There’s this popular Japanese maxim that says we all have three faces to show– what the world sees, what we save for friends and family, and the parts known only to us. WordPress works much in the same way, but with your site as visitors see it, the backend we’re all familiar with, and all the code hidden up in the platform’s guts.
A site’s WordPress theme is, for all intents and purposes, the face it shows the world. It’s not all looks, though. Themes don’t just communicate one’s aesthetic preferences, but also gives a good glimpse of what experiences you have to offer. Given the internet’s terribly erratic attention span, landing that impression the first time really counts.
Good design principles tend to translate between mediums, and an important rule of thumb is to focus your attention where it’s needed most. Depending on the brand, it could be anything from a striking product photo, or a clever and persuasive headline, to the reassuring visage of a well-respected industry figure.
That first half-second typically makes or breaks any potential leads, so you’re going to need a layout that loads quickly, and was designed by people who know WordPress’ systems well. Luckily, we’ll be looking through some of the platform’s better respected themes, so you have the best possible starting point for your venture’s online presence.
Our picks from the WordPress themes park
This is one of the easier WordPress themes to get, being free and readily available. You could tell the designers intended for this to be a great starter, just by looking at its incredibly accessible setup options and space for extended functionality. It works great on both mobile and desktop, and more importantly, takes well to WooCommerce integration right out of the gate.
Similar to Hestia, OceanWP is an incredibly accessible theme with a steller on-boarding process. Might not be the best thing if you’re looking to do tons of blogging (that’s still an option though), but excels at business-related applications with full WooCommerce integration, and a number of alternate layout options.
Need help building your WordPress website? Chat with us today for the WordPress support YOU deserve.
If you’re more of a personality-driven brand like say, a self-help guru, a podcast, or musical group, you may want to give Tusant a shot. Its multimedia support is hard to beat, and works incredibly well for music, video, and blog posts. All that integration makes for a rich canvas for creatives looking to bolster their online presence.
Okay, we might be stretching it a bit, but hear us out! Divi isn’t necessarily just a theme, but with a wonderfully robust drag-and-drop page builder, and a wide range of layout, media, and social integration options. If you’re looking to try something outside of the stock WordPress experience, this is a great, full-fat page creation tool.
Another classic, Astra is an incredibly tweakable WordPress theme whose flexibility belies its unassuming minimalism. Customization could get to be a daunting rabbit hole to go down, but don’t worry– the devs got your back! There are a number of different presets to serve as jumping off points for you to personalize. Oh, and it plays particularly well with third-party builders like Elementor and Beaver.
Do you have a list of your favorite WordPress themes? Share it with us in the comments below.
