Episode 61 is a revisit on a subject I talked about earlier last season. And that is choosing a theme for your WordPress eCommerce site. This time, I wanted to bring in someone experienced in the theme marketplace, and Chris Tuttle from MOJO Marketplace was the perfect fit. I know from experience how WordPress users, when choosing their theme, can get bogged down and lost in the thousands of them that are out there. In today’s show we give you some good tips and guidelines to help point you in the right direction.

We chatted about:

* The benefits of a theme marketplace vs. randomly searching on the internet for a theme

* If having a theme that is built to work specifically with an eCommerce plugin is an advantage

* What you should look for in a theme when building online courses and membership sites

* Why you should not ignore niche themes even if at first glance they don’t seem to fit your business

* Choosing a theme that is filled with options and features vs. a simpler theme

* The pros and cons of using a page builder on your eCommerce site

Thanks to Our Podcast Sponsor: Bluehost

Transcript

You can also download the transcript of this show:

Bob Dunn: Hey everyone and welcome back to the WP eCommerce Show. Bob Dunn here, also known as BobWP on the web. Today we are talking about choosing your theme for your eCommerce site. Now I know from my own experience and working with others over the years, finding a theme is similar to going down a rabbit hole. And for the person just starting with WordPress and thinking of an online store, it can even be more daunting. In an earlier show in our last season I touched on this subject, but I felt it need to be revisited. It’s time to bring in someone experienced in the theme marketplace to chat with us. And that is Chris Tuttle, Training Manager at MOJO Marketplace. Hey Chris, welcome to the show.

Chris Tuttle: Hey Bob.

Bob: Before we get knee deep into themes, can you tell us a bit about MOJO Marketplace?

Chris: Absolutely. MOJO Marketplace is an awesome theme marketplace where professional developers can come and sell their WordPress Themes. We have an awesome audience, awesome community and we’re really excited to be a part of the WordPress community as well.

Bob: I know that it’s overwhelming and sometimes instead of people going to Google and to start searching, which I’ll be asking you a bit more about, they like having a marketplace where they can actually go through it all in one spot rather than going from site to site.

Benefits of using a theme marketplace

I’m going to start out by touching on the direct experience you’ve had with the marketplace. Can you tell me what advantages a new WordPress user would find when visiting a site such as MOJO Marketplace to find a theme versus randomly going online and starting with a Google search like, “Hey, I’m going to Google search ‘WordPress theme’?” What do you think?

Chris: When you come to the marketplace you have a lot of tools available to help you narrow your search down. Categories, tags, as well as the niche themes that are out there. You can even call and talk to somebody. We have specialists here that can help you work through finding the theme that’ll work for you. It’s super important to be able to have assurance when you’re looking for a theme that it’s going to maintain its updates, that there’s going to be continued support as well. Here at MOJO Marketplace, we offer awesome support for the themes.