How to Pick the Perfect Theme for Your Website
One of the largest challenges that people face when building their website is choosing the right theme. A lot of people don’t consider this as a potential challenge and just pick one they like with little consideration. After all, it’s just the theme; what do aesthetics matter? On the contrary, the theme of your website is crucial to the impression with which you leave your potential customers or clients. The theme you ultimately go with will help to set the feel and mood of your website; it will help to contribute to your clients’ or customers’ impression of your business. Through today’s installment in our website building series, we’ll help you make the right decision confidently on a theme for your business website.
Why is your theme so important
The theme of your website is the first thing you typically decide on when you start building your website, no matter which host you use. Not only is your theme an important part of your business’s first impression on web visitors, it also controls most visual aspects of your website; it controls the font, the color scheme, the layout, the organization, everything. Choosing an appropriate theme that looks clean and professional is a crucial part of your website’s success.
What to consider when choosing a theme
No matter which website you choose as your source for your website (Wix, WordPress, GoDaddy, etc.), there’s one thing they all have in common: a ridiculously wide selection of themes.
A common misconception in choosing themes, however, is that you should just choose whichever you like best that you think looks most pleasing. There are a lot of things you should consider when choosing your theme to help you make the right decision. Your theme can play a large role in your conversion rates and your sales, so it’s important that you take it seriously and make the best decision possible.
Is it easy to read?
As you can imagine, it’d be almost impossible for potential customers or clients to know what your business is about or what your website says without being able to read the content on it. You need to make sure that the color scheme and the font of the theme you use are easily seen and read so your clients or customers can easily navigate your site.
Is it visually pleasing?
You may not think that the color scheme you choose is all that important and you can just choose what you like, but there’s a little more to it than that if you want to set your site up for success.
If the colors in the theme you choose clash with each other, are visually abrasive or too busy for the eye, or if there’s just not enough contrast between them to be able to read the content, you could have a problem with your website. If you’re not sure which theme to choose, it’s typically better to err on the simple side.
Is the layout user-friendly?
If the layout of your theme isn’t user-friendly or is hard to navigate, your users may struggle to properly navigate your site. This could be off-putting to visitors and could potentially lead to more bounces. You should choose a theme that’s layout matches what you had in mind for your website, while also being easy for visitors to navigate and use.
Should you pay for a theme
There’s a wide variety of themes to choose from on each hosting site, like Wix, WordPress, etc., but there’s a world of other possibilities from third-party sources that you could also access. For instance, Etsy has a wide variety of pre-made themes you could pay for, as well as many developers offering to create custom themes for a small price. But is it really worth it to pay for a theme? Let’s take a closer look at the options:
Free themes offered on hosting sites
All of the hosting sites have a variety of free themes from which you can choose, and, of course, there are both positives and negatives to choosing from the list of free themes.
Pros
- No expense
- No hassle with web developing
- No having to go to another website or figure out coding
Cons
- Very popular, meaning many other websites use the same themes
- Little customization options, typically what you see is what you get
- More difficult to find one similar to what you had in mind
Paid themes offered on hosting sites
Hosting sites also typically have their own selection of themes you can pay for, as well. WordPress, for instance, has hundreds of pages of paid themes from which you can choose that vary widely in price.
Pros
- No hassle with web developing
- No coding hassle
- Getting your theme straight from the source
- More customization options
- Help from the hosting site should something go wrong
Cons
- Slight expense
- Not entirely custom or unique, others can have the same one
- Could still be challenging to find one that matches the idea you have in your head
Paid pre-designed themes from sites like Etsy
There are a wide variety of pre-designed themes from which you can choose to purchase on sites like Etsy and eBay.
Pros
- Less people may have them
- Direct connection with developer/creator
- Oftentimes more customization options
Cons
- Slight expense
- Have to be able to put the code in to use the theme
- Not unique to your site
Paid custom themes from developers
Many web developers and creators offer customized themes that they design specifically and uniquely for your website. You can often find these creators on sites like Etsy or eBay or even through a simple Google search for custom theme design.
Pros
- Custom theme that is unique to your website
- The ability to work with the developer to bring the image you have in mind to life
- Ability to make it as user-friendly as possible
Cons
- Slight expense, could be more depending on how complicated your design gets
- Could take a while to get it
- Have to be able to put the code in to use it
Weighing the options
There are positives and negatives to all the options for choosing your theme. If you have the finances, the best option is to pay for a custom theme to be created; this ensures your website’s appearance is unique to your business. However, if you need to get your website up and running, but need to wait on paying for a theme, you could use a free one until you can afford the custom one. I wouldn’t recommended spending money on a pre-designed theme if you’re planning to get a customized one eventually; there are plenty of free themes from which to choose, allowing you to save your money for the custom one.
Your theme is an important part of your website. It controls every aspect of your website’s visual design, user-friendliness, organization, and greatly affects your customers’ first impression of your business. It’s important that you choose your theme wisely. We hope this has helped guide you in your journey to find the perfect theme; stay tuned for the next installment in our website series.