Another crucial part of your WooCommerce store is your website’s theme.
This is what people are going to see when they come to your online store. And it’s going to help them form their first impressions of your store and your products in the store. So you want to make sure that the design of your store looks great.
The good news is that there are a lot of great themes (both free and paid) that are designed specifically for you to use for your store.
So let’s take a look at what you should be looking for when finding the perfect theme for your WooCommerce store.
Does it work?
This one is pretty self explanatory, but is always worth keeping in mind.
When looking for a theme, make sure that you check out the theme demo and put it through its paces. See how it looks at mobile, tablet and desktop screen sizes. Try to add things to your cart and see how far you can get with the checkout process.
Do the menus work? If there are sliders, are you able to control them? Try tabbing through the website on your keyboard to see if you can get to all of the links?
Make sure you do your own testing before you purchase and/or download it so that you know you’re getting something that works.
Does it fit in with your business?
Next, you need to make sure that the design of the theme matches what your business is.
For example, if you have an auto shop, you’re probably not going to want to use a theme that is built for a floral shop. And if you have a business that deals with weddings, you’re probably not going to want a design for a software business.
So just keep that in mind as you look for the right theme for your business.
Is it being maintained?
Finally, you really want to make sure that the theme is still being maintained before purchasing and using it.
For starters, if something breaks on your website and that theme isn’t being maintained, you’re more than likely out of luck. That issue isn’t going to get fixed, and you’re going to have to move to another theme.
Also, if a security risk surfaces with the theme, there’s a good chance it’s not getting fixed since it’s not maintained, and again, you’re going to have to move to another theme and do it quickly.
But bigger than those now is that a lot is changing with themes in WordPress now with the block editor and full site editing, and having a theme that’s being updated, even if it’s not specifically a block theme, can help your site from breaking with WordPress updates and give you a chance to try out the new features coming in each release.
So check to see when the theme was last updated, and if you have a question, just reach out to the developer to see if it’s still being maintained.
Suggestions to get you started
If you’re looking for a theme for your WooCommerce store, here are a few suggestions to help you get started.
- Basti (paid) – Basti is a prime example of what is possible with full site editing and WooCommerce. You can quickly change out any of the four styles for your website. And you can install demo content to help you get started in just minutes. If you sell clothing items, I would highly recommend taking a look at what you can do with Basti.
- Hotel (paid) – Hotel is a great theme if you have a business that deals with bookings. It easily allows you to show locations and accommodations with great use of images and allows potential customers to see everything ahead of time.
- Smart Home (paid) – If you sell modern products (or even software) through your store, you’re going to want to take a look at Smart Home. This is a really cool store design that takes advantage of the block editor. You’ll easily be able to make your website look like your own (rather than a prebuilt theme) with the customizations you can make.
- Bookshop (paid) – If you sell books or something similar, you’ll want to take a look at Bookshop. This theme makes it easy for you to sort your books into various categories and for users to search through your catalog. You can have your homepage looking similar to Barnes and Noble in no time!
- Storefront (free) – Storefront is the default WooCommerce theme, similar to the default WordPress themes. It’s basically a blank template for you to customize. If you’re looking for something out of the box, you should probably look elsewhere. But if you really want to customize everything, it might be worth trying for your store.
