Do you desire to set up your business online or simply want to start a blog or website to create an online presence? If so, you need to select various basic things before embarking on your online journey.
A beautiful and fully functional website is created with valuable content, a catchy theme, and feature-rich plugins and is made online with quality web hosting. Different things can influence a website's presence on the web. And the website theme is one such crucial aspect that you must choose wisely.
There are plenty of WordPress themes available on the web that you can choose from. However, choosing a theme that is most suitable among all can be a daunting task, especially if you are a beginner.
Here, in this blog, we've covered various practical tips that you must consider while selecting your website theme. This will ease your theme selection process and help you make an informed decision.
So, without further digressing, let us begin!

What is a WordPress Theme?

A WP theme is a collection of files that determine the design and appearance of a website. To put it simply, this is how your website looks and appears to you and to your visitors.
A WordPress theme is made up of different components, including HTML, CSS, PHP files, JavaScript, and more. All these files work together to build the overall theme design, which helps you structure your website. It allows you to style your site with the header, footer, menus, sidebar, colors, fonts, and more. All these allow you to customize and brand your WordPress website easily. Also, without requiring coding, it makes it possible for you to create a consistent and harmonious appearance of your website's pages and posts, making it professional and appealing.
There is an abundance of free as well as paid themes available that you can select from to design a captivating website.

Where can you get a WordPress Theme?

Now that you might have understood what a WordPress theme means and what it is used for, you might be considering where you can get one for your website. There are various reliable platforms from where you can get WordPress themes. The WordPress Theme Directory is a source where you can select free themes for your site. You can select a theme based on different criteria, such as features, subjects, popularity, and more. You can get it directly from your admin dashboard.
Besides this, if you are seeking a paid theme, there are various premium sources such as ThemeForest, StudioPress, Elegant Themes, and more that offer paid themes for WordPress. All the sources are reliable, and you can select them based on your assessment.

Why is choosing the right website theme essential for websites?

A website should be fully functional, captivating, and high-performing to attain a higher position in search engines.
Just like choosing the right web hosting plan is crucial for a website where you evaluate various hosting features as well as plans including shared, VPS, or dedicated, it is equally important to choose the right WordPress theme to create a beautiful-looking website that is engaging as well.
A WordPress theme is crucial for a website's overall appearance of a website. It allows the creation of a captivating site without requiring a single line of code. At times, choosing a theme can be challenging, with lots of theme options, color contrast, design, features, pricing, and more.
Also, a theme is much more than just colors. It allows you to personalize various web design elements, which allows you to create a personalized brand appearance. Therefore, select a theme that best fits your website's needs.
Novice users might find it difficult to choose a theme for their site. But now you don't need to worry anymore. Go on and read the blog until the end to grab the top tips that you must consider while selecting a theme for your site.

Things to consider while deciding on a WordPress theme.

As we mentioned above that choosing a WP theme can be difficult, in this section, we will provide you with the top 8 tips you must consider when selecting a WP theme. This will simplify your selection process and make it easier for you to choose a fitting theme for your brand.

1. Select a lightweight WP theme.

A website's performance and loading times are crucial for a website's SEO and its presence on the internet. A WP theme covers the major parts of your site and plays a vital role in website performance and loading times. Therefore, it's crucial to select a theme that is lightweight and can positively impact a website's visibility on search engines.
A lightweight theme does not burden a website with lots of unnecessary coding and files and provides a seamless experience.
There are various lightweight and performance-optimized themes available on the market, free as well as paid, that you can choose from and enable your website to perform uninterruptedly. This will help you create a lightweight and simple website design that performs seamlessly without interruption.
So, select a theme that is lightweight and performance optimized to help your website load faster.

2. Choose a flexible and customizable theme.

There may be circumstances when you desire to use a theme, but the appearance and colors do not match your brand. Then, you may wish to have a modification feature that lets you adjust the settings as per your choice. Numerous themes are very flexible and customizable and allow users to create a harmonious website design that matches and reflects their brand.
Therefore, you must focus on the flexibility and customizability of the theme. This will enable you to easily customize the theme settings that can help you reflect your brand. There are various flexible themes that you can customize using the WordPress Customizer to make the look of your theme comparable to your brand easily. For instance, the Sydney theme allows you to customize the color, layout, looks, and more easily.
So, select a flexible and customizable theme that allows you to create a unique brand presence.

3. Choose a responsive theme.

A responsive WP theme is a theme that can automatically adjust website content and images as per the device screen.
Since most users navigate to a website using a mobile device, a website must utilize a responsive theme to provide a satisfactory experience on mobile devices. Over 50 % of website traffic comes from mobile devices. Therefore, a website must provide a good user experience on mobile devices as well as laptops or desktops.
Thus, before choosing a theme, check whether the theme is responsive or not. Additionally, ensure to check how different sections of a website, such as a blog section, navigation menu, and others, appear on the website. This assessment will help you select the theme that helps you create an appeal and provides your users with a satisfactory experience.

4. Check for developer support.

Selecting a theme is important, but choosing one that can help you grow without interruption is more important.
No matter which WP theme you choose for your site, there may be times you find it difficult to manage your theme or encounter some issues, and you need developer support to resolve your concerns. Many premium themes provide customer support. However, with free themes, you may or may not get regular customer support. Thus, before making your final decision, ensure that you choose a theme that offers you quick, 24/7 support whenever you need it. This will help you get prompt support whenever you are in need and enable you to maintain your online presence unstoppably.

5. Check for the theme's customer reviews.

Next, you must check the customer reviews of the theme to determine how the theme is performing for most users and make the right decision for yourself. Assessing the theme's pricing and features is important, but checking customer reviews is the most effective method to test the quality of WordPress themes. Users can better tell you about the workings of a theme through their experience. You can easily check the customer reviews and ratings at WordPress.org for most of the free themes and decide whether the theme is suitable to use or not for your site. You can also examine the reviews of a paid theme before selecting it for your site. This will help you in making an intelligent choice.

6. Check for the theme's last update.

The next important aspect you must consider while selecting a WP theme is to check when the theme was last updated by the developer. This is important to check because WordPress is constantly evolving with time, and therefore the theme must be compatible with the latest WP version.
A theme that is not updated regularly or for a long time can create issues. Also, it can hinder your website's presence on the internet and your credibility and trustworthiness. On the other hand, choosing an updated theme will prevent incompatibility issues and enable your website to perform uninterruptedly.
Thus, check the last update date of the theme and choose the one that is regularly updated by the developer and gives your website a strong presence.

7. Don't get into the debate of free vs. paid themes.

While selecting a theme, you must not get too much into the free vs. paid themes. A free theme does not always mean bad quality, and a paid theme does not guarantee high quality. There are various WP themes in the WordPress directory that work out of the box and help users create beautiful-looking websites. Various paid themes are also available that can help users create captivating websites.
Thus, without debating about the paid and free themes, evaluate the features, flexibility, and compatibility and select a theme that you find best for your website and that satisfies your website's demands.
8. Don't choose themes for functionality.
While selecting a theme, you might want to select a theme that comes with various functions, along with providing you with a compelling appearance and layout. But note that themes are mainly for design, and plugins are available for functionality.
Choosing a theme with functionalities might lock you into the same theme. This means that if your theme also controls your functionality, it will be more difficult for you to change your theme. Therefore, select a theme for designing a beautiful website and choose plugins for adding additional functionality. This will enable you to change your theme or plugins as per your desires and needs. Additionally, you can focus on the compatibility of your theme with other plugins. This will help you make an intelligent decision.

Final Thoughts!

A theme is crucial for designing a beautiful website. The theme files include various elements, such as HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and more, which eliminates the need for coding while designing a website. This makes it easier for novices as well as skilled users to create a beautiful website without requiring coding experience. Selecting a theme is a decision that can influence your success on the web. In addition, it can be challenging to select a theme due to the availability of numerous options. Therefore, it's essential to consider the selection process, focusing on the website's requirements and goals.
To ease your selection journey and help you choose the best theme, here we've covered the top eight practical tips that you can take into account while selecting a theme for your site and to help you make an informed choice.
By focusing on the above-discussed tips, you can select a WordPress theme that captures the attention, provides a satisfactory user experience, as well as effectively supports your website's growth.
Keep in mind that your website theme is the face of your online presence, and selecting a theme wisely, can help you create a strong site foundation.
So, consider the tips during your selection process and make an informed choice for your site.
We hope this guide has helped you streamline your selection process.