Best WordPress Themes for Blogging | HostGator

If you want your WordPress blog to succeed you’re going to need a great theme. Although your content and messaging may be top notch, the look and feel of your site have a greater influence on your readers than you may think.

If your site is distracting, crowded, or uses a low-quality font your users won’t stick around to actually read what you’ve written. This is where your WordPress theme comes in.

If you’re looking for a WordPress theme to spruce up your blog, take a look at some of our favorites in this compilation of the top WordPress themes for blogging!

10 Best WordPress Themes for Blogging

Your WordPress theme should flawlessly highlight your words in a way that makes readers want to spend hours on your site. Luckily, you don’t have to spend time looking for the best WordPress theme for your new blog.

Below you’ll find 12 of the best WordPress themes for blogging.

If you’ve been blogging for any time at all, then you’re probably familiar with Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income. Well, this blog theme is modeled after his website.

It’s designed to provide an easy reading experience while offering you plenty of ways to monetize your website. The homepage is equipped with three different preset layouts and templates, along with eight different areas for widgets.

If you’re a blogger who’s looking to monetize your content or sell products and services then this theme is a great choice. Plus, it’s built on top of the trusted Genesis framework and is fully responsive for all desktops and mobile devices.

Typology is an incredible minimalist design theme for bloggers. It features rich and eye-catching colors, contrasted with white space and clear typography. The obvious focus of this theme is stunning typography.

It also offers some cool features like showing the time it’ll take to read each post, along with stunning quotes, and various typeset theme options.

You’ll also find five different homepage customization options, which include the ability to add background images, highlight your most recent blog posts in slider format, or include the popular parallax scrolling effect.

Divi from Elegant Themes is one of those rare WordPress blog themes that can basically do anything. It’s equipped with nearly endless possibilities. The built-in drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to create your own layouts, pages, and templates.

It’s equipped with over 46 different content models that you can plugin into different pages or even blog posts. For example, you’ll be able to add things like a portfolio element, pricing table, email forms, audio players, and a lot more.

Plus, it has a cool duplicator feature that enables you to set up an element and push that out across every page on your site. Talk about a time-saving feature! 

If you want ultimate freedom when building out your site, then Divi might be the blog theme for you.

If you’re a blogger who relies on photography to help get your message across then Magnus is the perfect theme for you.

The theme is heavily image-focused, which means you better have some high-quality photography to back up your words. The home page acts as a portfolio page for your images and headlines. Plus, it’s equipped with a cool hover effect to make your site seem cutting-edge.

Once you click through to one of your blog posts the image will be highlighted at the top of the page, full-screen, with your text appearing underneath in a stunning and readable font.

If you’re looking for a blog theme that places a focus on your images, as well as text, then Magnus is worth a test drive.

If you don’t want to spend any money on your theme just yet, then Hemingway can be a great choice. This free theme for WordPress blogs is simple and offers plenty of whitespace.

Since it’s a free theme you won’t find a ton of customization options or features, but it will be incredibly easy to get your blog online.

It’s equipped with a 2-column layout, a large custom header image, and even the fancy parallax scrolling feature. When creating blog posts using this theme you’ll also be able to choose between 4 different blog post formats.

For bloggers on a budget, this simple design is one of the best free responsive WordPress themes to check out.

Authority is a theme that’s modeled after Matthew Woodward’s six-figure blog. It’s a clean theme that highlights your blogroll on the homepage, along with a sidebar where you can showcase an opt-in box, welcome message, most popular posts, and more.

If you’re a blogger who’s looking to monetize their site, then this theme will make it easy. It’s built to help make creating affiliate content and review content easier. Plus, it’s Google AdSense ready, so you don’t have to deal with adding any custom code to your site.

This WordPress theme for blogging is feature packed and perfect for site owners who want to turn their blogs into an online brand.

Hero is a minimalist and responsive theme that’s focused on design. One thing is for sure, this theme looks good.

The home page has a parallax banner that you use to tell visitors what your blog is about. Beyond that, you’ll be able to highlight your recent projects or blog posts. The blog page is quite simple but provides a clean and easy reading experience.

This WordPress blog theme is simple, but if you want a theme without all the frills, that lets you get down to writing, then check out this theme.

Modern Studio Pro is an elegantly designed theme built on top of the Genesis framework. You can opt for a classic blog layout with the sidebar on the right, or have your posts take up the entire screen.

The focus of this theme is soft and readable typography, along with plenty of whitespace. If you’re tired of cluttered websites, then this theme might be perfect for you.

You can easily customize this blog theme through the built-in theme customizer, and get your blog up and running very quickly. There aren’t a ton of additional features for this theme, but it truly does shine in its simplicity.

This theme is a StudioPress classic. It’s been around for quite some time, but its fully responsive design has withstood the test of time. The core focus of this WordPress blog theme is on highlighting your words.

You can choose between multiple different sidebar arrangements, along with a customizable field that’s directly below the header.

Since this theme is so simple it looks good on any screen size and always manages to place the readers focus on your content. If you want a simple, yet flexible theme, the give eleven40 Pro a try.

Candor is designed for bloggers who intend to build a business around their writing. The homepage is clean and elegant, and you have the option of integrating an email sign up box above the fold.

It doesn’t have a ton of different customization options, but it does offer you four different layouts to choose from that will give your site a unique feel.

Overall, this responsive design theme is easy to use on both computers and mobile devices and offers your visitors a solid reading experience, while still giving off some creative flair.

Vilva Pro is a visually stunning theme built for bloggers that relies heavily on photo content blocks.

This theme is a great option if you want that “blog” look with the ability to hyper-customize your site to reflect your personality. The theme has multiple customization features – including 48 home page layouts and 19 options for the header.

Out of the box, this theme is mobile responsive and cross browser compatible. Plus, it comes with extensive documentation to guide you through how to set up your site.

Which WordPress Blogging Theme Will You Choose?

Having the right WordPress theme for blogging is extremely important and will set the standard for what users can expect to see on your site. The best theme for your blog is completely personal but remember, this is how users will recognize your brand and interact with your site. Hopefully, the themes above will point you in the right direction and help you get closer to finding the perfect WordPress theme for your blog!

Kevin Wood writes about technology and human potential. You can find him at his virtual homes Wooden Writing and Counter Culturist.

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