How your WordPress website will look depends on the theme you choose. Your theme determines the overall look, feel, and style of your website. That is why the theme is considered the most important element of a website. There are thousands of WordPress themes in the online marketplace. And if you are a beginner, it is not easy for you to choose the right theme for your website. Because when there are too many choices, it is always challenging to make a choice. Through this article, you will learn how to choose a WordPress theme for your business website.
Before we discuss how to choose a WordPress theme, we should understand why it is important to choose the right theme.
If you want your website to be successful, you have to make sure that it looks attractive. And a theme gives your website the design it needs to attract visitors. Theme plays a very important role in the success of a website because the overall design of your website depends on the theme you choose. No matter how great your web content is, but if your site does not look attractive, it will fail to grab the visitor’s attention. So, choosing the right theme for your website is very important.
How to Choose a WordPress Theme?
If you are building a website on WordPress, you get plenty of theme options. In the WordPress theme directory, there are thousands of themes (free and premium ones). Besides, there are many vendors in the online marketplace who provide WordPress themes. So overall, you have too many choices whenever it comes to choosing a WordPress theme. But remember, having too many choices makes decisions harder. Now you must be wondering how to choose a WordPress theme when there are too many options. Well, the below points will help you choose the right WordPress theme for your website. You must keep these points in mind while choosing a WordPress theme –
Tip #1 – Make a List of Features You Want
This is the very first thing everyone should do before choosing a WordPress theme. Whatever features you are looking for in a theme, you have to make a list of them. This is one of the best practices for choosing a WordPress theme. And that is why many WordPress beginners follow this trend. As previously mentioned, there are thousands of WordPress themes available. And all of them have a huge variety of features. So it is very important to make a list of the features that you want.
If you are choosing a theme from the WordPress theme directory, there is an option – Feature Filter. Using this option, you can easily filter the themes according to the desired features, subject, and/or layout.
Besides, you should always be looking for these must-have features in a WordPress theme –
- Fully customizable
- SEO friendly
- Translation ready
- Compatibility with WordPress plugins
Make sure whichever WordPress theme you choose should only have the features that you actually need to have on your website. You should avoid using a WordPress theme that has unnecessary features.
Tip #2 – Avoid Using Bloated Theme
A fully-featured WordPress theme can make your web designing experience a bit daunting. How? A feature-rich WordPress theme may be good, but it will surely affect your site’s performance negatively and hurt you in the log learn. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to avoid using a bloated theme because it can make your website heavy. Read this article for useful information – Why bloated WordPress themes are a serious problem for you.
Tip #3 – Always Choose Responsive Theme
While choosing a WordPress theme, make sure it is responsive. Many years ago, people were less concerned about responsive web design. Only a few websites were mobile-friendly at that time. But today using a responsive web design is not optional anymore. If you are planning to build a website, you have to keep mobile users in mind. People are now more actively using smartphones and tablets to access the internet. And if your website is not responsive, you will surely lose mobile users. So you have to make sure whichever WordPress theme you choose is fully responsive.
With a responsive WordPress theme, you can build a website that will look absolutely fine on any device, irrespective of its screen size and orientation. This means you can easily open a responsive website on PCs/laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Besides, a responsive website is also compatible with all web browsers, like Google Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera, UC Browser, etc. For more information, see – How to Build a Responsive Website on WordPress.
Tip #4 – Consider Buying a Premium Theme
If you are building a website on WordPress, you have two options: either you can choose a free WordPress theme or a premium one. However, if possible, you should consider using a premium theme. Although a free WordPress theme is a great option, it may not give your website the professional look it needs to stand out. Besides, free WordPress themes have fewer features and more limitations, compared to premium WordPress themes.
Premium WordPress themes are modern themes equipped with more advanced features than the free ones. And purchasing a premium theme is like a one-time investment, with no recurring payment. We have already covered the best WordPress premium themes in one of our previous posts.
Tip #5 – Test Your Theme Thoroughly
Finally, when you choose your WordPress theme, you must test it thoroughly before using it. This is perhaps the most important thing you should do. You should manually check almost everything related to the WordPress theme you choose, such as its features, online support, documentation, demo sites, etc. And to test your theme’s efficiency, we recommend you use the Theme Check plugin. This plugin will help you test your WordPress theme and ensure that the theme is up to the mark as per the latest WordPress standards.
When you’re done with all the tweaks and have uploaded all of your content, review your site before announcing it to the world. Reread all of your content, check out your site on mobile, and make sure all of your images load properly.
Conclusion
We all know that it is never easy when it comes to choosing a WordPress theme because there are thousands of themes available in the online marketplace. Hopefully, this post has helped you learn how to choose a WordPress theme for your first business site or blog. Just follow the tips shared above one by one, and you will be able to get the right WordPress theme for your website. If you are creating your first blog on WordPress, you should consider using these themes – Top 7 Best WordPress Blog Themes You Must Try Once.
