If you’ve started looking for themes for your business site, you will understand that there are literally hundreds of thousands of possibilities out there for you to utilize. However, with so much choice around, how do you know which best is for you and your business? Again, there are plenty of themes around which will fulfill your criteria upon first sight, but there are a few necessary questions you may want to ask yourself before leaping.

What is a Theme?

For many people crafting their business from scratch, this will be the first time they have ever engaged with WordPress, let alone considered what a ‘theme’ is. A theme is what makes your site look the way it does. By applying different themes, you can change the entire layout, color patterns, and overall aesthetic in just minutes.

The most important thing to remember is when it comes to picking a WordPress theme; you have two options, ‘free’ or ‘premium’ themes. As a business owner, you want to pick a premium theme. Of course, this costs money – but it is worth it. A premium theme is an investment; there are teams of people dedicated to keeping it up to date, bug-free, security-safe, and web tight. The last thing you want to happen is for your site to be hacked. Remember…no site, no online presence, no income. Avoid this by investing in a premium theme. On top of everything else, their design and aesthetic appeal are often far superior to free theme choices.

Choosing the right theme

There is so much advice that can be found online concerning choosing the right theme for your business; this can be confusing when trying to choose something which will work for your specific business brand.

Since you will be investing in a premium theme, you don’t want to waste your strict business budget by choosing a theme that doesn’t actually suit your needs. Product photography, product development, marketing, and branding will demand your budget so it is imperative to avoid website redesigns in the early stages and get it the right the first time. Sometimes, it can feel a little overwhelming with so much choice, but there is one thing to remember – your site should be individual and a complete reflection of you and your business. Please read up on the advice given by online business coaches and bloggers, but what may work for their business may not work for yours.

What is your business?

Businesses require different needs from a website. For example, some businesses set up a website purely as a first base for customers, where they can read about the company and what it offers, and maybe view a gallery of past work or projects. Other businesses are based purely online and sell various products online and will generally require a lot more from a website.

Make sure you understand exactly what it is you are seeking. A basic portfolio website is easy to cater to. However, a demanding e-commerce business requiring strong product pages, video, 360-degree photography, and social media links must be built within a theme which enables these plugins.

Consider CRO

Conversion rate optimization basically refers to the experience visitors gain when on a particular website. The goal is to transform these visitors into actual paying customers. Different design layouts can dramatically affect a customer’s decision whether they will spend their money with you or not.

You must make sure the theme you are investing in will connect with your customers, allow them to see your products in the best light possible, and most of all, you MUST create a sense of trust and security, so customers feel you are a genuine company. Conversion Rate Optimisation itself is big business, and CRO consultants can significantly boost business profits. So as you are starting, make sure your theme ticks the boxes before investing to save you future CRO consultancy fees.

Here are a few good questions to ask when it comes to choosing a theme:

• Does your theme come from a credible developer? Make sure your premium theme comes with solid web support, for you will probably be constantly utilizing it when it comes to maintaining your site. A credible developer who has a track record for creating and distributing themes will offer good web support. If you are unsure, do a quick Google search to bring up a wealth of information & reviews regarding the developer.
  
• What is your price range? You get what you pay for; the more expensive a theme, usually the better it is. However, you can get pretty decent themes for around sixty pounds. However, don’t be conned with a very expensive theme that does little; always research the one you are about to purchase. Check annual renewing fees also.
  
• SEO options? The very best themes have inbuilt SEO tools which help your website stand out in search engines. Look at themes that offer this as standard.
  
• Responsive theme? We live in an age where people access the internet in many different ways, whether on their smartphones, tablets, or laptops. Responsive themes adapt to such platforms.
  

As you can see, there are a few things to think about when choosing a WordPress theme. First, don’t rush your design decision; your website needs to convey the correct message to your visitors and match your brand feel. Do your research and pick the right theme for you and your business. There are plenty of reviews that can be found online relating to each theme; make sure you assess what is being said about particular themes you are considering, and if you still feel unsure, you could always contact other businesses which use the particular theme to ask them how user friendly it is, or if there are any problems they have encountered.

Find over 10,000 premium themes here.

About the author: Hannah works for VoucherCloud, and has recently worked on their website redesign and launch. Vouchercloud offers voucher codes for their customers, such as Debenhams discounts and Travelodge offers where customers can save from top brands. Many planning, consultancy, and time have gone into their new website. However, Hannah began working with smaller brands, so she understands how important it is to get design right when on an unforgiving business budget.

As seen in the current theme, I am using jQuery to animate the show/hide or as known as the css style display: none;.

Since I am using a custom child theme on my site, and have Hybrid theme as my parent, the widgets or sidebar section is different than may be in your theme. But just apply the the style’s as follows to your theme.

First make sure that your WordPress site is calling jQuery, by plugging in this code into your header.php file above the <?php wp_head(); ?> text:

<?php wp_enqueue_script('jquery'); ?>

Then anywhere above the </head >, plug this code in:

<script type="text/javascript">
function toggleWidgets() {
	$('#primary h3.widget-title').addClass('plus');

	$('#primary h3.widget-title').click(function() {
		$(this).toggleClass('plus').toggleClass('minus').next().toggle(180);
	});

}
$(document).ready(function() {
	toggleWidgets();
}
</script>

That’s it. Pretty simple huh.

So lets go over what the code does.

$('#primary h3.widget-title').addClass('plus');

This line finds all <h3> tags with the class widget-title inside the ID parameter of #primary and adds a class of plus.

Then

$('#primary h3.widget-title').click(function() {
		$(this).toggleClass('plus').toggleClass('minus').next().toggle(180);
	});

Will apply a click function. When the H3 tag is clicked it will remove the class plus and add the class minus.

Then the code that says .next will then toggle the “next” element after the <h3> title.

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