How one can Pick a WordPress Theme

There’s no shortage of website builders in 2023 for those in search of a sturdy and powerful CMS. But in some way, WordPress.org, an open-source content management system in-built 2003, still takes the cake relating to customizability.

There’s an easy reason for this: Community.

WordPress has managed to tap into the international website design and development community at a scale that no other platform comes near.

Over the past 20 years, this community has contributed tens of 1000’s of themes, plugins, and other assets to the platform, giving it latest ways to customize the look, feel, and functionality of your website or blog.

Customization is a necessary a part of the WordPress experience, with themes playing an enormous role. So let’s take a have a look at some top suggestions and tricks to enable you select the right theme for WordPress.

How one can Install a WordPress Theme

Once you have got your website up and running on WordPress — complete with its own domain and hosting — installing a theme is definitely quite simple.

Just access your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the Theme > Appearance tab. Once there, select the Add Recent button at the highest of the page.

WordPress will then assist you to upload the .zip file that you just received after purchasing your theme or download whichever WP theme from the that you just selected. When the theme is in place, all you have got to do is go to the Themes tab and hit the Activate button, and your latest theme is able to go.

#1 What Is Your Website’s Purpose?

“Always remember what you’re. The remaining of the world is not going to. Wear it like armor, and it could never be used to harm you.”

Tyrion Lannister was clearly on to something here. While he wasn’t talking about WordPress web sites specifically, it’s clear that aligning yourself on the aim and reason behind your website may be just as necessary.

Just ask yourself these two very necessary questions before you do the rest:

• What’s the purpose of my website? (Example: Personal blog, ecommerce store, bragging rights, small business, or educational nonprofit.)
• Who’s my intended audience? (Example: Accounting professionals, vintage toy collectors, or kombucha enthusiasts.)

#2 Prioritize Performance and Speed

If there’s one thing people hate, it’s a slow website. There are plenty of aspects that may affect your site’s speed, however the theme you decide will play a major role. Some themes are higher optimized than others, so they have a tendency to be faster across the board.

It could possibly be hard to gauge a theme’s level of optimization without taking it for a test drive, but you’ll be able to have a look at existing reviews and run a speed test (via WebPageTest or GTmetrix) on the theme’s demo website to get a fast idea.

#3 Leaf through Competitor Web sites

In lots of industries, you’ll find that web sites are inclined to share very similar styles. In case your audience expects a particular aesthetic, you’ll need to contemplate whether you must provide what they’re in search of or try to provide them something unexpected.

In the event you’re all out of inspiration, try Awwwards and Lapa.Ninja for some award-winning web sites specific to your industry and space.

Nevertheless it’s not enough just to have a look at these web sites. Examine their design aesthetic and search for patterns of their visual style. For instance, listed here are some things to be looking out for:

• Color schemes
• Typography alternative
• Graphic design
• Visual hierarchy
• Vital functionality

#4 Check for Search engine marketing Friendliness

Search Engine Optimization (Search engine marketing) is vital to your website performing well in search results. The standard and consistency of your content and the optimization of your metadata affect your page rating.

Why does rank matter? Well, the upper your website falls on the search engine results page, the more people will visit your website.

And also you guessed it: your theme matters relating to Search engine marketing. WordPress sites that perform quickly, are responsive (see above), and are built with clean code are great for Search engine marketing.

#5 Ascertain Ease of Use

A user-friendly backend permits you to manage and update your website content more efficiently. This protects time and allows you to concentrate on other points of what you are promoting or project.

While chances are you’ll wish to buy that fancy-looking multipurpose WordPress theme with a live customizer in-built, it’s a lot better to search for something easy and functional when you are latest to WordPress. Keep it easy, smarty! Be certain that your theme is complimentary to your level of experience and luxury with WordPress.

#6 Confirm Relevant Plugin Support

Plugin compatibility issues can manifest in some ways. In the event you are picky in regards to the theme and plugins you employ, these problems needs to be few and much between. That being said, if you have got specific plugins in mind for powering key functionality in your website, it’s value checking to make sure your top theme options are compatible.

For instance, WooCommerce is the primary plugin for implementing ecommerce functionality. As such, WooCommerce theme integration is a key consideration if you must start an internet store.

A number of other popular WordPress plugins and features that you just might want to contemplate include:

• Elementor
• MemberPress
• BuddyPress
• LifterLMS

#7 Search for Customization Options

Normally, the very first thing you’ll notice a few theme is what it looks like — if it suits your idea of what you wish to your website. Generally, you’ll must make some changes to any theme you select to be able to get it looking good.

Let’s say you’ve done your research and located a theme that’s 90 percent perfect. As an illustration, you just like the layout of the pages, how the menus function, and the general theme design, however the fonts aren’t quite what you had in mind.

Fear not, it still may be a great alternative to your website. One in every of the nice things about WordPress sites is that they’re incredibly customizable, especially once you use plugins. Take a look at our guide to customizing a WordPress theme to start!

#8 Analyze Reviews and Rankings

A theme’s reviews and rankings are a beneficial indicator of what to anticipate. Relating to popular themes, you’d be surprised at what number of user rankings you will discover.

All themes in WordPress.org’s Theme Directory are ranked from one to 5 stars and have customer reviews. Search for themes that talk to your site’s purpose and aesthetic ideal, then read the reviews to see what persons are saying.

#9 Confirm Regular Developer Support

In the event you run into any issues along with your theme, it’s at all times nice to know which you can turn to its developers for advice on find out how to solve it. Ideally, your theme’s developers should give you multiple support channels, actively attempting to help their user base.

But support isn’t limited to customer support. WordPress is a platform that undergoes regular updates, a few of which massively change the functionality of the core platform. Themes should be updated frequently to maintain up with these changes (things just like the latest page builder and block editor!)

#10 Check for Multilingual Functionality

There are plenty of tools you need to use to translate your WordPress pages and create a multilingual website. Nevertheless, for this to work, you’ll wish to use a theme that’s translation ready. Try to search for compatibility with the next plugins to start:

• TranslatePress
• Polylang
• WPML
• Weglot
• MultilingualPress

On condition that English is utilized by only 26% of world web users, multilingual support is a feature that’s value investing in.

#11 Prioritize Accessible Design Practices

WordPress web sites that prioritize accessibility are a win-win for everybody involved. Search for themes built to create a user-friendly experience for individuals with disabilities, keeping in mind things like color contrast, typography alternative, and visual hierarchy.

Lots of this stuff may be adjusted when customizing your theme, but it surely still helps to have a great start line. Also remember to check your chosen theme for compatibility with screen readers and keyboard navigation, since integrating these features right into a theme that doesn’t already support it could require plenty of effort.

#12 Seek for Ecommerce Support

WooCommerce is essentially the most feature-complete WP plugin for ecommerce web sites. Searching for themes that specifically support WooCommerce is a great option to ensure ecommerce compatibility to your website.

You need to be in search of dedicated inner pages and templates to seamlessly showcase your products. Even in case your theme doesn’t mention WooCommerce specifically, check to make sure that the theme’s demo website incorporates ample examples of ecommerce content like a shopping cart and checkout page.

#13 Check Pre-Built Template Variety

Pre-built templates and block patterns provide ready-to-use designs for various page layouts, equivalent to the house page, landing pages, blog pages, or contact pages. This may prevent significant effort and time when organising your website, as you won’t must create these layout options from scratch.

When evaluating a brand new theme to your website, search for the variety of pre-built templates and block patterns available inside the demo content. Then, prioritize themes with a great collection of templates that match each the layout and the aesthetic you’re in search of.

#14 Keep on with Reputable Sources

Themes from reputable sources are less prone to contain malicious code, security vulnerabilities, or hidden backdoors that would compromise your website’s safety. Reputable theme developers also invest more effort and time into creating high-quality themes that adhere to design and coding best practices.

Listed below are just a few examples of reputed web sites for purchasing and downloading themes to your WordPress:

• WordPress Theme Directory: The WordPress.org repository offers a big range of free WordPress themes that adhere to strict quality and security guidelines.
• StudioPress: Known for his or her drag-and-drop Genesis Framework, StudioPress offers a variety of Search engine marketing-friendly themes with skilled designs and great customizability.
• Elegant Themes: The creators of the favored Divi theme, Elegant Themes provides a set of well-designed and feature-rich themes backed by excellent customer support professionals and a solid refund policy.

#15 Evaluate Affordability and Pricing

Relating to WordPress themes, one of the critical decisions you should make is whether or not to go along with a free or a premium option.

Premium themes are inclined to pack in so much more functionality to justify their price tags. But, WordPress.org really does offer a plethora of great themes in its directory. WordPress volunteers do a wonderful job of vetting these themes, that are submitted by third-party developers, to be certain that the code is as much as, well, code.

To start, do a search to seek out free themes that match your site’s criteria after which try their demos to get a way of how the theme would look along with your content.

But when you are going to speculate in a paid theme, marketplaces like StudioPress and Elegant Themes offer excellent options. Just you’ll want to read through the developer’s refund policy and know what level of support you’ll be able to expect before you go and make your purchase decision. On that note…

#16 Double-Check the Refund Policy

In the event you’re going to speculate in a premium theme, it’s necessary to ascertain the refund policy of purchase to make sure that you have got sufficient time to choose on its quality. Plenty of themes offer a 30-day no questions asked refund policy — in order that you have got loads of time to check things and speak to support do you have to encounter issues.

The identical goes for theme builders, too. A lot of them offer a free trial or have a return policy in place for handling dissatisfied customers. Just be looking out for this when reading through their features and terms.

#17 Take a Mobile-First Approach

Responsive design is vital feature for many bloggers and website owners, however the mobile-first approach takes it one step further. By designing your WordPress theme for mobile devices first, you’ll be able to make sure that the devices with the trickiest design requirements, with an enormous number of screen decisions and hardware options, get essentially the most attention out of your design team.

While not all industries necessitate a mobile-first approach, it’s still an incredible feature to be looking out for to make sure that mobile users have one of the best user experience possible when accessing your site.

#18 Ensure Modern Browser Compatibility

Although most individuals use the identical popular browsers — equivalent to Chrome, Firefox, and Safari — they’re removed from the one options. There are dozens of browsers you’ll be able to select from, and never all of them render content and pictures in the identical way.

Good developers know this, and make sure that their themes play nicely with most browsers by following established best practices for coding and design.

Why Is it So Vital to Select the Best WordPress Theme?

If you have got any friends who use WordPress (the numbers say you almost certainly do), ask them how long they’ve been using their current theme. Generally, the reply will number in years.

Changing your WordPress theme may be tricky, as it’ll radically alter the looks and even the functionality of your site. That’s why it’s higher to make an incredible alternative the primary time around and follow it so long as possible.

Themes are one among the important thing features that make WordPress a tremendous platform. You have got literally 1000’s of themes which you can select from. Neve, OceanWP, and Astra are some great examples to look into, when you don’t know where to start out.

This is just not a choice to be taken frivolously. Your alternative of WordPress theme will impact your website’s Search engine marketing, visitor experience, conversion rates, and far more.

Are you ready to start out using your latest theme? You’ll first need to choose a WordPress hosting service that plays well with the platform’s unique requirements. Fortunately, we’ve loads of plans for WordPress users to select from!