The design of a website is the first thing noticed by a visitor. Your site’s design is defined by its theme. You know, there will never be a second chance to make the first impression. So, it’s very important to choose the appropriate theme for your site. There are some factors need to be considered while buying a theme for your WordPress site. Let’s explore them.
1. Design
Design is the first and foremost thing to be considered while choosing a theme. Find a theme that matches with your business category and the site contents. For an example, you are going to open a WordPress site for your sport club, the WP Soccer theme can be the best choice. An ideal theme should have smooth and easy navigation options, clean interface and friendly back-end panel so that both the user and the administrator could work with it without hassle. Visit the demo of the target theme to get a hands-on experience with it. You can perform a speed test using the Pingdom speed testing tool to see if the theme is slowed by heavy design elements.
2. Features Availability
A responsive theme is must nowadays. In order to ensure that your site loads well on all screen sizes, choose a responsive theme. Check if the theme has necessary features like an auto upgrade, page builder, custom widgets, custom contact form, short code generator, slider etc. There are some good-to-have features like custom post types, multiple colors and structural variations, table maker and so on.
3. Customization Flexibility
Every site needs a certain level of theme customization. Know whether a particular theme comes with customization flexibility. Suppose you may like to change the menu bar width or the speed of back-to-top feature. Check the customization policy and license terms for the theme especially if it’s offered for free because those titles might require you to keep some credits of the developer.
4. Drag & Drop
Drag & Drop page building is very popular nowadays. It’s also so much user-friendly. If a theme offers this feature, you can customize its design and page elements by dragging and placing them from one position to another. Drag & Drop functionality can be added to a theme by using third party plugins like Visual Composer.
5. SEO Ready
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial thing to ensure effective online presence. It largely depends on a website’s theme. You will see an “SEO Ready” label with almost all themes out there, but don’t trust it blindly. Check the demo page of a specific theme with SEO tools like MozBar, SEO Site Tools etc.
6. Multilingual Support
If you have multilingual target audiences, select a theme that supports translations and multiple lingual inputs. It will let you offer multilingual contents and the visitors will be able to switch into a desired language in moments. You can also make your site multilingual by using additional plugins like Polylang and WPML. Remember, better accessibility provides more customer satisfaction which derives greater conversion rate. So, take it seriously.
7. Compatibility & Security
See the browser compatibility details of a theme before clicking the Buy button. Developers may limit browser support for a theme due to many reasons. The more browser support means more development and maintenance time. More compatibility with older browsers may also limit the theme’s ability to support modern design/function elements. A theme may have security loophole. If so, its users might have already identified it and reported on the review page. Check for them. You can also check whether there is any malicious code in the theme by scanning it with online tools provided by Sucuri, Themecheck and so on.
8. Business & Monetization
If you want to monetize your contents with ads or sell your products via the site, its theme should have support for that. Although there are many third-party plugins to integrate monetization features like ads, payments etc. but it’s better if the theme comes with native support for these facilities.
9. Price
This decision depends on the budget for your site. You may get a free theme to have a decent online appearance. But if you want advanced features, integration, and technical support, go for a premium theme. Let’s say you’re going to launch a website to introduce your band music, group. For this purpose, the free Flat theme may work. But if you are okay with spending money for value, Vocal could the best theme for a site related to music.
10. Author
Know some important kinds of stuff about the author/developer before purchasing a premium theme from a marketplace. See the author’s rating points, reviews, support policy, refund policy etc. before making a buying decision. A good provider should get a good overall rating and positive reviews. Check their support forums to get an idea about the response time and issue resolution behavior. A convenient refund policy represents the honesty of a company- so take it into consideration too.
A theme plays an important role in identifying a specific entity on the web. It’s the entrance to your business’s online home. So, choose the most suitable theme for your WordPress site. A premium theme will cost you some money, but at the same time it will also get you expert support from the author. So, make a wise decision. Themeum offers varieties of WordPress themes. Browse our collection and get your desired one today. If you have been looking for a free WordPress theme, check this list of the free WordPress themes we’ve found for you. Thank you for reading.
