10 Things to Consider Before Choosing a WordPress Theme

Some important things to consider before choosing a WordPress theme are listed here, check them all and know how to get a WordPress theme that’s worth every penny. Before reading this article know how to choose a WordPress Theme and the main differences between a WordPress Theme vs Framework vs Child Theme. Whether the theme is Free or Premium or Custom, you can consider these factors before proceeding further.

Things to Consider Before Choosing a WordPress Theme

There are many things to considered but only some important ones are shortlisted and 10 of them are included in this article. Pros and Cons will be there for any WordPress theme or framework, so take wise decisions in a timely manner. Lets move to the factors list…

Type of Website

Whenever you are going to a new website or blog then after installing WordPress, you need to choose a perfect theme that suits the niche of the website. If you are blog is related to some topics like SEO, Blogging etc then choose a theme with Blog Layout rather than picking a real-estate niche theme and customizing it. Here are some 10 mobile responsive blogging themes you surely will like.

Design Factor

Apart from functionality design is also to be considered. It is not always recommended to choose a basic theme and customizing it from scratch. Go for any ready-made responsive WordPress theme and save your valuable time and money. If you are looking for high quality portfolio or business related themes then I recommend to check WPExplorer WordPress Themes.

Features List

A list of features will be included on the theme info page. Check whether your theme got Responsive Design, Short-codes Support, Slider Support etc things. If any of the latest design trends are not considered in your theme, then its always good to look for alternatives. Better compare this theme with other in the same price range and this way you can easily take a decision.

Support Offered

This purely depends on the author or company from which you have purchased a theme. If you got a theme from any of the popular theme marketplaces like ThemeForest, then you need to rely on theme author for support. And if you got a theme from any theme company like MyThemeShop, then you can get quality support through Forums and email. Companies like StudioPress publish useful articles on their blog page.

Pricing Details

Price of the theme you are going to buy is to be checked twice and you should also check the License details on using that particular theme. For Thesis Theme, 2 different Licenses are available as Single License and Developer License but in-case of Genesis only one license is available and all of their themes can be used on unlimited number of websites.

Ease of Customization

Check whether the theme you are going to buy can be easily customized or not. At WPSquare we offer free customization tutorials for both Thesis and Genesis themes. You can Google out the Theme name and can look for available resources to customize it. In-case if you dont want to mess-up with code or if you like to hire a developer, we request you to check our services page.

Loading Speed

Loading Speed is one of the most important factors to be considered and it plays a vital role in terms of SEO also. Check the demo of theme you are going to buy and notice the time its taking to completely load. If that time is less than 5 secs, then it can be treated as the fairly loading WordPress Theme. If it takes ages to load, then visitors will immediately leave that page.

Compatibility Check

This can be divided into two parts - WordPress Compatibility and Cross-Browser Compatibility. Check whether the theme you going to purchase is compatible with latest version of WordPress or not. Generally, this info will be included in the description part of the theme itself. Also, its recommended to test cross-Browser Compatibility of your WordPress theme.

Plugin Friendly

In some cases, plugins are not compatible with all themes, hence proper care should be taken while updating any WordPress plugin. Some themes will have inbuilt plugin integration and there wont be special need to install plugins. So whatever it is, I recommend to setup a dummy WordPress blog and test themes and plugins before making things go live. But this is possible only after you grab a copy of theme.

Active User Base

If you are in a confusion on whether to buy or not a particular WordPress theme, then check the active user-base that theme got. You can get this info from number of downloads, comments posted etc things on ThemeForest. In some cases, reviews also help you to know the popularity of any WordPress theme. Also, you can contact the theme author directly and know the status clearly.

Conclusion

Apart from these you can also consider Updates available for that theme. If updates are frequent it surely means, existing bugs are fixed and new features are added. Genesis recently got updated to 1.82 version and Thesis 2.0 is expected to be released soon.

Whenever I purchase a new WordPress theme, I consider all these factors and if you know any other important ones, please raise your voice by dropping a comment here.