There are so many different WordPress themes out there it is difficult to tell which one you should use. Should you use the 3 column fixed or the 3 column fluid, the right sidebar or the left sidebar. There are so many variables it becomes very difficult for anyone to decide and still keep a clear head.
First let’s take a look at some of the basic variables associated with the templates:
2 columns, 3 columns, 4 columns – This just refers to the number of columns in the template.
Fixed width – This refers to a set size. The template will not grow or shrink; it will stay at a fixed size. Usually this is a good choice for those whose demographic include smaller monitors such as office workers on a network etc.
Fluid Width – This refers to the fluidity of the site. The site will grow or shrink based on the size of the browser. This makes the content grow or expand when needed.
Widget Ready – This refers to the sidebar being able to easily have widgets customized within them. It is a very good feature to have.
Plugins Required – This usually means that there are extra installations that are required prior to the template functioning properly.
Left Sidebar – The left sidebar places the default sidebar stuff on the left. That’s pretty self explanatory.
Right Sidebar – The sidebar is placed on the right side of the content. This is the same as Left Sidebar only on the right side.
Colors – There are also a selection of colors that could be available to you. This usually means that a good percentage of the site itself has that color in it. This is good for selecting themes that requires a certain look and feel to it.
When choosing your WordPress theme you want to make sure that you take into consideration the purpose for your blog. If your blog is simply something that you want to express yourself with and be creative with, you can select any color, size, column number or shape that you want because you really just want to do it for you or to show off to your friends.
If your plans for the blog are a bit more financially based, meaning that you would like to earn money from you will have to make sure that your template chosen is user friendly. This means you want your users to stay for longer periods of time. This usually helps increase the revenue generated.
If in fact you are attempting to monetize your blog you should steer clear of darker colored backgrounds as they are very difficult to read. A few minutes of staring at a dark background light font will have you clicking away from the site very quickly. You don’t want to lose traffic like that.
Take your demographic into account. Who are you targeting? If you are targeting real estate crowd, you will want something trendy, and you will need professional real estate plugins to optimize your site and to make it look highly professional. You can achieve this with IDX plugins as you can see from https://www.themadeinamericamovement.com/idx-report-and-reviews/. If your crowd is a bit more professional you should go with something a bit cleaner, say a white background 3 column fixed width template.
Choosing the right template is easy. The hard part is making money off of it!