Choosing a Theme For Your WordPress Website

Choosing a Theme/Template for your site
Once you have successfully installed WordPress to your domain, you’ll see a very basic yet clean site:

The above might show a different style depending and on theme has been set as the default one.

Note: Some hosts will use an out dated version of WordPress to install for the first time. Dont worry about this, as it can be updated once the install is completed.

But you don’t want to look like everyone else, do you? That’s why you need a theme. A theme is a pre-designed template that tells WordPress how your website should look. See a sample version below:

Here’s where it gets fun: There are thousands of awesome, professionally designed themes you can choose from and customize for a site that’s all your own. But each and everyone can be styled more to make it look original on your site. A theme is just giving you the starting point. If you are clever enough, you can actually start from fresh and create your own theme, but I assume because you are here, you are not at that stage yet.

Here’s how to find a theme you like:

1. Log into your WordPress dashboard
If you’re not sure how, type in: http://yoursite.com/wp-admin (replace “yoursite” with your domain).
This is what the WordPress dashboard looks like:

Everything is easily labelled. If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed, don’t sweat it – I’m going to show you where to go next.

2. Access FREE themes
Once you’re in the dashboard, you’ve got access to over 1500 free themes! Just look along the side bar (on the left ) for “Appearance”, then click “Themes”.
If you want something more professional than what you will find in the Free WordPress.org repository, you can head over to somewhere like ThemeForest.net where there’s a HUGE library of paid themes to pick from at varying costs.
Of course there are many other places you can buy themes as well, however Themeforest is one off the biggest.
But before you do that, I really suggest you at least try spending some time browsing the free themes. Many of them are actually really professional and well made; so don’t write them off.

As you can see above, installing a new theme for your website is very easy.
You can search for specific keywords and/or use filters to find themes that suit your style. Finding the perfect theme can take a while, but it’s worth it. Sometimes choosing a theme can be one of the longest parts of creating your website.

You should also look for themes that are “responsive”, as this means they will look good on any mobile device.
Just put it in as one of your keywords, and you’ll be all set!

Note: Google these days says if it is not responsive they will add your site but wont put it up near the top. So be prepared to never find your site on Google unless you have a site that is so unique, that your is the only one that will show when searching for it.

3. Install your new theme
Once you have found a theme you like, installing it is as simple as clicking “Install” followed by “Activate”.

IMPORTANT: Changing themes won’t delete your previous posts, pages and content. You can change themes as often as you want without having to worry about losing what you’ve created. However if you change your theme, some settings in WordPress will revert back to the defaults. So it is a good idea to spend some time choosing the right theme the first time.

Obviously if you choose a theme and load it and you find it isn’t what you like, then change it. Just don’t spend hours setting it up to find you change the theme and all that time has been wasted.