In this post, I’m going to reveal a simple formula that will help you figure out which WordPress theme is best for your website.
Using this formula, you’ll be able to determine the true purpose of your site and how WordPress themes can support that purpose.
If you’re ready to find & deploy the perfect theme for your site, this post is for you!
Continue reading..
Finding The Right WordPress Theme
Before we start, let’s get straight to the point. This post contains a formula, not a list of the top 100 WordPress themes.
You don’t need a list of free WordPress themes or the best premium WordPress themes. A list puts the focus on design over function.
Design styles and trends change over time. It’s much more important that you have a formula that will stand the test of time.
For starters, finding out which WordPress theme is best requires you first answer a couple questions.
What is the purpose of your site?
Each website is different and serves a unique purpose, and it is the foundation of your brand design & identity.
Do you need to display products or a portfolio of your work? Is the focus on content marketing? Promoting a local business?
This leads to the obvious: what action(s) do you want your site’s visitors to take?
These answers will help you determine the kind of content & format your website needs to display.
How can a theme fulfill this purpose?
Your theme is the interface between your site’s purpose and its visitors.
Having the right theme provides the optimal layout & structure to those visitors, and gives them the right content and incentives to take the actions you want them to.
Focus on how your customers will use the site.
It does need to look great, but don’t overlook the user interface.
Which WordPress Theme Is Best?
Now that we know the purpose of our site (and how having the right WordPress theme can help us fulfill that purpose), we can get to the simple 4-Step Formula.
Answering these four questions will give you everything you need to find which WordPress theme is best for you.

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1. What are your technical skills?
If the answer is ‘none’, you’re probably better served by a blog post that will help you find a good web designer, or at least one that answers the question “Which WordPress theme is best for beginners?”.
If you do have basic design skills (or better), you’re ready for the second step.
2. What features do you need?
This step calls back to your site’s purpose. Most themes provide the same basic building blocks; templates for pages (home, about, blog, etc.), headers & footers, and so on.
Make a list of any ‘must haves’ so you can quickly eliminate themes that don’t provide these features. Which leads us to Step 3.
3. What other software do you need to integrate?
An online business is more than a website alone. There are several other key components needed to grow your business.
Most sites need a way to collect leads and integrate with an email marketing provider. They might even need an eCommerce platform integration.
You’ll want these pieces to all fit together seamlessly, without compromising your website's security.
4. What is your budget?
This last step is to determine the price you’re willing to pay for the perfect theme; forever free, a one-time payment, or an annual renewal.
Be cautious of free. If the developer isn’t making money, they probably won’t provide ongoing updates & improvements.
Look for a great developer with a proven track record.
My Solution
When I first started blogging, I wanted to find out which WordPress theme is best, and began my search.
I would see a nice looking site, plug it into the WordPress theme detector, and see what theme they were using.
But in all honesty, most of my software choices revolved around price; a free theme, free plugins.
I ended up creating a Frankenstein website with a whole host of different providers for the plugins and software I used.
Integrations were a nightmare. No sooner would I get everything working properly than a new WordPress update would come along and break something.
And over time, many of those software and plugin choices would stop getting updates, causing me to hunt for a replacement.
Nature laughs at the difficulties of integration.
It became clear to me that what I needed wasn’t the perfect WordPress theme, I needed an All-In-One Suite that would bring many of those elements under the same umbrella.
One development team that would help turn my WordPress site into a true online business.
Building A Custom Theme
I ended up choosing the team at Thrive Themes. Their flagship product, Thrive Suite, provided me with a Theme Builder, Lead Generation plugin, Online Courses & Membership Site, and more.
I was able to reduce the number of active plugins on my site from 26 down to 10, which greatly improved my loading times and reduced the headaches of integrating everything together.
And using their Theme Builder, I was able to build the perfect WordPress theme for my needs.
While I had thought I would find the best theme, I eventually realized that the best theme doesn’t exist. You need to create it.
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Final Thoughts
In closing, there is no perfect solution that will work for everyone. What there is, is a formula that can help everyone find their own perfect solution.
By getting clear on your needs, skills, and budget, you can sift through the many available options with ease; ending up with an exact fit for your business.
And, more often than not, the best themes are the ones you design yourself.
What about you?
How did you choose your WordPress theme?
Let us know in the comment section below..
+1 for building your own theme. It’s well worth the effort.
Indeed, Misa! Thanks for stopping by!
Reading your article has greatly helped me, my current site is a mess that I am starting to clean up now. My advice to everyone is to NOT try to cobble a site together with a bunch of free options that don’t mix very well together.
Quite right, Roger! That’s exactly how I started out too!
Wow, I used the theme detector in your post, and you actually are using Thrive Theme Builder! Many reviews I’ve read are pitching a product they don’t actually use!
Thanks Avery! I often find the same thing when reading other reviews. Not sure why they do it, because it’s usually pretty easy to find out whether or not they use the products they pitch..
I built mine with a page builder. I agree with your assessment that the best theme doesn’t exist, you have to design it yourself.
Exactly, Ravi! The up front work is time well spent!
I initially started with the free WordPress 2020 theme, then ended up having one built once I understood the look & features I needed.
That’s the right way to do it, Arnold! Start somewhere, then tailor it to your needs.