What Should You Look for in a WordPress Theme?

The theme that you choose for your WordPress site is like the front lounge of a hotel. It’ll essentially create the first impression for the content you are posting.

So choosing a theme for your site is not something to take lightly. Make a website with an ill-suited theme and all your efforts will go down the drain. You need to assess your site’s needs, and what you want to convey, before settling down on a theme. This is not as easy to accomplish as it sounds. There are gazillions of WordPress themes out there, so it’s easy to make a mistake with an impulsive buy. You can avoid ruining your site by looking for these qualities in a WordPress theme:

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It Complements Your Content

What this means is, basically, your theme matches your content. Whether you are promoting eyeliner, blogging about the Netherlands or trying to sell antiques, the design of your theme should match your intent for the site. For example, a theme with lot of space for text and no pictures will work great for publishing your own poetry, but would be a disaster if you are posting photographs. So, you’ll have to decide for yourself if your theme matches your content.

It’s Compatible with Multiple Devices

People today don’t browse the web just on their desktops. Therefore, you need to find a theme that’ll load just as well on a handheld device like a smartphone or a tablet computer. Especially if you buy a theme, ask the developers if it’s “responsive” on a variety of devices. In addition, your theme should be browser compatible. There’s little sense in paying for a theme that only works on Google Chrome. Sure, it’s a popular browser, but you’ll lose millions of other users on Firefox, Safari, Opera and even Internet Explorer. It’s always better to choose a theme that works on new and old versions of browsers.

It Comes with Great SEO Options

SEO is paramount for luring in visitors to your site and getting higher search engine rankings. If you are just launching a site, don’t treat SEO as something optional. You need it to attract visitors. So always choose a theme with in-built SEO functions such as social media sharing buttons.

It’s Lightweight

Themes can be termed “heavy” or “light” depending on the number of features they have. Heavy themes have a number of JavaScript-enabled animations, videos, numerous sliders and plugins. The more features you have, the longer it’ll take your page to load. The slower your page loads, the fewer your page visits will be. Modern web users want their sites to load fast and be easily navigable. A heavy theme offers neither. So pick a lightweight theme with a clutter-free, minimalist design.

It Comes with Developer Support

If you are getting a theme for free, it’s worthwhile to customize it on your own. But if you are paying a hefty sum to buy a theme, that’s not a worthwhile investment if you are the one doing the customizing and the trouble-shooting. So buy a theme that comes with ample customer support so you don’t end up doing the coding yourself.

Remember that a paid theme is not necessarily a good theme. Many free WordPress themes offer the same features as paid ones. Instead of swallowing marketing baits, look for the above qualities to choose the perfect theme for your site.

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