WordPress Themes – A Beginner’s Guide

Posted by Maeve, 15 Sep, 2012 | No Comments »

When it comes to grabbing the attention of a visitor, visual appeal is your number one tactic. With WordPress, this is acomplished by using Themes.

A WordPress developer works with different themes to create the perfect appearance for a blog or website. If you are planning on launching your own WordPress website, here are a few guidelines on choosing a good theme.

Types of Themes

Most WordPress themes fall into one of three categories and which one you choose depends on the specific requirements you have for your site.

• Free themes are available in various places on the internet. All you need to do is download and install one you like  and you are ready to get blogging. The benefit is obvious – Free! The downside is that often free WordPress themes are quite limited in terms of their design and functionality.
• Premium themes are those for which you need to pay, with the cost ranging anywhere from around $30, to a few hundred dollars. Premium themes often allow you to customize certain features (like you might add your own logo, header image and choose from a selection of background textures).
• Custom themes are designed from scratch by a designer, and are unique to your website alone.

Which Type to Choose?

When deciding the type of theme you want it is best to identify what is most important to you. Themes of the free and premium variety are easy to set up but that means a lot of people in your niche are going to be using them too. Also design and functionality are mostly very general (in order to be suitable for a wide range of users) which means it can look a bit bland or generic.

If you want to stand out from the crowd, it makes sense to spend a little more money and go with a custom theme. You may not have the time or the ability to do the designing yourself. The solution – speak to a WordPress developer with experience in creating professional-looking custom designed WordPress websites.