Things to Consider When Choosing a Theme for Your WordPress Site

WordPress is a popular platform to create blogs or websites, with hundreds and thousands of users all around the world. I guess the first factor why you choose WordPress to set up a website is that it’s easy to build and use. Nearly any kind of website can be made, which varies from blogs to multipage websites, online portfolios and even eCommerce websites. One more thing is there is a rich variety of WordPress themes available, free or paid. It will become rather simple and fast for even a totally new hand to set up a user-friendly, appealing, and wonderful website.

The question now is: how to pick the best theme for your website? Your mind could have gone blank when facing so many WP theme offerings. Having many options can lead to decision fatigue, which could result in wrong choice for your program. Yet let’s share a short story. Isn’t it earlier to buy a bottle of wine when you are sure that you like reds and the favorite red is Chateau Saint-Estéve? Then you can narrow down the choice from 500 bottles to 10 in a store. This is the same to select the perfect theme for your WordPress theme: only need to make sure the following points.

1. What Kind of Website You Want to Define

In a big pool of WordPress theme with beautiful designs, you can get seduced to pick up a pretty, for example, one for your website whose style is completely different. The result is it’s neither user-friendly nor traffic-attracting while you have to change another one. It’s a waste of time and effort. But the other way around, you are clear what type of website you are building, like portfolio websites, picture blogs, forums, eCommerce websites, and so on. Then it’s quick to look for a relevant or matched theme.

2. What are Your Desired Features

The following features are advised to take consider of when you choose a theme to establish an appealing website.

Site Speed, SEO, and Usability
Modern web users do not spend too long to wait for a website loading, especially those hot tempers. Everything should be offered instantly, otherwise uses go elsewhere to get wanted information. It’s said that the best loading time is within three seconds. So a clean, fast loading and well-coded template should be chosen. Besides, usability does not refer to site speed only, but an SEO-friendly theme is up to the task. Without an SEO-ready plugin, the search engine like Google Chrome won’t recognize your website and determine the page rank.

Simplicity
A lot of free WordPress themes are released each day in the market. Some contains lots of complex features, making it look rather good in the display. But simple designs can be easier to modify while intricate themes might not be the best for functionality.

Responsiveness
Although some people mention they do not use mobile devices to deal with business or work at all, it’s imperative to choose a responsive WordPress theme for the website. Web users surf the net on mobile phones more often than before, saying 30% of all website visits now. How can you tell they won’t run across your site and bring in huge web traffic? But what if they cannot click to view your site resources like what they can do on a laptop or desktop? In all, a responsive theme like Acool will also gain mobile traffic from tablet and mobile devices.

Cross-Browser Compatibility
Some people might suggest that you do not need to worry about browser compatibility. In the meanwhile, not a few tech designers ignore Internet Explorer compatibility. But there is still a large audience using older browsers like Internet Explorer 6, besides Google Chrome, Safari and Firefox. So please bear in mind that you should pick a cross-browser compatible WordPress theme. Leave them away if those themes do not provide high quality work for you.

Ease of Customization
Check out your new theme whether it is easy to customize. Some themes provide detailed guides and a good function for you to alter or add the width, sidebars, number of columns, front/color options, sliders, calendar, galleries, logo, etc. of your theme. For example, when you use a load of layouts on different areas, the website does not look dull. This is a key point to grab user attention. You will know if the theme is able to tweak via its description, screenshots, and user testimonials.

Good Navigation/Menu
Navigation plays an important role in the website as it’s how visitors find your key pages. If you want to use a free theme, you should make sure the chosen one has such kind of function as adding a drop-down menu. Just move on if not. The WordPress theme market possess tons of free templates.

3. Is the Theme Secure or Lifetime Support

Good service is critical. Security should be considered when you use or buy theme. It’s a dangerous thing if a theme contains a security loophole. It’s kindly advised to purchase a WordPress theme from a reputable and trustworthy supplier. In addition, you should read customer comments, theme downloads and reviews. On the other side, a free or paid theme should provide prompt support in auto or regular update or after-sale service.

Conclusion

Finding a theme for an existing website or a new project involves not only a cool look but also the less obvious properties of the theme. You can make note of and tick these shortlist including page loading times, customization options, and integrated features, and so forth. By knowing what you want, it will become an easy and quick thing to pick a great theme for your website. If you have any other advice, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Related Articles