Establish Your Brand: 8 Tips on How to Choose the Perfect WordPress Theme

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how to choose a wordpress theme

20% of all self-hosted websites use WordPress as it is secure, SEO friendly, and easy to customize.

Once you’ve signed up, decide on a theme. Think of your website’s theme as your shop storefront. 

You want one that is easy-to-navigate, enhances your content and loads quickly. To help you, here’s how to choose a WordPress theme that best represents your brand.

What Is a WordPress Theme?

A WordPress theme is a skin you install that changes how your blog looks, functions, and behaves. There is a huge selection that is either free or premium (paid). 

1. Make a List of All The Features You Want

When you’re choosing a theme, figure out which features are necessary for your brand. Decide on your blog’s goal as it will have a significant impact on which theme you choose.

A WordPress theme must complement your content. If you’re unsure how to pick a WordPress theme, ask yourself:

  • What’s your niche?
  • What’s the goal?
  • If your blog going to be text-based or will it incorporate other mediums (e.g. podcasts)?

For example, if you’re a photographer, you’d want a theme that favors large images and minimal text. Or if it’s a news blog, choose a theme that allows multiple columns and improves readability.

You need to balance aesthetics and function so your blog converts. When you’re selecting a WordPress theme, customize your search for your desired features (e.g., flexible header).

Other features you can include are:

  • A way to add an opt-in email form
  • A clean comment section
  • Mobile responsiveness
  • Featured posts

Once you have a list of features, it’s easier to find the perfect theme for your blog.

2. Keep It Minimal

47% of people expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less. 

To prevent your page from lagging, choose a minimal theme so you can focus on building valuable content and a solid brand identity. Build your theme from the bottom up, so you only choose features that support your goal.

Gimmicky features like music players and gaming capabilities can ruin your site performance. These features will riddle your site with security weak spots as the code isn’t focused on keeping the site secure.

Put usability and simplicity at the top of your list. Customers want an easy-to-navigate site where information is accessible. And, in return, you hope for business subscribers or conversions.

A clean theme will create a successful symbiotic relationship. Many WordPress themes have specific coding, so pages load smoothly with minimal delays.

3. Pick a Responsive Theme

A responsive theme means your site works well across devices, including desktops, mobile devices, and tablets. 72% of users want mobile-friendly sites so if your theme isn’t responsive; you could lose out on customers.

A theme compatible with mobile devices will have menus and widgets to improve navigation. Or pick a theme that allows flexible images so they can translate to non-desktop devices with zero hassle.

Most WordPress themes are responsive by default but still double-check, especially if you’re paying for it. The best way to test whether the theme is responsive is by resizing your browser screen. As you resize it, the theme’s layout will adjust itself to the screen width.

4. Choose Your Colors

In marketing and branding, colors have a powerful influence over a consumer. It can affect a user’s thoughts, mood, and emotions.

In a study, a psychologist compiled a list of words and asked the group to associate them with colors to find a link between colors and mood.

The following shows several examples:
• Trust is built by using blue, white and green
• High-quality is shown through using black, blue, and white/grey
• Reliability is conveyed through blue, black and white

Decide on a color that sums up your website and how you want the consumer to feel the instant the page loads. Once you’ve designed a logo, match your color scheme to the logo.

Or, if your theme is neutral colored, add a splash of color for a more attractive look. WordPress makes it easy to alter colors by going into the file or entering custom CSS.

5. Consider a Premium Theme

Even though there’re hundreds of free WordPress themes, many come with disadvantages. Free themes often have subpar coding and their developers may not offer support, update the theme and may ditch them. Poor coding could affect your SEO regardless of its aesthetic. 

This is a problem for WordPress newbies because if you mess up your theme, you must fix it yourself. If not, you must pay a third-party developer to solve a tiny problem.

Premium themes don’t have these problems as web designers or companies develop them. They often update the themes with the latest features and functions. 

Choose a WordPress theme with good documentation and support. Many Premium themes offer this and will let you know they’ve optimized the pages for SEO. Also, Premium themes have customized WordPress’s basic functionality, so your design and blog posts have a unique edge.

6. Choose a Readable Font 

After hours of perfecting your copy, the last thing you want is an illegible font. You want customers to digest your content, so choose a simple and readable font. 

Instead of using one, pick fonts that complement one another. For example, you can use:

  • Playfair Display and Montserrat
  • Lora and Alegreya
  • Merriweather and Lato

You can adjust the font with CSS, although be wary that some free themes are limited in customization. 

7. Test Out Your Theme

Before you launch the website, test out the theme. You can do this by installing the Theme Check plugin to ensure it’s up to scratch.

Once you’ve double-checked your content, make sure the theme is responsive by loading the page on your mobile device. 

8. Your Theme Should Support Plugins

There are over 54,226 WordPress plugins, and choosing relevant ones can be daunting. When choosing a WordPress theme, make sure it supports popular plugins.

An example of a few plugins are: 

SEMRush: Helps businesses improve their SEO, social media and content strategy.

LiveChat: Lets you add a live chat to your WordPress site, beneficial for small businesses and e-commerce sites.

OptinMonster: Converts abandoned website visitors to email subscribers and customers.

Now You Know How To Choose a WordPress Theme

To know how to choose a WordPress theme, you must consider the visitor and whether they can understand your product and navigate the website well. You don’t have to splurge for a Premium theme as long as your theme has good coding and is open to plugins. 

Want to find out more about running a successful WordPress blog? Check out our tips here.