One of my clients is trying to choose a WordPress Theme for her small business website. She is really excited about the flexibility that WordPress provides to build and manage her site. But she is going around in circles trying to make a decision on what template to choose! Here are the key tips I shared to help her develop some selection criteria.
1) Website Purpose – Start by getting clear on the purpose of your site. Are you trying to promote offline sales, online sales, encourage donations, or simply share information as an example of your work or demonstrate your expertise etc?
2) Content – In addition to information about your business, what type of content do you plan to publish? Are you going to blog, write educational articles or white papers, create video or audio, share PowerPoint presentations or share your Twitter Tweets etc?
3) Look and Feel- All of the themes present a certain look and feel that will become your company’s face to the web. It’s important to look at the layout of the theme; for example is navigation across the top or down the side, what is the proportion of content versus pictures above the fold, what is the layout of the right hand column and how easy is it to customize?
Don’t worry too much about color and banner design. If you really like the look and feel of a theme, but the color isn’t quite right, that can easily be adjusted with a change to the css file. And if you want a banner that has more pizzazz, that’s easy enough to add.
The main thing is to find a theme design that works for you. Color and font style can easily be adjusted, but changing the theme design is complex and not recommended.
4) Theme Pages – Every WordPress theme includes several pre-designed “pages”. For example there is typically a home page, a blog post page, and a static page design. Spend some time looking at all of the pages that come “ready to go” in the theme.
If you need a page layout that’s not included, that can be added without too much fuss.
5) Get Up Close and Personal – When you find a theme you like, spend some time planning how you would actually use the theme design. Create a mock up of the home page design. Plan what you would put in each area. Step thru each of the pages that are included and imagine how you would use them to present your ideas and content.
What other tips or questions do you have?
WHAT’S BEST FOR WEBSITES? TEMPLATE OR CUSTOM DESIGN?
Thanks for the terrific informative article on WordPress website templates. One question, please. I am creating a website for my freelance writing business. A tech friend has offered to custom design the website for me. Should I say, “No thanks,” and go with a WordPress template instead?
Hi Deborah,
Thanks for asking that question! It’s a good one.
Here are a couple of things for you to consider:
The first is around content. How often do you plan to update your website? If you think you will be doing this on a regular basis, then WordPress may be a good solution. It’s easy to use and you can make the updates yourself!
How complicated is your website? Do you need several pages each with a slightly different look and feel, or do you have a large e-commerce site? If so a custom designed website is a better choice.
How big is your budget? Templates provide a very cost effective solution. In general for under a $100 you can buy a very professional looking template. On the other hand, custom designed websites will cost you in the thousands of dollars, depending on your needs.
Also, WordPress templates provide a starting point. They can easily be customized to reflect your brand, colors, image etc. But even if you just used the template as is, it would never look like anyone else’s. Why…your content and it’s presentation make it unique.
Finally, if your requirements are somewhere in between, you might consider both! Build that custom website and add a WordPress Blog!
I hope this helps!