When it comes to website and blog builders, few sites offer as many customization options as WordPress. In fact, WordPress powers about one in three websites you use on a daily basis!
But if you’re going to use this blogging powerhouse, you’ll quickly discover that parsing between its thousands of themes can be a challenge.
Make sure you choose the right option for you by reading these five tips on how to choose a WordPress theme.
1. Consider What You’re Looking For In A WordPress Theme
Before you begin seriously looking at themes, take a few minutes to consider your needs. This will depend on what you’re going to use your site for and may have a great impact on the types of features your theme of choice includes.
Simple websites don’t need too much in the way of pizazz. As long as it matches your brand’s colors and seems responsive, your options are far less limited.
On the other hand, grander or more professional websites are a bit more of a challenge. In addition to what we’ve listed above, it’s important that your theme implements menu design, site directories, and more.
2. Make Sure It’s Responsive
The blessing and curse of WordPress is that it’s so easy to design for. As a result, you’re going to run into plenty of themes that may look great on paper but deliver less than desirable results when added to your site.
Always test a theme before your site goes live. Make sure it’s responsive.
It should load quickly, buttons should lead to other pages on your site, sidebar menus should pop-up when needed, and the design itself should appear cohesive and sleek.
3. Know The Pros And Cons Of Free And Paid Themes
Within the community, a debate about the best WordPress themes for blogs rages on: What’s better, a free theme or a premium theme?
In truth, both have their advantages and disadvantages.
On one hand, it’s hard to beat free. On the other, you get exactly what you pay for, so you may run into buggy themes that hardly function.
Premium themes are often tested for bugs before release, but of course, it’s going to cost you.
4. Check For Compatability
These days, most web traffic comes from mobile devices such as smartphones and laptops. As a result, you’ll want to make sure your readers can check out your awesome content anywhere at any time.
The best WordPress themes for blogs are those that automatically scale to a user’s device, be it mobile or desktop.
5. Be Careful About ‘SEO Friendly’ Themes
WordPress makes customizing your website and content for SEO purposes pretty easy. In fact, many themes feature optimization built-in.
Be careful though, as you may encounter one of many issues. The theme may be outdated, for example, or the designer may have lied about the theme’s SEO functionality and it may not function at all.
When you see ‘SEO’ do your due diligence. SEO compatible themes are fantastic, but only if they work as intended.
How To Choose A WordPress Theme That Works For You
Finding the best WordPress themes for blogs can be a challenge due to the sheer volume of themes out there.
But those wondering how to choose a WordPress theme for their blog or website should remember these five tips, as they’ll keep your site live and looking better than ever.
But what good is a website if it constantly crashes or spits out error messages? That’s where we come on. Get in touch today and see how we can partner with you to keep your WordPress site online and updated 24/7.
