These days, WordPress websites have become extremely popular in the market. People no longer use primitive methods to design a website for their company. Instead, they go for WordPress themes. WordPress has become a highly popular website platform. It provides a wide range of themes and plugins to the users. There are themes available to suit every niche. However, choosing the right theme for your website is a very important task. There are loads of things which you will have to keep in mind while selecting a website for your company.
Here, we have listed the most important factors which have to be kept in mind while developing your website:
#1 Select a theme that will match with the content of your website
Today, most people prefer using WordPress themes to design different kinds of websites and this is the reason why a huge range of WordPress themes are available. Each of these themes is meant for a specific niche. This makes it extremely important for you to find the theme which will exactly fit your niche. In order to do so, you will have to look for a WordPress theme that will complement the content of your website. Most people try to match the content with the layout of the theme. However, this is not the right thing to do. If you want your website to stand out then you should pick a theme that will beautifully suit your business. Have a look at all the features and functions of the theme and see whether it is capable of fulfilling all your requirements.
#2 You should always strive for simplicity while looking for a WordPress theme
You may come across several themes that have bright colors, flashy animations, and extravagant design. However, you need not require all that to create a beautiful website. You should always try to keep things simple. The choice of your theme should be such that the design is simple yet gorgeous. Too complex designs will confuse the users and they will not be able to find the exact information they are looking for on your website. So, always try to keep your website simple yet functional.
#3 Always look for a responsive theme
A responsive theme is one such theme that will adjust itself across all devices and all screen sizes. Nowadays, it has become extremely important to select a responsive theme for your website. This is because mobile traffic has increased to a considerable extend and people are more likely to look for products and services on their mobile phones instead of using their laptops and computer. So, if you want your purchase to increase and if you wish to give your business an entirely new dimension, then it is of extreme importance that you choose a responsive theme for yourself.
Also, Google has started penalizing websites that are not responsive. So, you will also require responsive themes to optimize your website. Most WordPress themes are responsive by default. However, there are certain WordPress themes that have a bad layout. So, if you want your websites to reach a greater audience, then you choose the perfect responsive theme for business. After you have chosen a theme, you should always test it for mobile readiness. You can do this by copying the theme URL and pasting it on the Google Mobile-Friendly Test page.
#4 Look for supported plugins
WordPress websites have become extremely popular these days because of the availability of a wide variety of plugins. These plugins are used to add additional functionalities to your website. There are thousands of such plug-ins available which will allow you to do almost anything on your WordPress website. Of course, it will be extremely difficult for you to find a theme that will support all possible plugins. However, you can definitely look for a theme that will support all the popular plugins. These plugins are extremely important for designing a highly functional website. Some of the most popular plugins include WooCommerce, Yoast, Elementor Page Builder, etc.
#5 Check for browser compatibility
It is quite obvious that all your users will not be using the same web browsers. Some of them may use a browser that will make your website look gorgeous and others may be using a browser which will give a disgusting look to your website. That is why you should always test browser compatibility before choosing your theme. Most of the popular themes are cross-browser compatible. However, there might be certain themes that are not compatible across all browsers. You should always look at the official website of the theme to check for your browser compatibility. You should also run some basic tests in order to check the compatibility of your WordPress theme. You can even check your websites across different browsers to check whether it is running perfectly or not.
#6 Look for page builders
Page builders are basically WordPress plugins that will allow you to customise the pages of the website quickly and easily. These page builder plugins come with a drag and drop user interface that will make it possible for you to simply drag the elements and drop them to the desired location of your WordPress website. Most of the premium WordPress themes have a page builder plugin pre-installed but there are some themes that do not provide you with this facility.
However, sometimes it is better to choose a WordPress theme that does not have the page builder plugin pre-installed. This is because a page builder tool can generate a lot of unwanted code and if your website already has a pre-built page builder tool, then it will be difficult for you to change your website theme. You will have to remove a lot of unwanted code before you can install a new theme. So, it is better to install the page builder plugin externally. Some of the most popular page builder plugins include Elementor Page Builder and Visual Composer.
#7 Go for a translation ready WordPress theme
When you are choosing a WordPress theme, you should make sure that it has the multilingual ready option present in it. This will help to translate the content of your website to different languages. There are a number of popular multilingual plug-ins available which will make it possible to translate your website without any hazard. It is very essential for a business to translate its website into different languages. Only then will it help to attract users from different countries and provinces.
#8 Your theme should we SEO ready
Search engine optimized content is extremely essential for the overall optimization of your website. If you choose a theme that does not support SEO plugins, then the only option that is left in your hand is to purchase a new theme for your website. As a website owner, you cannot let that happen to your website. A good looking theme is o capable of generating traffic as long as it is SEO ready. A poor HTML code will definitely impact the performance of your website on various popular search engines. Most premium WordPress themes will inform the users whether it is SEO ready or not. You can check the W3C Markup Validation Service page to see whether the pages are SEO friendly or not. You can also have a lot at the demo of the theme and check how fast it is loading. If the pages load slowly, it means that the theme is not good for SEO. You can also look for <h> tags to ensure that your WordPress theme is SEO ready.
#9 Select a theme with support options
Most free WordPress themes do not come with a support option. Even if they say that the theme has customer support, you will have to pay a third-party developer in order to solve your problem. However, in order to have a very good website for your company or business, it is essential that you have quality customer support. Choose the theme which provides you with an excellent customer support option and in-depth documentation. Most premium themes come with detailed documentation. It also offers you one year of free support.
#10 Know the difference between a framework and a theme
Themes are not the only option that you have in order to design your website. You will also be provided with child themes or frameworks that will allow you to design your website perfectly. If you go for child themes, then you will have to install two themes which are child theme and parent theme. If you wish to control the child, first you will have to go through the parent. You need not require a high knowledge of coding in order to work with the framework. All these themes also come with support options and which makes it extremely easy for you to develop your website perfectly.
#11 Look for an easy-to-use and organized settings option
Your website should have an organized settings option. If the settings option is not organized, then it will become extremely difficult for you to customise and manage your website. Search for a theme that has all the settings organized nicely and that too in a single tab on your WordPress dashboard. You will be able to customise everything from a single page without having to navigate here and there.
#12 Do not forget social media integration
It is recommended that your WordPress theme has built-in social media integrations and widgets so that you will be able to share your posts on various social media platforms. This will allow you to increase the traffic on your website and will also increase the conversion rate of your website. You can also install external plugins for this purpose. However, no one wants a cluster of too many plugins on their website. So, before selecting a theme, make sure that it has social media integration.
#13 Choose WordPress themes having customizable color and font options
If you wish to present your content and your products before your users in an extremely appealing way, then it is recommended that you choose a theme that has highly customizable color and font options. You may need to change the color and font to suit the content of your website. Also, after a certain time, you may even want to change the look of your website. If you cannot change the color and font option, then you will never be able to attain this objective. So, it is better to go for themes that have customizable color and font options. Go for a theme that has unlimited forms and color options.
#14 The appearance of the theme is extremely important
When it comes to selecting the perfect theme for your WordPress website, appearance is of primary importance. Your theme should provide you with a lot of tools and features but if it does not look good, then it will definitely not leave an impact in the minds of the users. There are many themes which may look good initially, but once you install the theme and upload it, it might not look good anymore. So, you should always make sure that your theme matches with the content of your website. Do not buy a theme before having a detailed idea about it.
#15 Always check for ratings and review before you purchase your theme
You should always have a look at what people have got to say about the theme that you are about to purchase. You should check on the official website of the theme for ratings and review. If you are purchasing the theme from a third party website, then you can check out the rating section which is generally present below the download button. However, you should remember that all themes may have some bad reviews which are quite normal but make sure that the number of bad reviews is not more than the number of good reviews.
So, these were a few important steps that you should remember while choosing your WordPress theme. Is there any other step that you can think of?
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