Did you know that more than 400 billion people view WordPress websites every month worldwide? That’s a lot of traffic, and if you want to get some of that traffic with your own WordPress website, you are going to have to choose the best WordPress theme you can.
Many people don’t realize that WordPress blog themes go beyond aesthetics. WordPress themes for business can actually add many important features to your website and some can even make your website more responsive or SEO-friendly. Some themes and features might even be detrimental to the speed (and other aspects) of your website, making viewers click away before they even have the chance to explore your site.
But what should you look for when choosing and how can you know if one theme is better than another? Keep reading and learn more about WordPress themes below.
What Is a WordPress Theme Exactly?
You might already know that a WordPress theme has something to do with how your website will look. Different themes have different colors and designs, but the details of a theme don’t stop there. Many themes change the layout of your website.
For example, one theme might put your website’s menu on the top of the webpage while another theme might put the menu on the right or left side of the page. Some themes also change where a viewer will be able to find your blog posts and products. Because WordPress themes can affect the layout of your site so drastically, many viewers tend to prefer themes that are easy to navigate.
That way, they won’t get confused or lost when trying to find simple information such as an “about us” page or a product page. When you first create your WordPress site, your site will have a default theme. This theme is technically functional, but it isn’t specified for any kind of content in particular.
Sticking with such a bland and basic theme won’t help your website blossom. Instead, you will want to choose a theme that best matches what you’re trying to market. For example, if your website focuses on the corporate side of things, you will want your theme to be professional and sleek.
On the other hand, if your website is about something more casual, you can have fun with different kinds of colors and layouts. But remember that there is such a thing as going overboard with certain themes. While colorful and busy themes can be fun to look at, they are often not great in the long term because they can be distracting and hard to navigate, especially for new people visiting your site.
Don’t Go Overboard with Features
Many people who are new to WordPress tend to go overboard with the features that their website has. However, using too many features is a death sentence for WordPress eCommerce themes and any WordPress theme detector would be able to see that this kind of website is a sinking ship.
The reason why having too many features on your site is bad is because they can negatively affect your site in several ways. One of the main reasons is that it can make your site hard to navigate. Most readers don’t want to have to hack through a jungle of unhelpful features just to get to the content that they actually want to see.
While music and gaming features might be fun for your website at first, they really add nothing to your content and could even distract your potential customers from your real content. More than that, a lot of fancy features could ruin how responsive your site is. More often than not, your site will end up running slower than usual if there are many features that your site has to load up.
You might not think this is a big deal, but a slow site is a big no-no in the world of successful websites. In today’s fast-paced world, it is unsurprising that people have little patience when it comes to loading websites. Most websites load very fast and don’t cause any issues.
However, if viewers find that your site is taking longer than usual to load, they might get impatient and click away before they even get the chance to see what your site has to offer. This, of course, is not ideal, especially if you’re trying to make your WordPress website more successful (which hopefully you are).
The Color of the Theme Is Important
As mentioned before, most people already know that WordPress themes have a lot to do with color schemes. Choosing the most attractive colors for your website is actually one of the most enjoyable and simplest parts of creating your website. Choosing between different colors gives you the opportunity to provide your website with a unique look.
But there is a problem: many people tend to go overboard with their website’s color scheme in the same way they go overboard with features. Many people mistakenly believe that the more colors a website has, the more attractive it is going to be. However, this is not true at all.
When a website has too many colors, it can become a mess full of distractions. Would you really want to stick around on a site that has so many colors that it gives you a headache within a few minutes? Probably not, and most people would agree.
The trick to choosing a good WordPress theme is to keep the color options minimal. This does not mean that your website has to be all black, white, and gray. There is still plenty of creative room to add splashes of color, but you won’t want to add too many colors.
Many color schemes have only two or three main colors to work with. While this may not sound like a lot, it is often more than enough for most types of websites. Three or so colors are enough to catch someone’s attention without straining their eyes or distracting them.
A restrained color scheme also looks much more professional. Beyond that, you can choose colors that match your brand. For example, if your brand’s logo has blue in it, why not use blue for your website’s theme so you can match them together?
Be Careful with the Font You Choose
Different themes tend to have different types of font. The font is the design of text on your website. Font should always be easy to read because, after all, your viewers need to be able to read it to get any kind of information from your site.
The problem is that many people who are new to WordPress think that the fancier the font on their website is, the better. This is not true in the slightest. If the font you chose for your website is full of squiggles and designs, even though it might look fancy, it will be very frustrating for the average viewer to read.
Viewers want websites to be as simple as possible to read and navigate, and fancy fonts won’t do the trick. More than that, fancy fonts can be very distracting and might even deter your viewers from learning more about what your site has to offer. If you want to catch the attention of your potential customers, don’t use your website’s font to do it.
Instead, you will want to make sure that your website is as simple and easy to read as possible. This doesn’t mean that the font has to be bland. You can still experiment with many different types of fonts.
However, you will find that the most effective fonts are those that are elegant and sophisticated while still being very easy to read. This does not include fonts that try to look like cursive letters. This also does not include fonts that are too bold and blocky.
Once you find the right font for your website (along with the other aspects previously discussed), you will find that your WordPress theme will look better than ever.
For those concerned about site speed, you may want to choose a default font that’s set by the browser rather than a custom font. While it may not be the fanciest font, it ensures the page will load fast. Many will choose a custom heading font, but default body font which is a good middle ground between custom and default settings.
What You Need to Know About Choosing the Best WordPress Theme
Choosing the best WordPress theme can be difficult if you don’t know what to look for, but now that you know about the main aspects, choosing one should be a breeze. The main things you will need to consider are the features, colors, and fonts. All of these aspects can easily get too confusing and can deter people from exploring your website, even if it has plenty of great things to offer.
Instead, by streamlining your WordPress theme, you will find that your website will be ready for success. To learn more, contact us here.
