Want to select the perfect theme for your new WordPress site?
There are thousands of different free and premium WordPress themes to choose from. You need to make sure that you choose a WordPress theme that looks good, has the features you need, and is also of high quality.
In this article, we will share the most important things to consider when selecting a WordPress theme. .
Why is it important to choose the right WordPress theme?
WordPress can be used to create all kinds of different types of websites.
There are many themes that cater to different markets, such as WooCommerce themes, membership site themes, and even multipurpose themes that can be customized to fit almost any type of site.
Many WordPress themes come with tons of customization options. If not coded correctly, these options can make it difficult for you to switch themes or use other WordPress plugins. You’ll either be locked into that theme or have to hire a WordPress developer to help you change.
On the other hand, some great-looking WordPress themes can actually make your website amazing. slow. Having a slow website can hurt your search engine rankings, user experience, and more.
Your theme is the face of your WordPress site and plays an important role in how users and search engines perceive it.
Finding a WordPress theme should be your goal that has a design you like, is fast and can be easily customized.
Before choosing the perfect WordPress theme
Before choosing the best WordPress theme, there are a few things to you’ll need to create your WordPress site.
First, you need to make sure you’re using the correct version of WordPress, as there are actually two versions of WordPress.
There’s WordPress.com, which is a limited hosted platform. Next, you have the popular WordPress.org, which is the self-hosted version.
To understand the difference, see our comparison of WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
We recommend using WordPress.org because it gives you the freedom to build any type of website and gives you access to all WordPress themes and features right out of the box.
To get started, you also need good WordPress hosting. WordPress and your own domain name.
We recommend using Bluehost because they are an officially recommended WordPress host and one of the largest hosting companies in the world.
In addition, they agreed to offer our readers a 69% discount on hosting, a free domain name and a free SSL certificate.
Simply click the button below to get started.
Once you’ve signed Registered with web hosting and set up your domain name, you need to install WordPress. Fortunately, with Bluehost, WordPress comes pre-installed.
Most other hosting companies offer a one-click WordPress installation option. If you’re using a different hosting provider, check out our guide on how to install WordPress, which covers all the major hosting platforms.
That said, let’s take a look at the most important things you need to keep in mind. when selecting the perfect WordPress theme.
1. Simple and minimalist design
Many WordPress themes come with lots of colors, complex layouts, eye-catching animations, sliders, and more. Sometimes you may need those things, but in most cases, you don’t need all those extra features.
Find a theme with a design that will help you achieve your goal. It should look good without compromising usability and simplicity.
Make sure the theme’s presentation style isn’t too complicated. The purpose of your website is to help users find the information they need as quickly as possible, while also highlighting relevant information about your business.
If a topic looks great but doesn’t helps you get new customers or email newsletter subscribers, then it’s not a good theme.
In general, the theme you choose should be as simple as possible. If you want to add new functionality to your site, you can use WordPress plugins.
2. Easy to customize and make changes
When choosing a WordPress theme, you’ll want to make sure it’s easy to customize, so you can really personalize it.
Even if the demo theme is exactly what you want, you’ll probably want to make specific changes to make the theme match your unique brand. Most changes will be made through the WordPress theme customizer or theme options panel.
Some themes also allow you to do more customization than others, so you’ll want to choose a theme that allows you to customize the aspects of your site that you want to change.
Usually, you’ll have control over the theme’s color scheme, font choice, layout, custom logo, widgets, and more.
You can also use a WordPress drag and drop page builder plugin like SeedProd to create completely custom pages or custom WordPress themes from scratch.
3. Responsive and looks good on all devices and screen sizes
Today more than 60% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. This number will differ depending on your blogging niche, but you need to make sure that your WordPress website looks good on mobile devices.
Most WordPress themes will have a responsive design. This means that the theme will adjust the layout based on different devices and screen sizes.
However, just because a WordPress theme is responsive does not mean that the theme has a good responsive design.
You’ll want to preview your theme on all screen sizes. You can easily do this by adjusting your browser window and seeing how the theme adjusts.
You can also test your new WordPress theme in different browsers to make sure it works correctly in all browsers as well. For more details, see our guide on how to test a WordPress site in different browsers.
4. It is frequently updated and has a high-quality code base
Your WordPress theme will form the foundation of your website. Beyond the overall design, you want to make sure it loads fast and updates regularly.
The size of your WordPress theme can have a big impact on its speed and performance. Your loading speeds will influence everything from your user experience to WordPress SEO, so you’ll want to make sure your theme is lightweight and has fast loading speeds.
You can always run a test of website speed to see how fast a theme loads. For more details, see our guide on how to properly run a website speed test.
For free themes, you can simply install the theme and run a speed test. With premium themes, you can run a speed test on the demo URL, which will give you an idea of how well the theme performs.
Another thing to look for is when it was last updated. the topic. New versions of WordPress are constantly being released, so you’ll want to make sure your theme is up to date.
Having an out-of-date theme can cause WordPress security issues and conflicts with other plugins on your site.
For free WordPress themes, you can find the last update date on the WordPress.org theme listing page. Ideally, your theme will have been updated within the last few months and have a consistent update history.
If you’re looking for premium WordPress themes, you can almost guarantee that the theme has been updated to Work with the latest version of WordPress.
Since you are paying for the theme, the developer or development team will have more resources to devote to keeping the theme up to date.
5. Compatible with the plugins you need
Ideally, when you choose a WordPress theme, it will take care of the design and WordPress plugins will take care of all the additional functionality.
WordPress plugins will help you It allows you to do things like create a contact form on your site, generate leads, run giveaways, and much more.
Most themes will support all WordPress plugins. However, if you have a poorly coded theme or a theme that adds too many plugin-like features, then you could run into a conflict and experience WordPress errors. Also, if you ever want to change the design of your site and switch themes, you will lose those features.
This is why we recommend choosing the simple WordPress theme and adding functionality through plugins.
If there’s ever a feature you want to add to your site, chances are there’s a WordPress plugin that can help you out.
If you’re looking for great WordPress plugins to enhance your site, check out our picks for must-have WordPress plugins.
6. It has strong ratings and reviews
Another strong indicator of the quality of a WordPress theme is the ratings and reviews provided by its users.If you are looking for free themes, you can find the customer reviews by going to the themes page on WordPress.org.
It will display the number of reviews and stars given by users. You can see a detailed breakdown of reviews given at each star level.
If the theme is sold on a third-party marketplace, you will see customer reviews or user testimonials on the theme’s sales page. issue.
7. It has an active and helpful customer support team
Even if you’ve spent time learning WordPress and have some solid skills, there may be times when you need to rely on support.
There will be different support options, depending on the theme you choose. For example, many free WordPress themes don’t offer guaranteed support, while others still provide regular support.
If you’re using a free theme, you can check how active the theme’s support channel is. WordPress.org listing page.
Most premium themes will offer 6-12 months of support and updates after purchase, with the option to renew.
Premium themes usually have their own customer support or help desk through their website.
Beyond the customer support options, you’ll also want to check out the theme’s documentation. These tutorials will show you how to set up the theme and answer your most common questions.
8. Search Engine Optimized
Your WordPress theme plays an important role in the SEO compatibility of your site. A good theme can still generate poorly coded HTML, which can affect your site’s search engine rankings.
It can be difficult for beginners to parse a theme’s source code on their own. This is why many WordPress theme developers will tell you that their themes are SEO optimized.
If you have a lightweight, fast-loading theme, then you are headed in the right direction in terms of search engine rankings.
You can then use a WordPress SEO plugin like AIOSEO to further optimize your website to rank in search engines and get more traffic.
For more details, check out our ultimate guide on how to properly set up AIOSEO for WordPress.
9. Language Translation Ready
WordPress powers more than 40 percent of the Internet. As a result, there are many website owners who want to build a site in a different language or cater to an audience that speaks another language.
If you are looking for a free WordPress theme, you can search for translation-ready themes. To do this, click the ‘Feature Filter’ menu option in the WordPress.org theme repository.
Then select ‘Translation Ready’ from the dropdown.
This will bring up a list of themes created for easy translation.
If you are looking for a premium WordPress theme, it will usually list its language support on the theme page.
However, you can also create a multilingual WordPress site using a WordPress translation plugin.
For more details, check out our guide on how to easily create a multilingual WordPress site.
Frequently Asked Questions on Choosing the Perfect WordPress Theme
Having helped thousands of users start a blog and website, we have answered many questions related to choosing a theme by WordPress. Here are some of the most common questions we get:
Do you have any WordPress theme recommendations?
As we mentioned earlier, there are thousands of different themes out there. to choose. The right theme for you will be based on the type of website you’re building and the features you need.
That said, check out our list of the best and most popular WordPress themes for some of our top selections
To create a custom theme, we recommend SeedProd.
How do you install a WordPress theme?
Once you If you download a free or premium WordPress theme, you need to install it before you can start building your website.
For more information, check out our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress theme.
Can you switch WordPress themes?
Yes, one of the great things about WordPress is that you can switch to a different WordPress theme at any time. You are never locked into an existing layout or theme.
However, if you’ve done a lot of customization to your site, then you’ll want to be aware of what happens when you change WordPress themes.
If you’re ready to switch themes, check out our guide on how to switch WordPress themes.
We hope this article has helped you learn what to consider when selecting your theme. perfect WordPress theme. . You can also check out our guide on how to successfully move WordPress from HTTP to HTTPS and our expert pick of the best email marketing services for small businesses.
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