In the software and web dev industry, UX stands for user experience, which is arguably among the most important aspects of designing a website or any application for that matter.
In order for you to maintain a favorable user experience, it’s important that you focus on gaining a comprehensive understanding of your users. This mean understanding user needs, what they value, and what they don’t like. The user experience design of your blog will also encompass your business goals and objectives, which should combine well with the needs and expectations of your target audience.
If your website design is centered around providing a great user experience, you should be able to bring in more users and increase customer conversion rates. When these users are provided with a design that’s relevant to them, your bounce rates should decrease.
As with every element of a website design, there are numerous ways that you can improve the UX of your website which includes everything from optimizing your page speed to using images on a regular basis. Having a responsive website is another key element of UX design.
SEO is also highly important if you want your website to be successful. Search engine optimization means that your website will be optimized for search engines like Google and Bing. When a website has been properly optimized for search engines, it will receive organic traffic, which is considered to be very valuable. Optimized websites are placed towards the top of search results, which means that there’s a higher chance that a user will click on the website. In fact, most users will only select one of the first three search results from their query.
Google ranks websites based on user experience and website performance. For instance, responsive websites that are quick-to-load and have been outfitted with the right keywords will rank much higher than websites that don’t accommodate smartphones and have loading issues. Rankings can be improved through proper implementation of user experience as well as additional SEO improvements.
When you’re selecting a WordPress theme for your blog, the SEO and UX elements of the theme should be your top considerations. However, you should also consider the load speed that the theme provides for your website as well as its ability to increase site traffic.
The following offers a more extensive look at seven fantastic WordPress themes for blogs in 2020.
1. Newspaper X
Newspaper X is considered to be the top WordPress theme for newspaper and magazines blogs and websites. The creators of the theme focused on providing site owners with a dynamic and professional design that takes a modern approach to its design elements. The modern appearance of this theme makes it highly versatile, which is why it’s also used for everything from fashion websites to travel blogs.
Along with the more than 80 demos available for site owners, users are also provided with fantastic customer service, responsive functionality, eight premium plugins, and quick install. A regular license of this theme costs $59. It’s a great theme from an SEO standpoint because it includes responsive functionality and a light and fast design, all of which rank highly on search engines like Google.
Get Newspaper X now at https://demo.tagdiv.com/select_demo/select_demo_newspaper
2. Divi
Divi is a versatile WordPress theme that’s been built to accommodate magazines and blogs of all kinds. This theme allows site owners to post a high amount of content, which makes it ideal if you expect your blog to be the focal point of your website. The presentation is simple and easy-to-read, which is why it’s fantastic from a UX standpoint.
When you’re implementing this theme on your WordPress website, you can select from a wide range of layouts, which gives you the ability to create a unique website. You can purchase the theme for $89 per year or gain lifetime access for just $249. The primary features available with the Divi theme include:
- Custom widgets
- A drag-and-drop builder for your homepage
- Unlimited colors
- Constant updates
- Ad areas
Get Divi now at https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/
3. Soledad
Soledad is a relatively new theme that’s known for its clean and image-heavy design. It’s a highly functional theme, which means that it will allow your website to load quickly at all times. As such, this theme will be a great fit for any business that wants their blog to have an SEO-focused design. This responsive WordPress theme is meant to be used primarily by blogs and magazine sites. However, it’s compatible with WooCommerce, which means that it can be fitted to your eCommerce store as well.
The soledad theme offers 250 home demo websites as well as 250 customize options that will allow you to tailor the look and feel of your blog to match your brand. You’ll also benefit from more than 100 slider and layout options. The theme costs $59 for a standard license.
Get Soledad now at http://soledad.pencidesign.com/landing-page/
4. X
X is a WordPress theme that’s proven to be highly popular since it’s release in 2015. This is a multipurpose theme that is being regularly updated, refined, and improved in order to make sure that it fits the needs of website owners. Their theme is available in four separate stacks, each of which is distinct and will provide the website owner with a unique blog. The four designs available for you to select from include Integrity, Renew, Icon, and Ethos.
- The Integrity theme is an all-purpose design for WordPress that’s elegant and stylish, which makes it ideal for business blogs. If you run a hotel or an eCommerce site, this would be a good theme for you.
- The Renew theme has a flat design that displays only the most relevant content. This theme is perfect for more creative blogs.
- The Icon theme comes with a minimalist design that allows the written content to be front and center. It offers a variety of layout options and many custom colors, which means that it can be used for a variety of different blogs.
- Ethos is designed specifically to be used by newspaper and magazines sites. This particular theme comes with a featured carousel and an image-heavy design.
No matter which X theme you select, you will be provided with a theme that’s been equipped with the latest SEO techniques as well as responsive functionality. The theme also uses clean code, which means that your blog will rank well with search engines. If you want to use this theme, you can obtain a regular license for $59 or an extended license for $3,200.
Get X now at https://theme.co/x/
5. Salient
Salient is a WordPress theme that allows for robust blogging. With this theme, you can create everything from simple one-page blogs to highly complex magazines. This theme provides users with eight core styles for their blog alongside nearly a dozen recent-post styles. There are also a myriad of customization options that can help you match the theme with the exact style of your brand and business. When you use their page builder, you can select from over 285 section templates across 13 different categories.
Some of the top features of this WordPress theme include:
- Responsive functionality
- Retina-ready capabilities
- Extensive speed optimization
- More than 500 shortcodes
- Social media integration
Since this theme has been optimized extensively for performance, it’s a great theme for both UX and SEO purposes. The quick load speed of the theme means that it should rank well with search engines like Google. When you want to purchase the Salient theme, it costs $60 for a standard license that will last a year.
Get Salient now at http://themenectar.com/demo/salient-promo/
6. Astra
Astra is a popular WordPress theme that comes with an array of features that will help you design the perfect blog for your website. This theme is packed with features, which makes it ideal for both blogs and eCommerce sites. If you’re searching for a theme that focuses on search engine optimization, Astra comes with a codebase architecture that follows the top SEO practices. It’s also a very lightweight theme that can load in less than a second. Some of the powerful design options available to you with this theme include:
- Header and footer options
- Numerous layouts
- A mega menu
- Mobile and page headers
- The inclusion of more than 700 Google fonts
Even though this theme was initially designed for blog sites, it’s outfitted with many great WooCommerce features, which extend from grid settings and gallery options to infinite scroll and quick view. Pricing for this theme is $59 for Astra Pro, $169 for the mini-agency bundle, and $249 for the agency bundle. You can also obtain lifetime versions of each bundle.
Get Astra now at https://wpastra.com/
7. Malina
Malina is a relatively unique WordPress theme that’s centered around imagery, which means that written content is kept to a minimum. While Malina can be used for practically any personal blog, it’s been designed primarily for Instagram blogs and travel blogs. When you choose this theme, you can select from 10 different concepts, which include everything from a minimal concept to a recipes concept. Likely the best aspect of this theme is that it only costs $19 for a regular license, which means that you can use it without making too much of a commitment.
This theme has a responsive design and is compatible with the Yoast SEO plugin, which makes it a great choice when you want your website to be optimized for search engines. If you find a demo that you would like to try, all demos come with one-click installation. Some of the main features that are provided with the Malina theme include:
- Five header layouts
- A classic blog layout
- Instagram items within the footer
- A Google fonts library
- Numerous widgets
- A large amount of customizable color options
You can build pages without writing a single line of code. If you’re looking to create a personal blog, this is a fantastic theme.
Get Malina now at https://malina.artstudioworks.net/start-page/
Conclusion
Each of the aforementioned WordPress themes are geared towards UX and SEO in ways that should help you improve the visibility of your website, which may allow you to bring in new visitors, bolster customer conversion rates, and improve brand loyalty.
If you’re interested in leveraging one of these excellent WordPress blogging themes or would like to create your own unique WordPress theme from scratch, contact us at Bryt Designs today for a free website audit and consultation, let us help you start growing your website traffic and build web presence today!
