WordPress is loaded with thousands of paid and free themes and plugins. In this crowd, most beginners in the business world find it quite difficult to select right theme for their WordPress website. It is rather complicated to compare them as well because each theme appears better in its own way. Many professionals prefer to run contests to choose best WordPress theme and get votes online to take the most appropriate decision.
The great news for beginners is that they can use WordPress to create almost all types of websites. But the target is to choose a theme that can complement your niche and content in the best possible manner. For example, in case if you are simply beginning with a new blog, your WordPress theme must encourage readability.
Most WordPress themes come with unlimited customization options, but few of them can also make your website operation slow. Indeed, selection of theme plays an essential role, so it must be done carefully. Below we have highlighted few steps to choose most suitable WordPress theme for your website:
1. Look for simplicity:
You can usually find many WordPress themes with loads of flashy animations, complex layouts, and colors but in most cases, your website doesn’t need them. Experts believe that simplicity plays the best role in the selection of WordPress design layout. There is no doubt to say that a website must leave an appealing first impression but without making any compromise for simplicity and usability. While selecting your WordPress theme, make sure that it is not overly complicated rather your web design must help users to find appropriate information on your platform without wasting much time.
2. Responsive design is the ultimate goal:
When we talk about responsive themes, it means the web layouts that adjust automatically to variable screen sizes. In the world full of latest technologies, most people prefer to connect to the internet via mobile phones and tablets. In this scenario, it is important to look for a WordPress theme that can present your content perfectly on all types of gadgets. It is the best way to increase traffic on your website because even Google prefers the websites that cater to traffic via mobile search engines. Although most themes on the WordPress belongs to responsive design category by default, there are few sellers who are still providing fixed length layouts that are of no use anymore; hence, it is important to be careful while making a selection.
3. Test browser compatibility:
When you are targeting a wide community online, the chances are that your users are connected through different browsers. Few WordPress themes look awesome on one browser, but things may go broken on others. That is why it is recommended to choose a theme that ensures compatibility with all popular browsers including Safari, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Firefox, etc. Note that, most WordPress theme sellers mention the compatibility details on their package but in case if it is not, you can run the additional compatibility check online. Prefer to test those browsers on mobile as well.
4. Support for plugins:
The real beauty of WordPress themes is hidden inside its plugins. When you fail to choose right theme-plugin combination for your website, it can make your website a complete failure. Although the online library is loaded with unlimited WordPress plugins that work on different websites, there are few essential ones that are important for all websites; the list includes W3 Total Cache, Yoast SEO, and Gravity Forms, etc.
5. Multilingual services:
If you check the online library for WordPress themes; you will find many websites that do not work in the English language. The chances are that you need a language other than English on your website to target a specific range of audience but the ultimate plan for future must be to have a multilingual WordPress site because as your business grows, your demographic ranges also grow and then language becomes a barrier for healthy communication between sellers and buyers. Make sure you choose a WordPress theme that is translation ready and enhance support to multilingual WordPress plugins as well.
6. Page Builders:
There are so many Page Builders on WordPress platform that allow users to create awesome page layouts with simple drag and drop interface. You can easily find many WordPress themes that have pre-installed page builders; however, some of these page builders can be used by developers only. Choosing wrong page builders may cause the production of unwanted code during the creation of website landing pages and then you may have to spend lots of time cleaning up as well. It is better to choose a theme that comes with essential page builder plugins to reduce the complexity.
7. Support options from developers:
The biggest drawback of working with free WordPress themes is that you rarely get any support from developers. In case if you mess up with your website theme, you may have to find the solution on your own. There are chances that you may end up paying a huge amount to some third-party trouble-shooters even for tiny issues. While choosing your WordPress theme, make sure that you choose something that offers great support option with good documentation. Most of the premium themes on WordPress platform offer one-year email-based service support along with detailed documentation.
8. SEO Friendliness:
The most important fact among all, your website theme must be SEO optimized so that it can support healthy performance on search engines. However, beginners often find it difficult to analyze source codes of WordPress themes, but the developers can guide you to know whether the particular theme is SEO optimized or not. You can also run contest or polls on the internet to get online votes for a selection of right theme.
After going through all these essential factors; spare few minutes to check the reviews of your WordPress theme online. It will help you to know how well it is performing in the market and does it suit your niche or not. The five-star ratings on reviews mean you have selected the best theme for your upcoming website.