Chapter 2: Top Small Business Themes
Posted on November 30, 2023 | Updated on January 10, 2024
Many new business owners know they need an online presence but may not know where to start or what small business themes are available. WordPress is an easy way to set up a website in a few days. You can add plugins, features and content as your business grows.
According to the Small Business Administration, there are approximately 33.2 million small businesses in the United States. The number has been steadily growing since the pandemic, even with a percentage failing every year. More and more entrepreneurs are seeing the benefits of working for themselves rather than a corporation.
As a small business owner, you already have to get marketing buzz going, keep track of inventory and sales, finesse new customers and come up with the ideas that drive growth. Building a website should be intuitive but choosing a theme for the site can be time consuming.
Fortunately, we’ve done the legwork for you so you can jump right in and start building your brand and finding new leads. Whether you’re determined to make an impact on your community through beautification projects or you want to make a strong impression, we dug through dozens of small business themes and found the ones that will work for any industry.
What to Look for in Small Business Themes
Most small businesses start on a small budget. One thing you must look for in your theme of choice is the ability to scale up as your brand grows. Start with a lite version and upgrade to pro, for example. You should also look for small business themes with the following features:
- Clean, uncluttered look
- Traditional placement for navigation and contact information to build trust
- Place for featured images to run specials and sales
- Customizable color scheme to match your brand’s palette
If you sell products, you’ll also want a theme that integrates nicely with WooCommerce and other shopping carts.
Some of Our Favorites
We took the time to narrow our lists down to a handful of favorites. These are themes we feel would work well for a small business in almost any industry. They are easy to install, customize and upgrade. We also leaned on the themes that have a free or inexpensive basic package so you can reserve your budget for getting the word out about your new brand.
Recore
Recore theme is by Webilizar and uses some curves to create an asymmetrical look that’s eye-catching. Notice the swoosh at the bottom of the hero area. One of the things we like best about Recore is how easy it is to customize images, colors and text. Even if you don’t have a lot of coding knowledge, you can tweak the settings for this WordPress small business theme and create something unique and professional.
Although the maker offers a free version, the upgrade to professional is a mere $15. It could be worth an upgrade to gain additional customizations.
Small Business
Small Business adds a bright pop of color to your design and lays everything on a grid for a clean, structured look. The theme would suit any traditional business well. The theme comes with a built-in slider so you can showcase what you do. This theme is particularly well suited to a brand offering any type of business services.
You could also use the Small Business theme for service-based companies, such as house cleaning, renovations and landscaping.
FreshSpin FSE
FreshSpin FSE has a unique niche for laundry services. However, the theme is customizable, so you could swap out the images for any type of business. We like this one for a startup offering to pick up and finish people’s laundry or for one filling commercial needs, such as uniform or towel washing.
We love the big images and ample white space around photos and text in this design. It’s clean and uncluttered to put the focus on the unique value proposition of the business.
FastShop E-Commerce
FastShop E-Commerce is a child theme of NewStore. You’ll need to download both to use this theme but it will be worth it for the unique look and boxed appearance that is clean, uncluttered and beautiful. You can swap out the color of the theme but we like this golden yellow because it isn’t one you see often in small business themes.
The maker of this theme is Theme Farmer. In addition to the theme above, you can download industry-specific child themes that might be better suited to your small business.
Our Winner: E-Commerce WP
E-Commerce WP is by Ceylon Themes. We chose this one as a winner because it has a modern layout and child themes you can download to customize it even more. The theme is particularly well suited to an online store selling clothes, jewelry or products of any type.
We like the Smart E-Commerce child theme above because of the large images in the slider and the nice, boxy layout.
Some of the benefits of the theme include:
- Mobile responsiveness
- Compatible with WooCommerce
- Supports RTL languages
- Beginner friendly
You can play around with this theme, test different child versions, swap colors and make it your own. Once you finish customizing, no one will ever know it’s from a ready-made WordPress theme.
Find the Best Small Business Themes for Your Brand
Figuring out which theme works for your small business is challenging. The examples above are a great place to start, and you know which is our favorite one. Select what works for your industry and will grow with your brand as you gain customers and add services.
