Your website theme is just about the first piece of brand identity your website visitors will interact with. You want to get it right while also making sure that it aligns with your goal of making a responsive website.
A theme is a collection of files that control the overall look of contents on your site. Without a theme, it would be impossible to have a great user experience on any website. Contents will appear too plain and altogether boring.
Are you thinking your website needs a new look in 2021? Do not fret. Being on this page at this time might just help you avoid a potential cul-de-sac. It can be frustrating having to install and then uninstall numerous themes in a bid to find just the right one.
3 Things to Consider During Website Theme Search
There are thousands of theme options for websites out there but how do you know which will serve your website needs? In choosing your website theme, there are 3 key things you must consider during your search. They include:
- Features and Functionalities
- Theme Reviews
- Developer Support
1. Features and Functionalities
Before you can determine which theme is best for you, you must first identify your website niche. And also identify what features and functionalities are needed for your website.
For example, an eCommerce website will need to be adapted for WooCommerce, a blog website wouldn’t.
It’s only after you have identified your niche, features and functionalities needed, only then should you go in search of themes with the needed features and functionalities.
2. Theme Reviews
Hardly would you find any theme without user reviews online. Third party user reviews is a great way to learn more about the features and functionalities that your ideal theme has to offer. It will also give you insights to what custom designs you need to make and if there are any benefits or lack thereof of using a particular theme.
3. Developer Support
Most themes out there with great user reviews provide free developer support to users. While premium themes will generally offer developer support when you use one but what happens when you use free themes? Not all free themes come with developer support but some do.
In choosing the best free website theme for your website, you should consider whether or not developer support is a part of the package. You will feel so confident knowing you can get prompt help when you encounter any difficulty while setting up or after you’ve set up your website.
Best Free Website Themes
In this piece today, we’re going to do a quick rundown of the best free website themes. You will find corporate themes, business themes, blog themes, personal website themes and generally multi-purpose themes. The thing about website themes is that you can always find something to work with for any kind of website.
- Neve
- Shapely
- Ocean WP
- Storefront
- Newspaper X
- ColorMag
- Sydney
- Activello
- Bento
- Divi
- Flash
- Spacious
1. Neve
If you’re looking for a lightweight theme without having to sacrifice flexibility, Neve is the template for you. It is easy to use with customizable headers.
Neve is a multipurpose theme and can be used for both corporate, eCommerce, personal and even blog websites. Neve is mobile-friendly, speedy and AMP compatible. Neve’s seamless integration with a host of page builders like Elementor, Gutenburg among others makes it an all time favorite.
2. Shapely
Shapely is a fully-functional business theme. It is exceptionally popular for personal websites. Shapely’s home page widgets allows for addition of portfolio features like testimonials, services, and parallax sections to your website.
Shapely is equipped with a ton of customization tools. You need to be highly meticulous to edit this template. However, with Customizer and Dashboard, just about anyone can handle the deep editing that Shapely demands.
Overall, Shapely is a powerful, sharp and full-width WordPress theme for creating enticing business websites.
3. Ocean WP
Ocean WP WordPress theme is a powerful multi-purpose template with speedy loading time. It is highly customizable and offers great support for third party plugins.
Ocean WP makes it easy to build awesome e-commerce websites with WooCommerce. Ocean WP is integrated with state-of-the-art features built to increase the ease of creating highly responsive websites with WordPress.
4. Storefront
Storefront is a simple but elegant free eCommerce theme for WordPress. It has a minimalist design but is open to a wide range of customization options.
Storefront is highly responsive and adapt beautifully for all screen sizes. This theme is perfect for eCommerce projects with complete WooCommerce support. One of its best features is its seamless integration with WooCommerce.
5. Newspaper X
Newspaper X is a simple, attractive and fully responsive WordPress theme for blogs, online magazines and newspapers. It is AMP-optimized and generally SEO-friendly.
Newspaper X is a fast loading and easy to customize theme. If you’re looking for a theme to create that dazzling and engaging news website, Newspaper X does it.
6. ColorMag
ColorMag is a free WordPress theme designed for blogs, newspaper, magazine and other online publications.
ColorMag comes with 16 customizable widget areas that allow you to customize your layout. There’s also an advertisement display option for third party ads if you want.
In addition to its wide range of customizable options, ColorMag is also WooCommerce compatible, search engine optimized. It also offers free support, a factor you should consider when choosing your theme.
7. Sydney
Sydney is a very powerful WordPress theme for business. Its gorgeous design is the reason you will like it. There’s also a fair deal of 12 customizable widgets which places users in control of their website design.
Sydney allows you to quickly set up your home page using built-in blocks layout. It is also compatible with a number of page builder plugins like Beaver Builder, Site Origin and Visual Composer which puts the power to further customize in your hands.
8. Activello
Activello WordPress theme is an easy to use multi-purpose theme for blogs. It is also WooCommerce compatible allowing you to create a fully functional eCommerce site alongside your blog.
Activello is highly responsive and adapts for display across various screen sizes. Activello is well suited for most blog niches like fashion, food, travel, lifestyle, sport etc.
What’s even more awesome about Activello is the freedom to choose from an array of available blog layouts.
9. Bento
Bento WordPress theme combines the duo of stability and flexibility to create a stunning website design.
Bento is a free multi-purpose theme for everyone to use. It is mobile-friendly, optimized for speed and SEO and gives a top-notch modern outlook at the end of the day.
Bento is also adapted for WooCommerce and presents a lot of customizable features. Bento is an ideal WordPress theme for all intended flexible website creations. It works great with most page builder plugins.
10. Divi
Divi is beyond just a website theme. It is a modern day page builder powered with an easy to use drag and drop technology. Divi allows you to work up your design from the scratch. It simply places the power to create in your hands.
Divi presents endless customization possibilities that make it easy to bring your custom layout with you using the WordPress importer.
11. Flash
Flash is a highly responsive multi-purpose WordPress theme. It offers possibilities of creating attractive websites with professional looks.
Flash works together with the Flash Toolkit plugin which creates an awesome possibility for custom designs. Flash Toolkit comes fitted with 11 customizable widgets that place users in maximum control of their designs. The Flash Toolkit is also equipped with a drag and drop technology that gives you extra freedom to create and redesign.
Flash works well with page builder plugins like Site Origin among others and also offers developer support. It is also WooCommerce compatible.
12. Spacious
Spacious is a well thought out business WordPress theme. The fact that it is free makes it all the more likeable. Spacious promises an incredible design while also offering powerful features and functionalities.
Spacious is a great theme option for creating business, blogging, portfolio, and agency websites.
It is easy to customize with 5 awesome widgets that places you in control of your designs.
Although there are thousands of multi-purposes theme offerings, there simply isn’t one theme that fits perfectly for all kinds of websites. Much more when your interest is for a free website theme.
To choose the best free website theme for 2020, you must do more than just search for a theme online.
As mentioned earlier, features, functionalities, user reviews and developer support are key things to keep in mind when attempting to choose the best theme for your website. You should also see Free SEO-Friendly Themes 2020.