The most famous plugin for creating an online store based on WordPress is WooCommerce. However, it is not enough to install the appropriate plugin to launch your online store because you also need to focus on design to attract more customers. In this article, we will discuss how not to get confused in the variety of themes and choose the appropriate option for your business.
How to select the right theme?
When selecting the WordPress themes for business, there are no good or bad ones. That’s not how it works. There is no strict division into good and bad, beautiful and ugly. Some solve your problems, and there are also those that you have nothing in common with. Before you start choosing the WP theme, we recommend performing the preliminary preparation:
- Get inspired by the design of existing online stores. Pay attention to how the sections, menus, and buttons are located, whether it is convenient for you to choose products, and find additional information (about a delivery, payment, etc.). So, it will be easier for you to think over the “structure” of your future site.
- Think about the elements that should be on the pages of your site, where the main menu will be located, which sections will be in the header, and which in the footer, etc.
- Sketch out the approximate structure of your online store on paper so that later when viewing the themes you do not forget about important interface elements.
When you already have some idea of what your site will look like, you can start selecting a theme for your WordPress online store. Let’s look at a few criteria that you should pay attention to.
Select the appropriate structure
In most themes, you can easily change the background and section titles, as well as remove or replace images. Redesigning the site structure will be more difficult. But you should understand that working with a ready-made theme is much easier than choosing colors yourself and redoing everything in general. Themes are created just to simplify the work on the design of the site. When choosing a theme, check if it is easy to navigate, look at how content blocks, buttons, and other elements are laid out, and only then evaluate its visual appeal.
Check the adaptability
The site should be easy to view on any device, regardless of screen size. If the theme does not support adaptability, the site will be correctly displayed on the computer, and only part of the site page may fit on the phone screen, or the text will become unreadable. Then, to consider something or click on a button, you will need to increase the area with the desired element. Responsive themes can be both paid and free. According to statistics, more than 30% of all online transactions are carried out from mobile devices, so it is important to provide easy and convenient navigation in your store from a smartphone, as well as other devices with different screen sizes.
Multilingual support
If you are ready to conquer the international market or have such plans, you can choose a theme with multi-language support. You can implement multilingualism in several ways, for example, using plugins. However, you can also solve this problem by installing a multilingual theme.
SEO friendliness
It is worth starting work on website promotion in search engines by picking an SEO-friendly theme. As in the case of multilingualism, this task can be solved with the help of special plugins, but the theme itself should not limit search engine optimization options. How do you know if a theme is SEO friendly? Usually, this is stated in its description (for example, “SEO friendly” or “optimized for search engines”).
In conclusion
On the theme page, you can often see a demo version of it: this allows you to evaluate the basic features and design of the theme before you install it. The number of downloads and user reviews can also help you decide. Also, you can check the date of the last modification. Any software product, including a CMS theme, requires timely updates. If it has not been updated for several years, the developer probably no longer supports it and does not correct errors.
