WordPress is the one popular CMS (Content Management System) that powers 30% of websites all over the world. Every web owner wants to have a unique design for their website thus the demand for premium WordPress themes shoot the rocket. Hence the nulled themes and plugins are more here now.
Some premium themes and plugins are expensive and not affordable for bloggers. When they launch the blog, they have no previous income through blogs. Their desire to own premium themes put them in nulled theme and plugin downloading websites.
Nulled WordPress themes and plugins are pirated copies of paid WordPress themes and plugins distributed unethically on the internet.
Destroying Creativity, Spoiling Innovation & Disrespecting Hard Work
The laptop you are reading my words now, the table holds the laptop, the chair you sit on now, the bulb helping you read this on light, the air conditioner keeping you cool – all are someone’s creativity, and other one’s innovation and one person’s hard work. If they would not have poured their creativity and hard work, these facilities are not available for us.
In the last million years of earth creation, there were no electricity and any other facilities we enjoy now. How can this become possible in just the previous two centuries while the last million years? Appreciating innovation and creativity is the single most reason why such inventions happened in just last two centuries.
That is why I strongly urge you not to spoil the innovation and creativity which makes the world better in the future for our kids. To make the world a better place for our kids, we must swear not to spoil any one’s creativity and innovation.
Other than the above, there are other few issues therein using nulled WordPress themes and plugins. Let us see one by one in detail.
Contents
Why Not Use Nulled Themes And Plugins?
#1. Security
Higher most concern on using nulled WordPress themes and plugins is the security of WordPress. The hackers and data stealers used to create nulled software as a way for entering into the data storage places. This technique is a two-decade-old practice in the hacking industry.
Now the WordPress themes and plugins are also in their circle. They inject spam and malicious codes within the nulled WordPress themes and plugins. Once the blogger upload that nulled piece of junk into their servers, the hackers take control of mishandling things. They steal your data, your reader data, and sometimes they steal the passwords, and in worst cases, they steal payment mode details like credit card and PayPal.
Sometimes the hackers do this just for fun reasons. To test their hacking skills, bring down the website for few hours, displaying their own messages on our websites and other non-finance related reasons. Whatever it is, the loss is ours. We need to be proactive to protect our sites. Nulled themes and plugins are must-avoid things if we want our website to be hack-free.
The nulled themes and nulled plugins you download from illegal websites could be compromised one. Each theme built on thousands of code lines by the original author. But these unlawful websites add malicious code in between these code lines which you naturally would not able to find.
#2. Privacy
There is no way to compromise our own privacy. Our customer/reader/ user privacy is more important than us. If you use the nulled themes/plugins, then the malicious codes can pull out the private information such as the email addresses and passwords. If the WordPress dashboard contains classic editor, author & publisher login information, then their personal data also at severe risk.
Sometimes the spam code lines won’t steal the personal data very soon. The codes will wait for your blogs to grow longer. After your blogs have developed well in future, the systems would start stealing the data. Now you may have guessed that you could change the theme after you grow well.
Unfortunately, the spammy codes spread already into your core hosting files from the theme codes. That is how some of these codes developed to spread in your host.
#3. SEO
The nulled themes and plugins sometimes insert the spam website links in between the code lines. When the Google search the site codes, it may find those links as spammy, and your website loses rankings because of that. It is a severe threat to your blogs.
The nulled themes some time can be broken in the backend or have errors. The broken code lines can make your site speed low. Slow loading sites lose the chance to get a ranking boost enjoyed by the fast loading websites.
#4. Legal Vs Illegal
Legal actions may fall upon you if you use the pirated null-themes and plugins. Especially if you have the business website, then the original theme author can send the legal notice to you. You would have to respond then, through the lawyers. The legal process can make you stressed and waste your money.
The websites which offer nulled themes and plugins sometimes operate from the countries where the law restrictions do not affect them. The theme creators instead of sue those websites will come behind you. They will publish on their websites, the actions they take on your site to threat other illegal downloaders.
#5. Updates
WordPress updates its core file multiple times in a year. These updates can be security updates or bug removal or feature updates. You miss the chance to get those updates. Theme and plugin developers update their core files to be compatible with the latest WordPress version.
As you are a nulled version user, you won’t get any updates. If you go to where you downloaded the nulled version to search for the updated files, you will not get anything from them. These pirate websites are busy in identifying the new themes and make it nulled. Without the updates, your website is at serious risk and prone to security exploits & malware attacks.
#6. Support
Ok, we would assume you have a nulled theme installed on your website. It is working well, no issues. After some days you install a plugin, and it makes complications on your site as there is no compatibility with the nulled theme.
The plugin is essential not to skip it. Then what would you do? If you had purchased the theme, then you could ask for help from the theme support team. Unfortunately, with the null theme, you are left out in the middle of the jungle, no help there.
Sometimes the damage happened because of the nulled theme could cost you more to repair your websites than the cost of the original theme.
#7. Free Themes
Surprisingly the WordPress theme market has grown into the level no one could have expected to go. The truth is that there are free themes that are similar to the theme (or better than) you are looking in a nulled version.
The official WordPress directory WordPress.org has thousands of quality free themes and plugins. Just do your research on which theme is perfect for you. These themes are free, and the support you can get through official support forums are worthy.
Even the free WordPress themes are built-in with abundant features to design awesome sites. Also, it comes with Schema.org, fast loading capability, custom widget options, and even more. You don’t necessarily be going for nulled themes for any reason. The themes like elegant, Astra, GeneratePress, Genesis are outstanding comparatively.
Apart from the free themes from WordPress.org theme marketplace, there are other premium version themes available for free too as the lite version of their paid version themes.
To Summarize
Nulled WordPress themes and plugins are highly dangerous to the security of the websites. Even SSL cannot save your websites from attacks if you use affected-nulled themes and plugins. Your web hosting company may promise you all the security protocols, but the malicious code injected nulled themes and plugins would be a loophole in the Fort Knox.
It is so easy to get a free theme similar to the premium theme you are looking at the moment. Do search on the WordPress theme marketplace and other free theme marketplaces.
Updates and Support for the premium WordPress themes and plugins are worthy for the price you do pay. Actually, the prices you pay are so low for many themes and plugins, I would say. It is only for the updates and support help, not for the core product.
There are two ways you can get premium themes for free without going for the illegal nulled themes and plugins download websites.
- One method is to ask a review copy. Theme creators are more generous to offer you one. In return, you need to use the product, do write the detailed review, and refer a few sales to the theme creator.
- The second method is to pay first for the product, install the theme or plugin on your website, and then join as an affiliate for the product. Insert the affiliate code in the footer area and create a resources page where you can include an affiliate link to the product. You can get back your investment in just 2 or 3 sales because most of the themes and plugins offer 30% to 50% commission per sale.
Eventually, you need to remember what I told about creativity, innovation, and hard work. Respect that. You start the blog, and there you are going to publish some content and guess what you will do if someone to copy and paste your content into the blogs. How would you feel? Terrible feel, right? The same for the nulled themes and plugins!
I am pleased to hear if someone changed their mind in the final moment of downloading nulled themes or plugins, because of reading my words. If you are a theme creator and reading this post, let me know what your story is. How did you face the nulled theme website if you had to see your own theme there?
I see you all in the comments! Let us chat there now. Thanks for the reading.