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WordPress has cemented its presence in 2021 by powering almost 40% of websites. With Covid-19 wreaking havoc for over a year and layoffs being a severe cause for concern, it’s hardly surprising that the creator economy is booming. Blogging has become mainstream and has evolved into a veritable income source for many from being just an online diary.
Blogging is essential in any content strategy. With Google and YouTube offering a better chance at receiving traffic than Facebook and Instagram, getting your blog up and running the right way in 2021 is significant. First impressions always count; having a suitable template for your blog is non-negotiable.
There are plenty of resources out there that offer great content on all things related to WordPress. This article is about getting you started on your blogging journey. We help you choose a suitable WordPress blog template while keeping it simple. With that in mind, remember that opting for a great design that offers a user experience par excellence is mandatory.
What Type Of Themes Are There?
With thousands of WordPress website templates available, it is challenging to pick a suitable template. There are three types of WordPress templates or themes to get you started. In addition to controlling your blog or website’s look, WordPress themes also play a critical role in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but that is a conversation for another day.
There are three types of WordPress themes that you should consider:
- Free
- Premium
- Custom
Free
Caption: Sydney is a Free WordPress template found on aThemes
The easiest way to find many free WordPress themes would be to visit the WordPress.org themes directory. The fantastic thing about free themes is that they’re 100% free. WordPress themes can significantly impact site performance, SEO, look and feel, and a blog’s extensibility. Given this, it would be prudent to pick the best-looking theme and read about it, research it, and read all the reviews. Conduct diligent research to ensure the theme isn’t just aesthetically pleasing. It should perform well and be optimized for SEO. Ignoring this essential checklist can hurt your blog.
Premium
Caption: Food Blogger is a Premium WordPress theme on templatic
Premium themes are very high-quality WordPress themes developed by small or large companies. In most cases, you have to pay for them. It would be safe to state that premium themes generally range between $50 – $100. The cost can be worth it since premium themes offer the following benefits. High-quality code optimized for SEO is current concerning web standards, optimized, and performance-focused. Have flexible customization and receive full support. Anyone well-versed in PHP and HTML can create a WordPress theme and make it available. However, some people know what they’re doing, while others don’t. Poorly written themes can hurt your site’s performance because it won’t be responsive for one. It can negatively impact your SEO efforts.
Custom
Caption: Salbi is a custom WordPress theme
Custom WordPress themes can be the way to go if you want to give your site a sophisticated and original look. They are often required for e-commerce stores and other unique types of websites. Custom WordPress themes are explicitly developed by web designers and developers, offering flexibility and various options. On the downside, though, custom themes can be costly. They usually run into the $500 – $3,000 bracket depending on how sophisticated they are and how skilled the designer is. The more custom graphics they have, the more expensive they tend to be. Another option to get the look and feel of a custom theme is to customize a premium theme. It can be done at a lower cost.
Where Do I Find A Theme?
When choosing a great template, remember you aren’t spoilt for choice because there are many options out there that you can tap into. We look at three great options you should undoubtedly shortlist when choosing a theme for your blog.
WordPress
You can quickly get plenty of great-looking themes on WordPress itself. WordPress is significant simply because it’s a one-stop shop for all your blogging needs—somewhat reminiscent of a plug-and-play facility. If you’re starting, you can download many WordPress themes for free on the WordPress Theme Directory.
Envato
Plenty of excellent resources can offer a great list of templates for WordPress; Envato is undoubtedly an option you should consider since the focus is to make your blog stand out. If you still need to learn, ThemeForest is a great and vast marketplace of pre-made themes for sale for WordPress and various CMS platforms and HTML websites. ThemeForest is owned by Envato, which has several different websites under its brand, like CodeCanyon and AudioJungle, to name two. They are, without a doubt, an influential leader in this marketplace. Those who typically purchase themes from them are advised to thoroughly check the template they want to download to ensure they don’t require half a dozen post-installation plugins to function.
WordPress.org
It’s a no-brainer that WordPress.org is an excellent place to find WordPress themes, so let’s talk about this first. Most WordPress theme searches start right at the source, the WordPress.org theme directory. This marketplace is still growing, boasting well over 5000+ themes and used by millions of WordPress users worldwide. It is a marketplace with exceptional free and premium themes for all types of websites. WordPress uses extreme care when they review each theme submission, and that alone is one significant reason you should consider choosing a theme from here. Simply put, this particular market has strict guidelines that themes need to adhere to, meaning a product found here will be of quality.
The list highlights the various resources for choosing a WordPress blog template you like. However, the above three options are a great starting point when choosing a theme for your WordPress blog.
Parting Thoughts: Choose Minimalism
Throughout the history of design, you will realize that minimalism is an art form per se. Minimalism has been a philosophy that has made giants like Apple truly stand out and carve a vast audience for themselves. When starting or with a template for your blog, choose a minimalist design that is easy on the eye.
Consider understanding and embracing modern web design principles, which state that less is more and that the barest elements are aesthetically pleasing enough for a design to function. Clutter should be anathema, and this should be the guiding principle when creating your blog.
As shown throughout this blog post, WordPress offers some great free templates to help you power your blogging journey well past 2021.
Whatever theme you use, remember that a great theme and a combination of relevant plugins can lead to great success in having a suitable WordPress blog template. Choose an analytics plugin like MonsterInsight, an SEO plugin like Yoast or RankMath, and a WordPress commenting plugin to make your blog stand out.
Have you got any questions or queries? Let’s keep this conversation going in the comments below.