How to Pick a WordPress Theme

What is a WordPress Theme?

A theme is simply a template.  A framework.  A structure for organizing all the goodies you are going to put on your website.   When choosing a “framework”, it is helpful to have a good idea or the types of things you would like to include on your site.

• Are you going to add a lot of pictures and/or videos?
• Are colours and fonts important to you?
• Is Blogging your main goal?  How would you like your articles displayed?
• Are you selling products and/or services?     How would you like to attract customers to purchase what you are selling?   Do you need impressive sales pages?   Do you need multiple rows and columns for merchandise?
• Do you intend to display advertisements?  Do you intend to use the headers, sidebars and footers extensively?

You theme is not the only “tool” you have access to to make your website look and feel the way you want it to.  There are also “plug-ins”.  Plug-ins are like apps.  You’ve heard the expression: “there’s an app for that”.  Well this is true for plug-ins.   So try not to get too hung up on your theme choice, especially when you are first starting out.   In the beginning, simple is best.

For example, if you want to add recipes to your site, there are wonderful plug-ins that will display them perfectly.  If you want to display your photography on your site, you are far better off to specifically seek out a dedicated app to to this as well.   The more specialized your needs, the more important it is to look to “apps”, or plug-ins for your solution.    With respect to the choice of theme, pay attention mostly to how you would like your HOME page displayed.

What Do You Want Your Home Page to Look Like?

Ultimately, the #1 mission of a theme is to display your home page the way you want it.  Your home page is the first thing people see when they come to your website.  This is what gives people the first impression of your site.   How do you wish people to perceive you or your site?

You want your home page to do a few important things for you:

1.  Tell people what the website is about.  What is the subject area?
2. Show people at least one thing you have to offer that they might be interested in.
3. Provide a means for people who are interested in what you have to get in contact with you or to consume more of what you have to offer.

This can be done in a number of ways.   When you are scrolling though an assortment of themes, it is good to keep in mind what type of “first impression” you want to make, or how it is you want to express yourself.

Do you want to express your site through soft colours and fonts?  Or do you want to be bold and to the point?   Do you want to be “hip” and friendly?   Or do you want to look professional.  As you browse through different sites, you will see the differences.

What “Else” Should I Look For in a Theme?

In order to invest in an expensive theme, you should probably have a good idea of how you want your website laid out.  Different themes have different “assets”, or strong points, because they are geared for a specific function.    As you are looking through lists of different themes, perhaps narrow your choices down to less than 10, and then go through this checklist for each theme you are considering.

As you read this list, decide which of these features are very important, and which are secondary.  Most themes are strong in one area, and not as strong in others.  Also keep in mind that for most tasks you require, you can also find a plug-in for that specific task.  If you have a very specific need, the plug-in will almost always perform better than a multitasking theme.

1. For Most Functions, Simple is Best

The best themes are light and simple and do the specific job you are looking for.  If the theme is too complex, with a bunch of bells and whistles you don’t need, it will slow down your loading time and potential customers will simply click away if it takes too long.

2. Mobile Responsive

Nowadays, a theme that can be displayed on many different devices is not an option.  For some segments of the population, 90% of their browsing is on mobile phones.   The display must be able to adjust seamlessly for different displays.    (A quick way to test what your theme looks like on different devices is to shrink and expand your browser window and watch how the them adjusts.)

3. Number of Page Templates and/or alternate layouts

Some themes come with only one or two choices for structuring your pages.   This may not be that important if your website only has one or two pages on it.  But, if you have a variety of pages and require different layouts for these pages, you may need to consider a theme that offers more flexibility – i.e. more page templates, and/or more layouts available per page.   An example of this in practice – can you switch from one column (for a picture) to two columns (for some text)  on the same page?

4. SEO Friendly

SEO is not always as important from the theme provider, as most people today use plug-ins like Yoast to make sure their SEO is optimized.    In general, do not waste your time worrying about SEO bells and whistles from your theme.

5. How many Widgets Do You Require?

If you intend to add “things” (like advertisements and special offers) to your sidebars, to your footers, and maybe at the top of your page? – this is typically done using widgets.  Some websites make use of a number of widgets.   Some websites can get by with very few widgets.    Some Themes have a large number of widgets.  Some themes have a very limited number of widgets.   One difficulty in switching themes is that if you make extensive use of widgets, they don’t always transfer well between themes.     They also don’t always show up as well on mobile phones.  It is worth testing them out on different applications.

6. Colour

Does the theme support multiple colours?  Are colours important to you?    If you have an idea of the colour palette you want to use, can you adjust to that?

7. Font

Is font important to you?   Does the theme support a variety of fonts, or just a few?

8. Support

Check how long the theme provider has been in business, and whether they are still supporting the theme with regular updates.    WordPress.org maintains a listing of the last date the theme was updated.  Also, go to the theme site itself and see whether there are “frequently asked questions”, and perhaps “getting started” videos and forums where people can ask questions.

9. Ratings and Reviews

Go to WordPress.org and read through the reviews of the theme.  Although some negative reviews are just people having a bad day, many reviews are quite helpful to determine whether people love the theme or are having difficulty with it.   Also check to see if the reviews are dated – perhaps any issues have been fixed.

10. Supporting Plug-ins

Some themes are more supportive of specific plug-ins than others.  One plug-in that some people desire is Woo-Commerce, for example.   You may want to use this plug-in if you are using this site for a shopping cart.   Most simple themes can accommodate all sorts of plug-ins, whereas more sophisticated themes sometimes “argue” with different plug-ins.

11. Page Builders

There are many themes that come complete with page builders.  This is a simple way of dragging and dropping items like pictures and quotes onto your pages without having to know anything about coding, or how the back-end of wordpress works.   Page builders can be great for formatting things like sales pages and home pages.  Themes like Divi are incredibly popular because it is so flexible in that way.   One thing to note about using a page builder theme is that if you do decide you want to switch themes, you will have to spend a lot of time copying and pasting your content into the new format because all the words and images will not transfer over automatically.

There are also page building plug-ins you can use which offer more flexibility for switching themes and creating a diversity of page lay-outs.   Leadpages and Optimize Press are examples of companies that offer the ability to add page building plug-ins to your site.

Some Free and simple themes you could try out when you are just getting started:

Make is a free theme that comes with a page builder.  The free version is limited in what it can do, but very easy to use for a beginner.  Also, their website has instructional videos to help you get started using the theme.

Heuman is another free theme that is very flexible.  It comes with its own plug-in that adds some page-building capability to the site.  You can do more things with Heuman than you can with Make, but perhaps the learning curve is a little steeper.

Hestia is a theme we have come to know and love for small businesses.  The home page is very well laid out – with sections for Blog Posts, Featured Product listings, testimonials, contact info, and so much more.

In the long run, when you do figure out exactly what it is you are creating, you will want to upgrade to a paid theme.    Paid themes not only offer more features, but they offer more support and functionality.   In the short term, you might simply want to play around with free themes until you understand more about what it is you want to do or to achieve with your website.

Another thing you will likely want to consider as you expand and grow, the the addition of Page Builder plug-ins.   “Page Builders” automate the process of formatting and moving elements such as pictures and paragraphs around the page in amazing, colourful layouts.  The sky is really the limit as you begin to master the use of Page Builders.    Currently, our favourite two page builders for different reasons is Optimize Press, and Elementor.

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