Top 10 WordPress Themes for Blogging Websites
Whether you’re looking for a new online marketing channel for your business, you want to share health and wellness tips, you’d like to share your thoughts and opinion about a topic that you’re passionate about, or you simply want to hone your writing skills; there are so many great reasons to start a blog. In fact, blogging is arguably one of the most effective ways to reach wide audiences around the global.
Whether it’s for monetary gain or because you simply want to get your ideas out in front of the public, you want to make sure that you’re going to want to set yourself up for success and design a visually pleasing, easy-to-use, interactive blog. Choosing a WordPress theme is the first step toward setting yourself up for success. What is a WordPress theme? It’s a design layout that’s used to style all of the front-end components of a WordPress-powered website. Basically, it determines what your website will look like and how your content will be displayed on the site.
In other words, a WordPress theme is the foundation of your blog, so deciding which one to use is a pretty big deal. There are literally 10s of thousands of WordPress themes to choose from, and more than 9,000 of those themes are free, so needless to say, there’s no shortage of options to choose from. While having a lot of options at your disposal is certainly a good thing, with so many choices, trying to decide which one to use can be quite overwhelming.
If you’ve attempted to select a WordPress theme but you found it to be a dizzying experience, or you’ve shied away from even starting the process because you feel intimidated, not to worry, because you’ve come to the right place! In order to assist you with choosing the right WordPress theme for your blog (and to make the process less overwhelming), we’ve taken the liberty of doing the legwork for you. After conducting extensive research, the web designers from Blue Whale Media has put together this list for the top 10 WordPress themes for blogging.
Key Factors to Consider When Picking a WordPress Theme
Before we present our picks for the 10 best WordPress themes for blogging, it’s important to mention some key factors that you’re going to want to keep in mind when you’re selecting a theme (whether it’s one of the options on our list or one of the thousands of other themes). These key factors include the following:
- Responsiveness. When you publish a website, visitors are going to access it not just on the big screen, but they’re also going to access it via a small screen; in other words, they’re going to visit it from their desktop or laptop computers and from their tablets and smartphones. With that said, you want to make sure that you choose a responsive WordPress theme; one that displays your blog well and allows it to be viewed easily on screens of all types, shapes, and sizes. Plus, a responsive theme impacts site ranking and SEO, so make sure that the theme you choose is responsive.
- Compatibility. People use different web browsers to access and interact with the internet, so you want to make sure that the WordPress theme you choose can support different browsers. While the majority of WordPress themes do support different browsers, not all of them do, so browser compatibility is something that you definitely want to do. Choosing a theme that’s compatible on different browsers will allow you to reach a larger audience, and will boost your blog’s search engine ranking.
- Simplicity. You also want to consider the overall look of the theme. Lots of different WordPress themes feature tons of colours, sliders, and even different layouts, which might be appealing at first glance; however, it’s important to understand that all of those showy features can cause problems for your blog. Visually, too many features can be overwhelming and confusing, and can disrupt things like loading, display, and ranking. That said, it’s best to choose a theme that’s simplistic in nature. Doing do will make your blog display faster, will make it easier to interact with, and will also be beneficial for SEO purposes.
The Best WordPress Themes for Blogging
Now that you know what factors to consider when you’re selecting a WordPress theme for your blog, let’s take a look at our top picks for the best themes. We’d like to note that when selecting these themes, our editorial team kept the above-mentioned factors in mind; that is, they’re highly responsive, they support all kinds of browsers, and they’re simplistic and professional. As an added bonus, these themes are SEO-friendly and can help to boost your blog’s rankings on the search engine.
So with all of that said, let’s jump in and take a look at our top picks for the 10 best WordPress themes for blogging.
1. GeneratePress
Fast and powerful, the GeneratePress theme was designed to optimize speed. It’s compatible with some of the biggest page builders, including Beaver Builder and Elementor. Additionally, the GeneratePress theme is completely responsive and displays well on devices of all types, shapes, and sizes. It’s compatible with WordPress coding standards, too, so it’s super SEO-friendly, and it’s ready for WooCommerce and can be utilized for Multi-Purpose.
GeneratePress Key Features
- Compatible with all web browsers
- Completely responsive
- Easy to customize
- Optimized for speed
- Equipped with SEO-friendly coding standards
- Can be used with major page builders
- Works with Multi-Purpose
2. Astra
Astra is one of the most popular free WordPress themes for blogging. In fact, it’s so popular that it’s the most downloaded WordPress theme, and for good reason; Astra offers a very simplistic and professional design, and it can be used for Multi-Purpose. Astra is suitable to use for blogging, but it can also be used for various other purposes, such as business websites, WooCommerce, and portfolios. It’s optimized search engine optimization by default. Astra is light, the loading time is fast, and it is compatible with all types of web browsers. It’s easy to customize, too, and is highly responsive, so it displays well on all devices. Astra works great with WordPress page builders, too, such as Divi, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and SiteOrigin.
Astra Key Features
- Translation, RTL, and WooCommerce-ready
- Responsive on all devices
- Fully customizable
- Optimized for speed and SEO
- Multi-Purpose usable
- Can be used with major WordPress page builders
- Compatible with all browsers
3. Neve
Neve is one of our personal favorite WordPress themes for blogging. If you want a fast, light, simplistic, and minimalist theme that’s easily customizable, and super SEO-friendly, then you should really consider Neve. With this theme, you can design all types of responsive websites, including, of course, blogs, as well as WooCommerce stores, business websites, and portfolios. This theme is fully optimized for AMP, it’s light, and it loads quickly. It works properly with all kinds of web browsers, too. Plus, it works with some of the most popular page builders, such as Visual Composer, Elementor, SiteOrigin, Beaver Builder, and Divi. In short, Neve is one of the very best WordPress themes for blogging – and it’s free!
Neve Key Features
- Optimized for speed and search engine optimization
- Highly responsive on all devices
- Works great with all web browsers
- Easily customizable
- Multi-Purpose usable
- Ready for translation and RTL
- Compatible with major page builders
4. OceanWP
Another super-popular WordPress theme, OceanWP is great for blogging, as well as any other type of website, such as business sites, portfolios, and WooCommerce. This WordPress theme is equipped with built-in SEO optimization and it’s incredibly light; plus, OceanWP is easy to customize, so you can edit it for desktop, mobile devices, or tablets with ease. It can be used with all major WordPress page builders, too, including Brizy, Divi, Visual Composer, Elementor, and more. OceanWP can be used as a multi-purpose theme, too.
OceanWP Key Features
- Responsive on all devices
- Fully customizable
- Equipped with SEO-friendly coding standards
- Usable with Multi-Purpose
- Speed-optimized
- Ready for translation and RTL
- Can be used with all page builders
- Compatible with all major web browsers
5. Cenote
The Cenote WordPress theme is equipped with a library of nine demos that are ready-made for blogging, and three of those demos are completely free. This theme is easy to set up, and it offers simple, clean, modern, visually-appealing designs. You can use it for all kinds of themes, including food, travel, fashion, business, health, and even personal topics. If you’re looking for a WordPress theme that’s highly flexible, Cenote is a great option to consider.
Cenote Key Features
- Compatible with all major web browsers and page builders
- Highly responsive
- Speed and SEO-optimized
- Ready for translation and RTL
6. Ashe
The Asha theme is another great option for WordPress bloggers. It’s good for all kinds of blog themes, such as personal, culinary, health and wellness, travel, fashion, beauty, news, wedding planning, automotive, baking, small business, WooCommerce stores; and that’s just a small sampling of the themes that the Ashe WordPress theme can be used for. It’s a clean, modern theme that’s equipped with highly responsive layouts that look wonderful on all kinds of devices. It’s equipped with SEO-optimized coding, too, and it’s compatible with all of the major WordPress plugins. It works beautifully with all of the popular page builders, too. All of these features and benefits, and Ashe is free, which further adds to the appeal of this WordPress theme.
Ashe Key Features
- Can be used for all types of blogs
- SEO-optimized
- Speed-optimized
- Responsive layouts
- Web browser and page builder compatibility
- WooCommerce-ready
7. Blocksy
Blocksy offers a smooth experience for users. This theme is fast and light, and it’s build on modern web tech, so it can be used with all web browsers. Blocksy is compatible with all of the popular page builders, including Beaver Builder, Brizy, Divi, and Elementor. It’s equipped with built-in WooCommerce and is SEO-optimized. You can use Blocksy to create pretty much any blog theme.
Blocksy Key Features
- Outfitted with the latest web tech
- WooCommerce-ready
- SEO- and speed-optimized
- Compatible with all major web browsers and page builders
- Highly responsive
- Very customizable
8. Tracks
If you want a clean, minimalist, modern, and simple blogging theme, then the Tracks theme is a great choice. This dark, minimalist theme is great for publishing both image- and text-based content. It’s deal for personal and magazine-style blogs. It would work well for a digital newspapers, podcasts, video sites, and WooCommerce stores.
Tracks Key Features
- WooCommerce-optimized
- SEO- and speed-optimized
- Highly responsive
9. Author
If you’re looking for a text-friendly WordPress theme, consider Author. This theme is designed with reading and readers in mind. The layouts this theme features are optimized for all types of search engines and screens. The stylesheets and scripts that this theme features are optimized for peak performance and rapid loading. It’s great for minimalist news sites and blogs, though it would also work well for gaming, food, travel, photography, and even niche themed-blogs or sites. It supports WooCommerce, too.
Author Key Features
- Specifically designed for reading and readers
- WooCommerce-optimized
- Fast loading speeds
- SEO-optimized
10. Olsen Light
Last but certainly not least on our list of the 10 best WordPress themes for blogging is Olsen Light. It’s perfect for photography-themed blogs, but it would also work great for various other blogs, such as travel, lifestyle, fashion, food, health and wellness, fitness, beauty, and wedding planning. Olsen Light is super-light and flexible, and beginners can easily use it. It’s a highly responsive theme, so visitors will be able to view your blog on all types of devices. Olsen Light is coded for rapid loading and search engine optimization, too. It also offers some excellent features, such as social share and social icons, custom logos, a home page slider, a custom wizard, and even an Instagram carousel; and those are just some of the features. Plus, Olsen Light supports all major WordPress page builders.
Olsen Light Key Features
- Speed and SEO-optimized
- Highly responsive
- Works with the most popular page builders
- Light and flexible
- Loaded with lots of great features
Work With The WordPress Experts
Blue Whale Media are the local experts when it comes to WordPress website design. If you’re looking to start a new blog or news-sharing website, look no further. We are a dedicated web design company in Liverpool with a highly experienced team who can develop your new WordPress blogging site. Contact us for a free quote today!
