WordPress powers many websites throughout the world. The main reason it is so well-liked is that there are thousands of distinct themes available.
If you are just starting, you might be asking what the heck a WordPress theme is. Well, a WordPress theme is a collection of images that controls your website’s general aesthetic.
You might have been using WordPress for years without ever customizing it, or perhaps you just randomly chose a theme without giving it any thought at all, but you still get visitors to your website.
So you may ask why I have to choose a WordPress theme.
Simple: choosing the right WordPress theme will have a greater impact on your website. Your website may have had visits, but they may not have the right ones.
Or, the majority of those visitors leave the website quickly or never return. It is, therefore, important to have the right theme for your site.
Why picking the right WordPress theme is important
Since there are so many themes available, finding one is simple. However, picking the right one can be challenging, but it’s very important.
The WordPress theme you choose will have a significant impact on your site’s performance and page load times because it forms a significant portion of the site’s foundation.
The first thing your visitors will take in once they visit your site is your layout, navigation, color scheme, typeface, images, and other aesthetic choices.
Some WordPress themes can be looking great but they slow down your website. This can hurt your SEO ranking and also make visitors leave the page.
How to choose a theme for your website
If you are a new WordPress user, you might be eager to personalize your website. It can be difficult to choose the right WordPress theme from the thousands of available themes. You could be unsure of the best WordPress theme to choose.
The type of website you’re building and the features you require will determine the best WordPress theme for you. When choosing the ideal WordPress theme you should opt for one that has a style you like, loads quickly, and is simple to customize.
WordPress themes are easy to install and you don’t require coding knowledge for you to get started. These themes can be used to establish your website’s online presence. You select a nicely designed theme that highlights your business or brand, and then fill it with pertinent data.
What should be taken into consideration when choosing a theme?
You cannot choose any theme as a WordPress user without taking certain factors into account if you want to install the best theme for your website.
To choose the right theme for your website, you should take into account the following elements. Doing so will enable you to reduce the number of themes you can choose from.
1). Simple and Minimal design
When making your selection, choose a theme with a simple and clear layout that places a strong emphasis on usability.
Many WordPress themes provide a variety of colors, intricate designs, eye-catching animations, sliders, and other features. When a theme is overly developed with so many features, it can be challenging for users to locate relevant information about your website.
Choose a theme that is simple and has minimal designs yet supports your goal and highlights essential details about your site.
2). Easy to Customize
When choosing a theme, make sure it is easy to customize it so it can look exactly as you want it to. When a theme is easy to customize, you can control the theme colors, font choice, layout, widgets, and more. Therefore, choose a theme that lets you customize the aspect you will want to change.
3). Responsive
Before installing a theme, it is important to ensure the theme is responsive. That is, you can check its readiness or check if it can be resized using mobile. It is essential to have a theme for your website that will support both desktop and mobile users.
4). Loading Capability
One of the most important aspects determining conversion rate today is website speed. A website that takes a long time to load will often not be visited by many people.
Even with the most gorgeous website, if it loads slowly, visitors will become frustrated and be compelled to leave right away. This can affect your business, and to avoid this, it is important to choose the right theme for your site.
5). Compatibility
People choose different browsers to surf the internet. Your users will too use other devices and browser preferences to view your site. Check to see if the WordPress theme works in various browsers before choosing it.
6). SEO friendly
Choosing an SEO-optimized theme is always a good idea, but it can be challenging to determine whether one does so at a glance.
Therefore, you must conduct your research as a user first. The search engine rankings of your website may be impacted by a theme that looks excellent but has poorly constructed HTML.
SEO-friendly themes generally have a fast loading speed, responsive design, and lightweight.
7). Ratings and Reviews
Reviews are a constant useful method of evaluating quality. Customers share the pros and cons of their prior encounters with a certain theme. You can determine whether or not to select a theme by reading these reviews and looking at the ratings for that theme.
8). Updates and Security Frequency
The internet is ever evolving. You should pick a wordpress theme from a developer who maintains their work updated because the fundamental wordpress software is always evolving.
You wouldn’t want to use an outdated version. An outdated theme can compromise WordPress security and interfere with other plugins on your website.
9). Customer Support
Whatever theme you choose, there are moments when you might run into problems and need assistance. In those circumstances, you should seek help rather than struggle to solve the problem on your own.
Before selecting a theme, it is crucial to review the theme’s support guidelines and determine whether it offers customer service.
10). Support all essential plugins
A plugin is an application that plugs into your WordPress website.
You can build almost any type of website using plugins, including eCommerce stores, portfolios, and directory sites.
Plugins can add new functionality or expand existing functionality on your site.
Plugins are very essential and therefore, very important to choose a theme that supports all the plugins you need to add.
11). Translation ready
Choose a theme that is translation ready if you want to attract people from other countries to your website. You can use the WordPress translation plugin to create a bilingual WordPress website.
WordPress themes pricing plans
After seeing the factors to consider when selecting a WordPress theme, it’s necessary to evaluate the WordPress theme cost options. As we weigh the cons and pros of each option, this will help you choose the right WordPress theme for your site.
There are three different types when it comes to the pricing of WordPress themes. There is:
- Free themes
- Premium themes
- Freemium themes
Free themes
There are over 9,000 free WordPress themes. They are responsive and also attractive and can help you create the best website possible.
The themes are available for almost all niches and some of them are multipurpose and can be used for any website niche.
Benefits of using free themes
- Even though they are free, they nevertheless have robust functionality and attractive designs
- The free themes have no financial impact
Disadvantages of using free themes
- Free themes are rarely updated with the frequency of WordPress
- Many features and customizability options are absent from free themes
- They lack customer support in case anything goes wrong
- There are a lot of free themes that contain malicious code and encrypted links that point to spam or malicious websites.
- The majority of free themes have shoddy coding, which exposes them to security flaws and makes localization more challenging. Inefficient coding also causes a decrease in SEO by slowing down loading and performance.
Premium themes
A premium theme means that you’ll have to shell out a specific sum of money, to download, install, and personalize the theme on your WordPress website. They range in price depending on the theme’s quality and the choices it provides you.
Benefits of premium themes
01). SEO friendly
02). Added options for site customization
03). More features than most free themes
04). Highly user supportive and regularly updated
Cons of using premium themes
01). Require extensive learning
02). Some of them have too many unnecessary features. that might slow down your website.
03). several pricey premium themes require monthly or annual licensing fees for a while.
Freemium themes
Freemium themes allow you to download and install premium themes with basic features only for free. It requires an upgrade to unlock the more advanced features.
Benefits of using freemium themes
01). You don’t invest anything upfront
02). If you decide not to upgrade, you will not be charged anything to continue using the free version
Disadvantages of freemium themes
01). The extra features won’t unlock unless you pay to get the premium version
02). The free version of premium themes may occasionally be exposed to security flaws and to avoid all this you are required to purchase an upgrade.
With that said, you should be able to choose the right WordPress theme that will position your website for success going forward. Additionally, you can change your WordPress theme to another that will help your website succeed. You are not confined to a pre-existing theme.
Where to find WordPress themes
You just built your first WordPress website, but you have no idea where to find themes. Well, let’s look at the top WordPress theme marketplace so you can choose the perfect theme for your website.
#1. WordPress.Org theme directory
It’s one of the largest collections of free WordPress themes on the market. The majority of these WordPress themes adhere to the criteria and best practices for the WordPress theme directory.
#2. WordPress.Com theme gallery
Here, you’ll find hundreds of free and paid themes.
They are displayed as thumbnails under appearance themes in the left-hand column of your new WordPress.com website’s dashboard.
The themes are up to date, fully compatible with WordPress core, and thoughtfully designed.
#3. Third-party marketplaces
There are websites run by third parties where creators can share and market their themes as well as provide support services.
To use any of these third-party solutions, first purchase your theme from their website, then click the link they offer to download the zip file.
Studiopress is an example of a third-party marketplace. It is a marketplace for premium WordPress themes developed by third-party developers.
CONCLUSION
There are numerous WordPress themes to choose from. A theme cannot be judged superior to another simply by looking at it. Take your time and familiarize yourself with the theme you want to install.
Never forget that first impressions are crucial and always lasting. Choose a theme that may help you develop your brand and has all the capabilities you require.
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