Popcorn Theme Review- The Fastest WordPress Theme for Affiliate and Content Sites

In the recent Core Web Vital update, Google has stressed the speed of a website or blog, especially on mobile devices. Speed is one of the ranking factors that Google uses to feature articles on top of SERPs. The theme is one of such aspects of our blog that influences the look, design, and speed of any blog.

There are many lightweight WordPress themes available but the Popcorn theme is super fast and perfect for any small or large affiliate site. We tested the theme and thus come up with the Popcorn theme Review.

Popcorn Theme Review:

The popcorn theme is developed by Phil Lankester, Alex cooper, and Carl Broadbent.

Phil Lankester: He is a technology geek with 20+ years of experience, he runs Spidrweb, a digital Solution provider based in Hampshire, UK.

Alex Cooper: Alex is a full-time Digital Creator, Developer, Affiliate Marketer, and Youtuber from the UK. He runs a blog and Youtube channel in the name of WP Eagle. He teaches how to create and manage affiliate sites online. Alex shares his online journey of creating sites on his Youtube channel.

Carl Broadbent: Carl is now a full-time digital assets creator. He owns some mega sites and also runs a Youtube channel in his name. He also shares his blog case studies regularly on his channel.

Popcorn Theme Features:

• It’s a super Fast WordPress Theme.
• Very easy to customize within the theme customizer.
• No need for Page Builders so no unnecessary codes and bloats
• It has been designed with a content-first approach, so it is suitable for Small affiliate sites and large content sites
• It takes only a few minutes to set up the blog
• It supports all Popular plugins Like AAWP and Rank Math required for any affiliate sites
• You get a lifetime update for free with this theme
• You can use this theme with an unlimited no of sites without paying anything extra
• One can customize the theme according to their needs with a child theme.
• Mobile Responsive theme
• Unlike the Generatepress theme, it allows you to set menus at 3 different locations.

Pros and Cons of Popcorn Theme:

Pros:

Here are the pros of the Popcorn theme

Cost: It is super economical if you compare its cost with other top WordPress Themes. The theme costs only 99$ for a Lifetime with updates and support. You can use this theme on unlimited websites.

• The cost of Astra Pro Theme with a Lifetime Update is 249$.
• The Cost of the Generatepress Pro theme for a lifetime is 249$.
• OceanWP costs 99$ per year for premium support and unlimited site uses.

SEO: The popcorn theme is highly optimized for SEO. One of the cool features of this theme is that it sets your social media links as no-follow. It helps curb link juice from flowing outwards.

Cons:

• It is not suitable for E-commerce sites.
• Support chat is not available directly but you can join the Facebook community to seek any help.

Why popcorn Theme?

These are the 5 reasons why you should choose Popcorn over any other theme for your affiliate site.

• It’s super-fast, 
• Easy to customize within WP customizer(No Page Builder)
• It loads fast because it has No extra CSS or Javascript
• Decent Look for an affiliate or content site
• Amazing Price of 99$ for Lifetime with Support

My Experience and Why I Recommend

 

I started my online journey in 2020 not very long but I have created over 100 websites and I manage 10+ sites myself. These are a mix of affiliate and content sites. One thing I always end up doing midway is changing the theme. A blog with 10-20 posts on shared hosting is fine but when it grows to 100 posts you start to worry about the speed. 

Google’s Core web vital update has given a headache to many bloggers who never thought of optimizing their blogs for speed score.

But Popcorn Theme is already optimized for speed and you just need to install the theme and forget about the speed issues forever.

Here is a screenshot of GTMetrix and Google Page Speed Insights of Our affiliate Site with Popcorn Theme:

Google Page Speed Score:

GT Metrix Report:

Factors that contribute to the Speed of a Site:

Theme:

Themes decide the look and design of any website or blog. To build a nice-looking website you need to put many design features, plugins, codes, CSS, and many other things which slow down websites. A lightweight theme is always recommended for any site or blog. Some of them are Generate Press, Astra, Wp Ocean, and many more. 

Use of Page Builders:

But one of the biggest challenges of using these themes is that you need a page builder to design the pages. Page Builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi adds a lot of codes and bloat the site. It results in poor speed scores. New age themes like Kadence use Gutenberg to edit and design websites that make sites faster.

Hosting:

Most of us start small and use shared hosting for our blogs. Shared hosting offers limited resources and when a site grows it takes time to load hence speed decreases.

Plugins:

As the site grows you add more features to your site and these require more plugins, codes to be installed in WordPress which results in poor page speeds.

Final Wrap:

Affiliate sites do not need to be too much attractive and rich in features because they are built to review and recommend products they have used in their life. They also tell you how to use a certain product based on their experiences. If you are looking to build an affiliate site or already have one then a Popcorn theme is the best in terms of Look, Speed, and Cost.  

Buy a popcorn theme, set up your blog, and forget about speed scores.