If content is the meat of your website, think of WordPress Themes as the bread

This is part of a series of posts to provide an overview for business owners who want to understand about WordPress, and whether WordPress is right for their business needs. As we discussed in Part 1, a WordPress Theme allows you to change to look of your website quickly and easily without requiring you to re-input your content from scratch to do it.  Like changing the bread of a sandwich from Pita to Russian Dark bread, the visual and content experience of a site user can change dramatically by simply switching a site’s WordPress Theme. The content remains the same, but the presentation of your website can change.

The WordPress Codex describes a WordPress Theme as “a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog. These files are called template files. A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software.”

In the early days of WordPress, most WordPress Themes were designed around the idea of WordPress sites that supported blogs as the core content of a site. As developers experimented and created new Themes, the range of how Themes available today has exploded.  Today, there are over 22,000 WordPress Themes available, and more being added every day. There are Themes that support photo or image portfolios, give the look of a magazine, can be used for a retailer’s e-commerce site, or offer the look of a corporate ‘brochure’ site. There are even Themes specifically designed for professions like veterinarians, dentists, doctors or lawyers, or specific lines of business like realtors, beauty salons. In addition, there are even Themes to support fundraising events and non-profit organizations. So an organization doesn’t need to suffer the cost of a ‘built-from-scratch’ website to have an effective online presence.

Bonus: A responsive WordPress Theme is not simply hip. It makes for good business.

Many of the newest Themes can also provide your website with responsive design. Responsive design adapts to different browser sizes and devices.  When your site has responsive design, it looks better and is easier to navigate on a tablet or mobile device, without the need a separate mobile site.  The content is automatically resized and rearranged to fit smaller screens. According to the Pew Research Internet Project, 63% of adult cell owners use their phones to go online. In addition, Nielsen Research’s Digital Consumer Report found that four in five smartphone and tablet users report using a mobile device for shopping activities.  For the vast majority of large and small businesses, from restaurants to service providers who rely on inbound leads from people searching the Web, this is an important need that can’t be ignored. 

Much more at stake than just looks.

At the core of any good decision about a WordPress Theme are two important needs:  a great visitor experience and business goals. I remind clients that their site theme needs to be engaging, reflect their brand, accommodate their Web-content needs, be extendable and easy to live with.

An engaging site is interesting to the visitor, is easy to navigate and feels appropriate to them. For example, a site for an insurance broker needs to look very different and have different features than a site for a local surf shop or locksmith.  The features each site needs must be well-supported by the Theme, and the content for a retailer might require showing product with galleries or e-commerce components, while a service provider may need to highlight case studies, offer downloadable lead-generating whitepapers or information offers, or list customer testimonials or ratings from places like Yelp or other social media.

A Theme is only as good as two things: how much flexibility it offers, and how well it is supported. Notice I didn’t say anything about the design of the Theme?  That is because in the right hands, an appropriate-to-content them can be modified cosmetically within the overall Theme design.  Themes that are well-designed/developed and well-supported are critical, because without good support, customization of the Theme becomes limited.

Today, the focus was on the role a WordPress Theme has in your business WordPress Web site. I compared it to the bread on a sandwich, but as you might imagine, there’s a lot more to it when you go deep into details.  But if all you remember is that like well-crafted bread on a sandwich, a WordPress Theme sets the flavor, texture and tone throughout the user experience.  In my next installment, I’ll share more about WordPress Plugins and Widgets, and how important these ‘trimmings’ are to a truly finished Website.

Like this post?  Read more: WordPress for businsess Part 3

That’s my take on this. To learn more, sign up for my email newsletter.