There are a lot of beautiful WordPress blog themes out there, but design isn’t everything you need to check for.
With more than 36.88% of websites on the internet using WordPress, the number of themes are growing rapidly. WordPress blog themes need slightly different considerations when compared to business themes. In today’s post, I’m going to share some of my favorite (and really amazing) WordPress themes for bloggers in different niches.
How to select the best WordPress blog themes?
Whether you are starting a blog for fun or to create a revenue model, you’d need to find a WordPress theme that’s eye-catching. To do that, check your WordPress blogging theme for:
SEO friendliness
WordPress blog themes need to be optimized for SEO from both the front and back ends. A poorly coded WordPress theme can affect your SERP on a long-term basis. The good thing is that nearly all WordPress premium themes on themeforest and on the WordPress directory are checked for coding standards. But you can further check them via a markup validation service. Also, check that your WordPress theme is compatible with all of the popular browsers.
The next important thing that makes your blogging theme search engine friendly is how well the layout is optimized for ad placement. If your front end theme is offering a bad user experience due to paid ads, then that might have an indirect effect on your overall SEO.
Responsiveness
Since the launch of Google mobile first index, it is no longer an option for a site to be responsive. Make sure that the WordPress blog themes you are checking out is fully responsive, i.e. works well on all devices.
AMP
AMP is like the stripped down version of your theme with basic texts to load faster on mobile devices.
Multiple layouts
Multiple layouts for posts, archives and other pages is good for customizing your blog.
Lightweight
A lightweight theme means faster loading time. A light WordPress blogging theme will always have room for customization, even after adding a lot of fancy elements.
Note: I have carefully checked and tested the below themes for all of the above.
Best WordPress blogging themes in 2020
[table id=1 /]1. Veen
First in our list of best WordPress blog themes is Veen, a really beautiful theme. I’d say it is the most perfect blogging theme of 2020. If you want to fancy up your blog without improving the loading time, then Veen is for you.
Veen has a built-in Estudio Patagon customizer to design and optimize your theme from the WordPress admin panel.
It is one of the fastest and most beautiful WordPress themes for multipurpose blogging.
Highlighted features
- Multiple styling options, i.e. header designs, layout, sidebar appearance, etc.
- Colorful tag cloud for highlighting each category
- Lightweight theme with fast loading elements
- Integrated subscriber widget
- Optimize and place ad widgets
2. Johannes
Johannes is a multi-concept, stylish theme for both personal blogs as well as magazines. The best part about this theme is the degree of customization it offers to users.
You will have multiple layouts for pages, posts and even the categories. The support team is good, but you might only get a refund if there is an error with the theme itself. Rest assured, you’d love the modern design it brings to the table.
Highlighted features
- 14+ custom layouts, amazing fonts and multiple color options
- Compatible with top WordPress plugins
- Easy to monetize design
3. Neptune
Neptune is one of the finest and best selling WordPress blog themes for foodies and chefs. You can share recipes with your visitors in the most engaging way possible. There are multiple eye-catching recipe layouts and formats for showcasing your food-related content in the most beautiful way possible.
It is optimized for users to search recipe ingredients, nutritional info and review/rate the recipes. WooCommerce plugins are present in case you’d like to sell food products to your visitor. If you would like to build a food community, you can use users or the forums feature integrated within the theme.
Highlighted features
- Unique homepage layouts for showcasing food post widgets
- 5+ recipe layouts and 4+ (including GIF) recipe format
- Attractive sidebar supported by a robust footer design
4. Writee
Writee is a minimalistic WordPress theme that goes handy with all types of blogs. You can use it for creating a simple blog to represent your content in a clean way.
Even though it is a free theme, Writee doesn’t take away the basic design features. You will even get WooCommerce compatibility, but to unlock more custom features like dark skin, slider variations, author widgets with social icons and more, you’d need to go premium.
Standout features
- Boxed and unboxed widget style
- 600+ Google fonts for better readability
- Pagination and breadcrumbs to navigate easily
5. Alyssas Blog
Should you want to create a lifestyle, wellness or wedding niche blog, this theme is definitely for you.
Alyssa’s blog is a free theme with a simplistic yet amazing design. The homepage has an author box in the header, followed by a two-column and a three-column post layout. You can even add your Instagram account just above the footer to showcase the most recent images.
Highlighted features
- Translation ready – Alyssa’s blog helps you create multilingual posts
- Optimized for SEO and typography
What to do after selecting your WordPress blog theme?
Finding your pick from the top WordPress blog themes won’t be difficult, provided that you focus on the brand aesthetics based on your brand and niche. For instance, a text-focused theme won’t make much sense for a photography blog.
After choosing your blogging theme, upload the zip file to your WordPress admin panel > themes > add new > upload. You can then easily customize it from the left sidebar. Should you have a compatibility issue (rarely) by using a custom WordPress plugin, reach out to the support team.
In case you don’t know the right fit for your WordPress theme, feel free to reach out to me via the contact form or through my personal email – pulkitbhardwaj630 at gmail.com
