Economists have taught us that having a lot of choice isn't always a good thing. Having a lot of options can lead to "analysis paralysis" and a feeling of being overwhelmed, due to the increased effort required and the level of uncertainty in making the right choice.

With an almost unlimited pool of WordPress themes available, it becomes so easy to feel overwhelmed and resort to inaction or choosing a low quality theme. In cases where you have a lot of options, it helps to know exactly what you need.

In this tutorial, I'm going to share with you the most important factors to consider, so that you know exactly what to keep in mind the next time you're on the hunt for a good theme.

Simply put, how easy is it to buy a bottle of wine when you know you prefer red wine and your favorite red is " Shiraz Australian "? This small amount of knowledge reduces the choice between 500 bottles to 10 in a store.

To get started, we'll answer one of the most frequently asked questions: Should I use premium or free themes?

Price: Free Themes Vs. Premium Theme

Several years ago, the price of a theme was a good indicator of its quality. Free themes were often poorly coded, and were used to capture sensitive user data. But times have changed, and the developers of the WordPress community have created thousands of great free themes to choose from.

As such, there is no clear winner. Both free and premium themes have their pros and cons, which are detailed below.

Advantage of premium themes

More updates

Perhaps the most compelling reason for choosing a premium theme is that these themes are usually updated more often. Considering the rapidly changing content management system WordPress (CMS), having a theme that is regularly updated to "patch" new security issues is critical.

Unique and less recognizable design

Like the WordPress themes free themes are so popular, it's not uncommon for tens of thousands of websites to use the same free theme. Premium themes are used less, which sets them apart a bit more.

Better documentation

Most premium themes include a detailed PDF explaining how to get the most out of them. This documentation is less common with free themes.

Disadvantages of premium themes

The

You'll have to invest between 50 $ and 200 $ in a premium theme.

More configurations

Most premium themes have their own custom admin panel, with a variety of customization settings, which can take some time to learn how to set it up.

Unwanted characteristics

Premium themes tend to include a lot of bells and whistles, like several slider plugins, a portfolio manager and extra skins. Although these make it a versatile theme, many unwanted features can overload the theme.

2 - Speed: Light Vs Multifunctionality

speed-boot

The fast page load speed not only improves the overall user experience of a website, but also improves search engine rankings, conversion rates, and hence online income.

So it's no surprise that I recommend avoiding sluggish themes like the plague.

Understanding a problem is the first step to avoiding it. So what, in a theme, will drag your website down the gutter?

In general, it boils down to three points:

Too long & heavy

Beware of themes that boast of having 10 different sliders, 20 pre-installed plugins, and lots of JavaScript animation. Although it may seem like a bargain, a site that has so many resources will not work optimally.

Overuse of large file formats

The key word here is "overuseWhich is admittedly a bit subjective. Try to steer clear of themes that use a lot of full-width images, background videos, etc. Doing less will make you do more.

Incorrect coding

From wildly scaled images to the “inline” injection of CSS code, bad coding has a significant impact on site performance. As mentioned, Poor Code usually means that a theme hasn't been updated for a long time, that's why, you should always check a theme's update history.

3 - Design and user experience

web-design-responsive

Of course, the whole point of a theme is to make it look good and show off your brand as much as possible. Although the design can be very subjective, you increase your chances of finding a well-designed theme by following a few steps.

First, do some research on popular market places. It might sound obvious, but is always worth mentioning. ThemeForest is our recommendation, but a lot of other themes are good and not there, so is StudioPress as well as Elegant Themes.

Second, spend some time browsing the demo. Does the site seem easy to use? Is there enough white space? Do you have a headache looking at it? Does this turn you on? This is where your intuition will play an important role.

Finally, make sure you choose a theme that is cross-browser compatible and that it was built with accessibility in mind.

4 - Responsivity

While mobile traffic varies across industries, most reports seem to agree that on average, around 30% of all website visits today come from mobile devices and tablets.

Regardless of the exact reports, there is no excuse not to use a responsive theme.

Fortunately, almost all reputable themes are "responsive" without prior configuration, so the lack of " responsivity Of a theme is a significant handicap. Most theme providers allow you to filter themes that are not responsive.

One of the best ways to determine if a responsive theme is to launch the demo with the new Google's mobile test tool.

5 - SEO

When activated with one of the many good SEO plugins, WordPress is one of the most popular CMS. SEO Friendly Available.

However, many themes bring errors of SEO, such as the omission of “ header "And image tags with the" alt "attribute, full duplicate content, and dynamic URL errors.

When choosing a theme, look for one that is "optimized SEO" or "SEO ReadyIn the description of the theme, but do not rely on it blindly. Many developers understand that this criterion is often decisive for them to sell.

A good practice is to install an extension for the Chrome browser, as MozBar, to run some quick SEO checks on a theme's demo.

That's all for this list of points you should consider when you want to buy a theme. Feel free to share it with your friends on your favorite social networks.