When we first started creating WordPress websites 16+ years ago, we didn’t know a lot about design. So, we spent a lot of time looking at different WordPress website examples to decide how we wanted our own sites to look.
WordPress is a popular content management system used by over 810 million websites, including blogs and online stores.
Here at WPBeginner, we’re huge fans of WordPress. In fact, we’ve built all of our own websites using this powerful platform. We know firsthand how flexible and effective WordPress can be for creating professional, engaging online experiences.
However, building a site from scratch can sometimes be difficult due to the unlimited possibilities. That’s why we’ve compiled the best website examples out there.
In this guide, we showcase 21+ excellent WordPress website examples you must check out so that you can see what a successful site looks like.
WordPress Website Examples: Our Top Picks
No time to read? Here are our top picks of the best WordPress website examples:
| Website Example | Category | Why We Like It |
|---|---|---|
| Awesome Motive | Business and Enterprise | Effectively establishes credibility by highlighting vital stats, products, and philanthropic impact. |
| SeedProd | Software | A clear layout that easily communicates features and includes testimonials to build trust. |
| WPBeginner | Blog | Maintains simplicity in design and offers a Glossary section for must-know WordPress terms. |
| The New York Times | News and Magazine | Uses a “NewsPrint” style theme to replicate old newspapers with big, bold headlines. |
| Sony Music | Music and Entertainment | Prioritizes branding with a responsive image slider showcasing musical artists. |
| R.E.D.D Superfood Energy Bars | E-Commerce | Clean and easily navigable layout. Effectively showcases colorful product packaging. |
| Nove | Agency | Beautiful design built specifically for podcasting, with quick access to the latest releases. |
| Sean O’Brien | Personal Brand and Portfolio | Instantly establishes credibility by highlighting accolades to attract business opportunities. |
| 99% Invisible | Podcast | Beautiful design built specifically for podcasting, with quick access to latest releases. |
| Pho Cafe | Restaurant | Makes it easy to book services with multiple CTAs. Includes beautiful custom cartoon art. |
If you need more information about these websites or check out other sites on the list, then please keep reading the article.
Why Use WordPress?
WordPress is a content management system that allows you to use plugins and templates to build a blog, business website, online store, professional portfolio, or any other type of site you’d like.
While there are many website builders out there, WordPress.org is by far the most popular, powering 43.2% of the entire internet! One of the best things about WordPress is its flexibility. By installing the right plugins, even beginners can build the site of their dreams.
For example, a plugin like SeedProd gives you hundreds of ready-made templates. All you need to do is use their drag-and-drop editor to design your website.
Or if you’d like to build an online store, the WooCommerce plugin lets you build product pages and checkout pages and set up payment gateways.
If you’ve come across a website that you want to emulate, you can use a tool like IsItWP or Built With. These tools will help you spot whether a website is using WordPress and provide a glimpse into some of the plugins they’re using.
How We Chose the Best WordPress Website Examples
To put together this list of the best WordPress website examples, we followed an evaluation process focusing on key factors that create a successful online presence.
With our years of experience in WordPress optimization, we considered the following criteria:
- User-friendliness: How easy the website is to navigate and use. We looked for an intuitive and responsive menu, clear calls-to-action, and logical page layouts that guide visitors effortlessly through the site.
- Readability: How clear and easy-to-read the content is on various devices. We assessed font choices, text spacing, and color contrast to ensure content remains legible across desktop and mobile screens.
- Conversion features: Design elements that encourage visitors to take action, like sign-up forms or buy buttons. We evaluated the placement, design, and effectiveness of these features in prompting user engagement and conversions.
- Speed optimization: Techniques used to make the website load quickly. We checked for optimized images, efficient coding, and the use of caching plugins to ensure fast loading times across different devices and connection speeds.
- Creative features: Special elements that make the site stand out and suit its purpose. We looked for creative uses of WordPress plugins and custom functionalities that enhance the user experience while aligning with the website’s goals.
- Online shopping elements: For online stores, how well they showcase and sell products. We assessed product displays, checkout processes, shopping carts, and overall shopping experiences.
- Attention-grabbing design: Visual elements that capture and keep visitors’ interest. We evaluated the use of color schemes, imagery, animations, and overall aesthetics that make a lasting impression on visitors.
With all that said, let’s get into the actual WordPress site designs you’ve been waiting for! We’ve broken down the WordPress site examples by category so you can check out websites that relate to the type of website you’re looking to build:
- Business and Enterprise WordPress Sites
- Software WordPress Sites
- Blog WordPress Sites
- News and Magazine WordPress Sites
- Music and Entertainment
- eCommerce WordPress Sites
- Agency WordPress Sites
- Personal Brand and Portfolio WordPress Sites
- Podcast WordPress Sites
- Restaurant WordPress Sites
- What Makes a Good Website Design?
- Building Your Own Amazing Website With WordPress
- Alternative: Hire a WordPress Website Design Service
Business and Enterprise WordPress Sites
Awesome Motive is the management company of WPBeginner. We recently redesigned the website to look a lot simpler and more elegant to attract more opportunities online.
Establishing trust and credibility is important for a business. The header features a subtle animation with the company’s mission as the welcome message. Below that, it shows vital stats, our products, job opportunities, and more.
The Awesome Motive website also highlights various important facts about the company, such as the number of sites using our software and the philanthropic impact we’ve had, which adds credibility. The site also reveals the big publications they’ve been featured on.
What we like about Awesome Motive:
- Subtle use of animation
- Vital stats like the number of sites using the software
- Showcase of publications the company’s been featured on
Houston Zoo has a simplistic design featuring a custom logo and a navigation menu on top. As you scroll down, you’ll find the logistical details of the zoo, such as how to purchase tickets, how to buy memberships, and business hours.
The homepage content area showcases tiles in a masonry grid with a click to load more button at the bottom.
What we like about Houston Zoo:
- Simplistic design with custom logo
- Clear, mobile-ready navigation menu
- Logistical details are prominently displayed
Grette is a Norway-based business law firm. Their website features a minimalist design, a collapsed navigation menu, staff profiles, and expertise pages.
A minimalist design works really well in a professional setting since flashy designs would look unprofessional and could hurt credibility. At the bottom of the page, they include contact details along with social sharing buttons, directing users to follow them on social media.
What we like about Grette:
- Minimalist design suitable for professional setting
- Collapsed navigation menu for a clean appearance
- Detailed staff profiles and expertise pages
Software WordPress Sites
SeedProd is the best drag-and-drop landing page plugin for WordPress we’ve tried, and its website clearly demonstrates it. When you head over to their website, you get a simple layout that easily tells users its features.
The homepage starts with a featured section detailing all of its capabilities and a large call to action button.
Across the page, you’ll find images that clearly show what the feature does so users can visually see how it works. At the bottom, you’ll find the testimonials section, which helps to boost credibility and build trust.
What we like about SeedProd:
- A simple layout clearly communicates features
- Large call-to-action button for user engagement
- Visual demonstrations of product functionality
WPForms is the best WordPress form builder plugin on the market, with over 6 million professionals who use it. Since it’s a partner company to SeedProd, it has a very similar layout.
That said, there is a section under the main fold of the homepage to showcase form page templates for different industries. This is helpful for visitors to see how the tool can work for their business. You’ll also find featured posts on the page, where users can learn about other ways to use the product.
What we like about WPForms:
- Clear layout similar to SeedProd for brand consistency
- Showcases form templates for different industries
- Featured posts section for additional product uses
Blog WordPress Sites
WPBeginner is the largest WordPress resource site aimed at helping beginners understand and perform just about any task on WordPress. Our blog focuses on tutorials and plugin suggestions to help WordPress users create beautiful, functional, and high-converting sites.
The blog’s design maintains simplicity and consistency throughout, with even spacing and white and orange color schemes.
Right off the bat, you’ll notice an opt-in form that directly leads to free training that gives an overview of all the important aspects of WordPress.
One cool feature of the blog is that it offers a Glossary section, so you can easily learn about terms that you might not understand. Since WordPress can be complicated at times, the Glossary serves as a dictionary that helps readers understand any confusing terms.
What we like about WPBeginner:
- Simple and consistent design with white and orange color scheme
- Opt-in form leading to free WordPress training
- Well-organized tutorials and plugin suggestions
Blog Tyrant is one of the best places to learn how to start a blog, get more traffic, and monetize your website. Right off the bat, you’ll notice a large hero image that instantly grabs the reader’s attention. It sets the tone that the blog is simple and fun to read. Besides that, you’ll notice social proof icons to build trust and establish authority.
This blog does a great job of using WordPress plugins to boost engagement. For example, they use OptinMonster, a tool for creating pop-ups. Blog Tyrant specifically offers strategic pop-ups, like discounts on web hosting or a lead magnet for a free e-book on starting a blog.
You might also want to check out our list of the most successful bloggers to follow for inspiration.
What we like about Blog Tyrant:
- Large, attention-grabbing hero image
- Social proof icons to build trust and authority
- Strategic use of pop-ups for lead generation
News and Magazine WordPress Sites
The New York Times was one of the first magazine sites to use the power of user-generated content backed by WordPress. They even developed a collaboration plugin for editors and journalists to work on the same article. That way, everyone can see the changes made to a post and who made them.
What makes The New York Times web design unique is that it uses a “NewsPrint” style theme to replicate old newspapers. But beyond that, they provide big, bold headlines to draw users’ attention to important stories while also providing plenty of navigation options.
What we like about The New York Times:
- “NewsPrint” style theme that looks like traditional newspapers
- Big, bold headlines to draw attention to important stories
- Multiple navigation options for easy content discovery
The Next Web is a leading online magazine covering topics like technology, science, the internet, and more. Its home page features a magazine layout with featured stories on top, followed by the latest articles, recent posts by category, and custom sections like deals.
It uses technologies like lazy loading, CDN, and aggressive caching to improve website speed and performance.
What we like about The Next Web:
- Magazine-style layout with featured stories on top
- Clear categorization of the latest articles
- Use of lazy loading and CDN for improved performance
Music and Entertainment
Sony Music clearly prioritizes branding and functionality on its WordPress website. The design features a responsive image slider that showcases musical artists under the Sony Music Label.
Also, they use a black, red, and white color scheme to match the company’s logo. Underneath that, they feature a news-like blog with all the recent events surrounding their company and an FAQ section for visitors inquiring about press contacts or royalties.
What we like about Sony Music:
- Responsive image slider showcasing musical artists
- The color scheme matches the company’s logo
- A news-like blog featuring recent events
Angry Birds is a popular mobile game. Its homepage features an image slider that directs visitors to all the different apps it offers. Every page uses fun visual graphics as the main backdrop, which works really well in maintaining the same spirit and consistency as the game itself.
At the top of that, you’ll find a main menu with options to download the app, buy merchandise, or watch other players play the game.
What we like about Angry Birds:
- Fun visual graphics consistent with the game’s spirit
- Image slider showcasing different apps
- Clear navigation for app downloads, merchandise, and gameplay videos
eCommerce WordPress Sites
12. R.E.D.D Superfood Energy Bars
R.E.D.D sells plant-based protein energy bars that come in all kinds of delicious flavors. After reviewing their site, we found that it’s easily one of the best WooCommerce stores you’ll find.
When you land on their website, you’ll notice they spotlight their colorfully packaged energy bars. Overall, the website layout is clean and easily navigable. You can shop online or find locations where their products are sold. At the top, they included a header bar, which informs shoppers about their free shipping offer when they spend over $40.
As you scroll down on the page, you’ll notice an Instagram feed showcasing all of their latest posts. Adding a social media feed is a great way to build a following on other platforms so they are up to date with everything about your brand.
What we like about R.E.D.D Superfood Energy Bars:
- Clean and easily navigable layout
- Website banner highlighting free shipping offer
- Instagram feed showcasing the latest posts
Nalgene uses the WooCommerce platform to sell high-quality water bottles for outdoor enthusiasts. Above the fold, you’ll notice floral designs with messaging that speaks to their target audience. There’s a search bar at the top, so visitors can easily find the products they’re looking for.
Below the fold, they include a list of all their featured water bottles, including their limited-edition options. This is a great way to display their most popular products and bring attention to them.
When you scroll down to the end, they have a pop-up that encourages people to join their newsletter in exchange for a 10% discount code, which is a good strategy for growing your email list.
What we like about Nalgene:
- Search bar for easy product discovery
- Featured water bottles section, including limited-edition options
- Newsletter sign-up with discount incentive
Agency WordPress Sites
Nove is an advisory agency that helps businesses interact with European institutions. Their website features a unique design with a fullscreen video background, transparent menus, and custom page templates for different sections.
What we like about Nove:
- Unique design with fullscreen video background
- Transparent menus for a sleek look
- Custom page templates for different sections
Unconquered is a New York City-based creative agency that specializes in brand development. Their homepage features a unique video slider and a floating logo that moves across the screen on mouseover.
What we like about Unconquered:
- Unique video slider on the homepage
- Floating logo that moves across the screen on mouseover
- Innovative use of interactive elements
Personal Brand and Portfolio WordPress Sites
Sean O’Brien is a 10-time Australian windsurfing champion and states it above the fold, providing instant credibility to his audience. His personal brand website is designed to attract sponsorships and business opportunities by highlighting his accolades and other partners he’s worked with.
On his media page, you’ll see image galleries of Sean representing brands using their fitness equipment or wearing their apparel. He even includes a grid-like section to highlight a portfolio of media coverage projects. When businesses look through his past partnerships, they can instantly know whether he is a good fit.
What we like about Sean O’Brien:
- A clear focus on attracting sponsorships and business opportunities
- Image galleries highlighting brand partnerships
- Grid-like section showcasing media coverage projects
Melyssa Griffin is a former teacher turned entrepreneur who now offers online courses and a coaching program to help people grow their businesses.
When you scroll down her page, she offers a ton of elements to build trust, such as case studies and success stories. Beyond that, she offers a lot of free resources, including a blog and online workshop.
Rather than sending a simple email pop-up, she uses a quiz for lead generation. This allows Melyssa to send a personalized offer based on the answers you provide.
What we like about Melyssa Griffin:
- Abundance of free resources, including blog and online workshop
- Innovative lead generation through quiz format
- Personalized offer based on quiz answers
Podcast WordPress Sites
99% Invisible is one of the most popular podcasts about design. Their website features a beautiful design built for podcasting with easy navigation and quick access to their latest episodes. It has a beautiful podcast player integrated into the site’s design.
What we like about 99% Invisible:
- Easy navigation to the latest episodes
- Integrated podcast player within the site design
- Clean layout focusing on content delivery
The Beerists podcast is a dedicated show for beer enthusiasts. They spend their time sampling and reviewing the taste of beer to give their followers the inside scoop.
When you land on their home page, you can listen to their latest episodes. They’ve also added short descriptions for each episode. In the sidebar, you’ll find archives and recent posts, allowing you to easily find previous episodes or content they’ve produced.
What we like about The Beerists:
- Short descriptions for each episode
- Sidebar with archives and recent posts for easy navigation
- A clear focus on the podcast’s niche (beer tasting and reviewing)
Restaurant WordPress Sites
Pho Cafe is a Vietnamese restaurant with many locations in the U.K. Every service business should make it as easy as possible to book their services, which is exactly what they do.
Rather than one CTA in the center of the page, they include menu items so visitors can see the menu, make restaurant reservations, order food deliveries, or view the nutrition label. They provide all the important information on the home page, so users won’t struggle to find the information they’re looking for.
As you scroll, you will see beautiful photographs of the food along with custom cartoon artwork, which is a nice touch to the website.
What we like about Pho Cafe:
- Important information prominently displayed on the homepage
- Beautiful food photography
- Custom cartoon artwork adds visual interest
Momofuku has a unique WordPress website design that differs from that of most businesses. Instead of the standard hero image, they include a grid layout with clickable images.
Each image takes you to important pages like group reservations, menu items, and even a hiring page. They feature a sidebar menu to help users navigate to other pages as well. At the bottom of the menu, you’ll find social sharing buttons so you can connect with them on other platforms.
What’s cool about Momofuku is that they have a separate e-commerce store that sells their best ingredients, including noodles, chili sauce, and more.
What we like about Momofuku:
- Unique grid layout with clickable images on the homepage
- Sidebar menu for easy navigation
- Separate e-commerce store for selling ingredients
What Makes a Good Website Design?
Great website design should always strike a balance between usability and visual aesthetics. Well-designed sites establish trust and guide visitors to take action, all while making the customer journey enjoyable.
Here are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind before you design your website:
- Mobile-first design: Google prioritizes responsive web designs when ranking pages. That means your users should be able to easily view and navigate your site on any device. The easiest way to ensure a mobile-first design is to use a responsive WordPress theme.
- Website speed: Your page speed affects your search rankings since it influences your page’s bounce rate. While it’s not part of the design, large images and media files can slow down your page speed. For more information, check out our ultimate guide to boost WordPress speed and performance.
- Easy navigation: Your visitors should be able to easily find what they’re looking for, whether that’s your services, products, or Contact Us page. Without clear navigation, many visitors will leave due to confusion.
- Engaging visuals: Your visuals should tell a story and match your brand identity. A company like Apple prides itself on sleek and minimalistic design to showcase elegance. Meanwhile, Lego appeals to kids, so they have more playful visuals.
- Readable fonts: Your typography needs to be readable so that users don’t have to squint to see your text. Times New Roman, Courier New, and Arial are all examples of web-friendly fonts. For accessibility, you may want to add a font resizer.
- Optimized call to action: While designs, fonts, and layouts should be consistent, your call to action button isn’t. Your CTA should stand out against other visual elements, which help lure users into taking the desired action.
Building Your Own Amazing Website With WordPress
All the websites featured in the list use unique custom designs using various technologies. However, one thing that is common among them is WordPress.
There are two types of WordPress websites. WordPress.com is a hosted solution, and WordPress.org (also known as self-hosted WordPress). See our guide on the difference between WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org.
We recommend using WordPress.org because it gives you access to all WordPress features out of the box.
You’ll need a domain name and a WordPress hosting account to start your own website with WordPress.org.
We suggest starting off with Bluehost. They are one of the biggest hosting companies in the world and have officially recommended WordPress as a hosting provider.
After signing up for hosting, follow our guide on how to make a website for step-by-step instructions.
Your WordPress theme controls the design of your website. All the websites mentioned above use a custom WordPress theme, which will cost you a lot of money.
If you are just starting out, then you can start with an existing WordPress theme. There are thousands of beautiful WordPress themes that you can install.
See some of our hand-picked lists of the best WordPress themes that you can try:
- Best free WordPress themes
- Best business themes for WordPress
- Best magazine-style WordPress themes
- Best WooCommerce WordPress themes
Alternative: Hire a WordPress Website Design Service
We understand that building a professional WordPress website can be daunting, especially if you lack the technical skills or simply don’t have the time to dedicate to the process.
In that case, WPBeginner Pro Services can help bring your vision to life quickly and easily.
We offer Custom WordPress Website Design services at affordable prices. We handle everything from a bespoke homepage design to blog setup and optimizing your site for search engines.
Plus, a dedicated project manager will be with you every step of the way, keeping you updated on progress and incorporating your feedback through multiple revisions.
We hope this article helped you find some excellent WordPress website examples to get inspired and motivated. You may also want to see our list of the most notable big-name brands that are using WordPress and our pick of the best WordPress eCommerce website examples.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Olaf
This is great information. I love articles where someone takes the time to curate a list of great websites to explore. When you’ve been building websites for a while, you eventually run out of ideas for doing things differently and innovatively. I specifically seek out these types of articles to absorb new energy and gain insights into the work of other web creators. Some of the websites on the list are absolutely perfect.
kzain
Wow, these websites are amazing! It’s inspiring to see what can be done with WordPress. At first glance, you’d never guess they weren’t built by some fancy coding gurus.
This really highlights how powerful WordPress is these days. With a great page builder, some premium templates, and of course, graphic talent and design sense, you can create something truly incredible.
Out of all of them, the Awesome Motive website really caught my eye. The design is so simple yet incredibly visually appealing. Thanks for sharing these inspiring examples!
Mrteesurez
This is inspiring, I appreciate you for presentating us these great WordPress websites to be a source of inspiration and giving more use case of Wordpress. I can see that WordPress is indeed powerful to be able to use to build different types of website across different industries from business and blog to ecommerce and Saas.
Thak you also for giving tips on things that makes a good website design. I have learnt a lot from this article.
Dennis Muthomi
Ive noticed several effective design patterns on these WordPress websites youv’e showcased here.
Three patterns I observed doing this well across multiple sites were:
1) Clear, explanatory homepage headings that communicate what the site offers, like SeedProd’s tagline “Build Landing Pages Fast”;
2) Prominent call-to-action buttons above the fold, like Awesome Motive’s “See Our Products” button; and
3) They’ve used images to complement the brand story
kzain
Those are powerful patterns indeed. Clear headings, strong CTAs, and strategic images are all essential for grabbing attention and guiding users. Thanks for dissecting them
Mrteesurez
I totally agree with your points. In my experience, having a clear headline and a strong call-to-action above the fold makes a huge difference. When I used SeedProd to build landing pages, just having a straightforward tagline and a well-placed CTA significantly boosted engagement. Adding images that align with the brand story really helps too, it makes the site feel more connected and engaging for visitors. Thanks for your observation.
Jiří Vaněk
Another indirect pattern that I’ve noticed, which often leads to success, is the use of colors. Many of these websites use bright and saturated colors. Color is something people perceive on a website, and from a psychological perspective, it has a huge impact because colors affect people differently each time. A well-chosen color scheme can significantly increase the potential for whether a user stays on the site or leaves immediately. For me, this was a huge lesson right from the start, and now I always think carefully about colors, often drawing inspiration from large, successful websites.
Jiří Vaněk
Thanks for inspiration. It’s interesting how WordPress is a versatile tool and how it’s really just a matter of graphic talent and a sense of web design. Some web designers are really brilliant and I always like to get inspiration from such sites.
Moinuddin Waheed
Amazing website designs and creativity.
seeing these websites gives a kind of sense that these might have been build by some very expert developers. But given the fact that they all use wordpress, these can be made with page builders and some premium templates.
personally, among these all,awesome motive website design simplicity and yet exceptionally visually appealing design is most captivating.
Thanks for these inspiring websites.
Pras
What the…. I’m speechless. These sites are freaking mind-boggling. Hahahha wow. Great job there. Thank you in advance. Take care
WPBeginner Support
Glad you like the example sites we’re listing
Admin
Monira
Nice and informative
WPBeginner Support
Thank you
Admin
fahim
how i can get your theme?
WPBeginner Support
Our theme is custom made and not available at the moment.
Admin
jeannie boyd
Your website is absolutely fantastic! The info you provide is so clearly written. I added it to my favorites since I’m probably going with word press. Thank you.
WPBeginner Support
Thank you and you’re welcome
Admin
Rahul Gupta
Great stuff!
Really informational and Helpful.
WPBeginner Support
Thank you, glad you found our content helpful
Admin
Ben Snow
I’m a little confused. Was the Nove site, for example, made with Beaver Builder? Is that why you have the link to using Beaver Builder to make custom page templates?
WPBeginner Support
Those links are to show how you can add that to your site should you want something similar
Admin
AKhi
Can you please help me with an article, where they will insrut how to make e-commerce website with WordPress.
Thank You!
WPBeginner Support
For creating a store, you would want to take a look at our guide here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-start-an-online-store/
Admin
Blue gold
Can you please write post on how to create website like amazon kindle where we sell books
WPBeginner Support
For what it sounds like you’re wanting, you may want to take a look at our article here: https://www.wpbeginner.com/wp-tutorials/how-to-create-an-online-marketplace-using-wordpress/
Admin
Hipcap
Thank you for the article! In developing my ideas for websites, so much of what I see online disappoints me. The examples you shared offer some great ideas for both what I’d like to accomplish and what I do not.
WPBeginner Support
Glad we could bring these to your attention
Admin