Tips For Finding The Best WordPress Theme For Your Website

The fact that the number of available WordPress themes is in the thousands is absolutely extraordinary. However, for that same reason, choosing one that is perfect for your website can be quite difficult. While searching for your theme, you need to find a theme that will have all the features you need right now and one that will have the functionality to grow with your business.

You will need to figure out which parts of your website are the most important. To get yourself started along the right path, ask yourself a few questions. How big will your website be? Will you be needing an e-commerce type site? How are you going to structure your site?

Because many themes are not set up to work for every type of business, you will need to know your website’s requirements. Many themes are designed for a particular market.

Your Content And Theme Should Align

When you first start researching the many different themes available, you will probably see a demo website that displays the theme. Too often, people end up trying to match what they see in those demos when they create their own website.

This is actually the opposite of how it should work. The content of your website should be complemented by your WordPress theme. If you are going to be a news site, you should choose a theme that is easy to read. If you are a photography site, you should use a theme that prominently displays images. If you are going to be displaying only videos, a theme for video content will work best.

Ease Of Navigation

If your site is not easy to navigate, visitors will not stick around if they can’t figure out how to move around on your website, and this happens when the layout is too cluttered. One key to success is to make your website simple to navigate. Use a theme that makes it easy for people to get around and find the information they need.

Layout Of The Page

Some themes on WordPress tend to have complicated layouts and a lot of different colors. While this type of theme may work for some businesses, in most cases, the simpler the better. The design layout of the theme should help you reach your goals and allow the user to easily move around the site to find what they need.

Choose Your Options Wisely

Keep in mind that every business owner has an idea of what their site should look like. Some themes are loaded with options, but very often, you will end up with a website that does not look anything like you envisioned when you have too much to choose from. These themes may take forever to learn how to use, and you may just end up being frustrated and looking for a simpler theme.

Shortcodes

If you have been using WordPress for a while, you are probably well aware of short codes and how much easier it can be to embed elements into your website such as, sliders, phone numbers, and other media data. If you are planning on using any of these items, be sure that you use a theme that includes shortcodes.

Fast Load Times

If a page does not load fast enough, many people will just click off the site. In today’s fast-paced world, people simply are not willing to wait more than just a few seconds. You can speed up your site’s load time by selecting a template that is clean and well coded and also use caching plugins that can help speed up loading times.

Responsiveness

Nowadays, websites that are not responsive just will not cut it. Themes with built-in responsiveness are capable of displaying your website correctly regardless of which device the reader is using. Google now uses mobile-ready and responsiveness in their algorithm for ranking websites. Your best bet is to select a theme on WordPress that has already got the right code necessary to be responsive and mobile-friendly.

Solid Support

If you don’t get access to a technical support team with the theme you have chosen, you may want to reconsider your choice. There are guarantees out there for free support, 24/7 over the phone, chat, and email. In some cases, that support may come at an additional cost. However, some providers do not include any form of technical assistance. Look into this aspect before you make your final selection.

Widgets For Social Media

Too many plug-ins will simply clutter up your WordPress site. This is why it is a good idea to get a theme that includes built-in widgets to share your posts. On the better themes, social media widgets generally comes as a standard feature. However, you will need to check to make sure these all-important buttons for social media are part of the package.

As your website changes over time, will your theme continue to work for you? In the beginning, your website might just have a couple of pages. In the future though, you might find that you’re going to need room for a lot more content.

After you have decided on what functions and features you are going to need, then you should begin whittling down your choices and begin looking at reviews from current and past users of those themes.

Although it is true that you are going to want a WordPress theme that looks great, you are going to need a theme that matches your content and gives you the functionality that you are going to need. Set your site up for success by doing the due diligence to find a theme that will give you all that you need and can grow with you as your build your business.

Alexander Kitingan is a successful marketer and two time Amazon Kindle best selling co-author. Learn more about Alexander and his powerful and effective marketing techniques at Agency1Alexander.com