D5 Creation Blog

Key Considerations You Have to Make When Picking WordPress Themes

WordPress has revolutionized the web development process. Developers no longer need advanced coding skills to work on a website nor do they need to spend a lot of time coding. WordPress provides a platform that is more of drag-and-drop. Anyone with a basic understanding of computers and web development can build their own professionally looking website. Even so, there are a couple of things you have to remember especially when working with the WordPress themes.

 

With thousands of themes already available on WordPress, free and commercial, it can be hard for you to pick the theme that will boost your customer’s online experience. There are, however, a few tips you should consider in order to find that theme that will work best for your website needs.

 

Define your development needs

The best way to narrow down your search and ensure you find the perfect theme for your website is to start by making a list of the things you want to see on your website. Identify the most important aspects of your website and use this list to find the perfect theme.

 

Some of the questions you need to ask yourself when compiling your list of needs include the following:

  • Will your website have lots of content or more graphics?
  • Will you be using an ecommerce feature?
  • What items have to be displayed on the home page?
  • How much do you expect your website to change in the next 6 months?

 

Most WordPress themes are not the one-size-fits-all. To keep yourself from being swept up by some of the most beautiful themes with minimal functionalities, focus on your list. Having a clear idea of what your website should look like is the key to picking the best theme.

 

Pick a WordPress theme that matches your web content

Theme demos are provided to make it easy for you to understand how the theme really works. Even so, you should never try to make your content match that on the demo. If you are not working on a blog, it makes no sense installing a beautiful theme that has been designed for blogs. If your target is an ecommerce website, focus on the themes that have been designed specifically for that.

 

In an effort to match the content on the demo, most developers end up wasting a lot of time in altering their content and fixing performance issues. The trick to picking the perfect theme is to focus more on capabilities and to make sure it pairs with your content.

 

Flexibility and Functionality is Paramount

Due to the increased competition among theme developers, almost all the themes you find are beautiful and will easily match your taste. However, it is important to remember that these themes vary significantly when it comes to the ease of use and functionality. When considering a theme, you need to consider the following:

  • Page layouts

How easy is it for you to change the number of sidebars, columns and other elements? Unless you plan on using the same layout for all your pages, you have to answer this question before picking a theme. You don’t want a theme that will limit you when trying to use different layouts on different parts of your website.

 

  • Theme options

With most themes, especially the free ones, you will only be able to change just a few basic elements such as the link colors and the site logo. Other themes will give you hundreds of customizable options. Check to make sure that the options provided on the theme give you the ability to change all the things that you want to change.  D5 Creation Themes have advanced Theme options with hundreds of functionalities and options.

 

  • Functionality

Some themes come with built-in plugins. These are plugins you will have to use for as long as you are using that theme. With others, you need to install third-party plugins. Considering the number of plugins on a site can affect its load speed, ensure that the theme you end up installing has the basic plugins you want to use. It should also be compatible with third party WordPress plugins.   D5 Creation Themes are independent. Most of the cases, all the features can be used without using any plugin, thus your site will load faster.

 

  • Be proactive

Don’t just focus on how the WordPress theme will benefit you now but also look to the future. The first thing you want to make sure of is that the theme receives adequate support. You don’t want to have to uninstall the theme after 6 months because it is obsolete. The theme should also have a great navigation structure that makes it easy for you to organize things in a way that makes sense.

 

  • A responsive design is no longer optional

Studies show that more people use mobile devices to access the Internet. This simply means that most of your traffic will be mobile traffic. The last thing you would want is to lock the mobile users out. This will cost you a lot of business. Second, you have to note that Google gives priority to websites with responsive designs in ranking. All this makes it the more important to have a website with a mobile friendly design.

 

  • Social media integration

Social media is today one of the best online marketing tools. It not only helps you connect with your clients at a more intimate level but it will also help with search engine ranking by providing quality inbound links. The theme you select should come with social media integration to make it easy for your visitors to ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ your content.

 

Fast Load Speed

Last but not least, when searching for the best theme for your website, pay special attention to the load speed. Studies show that visitors will abandon your website if it takes more than 5 seconds to load up. A poorly coded theme or one crammed with plugins will slow the load speed. Pick the theme that has been optimized for speed.  D5 Creation Themes are faster than others because they don’t bundle plugins for theme features.

 

There are many more considerations that you have to make when picking a WordPress theme among them cross browser compatibility, custom widgets, and short codes and so on. The trick is to make sure the theme you end up installing matches your specific needs.




Author : Brooklyn D’Souza

Brooklyn D’Souza represents a leading Los Angeles SEO Company, and is known as an expert technocrat who handles technology columns of a couple of tech magazines as well as well known to the tech fraternity online through his blog postings

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