6 Way to Upgrade the Look of Your WordPress
Your website can be two things: an asset, or just there. The difference between the two can be very subtle, but have an online asset can drive business like you’ve never imagined. So, how do you turn your website from a random property into an asset for your business? By focusing on two major factors: style and performance.
Get a New Theme
One of the easiest ways to upgrade the look and feel of your WordPress website is by picking a new theme. There are tons of themes out there to choose from, so you just have to find the one that speaks to you. You can find tons of themes for your WordPress on sites like Envato ThemeForest, and they come packed with reviews and documentation as well. Take your time when you are finding a theme, and pay extra close attention to the reviews. You want to find a theme that is easy to use and fast. If the reviews talk about those two things, you are in a better place. Also, when you find a theme you like on Envato, make sure you check out the actual website for the theme as well. If the author hasn’t taken the time to secure the site they sell it from, it’s probably going to be a pain to secure it on your own. The websites for the themes will give you a more in-depth look at the theme’s look and potential, and you will get to see it in action.
Build Your Own Pages
Another great way to create stylish pages quickly is by using a page builder. Page builders like Elementor let you use any theme you want and allows you to build custom pages within the theme. These page builders are normally very fast, and the style you can create using them is endless. If the builder you pick doesn’t have enough style for your liking, you might want to look into builder extensions like Ultimate Addons or JET plugins can add advanced modules into your page builder. These add-on packages help you get all of the crazy functionality you see on your competitors’ sites.
Hire a Professional Photographer
The pictures on your site tell a story, so you want to make sure the pictures you use directly relate to what you can offer. Instead of using simple stock photos to get your site up and running, you should work with professional photographers and graphic designers to create the perfect images for your website. This is the best way to make sure that your website is truly unique from top to bottom, and it will stop you from spending hours sifting through free stock photos on Google to find what you are looking for. A picture is worth a thousand words, so make sure those words directly relate to what you offer on your website.
Change Site Colors to Meet Contrast Requirements
Have you ever been to a website and had a hard time reading the text on the page? Most of the time this comes down to not meeting contrast requirements. When you are picking your colors for your site, you want to make sure that the background colors and foreground text colors are high enough contrast to read. If you don’t have a high enough contrast between the text and background colors, your text will start to blur on the page. If you have never checked to see if your colors have high enough contrast, you should use that link above to check it. You want to make sure that your contrast level passes all of the tests, so your text doesn’t blur on any devices. As a bonus, doing this will boost your accessibility score on your website.
Clean Up Your Code
Finally, you really want to make sure your code is caching and compiling correctly. You can use tools the Google Schema Tool to check your base code on the site and make sure you don’t have any small errors penalizing your site. If you are using href-lang on your site, this is extremely important to check. The smallest issues with href-lang can result in international visitors not getting the version of your page they need to understand what you are offering.