Have you ever clicked on a blog and had your eyes assaulted? You get there and it’s like a million little ninjas jumped out of the screen and cut your eyes.
Just this morning I logged on to a question from a new blogger wondering what she is doing wrong. She just started this month and doesn’t have any views and people don’t stay on her blog.
Upon looking at the link she gave me I could answer the second part of the question in a split second. This thing was filled with little eye ninjas. Bright magenta background and a bright green plastered all over the top of the blog. I started having 90s flashbacks, it just needed sparkles.
While she used a WordPress Theme, the theme had gotten butchered by color alterations and poor image choices. It was one of those themes that just needs to be left with one easy on the eyes solid color and no other “enhancements”. And there are many WordPress themes like that.
When choosing a theme you have to pay attention to the design that goes with that theme and make sure to keep everything flowing for your viewer’s eyes. We are not in the 90s and unless you’re in a competition for beating the top 10 funniest web designs from the 90s….. Just ….. Don’t.
How to Choose the Right WordPress Theme
Determine Your Budget
WordPress Themes are available as free or premium.
Some bloggers who are just starting out don’t want to drop money down on a WordPress theme, and that is ok. If you are just starting out blogging you can start with a free theme. If at a later date you decide you would like to upgrade, with WordPress that’s not an issue.
Other bloggers want a design on their blog that is not used as often as the free themes, and that they can get support on. Most premium themes come with support for a specified period of time and the option to keep paying for support after that amount of time is up.
ALWAYS Choose Responsive WordPress Themes
What is Responsive? That means that the WordPress theme will adjust it’s layout depending on what device is being used to access your blog. With mobile devices being so prevalent nowadays it is a requirement that you choose a responsive WordPress theme.
While most WordPress themes are responsive now there are still a few out there that have fixed width layouts. These are not mobile friendly.
Depending on your blogs niche your mobile readers could make up over 50% of your traffic. So you see why this is the #1 thing to look for in a design. You don’t want to throw away 50% or more of your blogs traffic because you chose a wrong theme do you?
Choose Simplicity
When choosing your WordPress theme always keep simplicity in mind.
Back to our example where the blog caused eyeball ninjas, this is not what you want to put your readers through. They will not stay on your page.
Negative space is good. It lets readers stay on what is important. What is important is what you have put to be read on your blog, not some awful header picture that distracts away from the rest of your blog.
Simplicity will also help with the usability of your blog. Too much visually going on and your readers will not know where to go and just leave. This is not the reaction you want from visiting your blog. You want your readers to be able to go with the flow, read a post and know what they want to read next.
Simplicity will also help with the usability of your blog. Too much visually going on and your readers will not know where to go and just leave. This is not the reaction you want from visiting your blog. You want your readers to be able to go with the flow, read a post and know what they want to read next.
Plugin Compatibility
The biggest benefit of using WordPress for your blog is the ability to use plugins. WordPress plugins make so much possible with your blog.
Make sure that the WordPress theme you choose is at least compatible with the most popular plugins used with WordPress blogs. These would be Yoast SEO, W3 Total Cache, Jetpack, Redirection,and Akismet.
If you are unsure if the WordPress theme you are looking to use is compatible with the plugins you are going to use, ask the theme developer if they are compatible.
Support Options
When using a free WordPress theme one drawback is that there is no guaranteed support for that plugin. So if you choose to go with premium WordPress theme make sure what you are buying provides support for that theme.
Pay Attention to WordPress Theme Ratings
If you want a good indicator that a WordPress theme is of good quality check out the ratings and reviews on that theme.
Free WordPress themes have a ratings section where you can see what people who have used that theme have to say.
Blog Load Time
Make sure when choosing a theme it doesn’t slow down your blog. Some WordPress themes are coded in ways to allow smooth and fast load times. Others, however, take no consideration of the sites load times.
You do not want a WordPress theme that uses image heavy designs.
You can run a test of the theme you are looking at through that theme’s demo. Most WordPress themes have demos available. If you are looking at a premium WordPress theme and they don’t have a demo available, cross that theme off your list.
You can run a test of the theme you are looking at through that theme’s demo. Most WordPress themes have demos available. If you are looking at a premium WordPress theme and they don’t have a demo available, cross that theme off your list.
- Determine if you want a free or premium WordPress theme.
- Make sure that your WordPress theme is a responsive design.
- Don’t choose a visually complicated WordPress theme.
- Make sure your WordPress theme is going to be compatable with needed plugins.
- Decide what support options you would like with your WordPress theme
- Pay attention to the WordPress theme’s ratings and reviews.
- Do not have too long of a load time with your WordPress theme.
