Frugal Theme is a new WordPress 2.8 compatible theme designed by Eric Hamm. Eric created Frugal as a fully customizable theme for the non-coder. The theme is so complete, it comes with a 29 page user manual. According to Eric, it’s all about the content.
When it comes down to it, your blog’s content is MUCH more important that the theme itself. Sure, you don’t want your site to look tacky or amateurish or misrepresent the focus of your blog, but at the end of the day, it’s WHAT your saying that creates the draw for your potential subscribers, not what color the background is when they read it (though that can have an effect). So in designing the frugal WordPress theme I kept in mind the idea of providing the absolute best possible framework to put ALL the focus on the words and images you provide your readers…no more, no less. In it’s stock form, the frugal theme is light and clear and perfect for the next great work you are about to share.
Light and clean also mean super fast. Frugal has built-in ad widgets, custom avatars and custom favicon so you can install less plugins to your blog and therefore have less clutter slowing your site down. Speaking of clutter, Frugal Theme uses zero images. You’d be surprised at how many images a lot of themes use for things like their navigation bars, backgrounds, headers, footers, etc.
Frugal Theme Prices Start At Free
Frugal Theme is available in both free and premium versions. The free version cost zero. You can download and use it on your blog right away. The premium version starts at $79 for a single user license and goes up to $199 for a developer license. Of course, Frugal Premium has a lot more options and features to justify the non-free price. Which one you should use depends on the features you need.
Download the free version of Frugal and give it a test drive. You may find it’s all you need. If you need the extra features of Frugal Premium, you can always upgrade to that later. Here’s a video explaining the many features and benefits of Frugal Theme.
Did you enjoy this post? Get John Chow Dot Com updates via email...
Stay up to date with all of John Chow’s tips for making money online and blog posts by subscribing via email. Your email will be kept private and never shared with anyone.
One of the most common complaint (or excuse) I hear from potential new bloggers is they don’t know how to install WordPress. Terms like FTP and CPanel are like a foreign language and setting up a database might as well be setting up the space shuttle for a launch. Because of the technology barrier, many would-be bloggers never start their blogs...
{ 32 comments }
Yea, it seems to be pretty cool!
Lot of features and very easy to customize…
I think I’ll give it a try.
Thanks!
^PV Reymond
http://www.startup-internetbusiness.com
PV Reymond’s last blog post: Do You Want To Achieve Success?
sound like a great deal, is the FREE version really “FREE”? I mean sometime they tweak it in a way that you bound to upgrade it to the premium version.
Shanker Bakshi’s last blog post: Google Lifted Ban from John Chow dot Com
The free version is free. In a way it looks ever cleaner than the premium version because it’s missing some header and footer elements.
Yeah it is, it shows a preview of options that come with premium, but it comes with so many of it’s own it doesn’t matter. I’ve been using it for the past three or four moths, and it’s awesome.
Zombie_Plan’s last blog post: Saving money
Hi John,
Just curious…is your site run on the Frugal Theme? I use Thesis myself.
Social Media Commando’s last blog post: Commando Poll
No, I run a custom theme designed by Unique Blog Designs. http://www.uniqueblogdesigns.com/
This looks like a great Free clean theme. Full of features and easy to use.
I will give this a try on some new projects that I am planning.
Thanks
Simon
Simon Bunker’s last blog post: Help my IT supplier has gone bust
Jestro’s Vigilance theme is much better and cleaner than this, you can also get the exactly same customization features by just editing the stylesheet with a text editor (its not rocket science). not to mention its $39 for a premium version.
Akmal Wardak’s last blog post: How to: Adobe Air Uninstallation Fix (Full Guide for Mac and PC Users)
Solid theme, yet I just got a new one that I am pretty happy about
Looks like a promising new theme, I’ve always been a fan of “no-images” or pure-css, however you wanna call it. And giving out a free version shows great business instinct – if people like it, they’ll buy it.
Zemalf’s last blog post: In the Spotlight: Zemalf, a Blogger
nice theme, i downloaded it. But right now i luv UBD’s theme and using it on my blog.
may be frugal will be next choice for my upcoming blog
thanks a lot john
vaibhav’s last blog post: How to hide all your secret files and folder behind an image?
能显示中文吗？
I have a Frugal Theme for my site and LOVE it! Also, on a professional level, Eric’s a great guy. He helped me design my site, and I was (am) very pleased.
brian papa’s last blog post: Best Beauty Tip EVER!
it’s look like unique blog design will still the best here
EarningStep’s last blog post: video | Custom link builder on shareAsale by Jason Rubacky
Another theme I must grab. I know I got at least one blog for it.
Deneil Merritt’s last blog post: Flashback Monday – Wordpress 2.8.1, Resources, & Article Writing Case Study
Are you planing to open a new blog just for the shake of testing this theme?
Shanker Bakshi’s last blog post: Google Lifted Ban from John Chow dot Com
Sadly tried to grab it and their site has crapped out. I guess I’ll try again later.
Cam Birch’s last blog post: Computer Frustrations
looks like a very interesting theme,why not to get it if it is free.
game-girl’s last blog post: Фильм City That Sailed с Уиллом Смитом?
To be honest I think it looks rather plain and amateurish.
Dean Saliba’s last blog post: 8 Ways To Increase Traffic To Your Blog
Great theme, especially the price
I just seen the demo, the free theme is so clean and I can feel it’s so light. I will use it fr my other blog. Thanks for sharing.
Vic- BusinessAccent’s last blog post: What is our greatest asset in life?
Wooooow a free theme. The theme is nice and looks very much like thesis.
fas’s last blog post: Marketing Your Store On The Internet
John is your customized because I see many of your Top Blogging links have a similar version. Did you sell it to them?
James Hartje’s last blog post: Stocks on Wall Street Additions: Personal Finance Section
Free is good! It reminds me of Thesis, which reminds me of Thematic…seems like there is some good stuff going around lately!
Christian’s last blog post: How to Really Screw up Your Business With Social Networking
The theme looks very clean indeed, Just installed another theme yesterday that I like allot. Although this one is attractive also.
Niwla73’s last blog post: What Kind Of Super PC Do you Have?
I am using the hybrid theme. I have not heard of the frugal theme until I read this post. I checked out the demo and it looks like a good free clean theme for wordpress.
Todd McCollough’s last blog post: Northwestern/Illinois Cornhole/Bags Boards
I decided a couple of weeks ago that I would sit down and create my own super lean wordpress theme. Boy, did I waste my time. Instead of trying to be frugal I should have just bought the template!
Vic’s last blog post: “Super Affiliate Shares His Training Tools… How to Create Full Time Income on Auto-Pilot!”
I like simple themes that are customizable without being a cover. I’m playing around with Flexibility2 right now, and investigating others. Thanks for this suggestion.
videostar’s last blog post: Covert Hypnosis: “I said to myself” pattern
The UBD free one didn’t work for me as it displayed some error about some ‘widget’ or something. I might try this Frugal theme. Thing is, as soon as a single trace of error occurs, any theme, however pretty it may look will turn me off. Presently I’m using Flexibility2 also in my blog. Hey Videostar, you know what? I’ve been tweaking Flexibility2 in some test site of mine. If you know a little PHP, you could just about do anything with Flexibility2.
james moralde’s last blog post: Stephenie Meyer’s New Moon
I’m confused, what is the big thing about this theme other then its clean layout. Hardly any images or anything.
Although some may agree that it looks nice, I can’t really relate. Hopefully it works for others.
WOW, talk about a great way to sell a simple product
-Mike
Free Arcade Games’s last blog post: Perfect Shot
I tried the free version. It’s really easy to use. I’ve been debating buying the premium. I’m torn between that and Thesis.