According to a recent survey, 57% of internet users say that they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website, especially on mobile, and 38% say that they will stop engaging entirely if it is not professionally designed. This is why it is important to take a few factors into account when choosing a WordPress theme for your business and brand.
Such impressions are understandable, especially in a generation where we are used to consuming sleekly designed, highly responsive digital platforms.
WordPress offers some of the best themes relevant for businesses, yet, selecting the right one and also having it professionally customized and delivered is key. This is an activity worth investing your time and energy in because your brand’s website is a key digital asset representing your business.
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Questions To Ask Before Choosing WordPress Theme
It’s important not only to find a good WordPress web development company to design and execute your website but also to identify the perfect WordPress theme that serves your company’s needs. Before making the final selection, ask these important questions.
Does It Complement Your Company’s Branding?
When customers, clients or users visit the website, they must feel that it instantly connects to your brand. A professional looking website also inspires trust and credibility. Hence, selecting the right theme is an important business decision, and it must be strategically selected after careful consideration.
Make sure the theme’s look and feel reflect the colors, vibe, and voice of your brand. Brands are also often associated with certain fonts, so this is an important factor, too.
Choose a theme that either already complements your brand, or can be easily customized by the WordPress web development company that is designing your website.
Does It Serve Your Customers’ Needs?
Depending on the kind of business you are in, your website will serve different needs. If you are a consulting firm, a simple yet sleek website that offers information on the founders and services and showcases your portfolio well must be the focus.
If your business is from the service industry, then customer support may be an important aspect, and ensuring that the theme enables customers to reach out with queries and complaints must be a key focus.
If your company is an internet consumer business, then it’s likely that millions of consumers will be logging in to your website every day, and you need to choose a theme that has a very consumer-centric vibe and a high usability function. If it holds a lot of consumer data, security is a top priority.
Make sure the theme is responsive and can be accessed via mobile, desktop, laptops, and all browsers. As newer generations come online, they are more likely to consume content on their smartphones, hence, choosing a theme that is very easy to consume and engage with, for a visitor on the go, is a must.
Can It Be Easily Updated?
We hear of cases all the time when websites are created, and they look awesome. But once they are handed over to the business, the team is unable to update it easily, both in terms of content and navigating various features. It’s important that the WordPress web development company designing your website builds it keeping in mind its long-term applications.
Your team should be able to update all the pages easily, change images, add new features, and respond to consumer comments and feedback, with speed. Make sure the partner designing your website gives a demo to your team on how exactly it works, and that they offer support for some time in case there are any chinks in the armor.
Too many plugins can make the site crash, and navigating such crises without support can be a nightmare. Choose wisely, keeping your team’s tech-savviness and ability to trouble-shoot, in mind.
Do You Really Need So Many Features?
The possibilities with technology can be unlimited, sometimes overwhelm us, and sometimes, it can make us get carried away! While WordPress themes come with several features, it’s important to discern which ones you really need.
Going for too many can slow down the speed of the site (check how to speed up WordPress site), it can make it crash, and it can also mess up the user experience. Choose features strategically.
The general thumb rule of building any good website is that less is more. So choose features based on what kind of business goal you are trying to achieve.
Is The Theme Accessible On All Browsers?
Users may log in to your website via several browsers, so account for if your theme is easy to access across all of them. If not, the theme will have a “broken” look on some browsers, while looking perfect on others.
Typically, theme developers leverage a host of sophisticated browser compatibility testing tools, so check this off your list during selection. Check if it is mentioned upfront, or else run your own tests across Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and other browsers, on web and mobile.
Do You Need A Multilingual & Translation-Ready Website?
If your website is going to be accessed by users communicating in languages besides English, factor in whether the theme supports multiple languages and also has a translation feature or not.
Ensure that the theme you choose is compatible with multilingual plugins like WPML (check WPML vs Weglot vs TranslatePress vs Polylang) or Weglot (check Weglot review) and if it is translation-ready.
Does The Theme Author Provide Support?
It’s a good idea to delve a little deeper into the support options provided by developers. The best themes and professional developers are passionate about their legacy and tend to offer continued support to those who adopt their themes.
All free themes may not come with support (free vs paid WordPress themes differences). However, premium themes typically come with extended support from the developer, and reputed developers tend to be more invested in this aspect of their work.
So, connect with the developer and build a relationship. If your theme does not come with support, and things go sideways, you may end up going out of pocket to hire a third party to rectify the issue.
Does It Have a Unique Look & Feel?
WordPress is one of the most popular blogging platforms in the world, and this has given rise to a unique trend. There are several popular WordPress themes that are used by millions of bloggers and small brands.
As a professional business, you want your website to look unique and not resemble several other sites that are online. You want it to be aesthetically designed and easy on the eye.
WordPress has a selection of premium themes, which are dynamic; they offer more features than free themes and are designed with the idea of offering unique design elements that let your website stand out. Premium themes involve a one-time payment that must be viewed as an investment rather than a cost.
Is It Optimised For SEO?
One of the most important features of any website is that it must show up in searches when consumers, clients, and customers search for products, services, and features offered by your business.
Typically, WordPress theme developers, being experts in their domain, indicate whether the theme is optimized for SEO. You can also look up reviews and ratings of the specific theme to understand this aspect.
Additionally, getting your WordPress web development company to do an SEO audit before selecting a theme is a good idea. If they excel at what they do, the chances are that they do SEO audits of WordPress themes as a hygiene practice. This ensures that your website is compatible with the latest SEO practices.
You can also always install SEO plugin like Rank Math (check Rank Math vs Yoast SEO), Yoast SEO (All In One SEO Pack vs Yoast comparison), SEOPress (see SEOPress free vs pro differences), SEOPressor Connect (check SEOPressor Connect review), SEO Framework, All In One SEO Pack, etc.
What To Consider Before Choosing WordPress Theme Conclusion
Make sure you run through all the various requirements with a fine-tooth comb – whether it is specific features like a search bar, the call-to-actions, as well as the compatibility with your budget and brand needs.
Once the website is ready, get your team members to test it thoroughly, for responsiveness, ease-of-use, quick navigation, etc. If the images take too long to load, it’s likely that users will stop engaging. Two seconds is literally the longest amount of time a user will take, before dropping off. In fact, slow-loading websites cost retailers 2.6 billion dollars every year – imagine that!
The moral of the story is that a website, being a key digital asset, must serve the purpose of representing your brand. Last but not least, it must inspire a feel-good factor that raises trust in your brand, not diminishes it. You can check some of best WordPress marketplaces to find ideal WordPress theme for your needs.
| AUTHOR BIO:
Sheryl Jones, a Senior Marketing Specialist at Uplers, is an expert at re-imagining user journeys across the digital marketing universe. She leverages her experience in digital marketing to drive business outcomes that positively impact the bottom-line. |
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