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If you are into WordPress, there is no denying the fact that premium WordPress Themes are a blessing. Loaded with myriad extended functionalities, they provide awesome features to informed WordPress users. The term ‘informed’ has been used here to lay emphasis on the importance of staying informed about the choices one makes, as a commercial participant in this era of updated technology. The context is relatable because buying a premium WordPress theme simply based on either its visual appeal or just because a competing firm uses it; is a lame thing to do.

If you are on a lookout for a premium theme with responsive support and quality, begin with the WordPress Directory of high quality, commercial themes. Some noteworthy theme vendors from this slot are Tesla Themes, Graph Paper Press, Organic Themes, and ThemeShift.

The other place to materialize your purpose is a premium theme marketplace that offers the best reliable themes from the industry’s best developer agencies. WPMU DEV, ThemeForest, Elegant Themes etc. to name a few best ones.

Ask yourself these basic questions before you lay your hands on some themes that you have shortlisted to make the final selection from.

• What kind of theme do you require? Blogging based or website based?
• Are you aware of the theme rating system?
• Do you want a purposeful theme or a one similar to your competitor firm’s?
• Do you have a previously laid out content plan in order to make sure that you choose your theme according to it and not vice-versa?
• Are you looking for a minimalistic theme or a cluttered look?

Once you are through this, you can start to mark things off this checklist that every WordPress users MUST check out before buying a premium WordPress theme.

Theme Documentation

This is the stepping stone to making a perfect choice for your business website. All reputed theme developers provide extensive documentation of their themes so that the potential customers are aware of all the features the theme offers, its compatibility with different plugins, extended features, authentic reviews, and other major elements. Shooting out an on-point enquiry mail is also advisable so that users can ask the respective developer questions about their themes.

Speed Matters

The most important end result that any premium WordPress theme can offer is a speedy website. A lot of effort, time and money is put in when you start a blog or website and if it is not speedy, things get awful. This happens all the time because Premium WordPress themes are loaded with many features and it tends to make the theme sluggish and slow.

It is imperative to make sure that you employ a good web hosting service so that your efforts yield proper results in the form of better ranking. Using the most advanced hosting plan from the best hosting providers like SiteGround, WPEngine, Cloudways, etc. will ensure the quality of performance of the theme you finalize. A fast loading theme is the need of the hour as it accelerates Google ranking of your WordPress website.

To make sure that your website follows the best practices, there are several tools like Pingdom, PageSpeed Insights, and Website Speed and Performance Optimization that measure speed.

Compatibility with the required Plugins

If you went through the Theme documentation step carefully on the first go, you might want to skip this one. However, if you missed that out, now you need to check if the chosen WordPress theme can integrate with the all the plugins that your website demands. Plugins are the most crucial element of your website or blog and nothing out of the blue can be done without considering them. Plugins like BuddyPress, WooCommerce, and several payment plugins give average themes a hard time integrating with them.

Theme Reviews and Comment Sections

A wise thing to do is visit the support forum of the theme to see how things are going with the current users. You will be able to receive major insights about the quality of support that the theme provides along with the response time. You will also get access to unsponsored and true reviews so that you can confirm the completeness and quality of the WordPress theme you are choosing.

Theme Updates

The WordPress is an ever-evolving platform. In fact, it rolls out its latest version every 152 days. To stay compliant with the frequent updates, it is necessary that the theme you choose is also updated at regular intervals so that it doesn’t miss out on cool new features updated with every new roll-out. A good theme seamlessly works with the latest version of WordPress and uses CSS3, HTML5 to function. Get the W3C Validator to make sure that the theme is well coded.

Customizability and Responsiveness

You may want to go out of the way and customize your WordPress theme to get a particular feel for your WordPress site. To make a blog or WordPress website is no easy pie and requires preparedness. Infusing a new look or adding features through coding or plugins requires a customizable theme. Also, a responsive website is the trend of the hour and it ensures that all the segments pf viewers and visitors can view your website across all platforms.

SEO Friendliness and Minimalism

All the efforts you put into above points will go futile if you fail to choose an SEO optimized WordPress theme. For better ranking across several search engines, Google assesses the Technical SEO of a website which is endowed upon the site through the theme template. A WordPress theme with a n optimized and quality code makes up for a solid SEO architecture of your website.

Recommended: Validate the theme by delving into the excerpts on archive pages, displayed taxonomy descriptions,proper anchor text for post titles and breadcrumbs.

Also,minimalist themes for blog, websites are the trend of the current digital timeline. Focused on the content, this design makes websites look stunning by removing the clutter and providing the flat design look.

Since, we are talking about the large number of premium themes from the WordPress market, you will have to shell out a part of your budget to buy one. To lower the number of complexities here, we recommend listing your theme requirements in advance and then considering this checklist to make an informed choice so that at the end of the day, your online business garners the right traction.

Author Bio:

Catherrine Garcia is an experienced Web Developer and a passionate blogger. She loves to share her knowledge through her articles on web development and WordPress.