes of this review, I triggered a duplicate account error by inputting a second email address of mine into the account setup field. I didn’t actually think I had created another account, but their system registered it as such and chose to lock me out.

I will talk more about my experiences with the MTS support later in the review, as well as decide whether it has changed my overall view of the product.

NB Review still under construction. Will be finished soon. 

At the heart of any good WordPress-based website lies the theme it is using. Without an attractive theme that is also functional and reliable, your website will look like shite. And a crap looking website is going to turn visitors off quickly.

This is where MyThemeShop (MTS) comes in. It’s billed as a one-stop-shop for premium WordPress themes and plugins that will help you build a beautiful, successful, and highly functional website.

This website actually uses a theme from mythemeshop.com called Best – and I have been pleased with how easy it has been to set it up to look the way I want it to look. For example, I have not gone with the same tiled/magazine homepage layout for Best that is shown on the MTS demo for this theme.

I use MTS themes on all of my WordPress sites except for some of my FPTraffic partner sites, which run a clone of the 9gag theme due to its simplicity. I have also used MTS themes for sites I have built for friends and family members, and the overall look and feel of those sites have always got great feedback.

What Is MyThemeShop.com?

MTS is a membership website that gives you access to a wide array of constantly-updated WordPress themes and plugins. It’s almost like a theme library!

When you pay your joining fee (this is an up front cost plus a monthly subscription) you have unlimited access to any of the themes and plugins featured on the MTS site. New themes are added from time to time, and the current ones are frequently updated.

You can purchase any of the advertised themes or plugins as a one-off licence with a small recurring fee each year. However, I am most familiar with buying the recurring membership that gives you unlimited access to all of the themes and plugins. I will talk to the pricing options more further on in the review as well.

Who Is It For?

The potential audience for MyThemeShop is anybody who uses WordPress to make websites. Whether you are a small business owner looking to create a site to promote your bricks and mortar store, or you are an affiliate looking to build up a mighty empire of niche sites, you could probably benefit from MTS.

If you are a freelance web designer/developer or web agency, then you could also benefit from MTS. I’m sure you’re all-too-familiar with clients who want a basic design without too much customization (and who doesn’t want to pay for a custom theme) then you can probably find something they will like . A MyThemeShop commercial WordPress theme plus a bit of content and tweaking and you can build a great looking site for a client on a smaller budget, and then hopefully convert them into something that earns you more $$$ down the track.

Basically, if you use WordPress or want to start using WordPress, then MyThemeShop could be the right choice for you.

MTS Free Themes

If you’re just looking to dip your toes in the WordPress waters, then you might want to consider trying some of the free MTS themes and plugins that are on offer.

One of the most popular is the free version of the ever-popular SociallyViral. This theme has made it big because it was used to power a website called ViralNova, which got sold for millions of dollars (in fact, much of the banner advertising and remarketing you see for MyThemeShop is based around the theme of making a profitable website with their themes).

With the free themes you do lose out a bit on functionality, but they give you the opportunity to see for yourself what sort of site you could be creating with the premium version.

Here are screen shots of the demos of some of the better free themes:

[free theme 1 + caption + link]

[free theme 2 + caption + link]

There are also some nifty free plugins available. My personal favourite is XXXX [explain what plugin does

Why Use Premium WP Premium Themes?

This is a darn good question. I mean there are so many free WordPress themes available that it seems crazy at first that anybody would pay for one … let alone a monthly membership for lots of them (although you can buy themes one-off – I will cover that later).

There are a few reasons to go with premium/paid WordPress themes as opposed to free themes:

• Free themes can sometimes contain malicious code. This is a real risk. Free themes sourced from dodgy websites have occasionally been known to contain code that can open your site up to attack. NOT GOOD! This is even more of a problem with “nulled” WP themes (that is where someone basically cracks a premium theme to stop it from calling home and then distributes it as a freebie). If you are going to stick with a free theme, then follow this guide here to detecting potentially invasive code.
• Not always updated for new versions of WordPress core. If you have any knowledge whatsoever of WP, then you’ll know that the core WordPress build is frequently updated in order to improve security, enhance functionality, and overall make for a better experience. It is important that the theme you use is updated to work smoothly with the updates that happen to the core WordPress files. With free themes it is not uncommon to see frequent updates fizzle out, and then you can be left with a theme that does not work correctly on the most current version of WordPress. This in itself can result in a tricky dilemma to either have a slightly broken theme but updated core files, or run the risk of falling victim to security exploits etc by maintaining an older build of WordPress in order to ensure that your free theme works fine.
• Hidden advertising. It’s not unheard of to see free WordPress themes – especially those that claim to emulate the functionality of expensive premium options – have hidden advertising. Usually this comes in the form of sneaky links that are dropped into elements of the theme (most themes do have the ubiquitous footer link, but these often go beyond that and into the invasive territory where they can’t be easily removed). I have even seen free themes that hijack sites with cookie stuffing code, or force banner or popup ads to display. You don’t want that on your site do you? And all in the name of saving a few dollars off a premium, well-developed theme.
• Poor code base = slow theme. Many free WP themes are coded up by amateurs or up-and-coming developers trying to make a name for themselves. Everyone has to start somewhere, right? The only downside to this is that a lot of free themes can have a poor code base, resulting in a slow or poorly performing theme that doesn’t always load right. This is generally not an issue with the most popular free themes (if you’re installing based on popularity from within the WP dashboard, then you probably don’t have to worry). However, it is still a consideration to make, especially with themes that seem to have been thrown together in an amateurish manner.

As you can see, it is definitely advantageous to build your WordPress website(s) with a premium theme that has been created by professionals, and for which there will be lasting updates.

Now let’s dive further into this MyThemeShop review to see if MTS can be the answer to our theme problems:

MyThemeShop Pricing

Pricing for MyThemeShop is fairly simple. There are currently two tiers of pricing available.

You can purchase any single theme for $59. Then you will have to pay $19 per year thereafter for that theme.

However, I believe the majority of MTS users opt for the annual membership that gives you complete access to all bundled themes and plugins. This is the option I’ve got (although I purchased it back when you paid an upfront “joining fee” and then a monthly fee, as opposed to paying an annual subscription … in that sense I’ve got a worse deal than anyone buying today!)

Here’s a comparison of what you get when paying for a single theme vs the annual subscription:

NB that there are also some free themes available (check them out here). Most of the free ones are just premium options that have slightly reduced functionality.

Now we come to the fun part of this MyThemeShop review, where I get to dissect the good and the bad of it, and whether or not it is worth a buy on your part:

Pros

• Something for just about everybody. Here’s what I LOVE about MyThemeShop. Regardless of what sort of business you run (except for anything fringe like a directory or file sharing site) if you are using WordPress then you will probably be able to find a theme that you really like. Everyone I have shown MTS, and who is a regular WordPress user, has loved it. It’s like having a library card for site design!
• No design or coding skills required. Provided you can follow basic instructions and have a bit of nous for figuring things out for yourself, then you should be golden to be able to set your site up the way you want it to look with your MyThemeShop theme.
• Instructions provided.
• Great demo functionality. Every theme can be previewed thoroughly through the demo interface on the MTS website. You can check responsiveness, click through and see what interior pages, posts, media pages etc look like, and just overall get a really good feel for how you can make your site look. I’ve seen WP premium themes sold in the past with no comprehensive preview functionality, and that just isn’t good enough in my opinion.
• Comprehensive licence. Any theme you purchase can be used on unlimited sites owned by you. Furthermore, if you pay for the annual unlimited membership then you can use and get support for the themes on any client websites. This is important if you plan on making sites for customers (not being able to get support if a problem happens to a client site could be a real business breaker).
• Great looking themes with good functionality. Overall this is one of the things I like the most about MyThemeShop. The vast majority of themes look fantastic, fresh, and offer sound functionality that can help you get your website performing the way it ought to. I strongly suggest that you take a look at the theme database here and have a play around with the demos; I think you’ll come to the same conclusion as me about how good most of the themes look.
• Regular theme updates. This is crucial for maintaining the security and functionality of your WordPress-based site. Even if MTS was perfect in every other regard, if it lacked regular updating of the themes then it would be an absolute no-go option. Thankfully, the MTS development team put a lot of work into ensuring that the themes are regularly updated. Nice work!
• Good support and service. Unless you are a total pro at using WordPress, then the chances are you will probably one into one hitch or another at some stage when building your site (and this doesn’t just apply to MTS themes – no matter what theme you’re using, you will probably hit a snag with from time to time). The good news is that MyThemeShop support is great.
• Fair price for the annual, unlimited membership. At $167 per year for unlimited access to so many themes, I genuinely believe that MTS membership is good value. If your build a lot of sites or enjoy changing site layout on a regular basis, then you will find it to be an attractive proposition. See my note in the Cons section for my thoughts on single theme pricing, which is a much worse deal.

Cons

• Many of the themes are too similar. Although almost all of the themes look fantastic, my biggest complaint is that many of the themes are too similar. Most seem to be magazine-type themes. If you browse through the available themes here, then you will very quickly see what I mean. I understand that there are an abundance of magazine themes because  It would be nice to have some more niche themes, like a directory theme, forum theme, 9gag type site etc.
• Not enough affiliate friendly themes. I would also love to see at least a couple of themes that are aimed squarely at creating profitable Amazon affiliate sites (with the highly converting comparison layout) so that you don’t have to go out and buy an Amazon-specific theme from another provider.
• Can be hard to get your theme install looking like the example/demo. When browsing through the MTS site you will see all these amazing looking demos. So you pick a theme and install it, and then spend the next 1000 years of your life trying to work out how to get the same homepage look and feel that the demo site has, or how to get your mega menu displaying the same.
• Themes don’t always look great on high resolution screens. One complaint I have about the appearance of the themes is that some of them don’t look as good as they perhaps should on high resolution screens. For example, on my 4k computer screen the text on the themes doesn’t look as crisp as I think it should. Hopefully this will be fixed down the track; increasing numbers of devices are coming with high resolution screens.
• Single theme pricing is bad value. $59 plus $19 per year is quite a lot of money for a single theme. The only situation in which this option makes sense is if you only need to build one site (e.g. you run Bob’s Milkshake Shack and you need a site solely for that business). If you’re an affiliate, a freelance site builder, agency or whatever then you NEED to spring for the annual membership option with unlimited access … or don’t bother at all.
• Downloading the themes and plugins is annoying. Okay this is a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things, but when you’re logged in to your MTS account you can’t just browse around the front end of the site and then download a theme or plugin instead of adding to cart. Instead, you need to remember it’s name, navigate to the members’ area, and then download it from a great big unordered list there. This is just annoying and should be fixed ASAP.
• Login breaks frequently. Lots of users (myself included) have intermittent issues with accessing the member dashboard. You try to log in but the site simply does not respond. This appears to be a known issue

Commercial WordPress Themes

If you’re looking for a more conventional website layout (as opposed to a magazine or blog type theme which is very popular these days) then MyThemeShop also has you covered.

There are a bunch of different themes are suited to business websites. One of my favourite is this one called Architect. It looks very clean and would suit most all bricks and mortar businesses that don’t need an eCommerce functionality:

[architect theme image]

Another great commercial WordPress theme from MTS is the aptly-named “Business”:

[business theme image]

MyThemeShop Coupon Code

Are you looking for a coupon code for MyThemeShop.com?

Unfortunately, I don’t have one to give you. But what I can say is that you should check out the coupon code area on the MyThemeShop site as they occasional have deals like this:

[coupon code image]

Conclusion

Should you join MyThemeShop?

Well that depends. First, you need to ask yourself how much you use WordPress as a site building platform. For example, if you use something like Wix or Weebly instead, then why would you bother?

However, if you are using WordPress on a regular basis for building websites (whether that is a single site you maintain for your business, sites you build for clients, or even a suite of niche affiliate sites) then you cannot go past MyThemeShop.

Although not every theme is a winner, the overall value proposition here is just too great to turn down for any serious WordPress user. And the high standards and frequent updates of these WP premium themes only serves to sweeten the deal further.

My experience with MyThemeShop has been largely positive. Despite some teething issues with a couple of the themes I have used – generally when trying to create the more complicated layouts you see on the demo homepages – I have been pleased with the quality, functionality, and aesthetics of the themes provided as part of my membership. Combine this with good support, handy premium plugins, and an ongoing commitment to updates and joining is a no-brainer for any serious WordPress user.

Go here to join MyThemeShop today.

keywords

• Commercial wordpress themes
• mythemeshop themes
• my theme shop