I hear it all the time, ‘does my website theme really matter?’ and the answer is yes. With so many paid and free themes available for various content management systems it can become very overwhelming. Many people select their theme with one objective in mind, aesthetic appearance. Whilst it is extremely important to have a website that not only offers ease of functionality, but is aesthetically appealing to the user, there are various other factors that you must consider.
What you should consider when selecting your website theme
Do not select a theme based on the number of features it has to offer. With extra features comes extra code, which in turn increases the time taken to load the website, thus dramatically decreasing your SEO. Focus on what features you need and stick with it. Prioritise responsive themes. With more than 50% of global web traffic generated from mobile users, it has never been more important to ensure your website can easily translate to mobile. The exponential growth of mobile technology is only going to see this percentage go up.
Should you choose a free website theme?
This leads to the question ‘should I buy a theme or use a free theme?’. Whilst there are extremely good free themes on offer such as Hestia and Sydney, you should consider the ramifications of selecting a free theme. With using a free theme comes loss of individuality as many websites will be using the same theme. Not only this, free themes lack technical support and you run the risk of the author abandoning the theme altogether, thus losing the ability to update.
Should you choose a paid website theme?
In my opinion the main advantage a paid theme can bring to your website is the SEO benefits it can provide. With so much competition over the SERP’s, SEO has become a top priority for all businesses, and if it isn’t, it should be. With a paid theme comes more design freedom which provides you the ability to create more engaging content and pages that reduce bounce rates and keep users engaged for longer. Most paid themes are pre-optimised for speed by compressing code elements which means better user experience, less bounce rates, and happy crawl bots. Paid themes also come with technical support for any issues that may arise and are capable of supporting a lot more features than free themes.
My SUGGESTION
‘The question you should be asking is ‘what am I using my website for?’. Are you using it for your business or just a personal blog? Whatever your using your website for, your theme requirements should reflect this. My advice would be to create a list of requirements before selecting your theme as this will allow to you to make the best decision possible and get the best results.