How To Customize Your WordPress Theme

Customizing your WordPress theme allows you to truly customize your customer experience on-site and create a more cohesive brand awareness picture for your clients and prospects.

When you’re going through the customization process, you can take your time and experiment with different themes for your business to determine which one makes the most sense for your needs.

No two themes are the same, allowing you to create a truly tailored experience for each visitor on your site. WordPress attempts to make this easy for creators and business owners, grouping themes by business type or goal in most cases.

Key takeaways: 

• WordPress uses website “themes” or customizable templates, they aren’t just for desktop versions as they’re also compatible with WordPress’s mobile view.
• WordPress uses an extremely user-friendly interface, allowing you to make changes with a sleek, no-code format including additional customization options through HTML code strings and an open-dev framework.
• When customizing your WordPress theme, it’s important to have a strategy by stepping into your visitor’s shoes, regularly revisiting your ideal prospect profile, and consuming high-quality content.

What Are Customizable Themes and Where Can You Find Them?

WordPress uses website “themes” as a term that describes their customizable website templates. You’ll see examples of the possibilities that you can create by reviewing WordPress’s extensive template library or navigating around their main site prior to logging in.

Customizable templates aren’t just for desktop versions as they’re also compatible and customizable within WordPress’s mobile view.

Finding your library of themes is easy and can be done in just a few clicks. Once you’ve navigated to WordPress’s main site, simply log in and visit the left-hand sidebar. Go to the “Appearances” option and select “themes.” You’ll then be redirected to a page showcasing the variety of customizable themes that WordPress currently has available.

This tutorial only applies to WordPress’s native site, however, and you may also choose to review the extensive library of downloadable themes and changes that you can enjoy via plug-ins and add-ons.

How To Customize Your WordPress Theme

Within WordPress, customizing your templated theme is easy. WordPress uses an extremely user-friendly interface, allowing you to make changes with a sleek, no-code format. It also offers additional customization options through HTML code strings and an open-dev framework, for those who want to create a more nuanced and complex theme.

Below, we’re diving into everything that you should consider when you’re preparing to customize your WordPress theme.

What Skills or Tools Are Needed To Customize a WordPress Theme?

You don’t need to have any formalized skill sets to customize your WordPress theme, thanks to how easy it’s to do through the WordPress theme builder. If you’re looking to build up your design skills, consider the following skills or focuses as you work:

• Visually appealing content: Consumers may only have a few seconds of attention to give to a site. You’ll want to use a theme and elements that are as visually appealing as possible, compelling a site visitor to stay and explore. Align your design with their needs and expectations and create content that’s unique and congruent with your brand’s overall presence.
• Graphically biased designs: You won’t want to barrage your visitors with walls of text. Instead, choose themes and elements that are graphically biased, giving your site visitors a more dynamic and engaging experience.
• Naturally flowing layouts: When you’re choosing and editing your WordPress theme, you’ll want to do so in a way that naturally follows your visitor’s expectations and natural flow through the site. You’ll want to incorporate a logical progression to appeal and communicate your site goals clearly to every visitor.

As far as tools, WordPress theme builder is equipped to integrate seamlessly with your design tool of choice. Top tools for theme customization include:

GenerateWP

GenerateWP provides a unique library of code that’s WordPress-style approved for your site, further customizing it and adding in new capabilities that may not have been available with the theme of your choice.

This tool can be a tremendous timesaver and be used in tandem with any number of WordPress site builders and tools. Code done incorrectly or out of syntax can devalue your site and significantly impact your customer’s experience, which is why a tool like GenerateWP is so valuable to any business or site.

WhatFont

Fonts are one of the most impactful design elements that you can have on a website yet are often one of the most underrepresented.

Optimizing your site with fonts that maximize readability and clarity is key and can even enhance your SEO ranking thanks to enhanced visibility and site visit duration from your visitors.

For websites and web content, fonts that are sans serif are generally easier to read and perform the best when compared to serif fonts.

Oxygen Builder

Oxygen Builder is a tool that allows you to customize your WordPress website fully from end to end. With this lightweight tech tool, you can navigate your website seamlessly and personalize every element, using a variety of coding language snippets, and visual design elements.

It also features an expansive library of integration opportunities, which is best for larger sites or sites that are designed for businesses, working with many moving parts.

Sometimes, businesses may find that the WordPress theme editor is limited when compared to other third-party services, which is where a tool like Oxygen Builder can come in handy.

Customizing Your Theme in WordPress Theme Editor

WordPress theme editor is a helpful, prebuilt tool for design experts and novices alike and can give you a great starting point for your website’s customization. Navigating the editor is easy, as you’ll see below.

Once you log in, navigate to the left-hand menu bar under Appearance. You can then go to Themes and select the theme that you wish to edit. You’ll see a blue Customize button below the theme preview thumbnail, which you can click. You’ll then be taken directly to the site editor.

Once you do that, you’ll be able to see a variety of ways that you can customize your theme. You’ll be able to experiment with and change headers, imagery, and site structure, depending on the theme that you currently have on your site.

Following the prompts within the left-hand menu navigation bar, you’ll be able to create your changes and view them in real-time, thanks to the right-hand preview screen.

Tips for Customizing Your WordPress Theme

When customizing your WordPress theme, it’s important to have a strategy. This can make your efforts as efficient as possible. Below are some top tips that you can use when creating your WordPress strategy.

Step Into Your Visitor’s Shoes

When someone visits your website, what do they expect or need to see? Answering this question and using it to inform your design choices can help you to create an intuitive and engaging website, perfectly suited to the needs and preferences of your ideal prospect.

You can take this a step further and hire user experience (UX) experts as well to truly grasp what’s needed from your site’s functionality, and how you can best get there.

Regularly Revisit Your Ideal Prospect Profile

So much of UX design is around catering to your ideal prospect and what they want to see on your site. You should make it a priority to review your prospect profiles regularly with your team, to help ensure that the current design is suitable and in alignment with their needs and wants.

Consume High-quality Content

Consuming high-quality content and websites can help you to inform your own inspiration and planning for your site. Reviewing and referencing different types and styles of content can be especially powerful, helping you to push your boundary in terms of design content and styles.

WordPress Theme Customization Is Easy and Help Your Site Convert

Taking the time and investing the resources in WordPress theme customization is essential for your business to remain competitive in your industry of choice. The process is easy and can be streamlined with the inclusion of top tech tools and resources, giving your prospects and visitors a truly unique experience.