The theme of your WordPress determines what will be the design and layout of your website. Regardless, if you are making a custom website from scratch, using the services of a web design studio or creating it with WordPress, choosing how the website will look, building its information architecture and buyer’s journey is one of the most difficult tasks.
Thanks to one of the most massive online communities, WordPress has tons of themes to choose from. Created from theme developers, they are often categorized depending on the purpose of the website – this makes it easier to choose for the majority of users. You can find all kinds – from photography inspired to those for professional lawyers. However, the most important distinction is between free and premium themes. Let’s see the differences between the two and let’s try to make sense of the WordPress themes.
Free WordPress Themes – Explained
If you are a beginner user that wants to try out the CMS platform then picking a free theme for starters is common. Given the fact that they are free, doesn’t mean they are of low quality. If you are picking yours from the official WordPress.org website, then rest assured – the theme has passed a strict quality control test. Even though the coding and the security of those themes might be good, they are limited. Customization options might be few and far in between and it will be almost impossible to stand out with your design.
Another factor that’s important is that free themes rarely come with support and documentation. If your website is your livelihood and you can’t rely on dedicated support then a free theme might not be for you. An investment in a paid theme can prove to have a good return in time.
Beware that the theme you choose needs to be updated to the latest version of WordPress. If your theme is not being updated this can lead to serious security concerns. Make sure that there is a group of people that are always looking to improve on the theme and are taking care of it. Also, some of the free themes you find online can have a copyright text (usually in the footer) that you can’t remove unless you pay, so be aware of that.
Premium WordPress Themes – Explained
Most of the Premium themes on the market are found on a specialized website like Envatomarket, StudioPress, CssIgniter. In those websites, you can find both premium and free themes. Once you decide on one, you’ll find it packaged in a zip file which is easily uploaded in WordPress. One of the most popular choices nowadays, fall on Elementor and Divi. The two page builders that are easy to use and hold a lot of possibilities. As these Elementor and Divi are considered builders, some might argue that they are not just WordPress themes – regardless, they deserve to be checked as they are very popular and widely used.
If you want to have a more unique website with the support of different features than the premium themes are preferred. In general, the more frequent updates, the freedom of customization and the better security are factors that also make people willing to invest money in a theme.
What to Look for When Choosing a WordPress Theme
Regardless, if it is premium or a free one, there are a few things you absolutely need to know when choosing a theme. First, your theme has to be responsive. Make no mistake – the majority of your website traffic will come from mobile devices. That is why it is vital that the theme’s design of the theme is responsive. To be sure you can always check yourself with Google’s mobile-friendly test.
Compatibility with browsers and SEO optimization are also on top of the list you need to check when choosing a theme. Your visitors will be using different web browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Safari – the theme has to be compatible with all of them. Some themes also mention if they do not support some plugins. Make sure the one you choose will not have problems working with some of your go-to plugins.
Choosing a theme for your WordPress website is a difficult task. The theme is the first thing that catches the eye of the visitor. So prepare yourself for a deep dive in the huge pool of options that the Internet provides. And after you choose a theme, you can see our article “How to Use a WordPress Themes“. We wish you good luck and look forward to hosting your new website! Specially for your WordPress site, BGOcloud offers tailored WordPress hosting.