I’ve known about the Thesis WordPress theme for some time, having followed its launch and use by a lot of friends and colleagues. I always knew it was a worthwhile theme, but never had a project to use it on until recently.

Recently my wife launched her own site – I Spy Montreal – for parents in Montreal, looking for regular activities, events, etc. When she was getting ready to build her site, I suggested that she use Thesis. I wanted to try it out, and this was a good way to give it a try.

I was extremely impressed with Thesis for WordPress. It’s easy to use and insanely configurable. Plus, it looks like it will reduce my reliance on WordPress plugins. Not that plugins are a bad thing – in some ways they’re the lifeblood of the WordPress community and one of the major reasons for the blogging platform’s huge success – but it’s still nice to streamline as much as possible, keep things clean and maximize the built-in capabilities of WordPress or the theme you’re using.

Equally as important is the fact that Chris Pearson is regularly upgrading Thesis with fixes, enhancements and new features. I’ve been using WordPress for many years, and it’s been rare to find a theme that the owner actually improves on over time. For Chris it makes complete sense because the theme costs money to buy; so there’s an incentive for him to continue improving it and bringing on new customers and fans.

The fact that you know Thesis is going to get better over time is huge. And when you buy Thesis you get a lifetime upgrade (for free). So there’s no additional cost beyond the original purchase. And you get access to the very active forums, for learning how to customize and maximize the value of Thesis for WordPress.

Finally, I know from speaking to others that Thesis is search engine optimized. I have yet to see the benefits of that because I only recently switched Instigator Blog to the new theme. But I’ll be curious to see if the theme does make a difference. Certainly I’ve heard positive stories from others on the SEO benefits of Thesis.

Suffice it to say: I’m a fan of Thesis.

As a result, I’m now selling the Thesis WordPress theme through this blog as an affiliate. I’ve rarely done any affiliate selling on Instigator Blog, but having used Thesis for my wife’s site and now having switched over this blog, I’m a bigger fan than ever, and a huge supporter.

If you’re thinking of upgrading your WordPress theme or starting a new WordPress blog, I would recommend Thesis. And if you have any Thesis-related questions, once you get started, feel free to contact me and I’ll do what I can to help!