Today, you would be hard-pressed to find any business which does not have a website or a listing on the internet. One of the primary reasons behind it is that nowadays, the way customers seek information has changed completely, check below the Ultimate Guide to Choosing a WordPress Theme.
Whether you want to buy a bed sheet or a high-end coffee maker, most of the potential customers use Google or seek suggestions on social media to check all the information they want.
So, having a website for a business is one of the most vital requisites if you want to succeed. A website gives you an opportunity to present your business in the desired manner in front of your potential and existing customers without interacting them personally.
Through designs, visuals, data, and animations, one can enable the website viewers to understand that what a particular company offers, what are its services and how can you get associated with them.
When it comes to the website, a high percentage of people, as well as web developers, prefer WordPress. WordPress dominates over 75% of the CMS market share. Owing to the ease of use and simple management, everyone prefers building a website with WordPress framework.
It allows easier posting of information, blogs, and articles, and even the people who are not technically very sound can manage their WordPress website easily.
How To Choose A WordPress Theme For Your Website?
When you have decided to get your website developed using WordPress, the first and foremost task which you need to accomplish is to choose a theme for your website. But, before you go on and purchase a theme, or decide to go with a free theme, it’s important that you consider a few vital points.
What Is A WordPress Theme?
A WordPress theme, in simple terms, is a design layout on which you place the elements of your website. The design of the website is the first thing that most of your online visitors notice on your website.
A theme incorporates the website’s visual layout including webpage layout, widgets, typography, colors, font styling and other particular design details.
While WordPress offers an array of free themes which can be downloaded and used easily, but, if you are seeking better options in terms of design and overall website structure, you can also browse the Premium WordPress themes. But, you would have to pay for these themes.
Why Choosing The Right WordPress Theme Is Important?
The biggest advantage of choosing the WordPress framework for your website is that offers astounding versatility when you are trying to customize your website as per your niche and specific offerings. While choosing the theme, it’s important that you consider your niche and choose a theme accordingly. For instance, if you are planning to start a blog, you cannot choose a theme designed for eCommerce websites only because it looks more attractive.
Also, if you choose a theme that looks beautiful but is riddled with poor coding, you would not be able to customize your website the way you want or add the plugins to it in future. So, choosing an ideal theme as per your niche and other website requirements is very important.
Confused About How To Choose The Right Theme For Your Website?
Here are the vital points which you need to mull over before finalizing a theme for the website:
It Should Have A Visually Appealing Yet Uncluttered Design
When you visit a website, the very first thing that strikes your mind is the design. If the information is written in small font size, there are too many design elements on the page and there’s no white space, it would only look cluttered and confusing.
On the flip side, a website that exudes an elegant and modern design looks completely alluring. Some of the imperative elements which you must look for in the design of the theme include:
- Intuitive interface
- Contemporary yet simple design
- Uncluttered and clean layout
- Outstanding font settings
- A perfect color combination which is neither too bright nor too dull for the eyes
The WordPress theme that you should choose must combine all the aforementioned elements immaculately while delivering consistency of your website.
There are many themes which dazzle with extended layouts, bright & flashy colors, animations and much more. But, you must first ask yourself that what your website is all about. If you are launching a business, then you need a sophisticated website.
Also, before finalizing the theme, don’t forget to use its demo function and check all the sections like the home page, blog section, pages section to ensure that all these sections are consistent with the design.
Ensure That The WordPress Theme Is Responsive
Being responsive implies that your theme would be able to adjust it according to the size of the screen on which the website is being viewed. Today, people use a variety of devices for browsing internet and websites.
As per a study conducted by “We Are Social”, it has been estimated that there are more than 4.9 billion users globally who use mobile devices to browse internet and websites. So, one must understand that when they are developing a website, it should look appealing and must be able to automatically adjust itself as per the screen size, which is possible only if you are using a responsive theme.
While most of the WordPress themes available nowadays are responsive, be the default. But, still, there are a few vendors who offer fixed-width layout themes. So, before you invest in a theme, ensure that its responsive and mobile friendly.
It Should Be Able To Support Your SEO Efforts
One of the underlying factors for achieving success in today’s cutting-edge competition is how you optimize your website for the search engines.
Thus, apart from focusing on the look, design and overall layout of the theme, one must also check that whether the theme is SEO friendly or not.
The search engines prefer faster websites, and if your theme is too heavy or has a lot of files, it would be slow which means the search engine crawlers would find it hard to crawl your website. Consequently, they won’t give higher rankings to your website.
Some of the aspects which you need to check to determine that whether the theme is good from SEO perspective to include:
- It must have up-to-date codes
- It should be compatible with all the popular internet browsers
- The site should be fast to load
- It must provide social media integration
- It must be optimized for schema markup
- It should have well-structured navigation
Cost Is Also An Imperative Consideration
It’s normal if you don’t find an apt theme on the free themes list. So, if you are planning to purchase a theme, there are a few vital factors which need consideration. For instance, one should not invest in too expensive themes as there are a plethora of vendors who offer excellent yet mid-ranged themes.
Also, check whether you are required to spend a one-time charge on the theme or need to pay an annual renewal fee too. Annual payment commitment to a theme is not really a wise choice because one can easily find premium themes within the price range of $40 – $80. Some might cost you more than this, but, they also offer the better set of features.
Ensure That The Theme Looks Close To How You Want Your Website To Look
Another significant test to determine which theme is right for your website is to imagine how your content would look on the theme that you are planning to use for your website.
Don’t just emphasize the design and layout of the theme. Your content and business niche should be well-presented by your website and thus, it’s vital that you choose a theme that can ideally showcase your content and information that you want to present.
Also, it should support customization, so that you can get a bespoke website development that looks different and alluring when compared to your competitor’s websites.
With the aforementioned points, you can easily choose a well-suited theme for your website and move a step further towards developing your online identity on the World Wide Web.
