Looking for a theme for website can be tiresome. I still remember the first time I looked for a theme. I could not make my mind regarding which theme to pick from the buffet of themes. It is very obvious due to the presence of many options of themes. Now let’s cut to the chase and have a look at the key factors of choosing best theme for your website.
1. Brand Resonance
Your theme is a mirror of your brand to the audience. It should resonate the similar meaning that your brand stands for. Moreover, it should be compatible with the type of product or service you are offering. The look and feel of your theme should complement your products and service and uplift the overall brand presence. For example: A start up of food restaurant will have a vibrant and jubilant theme, on the other hand a listing website for doctors will have more formal and structured essence. Thus, the overall vibe of your theme should match with your brand, product and service. So the first tick on your checklist should go to brand resonance of your theme.
2. Responsiveness
According to a recent study done by Statista, 52.6% of global traffic was from mobile device users. This justifies the significance of a responsive website theme. So, if you are looking for a new theme for website, responsiveness of the theme should be your top priority. On the other hand, if you already have a website it is high time to give a responsiveness check of your website to see if it is properly visible in mobile devices as well. Use free and paid tool such as mobiReady, responsivecheckerm etc. to check responsiveness of your website. Make sure your theme is responsive and retina ready.
3. Speedster
Who likes a slowpoke right? Unless you are a fan of that sloth from the movie Zootopia! Jokes apart, speed is one of the most essential elements of a quality website theme. If your website is too heavy and takes a lot of time to load, there is high chance it will affect the user experience. So be real careful while picking a theme because speed is a key factor of choosing theme for your website. It is essential to draw a line to ensure your theme has good speed. Many sliders, background videos, pre-installed plugins, poorly coded themes can make your website slow. Pick wisely and do not compromise on the speed of the website. So keep an eye out for a superstar and speedster theme for your website.
4. SEO Friendly
Even though there are many ways to make your website SEO compatible but having a SEO friendly theme is a cherry on top. SEO friendly theme will make good use of your strategies to build SEO on your website. Before getting on board with a new theme, check if the theme is SEO friendly or not. However, it might not be easy for everyone to understand SEO friendliness of a website, so having a professional to watch your back is a better idea.
5. Customization
Ease of customization of a website is one of the key factors of choosing theme for your website. Customization should be easy and simple so that you can do minor changes and customization by yourself. That is the beauty of a user friendly website theme. If you are using WordPress themes, look for the WP Page Builder option in your theme. WP Page Builder makes the process of creating and editing new pages easier. A theme with easy customization will make your life easy and save your time. Be real picky when it comes to the ease of customization of the theme.
6. Plugin Power
Plugins are like superpowers for many themes. A simple theme can leverage its quality by having different plugins. If the theme is based on WordPress, there are plethora of plugins that can make the theme better. Benefits like SEO, contact form, social share, and analytics can be enabled through the use of plugins. So a good theme should have built in supported plug in and also be compatible with trending and new plugins that will make the website better. So, themes with some built in plugin and that supports plugins should be considered.
7. Browser Compatibility
A good theme is pitch perfect irrespective of the browser being used to visit the website. The website quality, look and feel should not be compromised for using a different browser. The browser compatibility has to be ensured for both laptop and mobile device. Having a browser compatible website will ensure consistency of the website throughout the different browsers. If you already have a website, there are tools you can use to check the browser compatibility of your website.
8. Ratings and Review
Ratings and review provided by users is a profound indicator of the quality of the theme. It also reflects how many users have used the theme. It is always recommended to go through the comments left by the user to have a better understanding about the theme you are going to pick. The ratings and reviews are always present with the theme if you are looking in third party theme selling platforms.
Always look for a theme with higher ratings and sales frequency of the theme. It reduces the risk of the theme to be less effective.
9. End User in Mind
Putting focus on the end user of the website should be given priority. If the end user is not comfortable with the layout and user experience on the website then the purpose of the website will be rendered pointless. So in case of choosing the theme the end user and their preference should be given priority. Consider the like and preference of the end user while designing the website.
10. Price
Last but not the least price is also a key factor of choosing theme for your website. There is a misconception that higher price is an indication of good quality theme, but this might not be the case always. An affordable theme can have super features whereas a highly priced theme can be poorly coded. Try to get a theme that is within your budget and ticks on majority of the points mentioned above.
To sum up, if you are looking forward to create your new website, the above mentioned checklist will give you an advantage to pick the theme that is best suitable for you.