WordPress is a great platform for building an ecommerce website. But when it comes to choosing which wordpress theme to use, the choice can be difficult.
There are many themes available and they all seem like a perfect fit!
In this blog post I will go over 12 steps that will help you choose the best wordpress theme for your needs and get started on building your new ecommerce website in no time!
Table of Contents
12 Steps To Pick The Best Ecommerce WordPress Theme
Theme Speed
Theme should be lightweight. A good way to determine this is by looking at the number of page views per minute it can handle.
If you have a lot of products on your website, then heavier themes might not work well because they will slow down your website and cause customers to leave.
You want them to stay long enough so that they buy something!
Theme security
Another thing that is very important for ecommerce websites is security.
Make sure you look into the security features of each theme before settling on it as your choice.
You don’t want hackers to be able to access sensitive information like customer’s credit card details and other personal data, do you?
The best way to find this out is by contacting the developer directly and asking if there are any known threats or issues with their themes.
Even better would be a third party review of how secure the codebase actually is!
There are many things that can go wrong when using an unsecure wordpress theme so take caution here!
It might seem easier just not to worry about them but trust me its best practice especially in our day and age where cybercriminals are becoming more and more advanced.
Many themes like Avada, Ultimatum or Divi provide one click installation of SSL certificates which is great if you don’t know what that means – it basically ensures your customers data remains secure!
Paid v. Free Theme
The best theme for you might be a free one and that is perfectly fine! There are many great themes out there that cost nothing.
However, if we look at the best selling wordpress themes of all time then we will notice an interesting trend – most of them do come with a price tag.
That’s because they have been developed over years to become very versatile and capable of powering large scale websites like Forbes or The New York Times .
If you want your ecommerce website to also grow big in size (in case it ever does) then having paid premium theme might actually save money on hiring developers later down the line!
Do not underestimate this point as its often overlooked when building smaller projects.
At this moment I would recommend Avada, Ultimatum or Divi ecommerce wordpress themes.
Theme Ecommerce Features
You might have noticed that best selling wordpress themes are also best known for being ecommerce ready.
If you want to sell products online then its best to look into this beforehand so that the theme can handle all of your functionalities properly!
For example, many themes come with built in features like discount codes or coupons which are great if you’re running an affiliate website where users need these offers and incentives to actually purchase something!
Other things include shopping carts, single product pages (with built in buy now buttons), email marketing integrations etc.
Make sure your chosen theme has all of those necessary functions before making a final decision on it because otherwise it will be very difficult later down the line when they decide not to work anymore after an update.
Remember that best selling themes do not only provide the most popular features but they also work on all devices and are highly customizable to your needs!
Developer Updates
Finally, best ecommerce wordpress themes should have a strong dev team.
This is especially important for non-techies who will need help from time to time when issues arise with the website or theme functionality.
For example, if you bought a premium theme and it does not work properly on your site then its best to contact their support first rather than just installing another one!
There might be something that can be fixed relatively easy by editing some code but without developer knowledge this becomes impossible to do so don’t think about going down that route once you’ve paid for anything because your money won’t go very far at all in such cases.
A good way of knowing how reliable the dev team actually is – up recent updates they made and when was the last time they updated their documentation.
WordPress themes should be able to provide all of this information in a matter of seconds (for free) so if something like that is missing then think twice before purchasing it!
Theme Appearance
You might have noticed that best ecommerce wordpress themes are also best known for their design.
Clean and modern designs with bright color schemes, large images etc. help to retain visitors on your website which is especially important if you’re running a blog!
I would recommend looking into best selling themes like GeneratePress or Neve because they come packed with features but also allow extensive customizations of the appearance without much coding knowledge required at all!
If you do not want to make any changes then just choose one of the available premade layouts – there are hundreds available so its best to find something close to what you envisioned in advance
Theme Plugins
It’s best to look into this before making a purchase because if they will work together smoothly then you can install all of your desired apps and functionalities without worrying about compatibility issues later on.
For example, WooCommerce works great for selling products online so it would be best to check whether the theme allows such plugin installation or vice versa! This way you’ll know that nothing bad happens in case you decide to switch them at one point .
Theme SEO
SEO is a very important factor of any website so this needs to be taken into consideration before making an actual purchase because if the theme doesn’t come with best practices built in then you’ll need to hire someone else get things done properly .
For example, it’s best to look at key elements such as image descriptions and meta titles/descriptions which are all crucial when trying to rank higher on search engines!
Try checking whether your chosen theme already has those in place or try contacting their support team directly via email – most developers have great reputations online and will help out customers in a matter of seconds without charging them anything upfront.
Theme Cuztomization and Builder
The best ecommerce wordpress themes should also come with best WordPress plugins for customization – sometimes you might want to make an adjustment of your own and this is where a custom builder comes in handy!
For example, best ecommerce WordPress themes have the option of going into advanced mode which allows users to switch between different sections within posts or pages without changing their position.
This way you can create entire non-static websites that are more interactive than ever before so don’t think twice about looking into best selling themese because they will not let you down when it matters most !
Theme User Experience
The ecommerce wordpress themes are also best known for their user experience which means that you won’t have to worry about managing your website with ease.
For example, ecommerce WordPress theme should come with an easy-to-use interface where everything is clearly labeled and self explanatory so you can start editing things in seconds rather than days!
A good developer knows his audience well enough to know what’s needed before even being asked so try looking into this feature when making a decision because it might be the difference between getting stuck on something or not having problems at all .
Theme Marketing Tools
Another best selling WordPress theme advantage is that they come with built-in marketing tools.
For example, ecommerce wordpress themes have a lot of functionality to offer but you need to know where to look first! If your chosen bestseller has an email capture feature then it will be easy enough for visitors to sign up and receive updates whenever something new posts goes live on the website so this needs to be taken into consideration as well .
This way newsletters can double or even triple conversions which is why best WP plugins are worth investing in from day one!
Ecommerce Automation
Theme should have functionality of automation, such as when you receive an order, it should send confirmation emails, follow-up emails.
Conclusion
I recommend going with a simple layout that is easy on the eye and incorporates some unique fonts. Fonts are important because they affect how visitors will view your site and can even increase conversion rates – it’s best to use typefaces that match your niche, for example if you’ve made an Italian ice cream shop then you would want a script font or something similar. I always recommend Woocommerce Paid Theme for my clients who are looking for an eCommerce website, they have lots of great features like online store management tools etc. There’s also WordPress theme which is free to download allowing anyone with minimal web skills the ability to build their own site.
