Selecting the right theme for your WordPress website

When building a WordPress website it is important to get help where you need it and not try to do everything yourself if you are sure that it won’t be possible to complete or if it will be too much for you.

There are many parts of a WordPress website that can be borrow from others using plugins and themes, allowing you to get a good-looking and functional website without having to learn a lot of code or pay expensive developers to code everything for you. But they still allow you to change and customize your site to fit you and your brand.

Most people who build a WordPress website use these tools to set up their sites, in order to save time and effort when building a site. Themes are a good way to help you create the structure of the site to then continue to build upon and in the end you have a good-looking and professional site.

 

Before choosing a theme

When you sit down to find out what type of theme fits with your needs, then you need to find out what you need for a site.

This means that you need to think about what you want for the website that you are creating.

It is also important to think about all of the parts of the design you want on your site, like what colors you want or the overall look that you want for your site.

How complex do you want the features and functionality of your site to be will also have an influence what choices you are going to make.

 

The different types of themes

There are different types of themes out there for you to choose from depending on what you want from them.

Paid or free

One of the first choices you will have to make will probably be if you want a free or paid theme. You often get a bit more from the paid version, as they tend to have more money to design more complex code or spend more time designing the different versions.

But this doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to get good and professional looking themes for free and there are a lot popular and high quality providers out there.

Another way that themes are usually divided is into their functionality.

 

Classic themes

Classic themes are the more traditional way of setting up a WordPress site and function a lot like how WordPress websites have worked for years before the latest version. They tend to be a bit more rigid and don’t allow for as much intuitive freedom as other themes might, but if you get used to the way they work you can comfortably create and customize your site to what you want it.

 

Block themes

Block themes are the newer way of setting up your site, as it lets you add content into block that then come together and creates a website. It is often an easier and quicker way to setup a site, compared to classic themes. It is very visual and flexible in its use and a quick way to set up an engaging and interactive website.

 

Niche themes

Niche themes are themes made specifically for one type of website and only tend to work for them. So, if you have a website that is for a specific thing, then you can possibly find a theme that is made to create exactly that and will most likely make it easier. This can be if you work in a specific industry like run an eCommerce store, photography, law, blog, restaurant or something similar.

 

Multipurpose themes

Multipurpose themes are those created to allow you to multiple things within a one website and one theme. This is a good choice if you want include multiple different things like if you run a store and also want a blog or something similarly. They often have a very simple setup process or different formatted template layouts.

 

Page builder themes

Page builder themes work by allowing you to build entire pages at once and lets you see what you do as you do it. They tend not require any code to set up, so it is a good alternative if you don’t have a lot of programming skills, but still want to create professional looking sites.

 

When you have chosen

Design

When you have decided on the type of theme you want then you need to figure out exactly what you want the design to look like. A lot of the providers tend to have a lot of different templates that you can choose from and customize to make it your own.

If you are unsure on how to design a website it is always a good idea to keep it simple. There are a lot of cool and advanced features out there or cool color combinations, but if you are unsure of whether you can make it work, then simple is always better. Wanting too much can often make it look messy and unprofessional.

 

Responsiveness

Making sure that your theme and your overall design work on all devices is important as people access websites on many different ways and therefore you risk losing out on a lot of users if your website is not available on mobile.

 

Plugins

You should also check whether your theme will be compatible with the plugins you are planning on using. Most popular services tend to work together and it might not be a problem, but it is always good to make sure, so that you can either find a different theme or plugin before you end up in trouble.

 

Support

Finding a good provider that has a lot of support available for you is a good thing to consider when choosing which provider you end up choosing. There is most likely going to be a time where something happens or you might have questions that you need answers to and having a provider that you can ask these to, might just make the whole process easier. It doesn’t have to give you the ability to talk a lot to people, but can also just be them providing a lot resources for you to figure things out yourself, like guides or FAQ sections.

 

Official WordPress Theme Directory

One place you can start your search for just the right theme is through the Official WordPress Theme Directory, that has a lot of different themes gathered at one place so that you can browse through them and find which ones that you want.

 

Conclusion

There are a lot of details that you need to consider when you have to choose a theme to help build your website. It takes some research into what you need for your specific field and what is available to help you with this. But the more research you can do in the beginning will help you later on as you get started on creating your site. The more work you do before the easier you make it for yourself later on.

 

Share:

Explore more blog posts

WP Nordic