Choosing the right WordPress theme is crucial to the success of your website. A good WordPress theme acts as the foundation of your website and influences everything from aesthetics and user experience to functionality and search engine optimization (SEO). Your website theme could determine whether you will have a strong and successful online presence or not.
In this article, we will break down the selection process into manageable bites. We’ll cover everything from identifying your website’s purpose to ensuring smooth customization.
Are you ready to dive in? Here’s the checklist
1. What are Your Needs?
Most themes are designed for specific purposes such as news, business, photography, etc. and they come with features that will make it easier to fulfil that purpose but may not be useful for other purposes. For example. A restaurant theme will have features like a food menu, reservation, etc which would be important to a restaurant but may be necessary for a photography website.
Clearly stating your needs before selecting a theme not only ensures that you have a theme that is perfect for you, it also helps you avoid code bloat.
Before selecting the theme, you need to ask yourself the following questions: What do I need the website to do? What kind of content will I be publishing? Will the theme meet most of the needs without getting additional plugins? Does the theme contain too many features that I do not need?
2. Demo Content
Demo content in a WordPress theme is essentially sample data that showcases the theme’s functionalities and design aesthetics. It’s like a pre-designed website layout populated with placeholder content to give you a feel of how your site could look. It allows you to see the theme in action by showcasing layouts, typography, image placement, and overall style. It also incorporates various theme features and allows you to explore how the features function within the theme’s framework. This helps you decide if the theme’s design aligns with your vision for your website.
By interacting with the demo content, you can experiment with the theme’s features like layouts, widgets, and customization options. You can also test browser compatibility to check if the theme is compatible with all major browsers.
3. Ratings and Reviews
Reading reviews from other users before you choose a theme can help you identify potential problems. Reviews offer valuable insights into how real users experience the theme. They can reveal issues with customization, functionality, support, or compatibility.
However, your decision should not be entirely based on reviews because reviews can sometimes be biased. For example, some people do not check if a theme will meet their needs before buying it, and regardless of how they customize such themes, it may still not meet their needs satisfactorily. Such reviewers will tell you that the theme doesn’t work.
The best way to use reviews is to Read both positive and negative reviews, look for reviewers that talk about specific features and functionalities that are important to you, look out for issues that have been highlighted by multiple users and look out for issues that border on security, SEO, and UX.
4. Plugin Compatibility
You may not get a theme that will meet 100% of your needs. Therefore, you may still need plugins to enhance the functionality of your website. It is important therefore to ensure that the theme you choose is compatible with the plugins you want to use.
Though there isn’t a guaranteed way to know if every WordPress plugin will work flawlessly with every theme, there are steps you can take to increase your chances of compatibility:
Use plugins from trusted developers with good ratings.
Check the theme’s documentation. Most reputable themes will, in their documentation, list compatible plugins or mention if they’ve been coded to work well with a variety of plugins.
Look into the plugin’s description for any mentioned compatible themes or required PHP versions. Ensure your theme and hosting environment meet these requirements.
5. Customization Options
When choosing a WordPress theme, customization options are crucial for making your website unique and reflecting your brand identity. You should look for a theme that allows you to easily customize the colours, fonts, layout, and other elements to reflect your brand identity and resonate well with your target audience.
6. Responsiveness
It’s a mobile-first generation and many people now connect to the internet using mobile devices. Therefore, your website must function well on mobile devices as well as it does on desktop.
A responsive website automatically adjusts for different-sized screens. This makes it easy for anyone to browse your website with any device and enjoy the same look and functionality. Don’t just take the developer’s word for it, view and interact with the available demo content of the theme on different devices to ensure it’s responsive. Responsiveness is non-negotiable.
7. SEO Friendliness
Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for getting your website found in search results. Therefore, you must choose a theme built with SEO in mind and allows you to optimize your content for search engines. Your theme must have clean code and schema.org markup.
Speed is also an important factor for SEO. A slow-loading website will frustrate visitors and can hurt your SEO so you should choose a theme that is lightweight and optimized for speed.
8. User-Friendly Design
User-friendliness is crucial when choosing a WordPress theme. This means a clear layout, intuitive menus, and a logical flow to the content. A user-friendly theme makes it easy for visitors to find the information they need. A user-friendly theme also considers accessibility standards, ensuring your website is usable by everyone, regardless of ability.
9. Security
Choosing a secure WordPress theme is crucial for safeguarding your website because themes add code to your site, and poorly coded themes can create openings for hackers. A secure theme minimizes these vulnerabilities.
One way to ensure your theme is secure is by ensuring the theme is from a reputable developer who takes security seriously. The theme should be regularly updated with security patches and coded securely.
However, choosing a secure WordPress theme is just as important as keeping the core WordPress software itself updated.
10. Documentation and Resources
Thorough documentation is crucial when choosing a WordPress theme as it can make a big difference in your website’s development and future management. Great documentation will provide a clear explanation of the theme’s functionalities. This way, you’ll understand what the theme offers and how it aligns with your website’s needs.
Good documentation will help you get the most out of your theme. Look for a theme that comes with comprehensive documentation and tutorials.
11. Page Builder Compatibility
If you plan to use a page builder to create your website content, make sure the theme you choose is compatible with your chosen page builder.
Incompatibility between themes and page builders can lead to glitches, display issues, and even breakage of your website’s layout.
If you have a specific page builder in mind that you love, consider choosing a theme that is known to be compatible with it. Popular builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Divi typically have lists of compatible themes on their websites or marketplaces.
The general advice is that if you plan to use a page builder, you should use a lightweight theme. Bulky themes with a lot of functionality can clash with page builders, causing performance issues.
12. Support and Updates
You’ll inevitably encounter issues or have questions as you build your website. Reliable theme support provides a way to get help from the developer or community, ensuring you can fix problems and move forward. Choose a theme from a reputable developer that offers reliable support and regular updates. This will ensure that your website is secure and up-to-date.
Outdated themes are more susceptible to hacking, putting your website and user data at risk.
Regular updates ensure your theme remains compatible with the latest version of WordPress and other plugins you use.
By following these 12 steps, you’ll be well on your way to choosing the perfect WordPress theme for your website. Remember, your theme is an important part of your website’s identity, so take your time and choose wisely.
