Choosing a WordPress theme requires a checklist. It’s really not about just choosing a theme with a nice design, colors, or layout – you need to choose one that will suit your goals for the website, you need to be on the lookout for some important features.
There are thousands of WordPress themes so, getting the perfect one to use for your website could be a bit overwhelming. This article will help you to choose the best theme for your website.
Choose a WordPress Theme that fits your purpose
First things first! You should be able to answer this question, “What purpose will this website serve?” You need to have a goal for your website. For instance, if you want an eCommerce website, you wouldn’t want to choose a blog theme. With that in mind, you can know what features you need.
Luckily, you can now customize your search for a theme that matches the features you want. You can use the Features Filter button in the WordPress theme library, then thick the features you want the theme to have.

Having said that, let’s get right into things to consider before choosing a theme for your WordPress site.
1. Simplicity
Simplicity boils down to two steps – Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.
~ Leo Baubata ~
Who doesn’t want a beautiful website with bright colors, layout, and animations? Nobody! You definitely want your website to stand out. But, you need to keep in mind that looks aren’t everything so, while you’re working on making your website look great, you should remember that it shouldn’t look overly complex.
Look for a theme that suits your goal. Since you already know the features you need, you should choose a theme that has these features and one that is in harmony with your content.
Simplicity is the key because you want to give a user-friendly website. With this, people can have a great experience on your website.
2. Plugin Compatibility
While choosing a WordPress theme you need to consider its compatibility with the plugins you intend to use or the ones you already have installed. Plugins help you do anything you want to do with your WordPress site.
Look for a theme that supports the must-have plugins as well as any other plugins you may need. You can get in touch with the theme developer to confirm this.
3. Responsiveness
When choosing a theme, you need to put its responsiveness in check. Gone are the days when Responsiveness was an option. Today, more and more people visit websites using mobile devices. This means that your website will hand an upper hand when it is mobile-friendly.
Additionally, Google ranks mobile-friendly websites higher. Google even offers a free mobile-friendly test tool, with this, you check whether or not the theme is mobile friendly.
4. Browser Compatibility
Ensure that the theme works perfectly on all browsers. This is because your users will be using different browsers. Mostly, theme developers rigorously test their themes’ compatibility and add the result to the description.
However, if it is not in the theme’s description, you should run some basic test on different browsers like Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari, Mozilla, etc. Also, you should test on browsers on mobile devices.
5. SEO Friendly
Search Engine Optimization is a popular topic that comes up in almost every conversation about website development or blogging. When choosing a WordPress theme it’s quite important to check if it’s SEO friendly.
A theme may look really good on the outside and still generate a poorly coded HTML which in turns hurts your website’s SEO. So, you should look for guarantees that the theme is well optimized for SEO when searching.
6. Customer Support
In a situation where you run into issues, you will definitely need support. The question is, do the theme developers provide support? This has to be considered when choosing a theme.
Most premium themes provide support through email, forums, calls, tutorials, etc. Although, some free themes developers provide support but the least – email support, which could take longer before you get a reply.
Most importantly, be sure the theme has documentation that you can use to solve an issue yourself.
7. Rating and Review
A good way to assess the quality of a product or service is by checking its reviews. You will see what others are saying about the theme. This will help you note the potential problems before you choose the theme.

You can click on the “Details and preview” on the theme to view its rating.
Final Thought
Choosing a great theme is a step to creating a good quality website. With a good website, you can easily achieve your goals. Keep in mind that you are giving your users the best experience.
Having listed the things to consider when choosing a WordPress theme we hope you’ll be able to make an educated choice, whether you’re going for a free or premium theme.
What are the things you put into consideration when choosing a WordPress theme? Please share in the comment section.