How to choose a WordPress theme

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How to choose a WordPress theme

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Do you want to create a WordPress website? Then you’ll need to choose a theme or opt for a custom design. While this may sound simple, you won’t be the first to experience decision fatigue—there are more than 12,000 themes to choose from.

Essentially, the WordPress theme system is a way to “color and brand” your WordPress site. It’s a tool that allows you to change the layout and design of your website. Themes adjust the site’s appearance, including layout, typography, colors, and other design elements.

When you first install a WordPress site, it comes with a default theme. However, you can customize your WordPress theme to suit your needs and industry.

Choosing the right theme will make your website more attractive, user-friendly, and engaging for visitors.

There are thousands of free and premium WordPress themes available for use.

Free themes can be downloaded from the official WordPress theme directory, or you can purchase premium themes with more advanced features from third-party providers.

We’ve outlined some guidelines to help you choose a WordPress theme that will make both you and your visitors happy!

Tip #1 Define your budget and website requirements

What do you expect when creating a WordPress website? This partly depends on personal preferences, but the main consideration is the type of website you want to build.

A blog requires different features than a news site or an online store, and the size of your website will also impact your budget.

Some WordPress themes are free, while others can be quite expensive. Determine your budget and must-haves before you start exploring themes.

Tip #2 Choose a lightweight WordPress theme

Google advises ensuring your site doesn’t take more than two seconds to load. Most sites take around five seconds. If yours is faster, you’ll have an edge over the competition.

Fast loading times are one of Google’s key ranking factors (the faster, the higher) and are also crucial for a good conversion rate.

When selecting a WordPress theme, opt for a lightweight one that loads quickly.

Every theme has a demo site that shows how it looks and functions. Use tools like Pingdom Tools or GTMetrix to test the demo’s loading speed.

Remember that your site is more than just the homepage; test a few demo pages. If you’re building a simple informational site, test the homepage and one internal page. If your site includes a blog, test the main blog page and an individual post as well.

Tip #3 Choose a theme with customizable colors and styles

When creating a WordPress website, it’s important to select a theme that allows easy customization of styles and colors. Always pick a style and color scheme that align with your business’s desired look and feel.

If no themes catch your eye, WordPress also allows you to build your pages from scratch. This lets you create exactly what you want. For this, you’ll need a page builder like Elementor Pro or Divi. Building a website this way offers many possibilities but takes more time and is more complex.

Tip #4 Go for a mobile-friendly and responsive theme

You’ve likely experienced this yourself: visiting a site on your smartphone only to find it designed solely for desktops. Buttons are small, you have to zoom in constantly, and reading content is nearly impossible.

If someone visits your site on mobile and finds it’s not mobile-friendly, they’ll quickly leave, resulting in a high bounce rate and negatively impacting your organic ranking.

Google considers mobile-friendliness one of its top-ranking factors, so it’s essential for better search engine performance.

Additionally, mobile traffic continues to increase year after year.

Keep in mind that having a mobile-friendly WordPress website isn’t always straightforward. A theme may claim to be mobile-friendly, but the real test is how it looks and functions on a smartphone.

Always test theme demos on various devices.

Tip #5 Choose a theme with good support for troubleshooting

No one wants error messages, but they can happen with any theme, especially after updates. To avoid long downtimes, choose a theme that comes with reliable support for troubleshooting.

Free themes often offer minimal support, while paid themes usually provide better assistance—but this isn’t always guaranteed.

Tip #6 Check reviews, popularity, and the last update date

Look at the reviews. What do users say about the support? Do the pages load quickly? Is the theme easy to use?

Are there many positive reviews? A five-star rating from only ten users isn’t very informative. A theme with a 4.7-star rating from 5,000 users tells you much more!

Finally, check the update date. You want a theme that is updated regularly.

Conclusion

Choosing the best WordPress theme starts with understanding your website expectations and budget options. Practical factors like regular updates and good support are essential, and technical aspects like loading speed and responsiveness shouldn’t be overlooked.

Let Hybrid build your WordPress website

We hope these six tips have inspired you. Of course, you can always reach out to us for a free consultation and assistance in building your new WordPress website.