Planning to create your next big digital website on WordPress? The most complicated is to conclude which theme is going to work best with your business niche. While there are plenty of themes available in the WordPress market (free and paid), you want something that compliments your business niche and, at the same time, stands a class apart when it comes to the website’s overall look & feel.
The right theme will set your website’s tone and is a direct representation of who you’re as a brand. In short, a theme can create a direct impact on your website’s user experience.
Back in the days when I used to work for a web design agency, I was never much of a fan of pre-built website themes. It was because most of the so-called innovative themes circulating WordPress in the past were mostly clunky. And especially when it came to SEO, they were honestly nothing less than a nightmare. In my opinion, they just weren’t the right fit when it came to site design.
However, over time, things have dramatically changed. Now, we have WordPress themes which offer great user-experience meeting and fulfilling all your website requirements.
But when it comes to choosing a theme, what are the essential aspects that one should consider?
Let’s check them out.
Following the KISS Principle
Almost a decade ago, websites were all about fancy features, flash animation, and other such elements. Moving on to the present, the tone of the websites has come down. Now, websites aren’t quite loud compared to the way they once were. Now flat designs with a minimalist approach have earned the trademark. They have gained significant popularity among website owners & web design agencies.
Websites with a lot of flashy images and loud noise can divert the attention of a visitor easily. Instead of taking action, a site owner can easily move to a different alternative. This usually happens when the visitor is accessing the website from a mobile device. The KISS acronym is all about making websites as simple as they could ever be. The acronym stands for “Keep it Simple, Stupid.”
So when you are picking out a theme for your WordPress website, make sure you address the K.I.S.S.
Developer Support Availability
Here’s something that many individuals never focus on when it comes to choosing the right web design theme. When installing a WordPress theme, make sure you install one that does not require you to go through regular updates manually. Theme developers often roll out a number of features & updates based on changing web design environments. So it doesn’t matter if you’re using WordPress or Shopify; if your theme offers developer support availability, you can tracklogs and how changes are taking place. In short, it will keep you up to date on how developers are adding new features to website themes.
Nowadays, a majority of themes in marketplaces have that information published. You can also track the performance by studying customer reviews and ratings. Gain insight from other relevant sources.
Themes around for a long time have several updates to complement the changing digital environment. So when you choose a theme, make sure it has excellent developer support.
Mobile Responsiveness
Today, almost every WordPress website theme is mobile responsive, but that certainly does not mean that it can provide you with the best results. Several WordPress themes will easily pass Google’s mobile responsiveness test, but they incredibly fail when it comes to user experience. The results which they produce are worthless, especially when they are observed on the smaller screens.
So when it comes to conversion potential, you need a website theme that offers mobile responsiveness and a great user experience. So when you’re hunting for a theme, make sure you find it adaptive and particularly designed, keeping the audience conversion in mind.
Ensure the theme you pick out is eye-appealing and has a minimalistic and easy-to-use design. And before you choose it for your website, check how it will appear on different types of screen sizes.
Cross-Browser Compatibility
Back in the days, we had limited operating systems, so when a web designer tested a website, they would prefer only to try it on Windows, and everything was good to go. However, in the present age, we now have multiple operating systems.
Today, if you want a website to turn into a success story, you need to make sure that it runs on multiple web browsers seamlessly. We have plenty of devices, smartphones, browsers & operating systems. With so many gadgets and software frameworks, it is highly important to make sure the theme you select for your website can provide a constant user experience and functionality across devices and platforms.
So when picking out a website design, check if it has excellent cross-browser compatibility.
Concluding Thoughts
Website designs are magnanimously changing. What is initiated as a trend at the beginning of the year slowly becomes old and obsolete by the end of another. With the fast-changing environment, if you’re in the website design business or eager to launch online software products, the above discussed are a few key points that every web design company should consider adopting. These key points help web designers, business owners & budding entrepreneurs help decide how to choose the right business theme for their online presence. Are you struggling with picking a suitable theme yourself? I hope reading our article would provide you with valuable results.
