With the amount of available WordPress Themes numbering well into the thousands, finding the best WordPress theme for your business or blog can be a frustrating process. Themespotter was designed to try to simplify that process by featuring all the best WordPress themes from the top theme designers, and then making them easy to search, sort and demo. I know what you’re thinking…”yeah, yeah, yeah…that’s great and all, but how do I know what is the best theme for mybusiness or blog?”.Great question! Only you know the type of brand you are looking to build for yourself or your business, but there are some steps you can take to help narrow down your focus.

7 Steps to Find the Perfect WordPress Theme for Your Website: 

1. Decide on the type of website you are looking for. I know this sounds obvious, but there are WordPress themes available for a wide variety of blogs and businesses, from corporate websites, to directory sites, news & magazine sites, photo blogs, travel blogs, eCommerce businesses, photography websites and much more. There are some WordPress themes available that are so good that they might even encourage you to start a type of business you hadn’t even considered! What I’m getting at with this is that you might know you want to start a blog, but you can narrow down themes be the type of blog you’re looking to start. Furthermore; will your blog be focused on news and events? If so, maybe a news or magazine theme might be more of what you’re looking for.

2. Decide on must-have features for your website. Most themes have standard features such as multiple color schemes, fonts and color customization options, and some pre-designed page templates, but are features such as Advanced Search, integration with Google Maps, Image Sliders, or the ability to sell digital products important to your business? In other words, focus on key features that might be specific to your business, or maybe features that would be a great improvement over your current website. If you are interested in a specific feature that is not included with a theme, check the Plugin Directory at WordPress.org and check whether you can add that feature via a plugin.

3. Decide on what type of style best suites your brand. Do you want to portray your company or yourself as professional, fun, modern or high-tech? What about minimalist, artsy, bold or retro? Do you want your website to be clean and organized or have more of a grungy look? Can the topics covered on your website be conveyed well through images? Maybe a photo-heavy style would be a great option. The style of your website is very important for the first impression you make on your website visitors and customers – and can be the difference of whether people stick around to read your content and move on to your competitors’ website.

4. Decide on a your preferred website layout. This one is a bit tricky, since many of the best WordPress themes might have one layout by default, but give you the option to easily chose from various layout options. If you don’t love the default layout of a specific theme, but it has all the features you are looking for, you might want to check whether the theme includes multiple layout options. Also, it is often worth deciding whether you want a blog-type layout (generally with a widget-based sidebar on the right and comment fields below your posts) or more of a professional layout. Having a standard blog-style layout might work well for news sites (and it encourages discussion from your site visitors), but it might not be appropriate for corporate websites.

5. View theme demos. Try to demo themes from the mindset of your readers, customers or potential clients. Is the website easy to understand and navigate, well organized and give you the search options you would want? Is it easy to browse photos on the gallery page? Does it give a professional image of the business?

6. Do some research on the theme designer. Make sure the theme designer provides at least some form of technical support, especially if you’re buying a premium WordPress theme. Some theme companies provide phone service, while others use email or a ticketing system for support, and others use support forums to communicate with customers. Any of these options are usually fine, but make sure they offer some level of support and customer service. WordPress is easy to use and most themes (especially premium themes) work very well, but you can still have issues or encounter bugs once in a while. You want to purchase a theme from a company or individual who will be around to help you if you run into an issue 10 months after you purchase the theme. Technical Support is one of many features you’ll get when purchasing a premium free, as opposed to using a free WordPress theme. We try to feature theme developers that have a reputation for providing great service and support on Themespotter.

7. To save a lot of time, rather than digging through the websites of numerous theme companies, check out a few online marketplaces that aggregate the best WordPress themes from multiple theme designers into one place (such as the site you are on, of course!).

Shopping for a WordPress theme with at least some idea of what you are looking for, or more importantly, what you are trying to accomplish with your website, can save you a lot of time. If you are looking for any theme suggestions, or if there’s anything we can do to make the process of shopping for WordPress themes easier, please send us a note through the Contact Form.