What holds your visitors to your online store? The products you sell or the content you generate? Well, products and content are the core but the first thing that captures your visitors’ attention is the design you present to them. Let me explain.
While watching any movie teaser have you ever feel like you are lost in it? This is the power of visual effects, content, and sound. Similarly, the way you present your website speaks a lot. A website whose appearance speaks loud can benefit its owner to acquire optimistic results.
Colors, images, animations, icons, fonts- all together contribute to the overall website appearance. I know selecting a theme isn’t an easy job and if it’s about WordPress theme selection things naturally become complex- the comprehensive variety of free and premium themes complicates it.
This 2020, I am preparing a complete list that needs your consideration while WordPress theme selection. This will help both the users who are planning to create their online store with WordPress or want to refresh their existing store. So, let’s begin the checklist.
A Complete Checklist For WordPress Theme Selection
Hold on, please!
It’s fine that you’re passionate and want the best WordPress theme for your website. But are you aware of the basic things before proceeding with your search for WordPress themes?
Things like-
1. Your Website Goal & Requirements …
2. The main motto of the products and services you’ll deal with …
3. Your target audience …
4. And your budget line …
Ask yourself do you know all these? If you, then only move with the browsing part for WordPress themes! But if it’s a no, then first figure out answers for all these because your website theme selection entirely depends on it! If you don’t have answers to all these you can’t find the theme that best suits your business model.
For those who are well-aware of their website requirements- here are tips for WordPress theme selection.
1. Clean + Simple
Sliders, animations, pop-ups, colors do participate in maintaining user engagement until they start interrupting their experience. Users prefer sites that are simple to operate with easy to understand navigation.
Search for a theme that is clean, simple and satisfies your website objective. Don’t try to participate in the race where people lose their clients only because of the flashy animations.
Keep things simple and let your theme bring actual results for your business- because simplicity has its own beauty! Don’t you think so?
2. Compatibility
WordPress is a content management system created to help those who want to get recognized and featured. If you are devoted to content and use WordPress only and only for content creation then it’s fine- but if you’re establishing an online store with WordPress or already had one then you need to ensure it’s compatibility with other plugins as well.
WordPress themes are present in bulk quantity. It’s your responsibility to check it’s compatibility with your existing or future WordPress plugins. This is because many of the themes present in the market provide damage to your store and functionalities of your plugins.
Tools that can be used for the same- theme check, WPThemeDetector, ScanWP, and WordPress Plugin Checker.
3. Responsiveness
Users aren’t leveraging single device for browsing and information gathering. If your theme is desktop optimized that doesn’t mean your chosen theme is ready for the installation process.
Users prefer to operate handheld devices rather than desktop as it brings flexibility in their regular activities. The themes that look great don’t always offer adaptability with all devices.
There are cases where the theme was working unremarkable in desktop view but on handheld devices, everything was broken just like a broken relationship that can’t be revived even after giving all the time it demanded earlier!
Test the responsiveness of your selected themes to avoid those broken links. The tool you need to consider is- Responsiator and Google Mobile-Friendly Test.
Recommended- you should also test your theme responsiveness in different browsers. As it provides you the assurance that your theme is ready to serve a great user experience to your customers.
4. Page Builder
Purchasing a theme from a commercial theme provider or marketplace isn’t enough- you also need to perform customization to give the look and feel your store demands.
The point of concern is that not all themes are customizable- which means the involvement of support and money- that eventually affects the set budget line.
Therefore select WordPress themes that are inbuilt with the drag and drop functionality to avoid all last-minute expenses. There are numerous page builders like- Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi Builder, and Thrive Architect.
5. SEO-Friendly
The next in the queue is SEO friendliness. Selecting a theme only because it is captivating in the first glimpse isn’t a good option. Fascinating theme design can help you hold your visitors’ attention but to get those searchers on your store- you first need to have your presence on search engines.
Google search results favor those sites that have low-loading time and mobile-responsiveness. So, if you want to make your presence on search results and gain natural traffic- you need to check the framework used for the theme development. Select a theme whose code is clean, strong, well-commented, SEO-optimized and functionality doesn’t change with miniature changes.
6. Check The Reviews
Who says, one customer, can’t help the other? 🤔
We all know WordPress themes are present in bulk it’s hard to decide the perfect theme- but it isn’t an impossible task when the web is full from online shoppers.
Reviews of other customers can benefit and help you in choosing the best WordPress themes. Before spending your money, go through each review and read them thoroughly. Every theme consists of some good and bad reviews. Pick the theme that has maximum reviews with minimum unfavorable comments.
7. Cross-Check On Competitors Theme
Being in online business means bottleneck competition. In such circumstances, spying competitors’ activities and success rate have become a necessity. Note the ease points your competitors offering in customer ventures- and figure out the ways you can distinguish and create your brand identity.
But… Don’t tell your competitor about it. 🤫
8. Multilingual
Boundaries can’t confine your business objective. The biggest benefit of having an online store is the capability to sell anything and reach different people with full grace. If the theme tries to restrict your business boundaries- don’t let this happen to your business- choose a theme that has multilingual functionalities.
This is the checklist you needed to go through for having the best WordPress theme for your e-store. Now comes the part of how to install the selected theme? Let’s begin acknowledging this …
How To Install A Theme In WordPress?
In WordPress, themes can be installed using three different approaches.
- Installation Using WordPress Admin Panel
- Installation Using WordPress Upload Method
- Installing A WordPress Theme Using FTP
The Most Used WordPress Themes!
Here is the list of most used WordPress themes- let’s have a look at them!
You can also check good collection of business themes.
“Dedicated Blog On Most Used WordPress Themes!”
WordPress Theme Selection!
Your website appearance says a lot. Don’t let people pass comment on your store and affect your user experience. Find a theme that satisfies your business model from the wide range. I have provided you the list you need to go through before paying for any WordPress theme.
If you find this WordPress theme selection post-effective do comment and share. If you need WordPress/Woocommerce Solution, connect us- we are in this field for a long time and have solutions for everything! Let us know about your query!
About the Author: sanjeevmaurya
I am looking for the best theme for my website. After watching your detailed guide, I am confident to choose one.