In the previous posts we talked about how to make money blogging and how to start a new blog, so now that you’ve decided to launch your own blog, I want to share with you the 3 best WordPress themes you can use for your blog.
How to find the best WordPress themes
As a Web Designer, I use a lot of different themes so I get to know all their functionalities and look. My advice, especially when starting up is to KEEP IT SIMPLE, for two reasons: If you are a beginner you want something easy to use and you don’t want to waste time to understand how something works as you don’t have time to focus on that. Second, you want your readers to have a nice and smooth experience while reading your blog! It must be easy for them to navigate through your posts and pages.
Obviously, there are free and paid themes to choose from when you start out. Some of the free themes are great and offer a lot of features, but most of the paid themes offer “a bit more”, in terms of personalisation and widget. That’s why sometimes it worth paying for one but having exactly what you’re looking for.
The following themes are the best 5 WordPress theme that I have personally tried for websites or they’ve been shortlisted in previous projects I’ve been working on.
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GENESIS FRAMEWORK by StudioPress
Genesis Frameworkis absolutely one of my favourite theme so far. It has a very clean design and everything important you need to show in a blog.
To be honest, the day I will change the theme of my website, I will definitely go for this one.
Easy to navigate, with a social icons and search widget on the sidebar, Genesis Framework is very easy to set up and running. Fully customisable header for giving you the possibility of using your own designed logo or a text-based one.
It is also fully responsive, meaning it will be perfectly optimised for every browser, device and screen size.
The theme also integrates webshop pages to use if you are selling your own products/services.
LAVANDER by JustFreeThemes
Lavander is a very simple and clean design free theme, great if you are starting your first blog.
It has all basic features you would need in a blog like an easy to navigate menu, customisable header, homepage side bar with social icons and about me widget.
It was shortlisted for the theme of this website but in my case I needed something with more functions. But if you’re not looking for too many “fancy” features this theme does its job brilliantly.
VINYL by Hipster Theme
Vinyl couldn’t be one of my favourite, of course, as it’s the one I’ve chosen for my website.
Easy to navigate and beautiful design are the winning points of this theme. I love the round shape picture in the about me widget and the round social icons are just the cherry on the top! It gives harmony and style, while keeping it simple.
I also really like the fact that the menu remains at the top, so it makes it easy to navigate into the blog posts.
It comes with its own Instagram widget to use in the sidebar which is a great feature so you don’t have to download third party plugins.
It also offers shortcodes to use in your post to choose the layout that you prefer, like dropcap
[dropcap]L[/dropcap]orem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla quis massa non sem mollis pulvinar id pretium tortor.
a 6 columns text
[row-start]
[one-sixth]Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla quis massa non sem mollis pulvinar id pretium tortor.[/one-sixth]
[one-sixth]Vivamus tempor mattis lectus sit amet tempor. Fusce tempor ultrices justo ut consequat. Vivamus pulvinar nisl a nibh porttitor laoreet.[/one-sixth]
[one-sixth]Praesent suscipit elit mauris, in ultrices orci commodo sed. Mauris eget risus ac nisl ultricies ornare non et odio.[/one-sixth]
[one-sixth]Cras elit enim, bibendum ut posuere nec, placerat nec risus. Aenean sem dolor, tincidunt at arcu eu, imperdiet tempus lacus.[/one-sixth]
[one-sixth]Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Fusce eu accumsan neque.[/one-sixth]
[one-sixth]Vestibulum lobortis eget purus convallis posuere. Quisque egestas diam quis justo dictum tempus. Maecenas ac dolor eget leo imperdiet lobortis eget vel ex. Duis varius sollicitudin tortor ut finibus.[/one-sixth]
[row-end]
or even choose different column size
[row-start]
[one-fourth]Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla quis massa non sem mollis pulvinar id pretium tortor.[/one-fourth]
[three-fourths]Vivamus tempor mattis lectus sit amet tempor. Fusce tempor ultrices justo ut consequat. Vivamus pulvinar nisl a nibh porttitor laoreet.[/three-fourths]
[row-end]
In conclusion
In my experience you don’t absolutely need a paid theme for starting a blog, but it definitely helps setting your blog up how you’d like to with the features you need to make it work.
As I said, I decided to go for a paid one because it was the one with all the features I needed, and when it will come the point where I will need more for my website I will be happy to upgrade to a “more expensive” theme.
Most of theme offer a Live Demo so you can have a look on how it would look like for real once it’s live, so I definitely advice you to have a try with it.
Let me know if you have other themes that you particularly love and why or if you already own one of these by leaving a comment below.
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What great blog themes. I’m actually going to go and have a look at them now. Thanks so much for sharing , was I have been wanting to change my theme for ages.
Yeah, give it a go and let me know how it goes!