How to Choose a WordPress Theme And Why It Matters?
In this article, we’ll take a look at one of the most important aspects of your website: choosing a WordPress theme. We’ll talk about what to consider when selecting a theme and why it’s so important, as well as how to navigate the many options available on WordPress, including free and premium themes. By the end of this post, you’ll know how to choose the perfect theme for your site!
How to Choose a WordPress Theme?
If you use any of the popular plugins, make sure the theme is compatible with them. For example, if you want to use Yoast SEO, then check the support page for that plugin to see if there are recommended themes that work well with it.
Check out how responsive the theme is. If a visitor comes to your site on a mobile device or tablet and they find that everything is too small for them to read comfortably, they may not come back again! You want visitors to be able to enjoy reading your content no matter what device they’re using.
Make sure there is someone behind the product who can help when problems arise (because they will). A good support team makes life easier for everyone involved in running a website—from site owners like yourself all the way down through low-level technical workers (if needed).
Look at how fast new versions of WordPress are released as well as how often any given theme continues receiving updates from its author(s)/publisher(s).
What is a WordPress Theme?
A WordPress theme is the design of your website. It controls the design, layout, and content of your site.
A free or paid WordPress theme is a collection of files with a PHP template that defines how your site appears and functions. Themes are created by designers, developers, or both; they can be downloaded from the WordPress directory (or you can hire someone to build one for you), installed on top of a WordPress website using FTP or cPanel, and then customized using CSS code snippets if needed.
Types of WordPress Themes
WordPress themes can be broken down into several different types, each with a different purpose.
For example, premium themes are those that are sold by their developers (usually for $50 or more). These are often the most fully-featured options available and come with support from the designer.
On the other hand, free themes are usually created by WordPress users who want to share their creations with others. They may not have any support from the designer but still offer plenty of useful features and styles for you to use in your own site design.
The third type of theme is called a framework: these utilize prebuilt templates and styles so you can customize them yourself instead of having everything done for you upfront by someone else. This type lets you get right into adding content without spending hours on customizing every little detail before publishing your site; however, they do tend toward less flexibility than some other types might offer because they were made to be reused in many places at once.
The fourth type is called a child theme: these are templates that you can use to customize the look of an existing theme. They’re great for people who want to create their own unique design without starting from scratch.
Who Created the Theme?
While it’s not always possible to know who created the theme, there are a few things you can look for. First, if it’s been around for a while, chances are that at least one developer has been updating it. When looking through the list of themes available on your host (see our guide to choosing a host here), look for one with an update date within the past year or so.
Also, check out the developers’ websites and social profiles to see what they’re up to; you’ll be able to tell if they’ve been active recently and how much work they put into their products. If they have an active blog with posts about WordPress development or tutorials on creating themes themselves, this is another good sign that they’re still involved in their project and want people to use their software.
The last thing I recommend doing when researching which developer created your theme is checking out their support forums or documentation page—if these exist at all! Supporting your customers after you sell them something is important because if they run into problems with installation or customization then having someone there who knows what’s going on will make things go much smoother than without any help at all!
What is the Cost of the Theme?
Another thing to consider is the cost of a theme. The price of a theme is quite often a matter of quality, features, and support. The cost shouldn’t be related to whether it’s a free or paid theme, or how many pages it can create (unless you’re on a very tight budget!).
In general, high-quality themes are more expensive than cheap themes; however, if you have specific needs for your website that can only be met by an expensive option then go ahead and invest in one!
Is it Responsive?
Responsive design is the ability of a website’s design to adjust seamlessly to fit the screen size of any device. For example, when viewing a responsive theme on desktop or laptop computers, you may see three columns of content side by side. On mobile devices, this same theme might show only one column with its content stacked vertically instead of horizontally. This is due to a number of factors including how large your screen is and how much space can fit inside it.
Therefore, if you have an online store or blog where visitors will be coming from many different kinds of devices (like smartphones or tablets), then you should definitely consider looking into some responsive themes before making your final decision about which WordPress theme best fits your needs.
How Many People Are Using This Theme?
The more people using a theme, the more support you can expect to get. If something isn’t working right with your site, there are probably others who have had similar problems and may have found solutions.
The more people use a theme, the faster it will be updated by its creator. If there are security issues or bugs that need to be fixed in order for the theme to work properly with WordPress updates (which happen every few months), being one of many users means that those fixes can come faster than if you were using an obscure or unpopular theme.
And finally: The more people using a particular theme means that it’s likely that any plugins or widgets you install will work without any issues on your site—assuming they won’t conflict with anything else running on your host service (like another plugin).
Do You Need Extra Plugins To Use It?
If you’re using a premium theme, you may not need any additional plugins. Premium themes are often built to work with WordPress and its core functionality, so they don’t require extra plugins to make them fully functional. If a premium theme does include extras, then it will likely come with its own set of instructions for activating those features.
If you’re using a free theme (or even if you’re purchasing one that costs money), it’s likely that some plugins will be needed in order for your site to function properly. Many free themes use popular WordPress plugins like JetPack and WooCommerce in their templates by default. These can help provide visitors with features such as social media integration and payment processing without requiring additional downloads from users’ browsers (which would slow down load times).
Is It Compatible With Your Plugins and/or Widgets?
One of the first things you should do when choosing a theme is to make sure that it’s compatible with your plugins and/or widgets.
This is important because if you don’t check this, and then later decide to use a plugin or widget, it won’t work properly with your theme.
The easiest way to find out about compatibility issues is by going through the documentation for each of your potential themes (if they have documentation). This should contain lists of which plugins are compatible with each theme, including whether or not there are any known issues. If there aren’t any listed here, then do some research on your own and see if anyone has mentioned any problems in forums or blogs related to WordPress themes.
Does It Offer Frequent Updates and Great Support?
Quality and frequent updates are important for a WordPress theme because they help you keep your site secure. Having an outdated theme can make it easier for hackers to infiltrate, which can result in malicious code being added to your website and/or the loss of any data that is stored on your site.
Updates also fix bugs that may have been causing problems with the theme or with how it interacts with other plugins or add-ons. This means that when something doesn’t work right on your website, an update might be just what you need to fix it!
The support offered by a developer is another important factor to consider when choosing a WordPress theme. Some developers offer great support while others leave their clients high and dry after selling them a template (I’m looking at you, ThemeForest). Make sure that whatever developer you choose offers great communication between themselves and their clients so if any questions arise about how best to use their product; there’s someone there who can answer those questions for you quickly.
Make sure your theme is something you feel good about
Before you start looking for a theme, you should define the needs of your site. Is it going to be informational or e-commerce? Do you need to be able to display photos and other media? Are there any special features that will be important to have? Once you have an idea of what your site’s needs are, you can start searching for themes that match those needs.
One thing not many people consider when choosing their WordPress theme is whether or not it fits their design style. A lot of times we get caught up in finding something easy and functional without thinking about how it looks or feels when we use it on our websites. So make sure that whatever theme you choose has a look that matches the feel of your website (or vice versa).
In addition to being easy to use at first glance, WordPress themes often come with built-in support forums where users can ask questions about how things work if they run into problems later down the line after installing them on their sites (and trust me: there will always be some kind of problem).
Conclusion
Hopefully, this post has given you a good idea of how to pick a WordPress theme, and why it’s important. As I mentioned earlier, it may seem like an unnecessary step when you can just start customizing your site right away. But trust me—there are so many great themes out there that will save you time and headaches later on!
I hope you found this helpful! If so please share with others who might benefit from this information too 🙂
