We have looked at different types of themes to power your WordPress site. We checked out what would be best for an ecommerce site, what would be best for posting a portfolio, or blogging, that sort of thing. So now it’s time to focus our attention on the most subjective subject of all: what are the best themes, period.
There is no way that such a list would not be colored out of personal preference, but we have tried to do our best, and while you will find themes that we have already discussed in previous articles, we thought we would keep them. interesting things also including a couple who have never been raised before. So stick to what we think are the best WordPress themes – at least for the start of 2021 …
Best WordPress Themes – at a Glance
- Astra
- Pro Authority
- Divi
- Inspired
- Ocean WP
Astra is a very popular WordPress theme. They recently celebrated their millionth active installation, which is no small feat. It’s designed to work with various page builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, and Gutenberg, and comes in both free and paid versions, but if you’re looking for ecommerce features, you need to get pro.
Some of the user-friendly features unique to the pro version include infinite scrolling for your products to load dynamically as the visitor scrolls the page, the Off-Canvas sidebar, a great place to incorporate filters and widgets to find this that your customer is looking for faster and easier, and multiple payment options, to customize the layout to suit you and your users’ needs, like two-step checkout or distraction-free checkout for example.
The customization options are pretty impressive, all without having to dig into the code; you can change the layout, typography, or even disable the title page and sidebar if you want. And best of all, Astra is touted as a fast responsive theme, which means it will load quickly to keep your visitors on your site.
Astra offers three different plans, starting with Astra Pro, currently for $ 47 per year (or $ 249 for a one-time fee), up to $ 249 per year for the Growth plan (or $ 699 for a one-time fee).
Authority Pro is a theme designed for businesses and anyone looking to build their branding online. It’s built around StudioPress’s Genesis framework, which is designers ‘tool for creating and customizing their themes, and works with WordPress’ Gutenberg editor.
Authority Pro is fully responsive from the start and can connect to ecommerce plugins – in fact, it’s pre-configured for WooCommerce. One feature that we liked and didn’t see enough of is its compatibility with accessibility options.
The Genesis Frame is included in the price of this theme, which you can get for a one-time fee of $ 129.95. This includes support for one year.
Elegant Themes includes Divi in its all-in-one plan for $ 89 per year (or $ 249 for a one-time purchase). Part of the package is Divi Builder, is a WYSIWYG tool, which allows you to see your site as it ends up looking, while you customize it. You can choose from template pages, select your favorite layout, drag and drop elements, change colors, fonts, and more.
Editing elements is done using handy sliders, and everything is very simple. You can apply effects like sepia to an image, change its color balance, opacity, blend more, even control blur, all from within the theme, all on the fly. There are many features in Divi, such as shape dividers, 3D transformation tools, the ability to customize hover states, etc. All of this makes Divi look more like an artistic program than a website builder. The upside here is that you can make a website look modern, while still being a lot of fun to use.
Inspiro focuses on video and photography. It supports full screen slideshows that can include self-hosted or uploaded videos to YouTube or Vimeo, for example. This theme also includes a Gallery module to help you create portfolios of your videos and photographs, and is fully responsive so that your site looks great no matter what device it is being viewed on.
As you might expect, you can fully customize every aspect of Inspiro to turn your site into something truly unique to you. This is done through the Theme Options panel and the built-in page builder. And if you want to make a living from your photography, Inspiro is fully compatible with WooCommerce, one of the best WordPress ecommerce plugins out there.
You can get Inspiro for $ 79 per year, which includes a year of updates and support. If you’d rather avoid paying for a subscription, you can own it forever for $ 179 – which also includes unlimited updates and support.
OceanWP is a blog theme that advertises itself as free, and sort of. The basic functionality is. It is a very popular WordPress theme, having been downloaded over 3.6 million times. It’s fully responsive, retina ready, and isn’t just for blogging – it’s currently boosting its e-commerce capabilities, for example.
One of the advantages of OceanWP is the number of demos available – select the one you want to apply on your site with a few clicks… except there is one catch: the vast majority of them are not free. You’ll find the odd free demo, and all of the ones we’ve seen are very well done, but if you fancy a “pro” demo you’ll need to hand out some cash.
Prices start at $ 27 per year for a single site and come with 12 premium expansions and 109 pro demos. If you work at multiple sites, you can choose Business for 3 ($ 47 per year) or Agency for 25 ($ 77 per year). There’s also a one-time lifetime price if you hate the $ 111, $ 191, and $ 311 subscriptions respectively.
What is a WordPress theme and how does it affect ads?
Choosing the right WordPress theme for your website is more than just going for a minimalist and eye-catching design. To be successful online, you need to have a little more insight. Stephen Marsi, co-founder of Mediavine, shares some thoughts on what it takes to earn online.
Advertising is always a delicate balance. What generates the most revenue and what provides the best user experience? Can these competing factions coexist?
A lot of things factor into this question, including WordPress theme frameworks. Hundreds of thousands of sites use them to customize the functionality and appearance for almost any need, and they can have a significant impact on ad performance as well.
To set up a theme framework, publishers must purchase or download one for free. There are many options and pricing plans for additional features and options.
Not all WordPress sites need a framework – basic sites with a single landing page likely won’t need the customization options they offer – but a lot depends on flexibility and option. that they offer. So what does this have to do with monetization?
For digital content creators, running the best performing ads on WordPress websites, while staying in search engines that send valuable organic traffic, requires the right technology, the right tools, and the right techniques – a combination that not all theme frames provide.
It is essential that WordPress frameworks reflect current Google best practices, including Core Web Vitals standards, Progressive Web Application (PWA) standards, Lighthouse guidelines and more.
In other words, it is extremely important that any website loads quickly and seamlessly. Page speed isn’t the most important thing, it’s the only thing. It is crucial to be aware of the importance of fast loading pages and the drawbacks inherent in some frameworks.
(ed: It also means that choosing the right WordPress hosting service is also important)
Solutions like the open source WordPress theme framework, Trellis, are built with modern web technologies and designed for site speed and revenue optimization. 100 Perfect Score goals on desktop and mobile on PageSpeed Insights and Lighthouse – the tool that powers that information – are built into the core development process.
Return to our point of origin; Google and most gamers see user experience as the cornerstone of overall website growth and sustainability. If anything is blocking your site – plugins, jitters, changing content, ads, all of the above – it’s not high quality UX. Which, in turn, hurts your SEO, your traffic, and your ability to monetize that traffic. Everything is interconnected.
Choosing the best WordPress theme framework is essential for content, SEO, and ads to coexist productively. This means a framework that works well with WordPress (the most popular CMS) and focuses on Google best practices.
