Blog | Bootstrap Blogger | Business Internet Marketing You Can Grasp

Adding a New Theme to Your WordPress Site

Written on Jan 22, 2010 by Karilee in What-Why-How, WordPress Setup

So What Is A WordPress Theme?

A theme, in WordPress, is a template that controls the look and feel of your entire blog. It doesn’t change the content, but it changes the look in powerful ways, on every page of your site or blog. By default, a new WordPress install is functional, but it doesn’t have a lot of visual appeal. Have a look a the picture below to see what this site would look like if it was using the default WordPress theme that you get when WordPress is first installed:

Why You’ll Change Your Theme

It’s easy to change your WordPress theme. It’s fun. You can see the results before you try it. You can change to another WordPress theme almost instantly. When you’re first setting up your site, you’ll probably try out a few different themes. Each may have its own strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes the theme you initially choose isn’t right for your type of content, or is buggy.

Once you get serious about your site, you may want to get a premium (paid) WordPress theme, because they are often more flexible, more powerful, easier to make changes in, and of course better-supported. Some premium themes, like the one I use here, allow you to change colors and fonts without knowing how to change CSS code, and have features built in that support SEO (Search Engine Optimization) extra well. Some of my sites use free themes, but I chose the Headway premium theme for this site, and I’m glad I did. Watch the videos on the Headway site for an idea of the power of this custom theme.

Before You Change Your Theme

It’s always a good idea to back up your WordPress installation regularly, and before making any changes. Changing WordPress themes isn’t normally a risky activity… but it doesn’t hurt to be safe. I’ll post soon on how to do your backups automatically, so you never risk forgetting.

Changing Your WordPress Theme

Installing a new theme is incredibly easy in WordPress. As of version 2.9, you don’t even have to leave your WordPress Control panel. Just click on Appearance, Themes, and you’ll see thumbnail images of the themes you have installed and can choose from.

If you want to preview any of the choices, just click the thumbnail image. If you like the look of the theme, you can choose Activate in the upper right corner of the preview window. If you don’t, just choose the X in the upper left corner to close it.

To find a new WordPress theme, pick Add New Themes on the Appearance Menu. You’ll be able to search for new themes from within WordPress. You can search by keyword, author or a tag. You can easily indicate colors or other features you’d like in the theme. Perhaps you want a red and black two-column theme. If so, you can make the appropriate choices and see what’s available.

You can select Preview or Details to get more information about any theme that’s available. Once you find a new theme you like, just click Install.

Additional Sources For Themes

Not every free theme that’s available will come up when you search from inside WordPress. You may find more by searching the internet for “free WordPress theme”, or you can just go directly to the WordPress site to browse through over 1000 free themes, complete with ratings. I’ll cover installing themes from outside WordPress another day.

This post is part of my free series of lessons on creating a business website for under $10. Please tell others about it!

If you have questions about installing a WordPress theme, please post them. What’s your favorite WordPress theme?

Please Share:

PDF

Tags: learn, WordPress blog, WordPress Theme

Creating Your First Post in WordPress

Written on Jan 11, 2010 by Karilee in What-Why-How

0 Comments - Leave a comment!

So, your WordPress installation is all set up, and you’re excited about creating your first post. That’s great, let’s go through the process together, step by step, and develop good habits from the start.

The way you create your posts will impact your website’s visibility on the search engines later, so let’s learn to do it effectively.

The Step By Step Instructions

(see the picture below if you’re having trouble finding something)

Take a moment to think about who you are writing for. Who is your audience? What do they care about?
What do you plan to write about? List 2-3 points you want to discuss.
Log into your WordPress dashboard and choose Posts, Add New.
If there’s only one line of icons above the post window, hit the last icon, Show/Hide Kitchen Sink. Then you’ll have more buttons to play with.
Choose a Category for your post. Just hit +Add New Category if you haven’t set up the one you want yet.
Drag the bottom right corner of the posts window to make it bigger, if you like.
Create a Post Title that clearly describes what you’re writing about. Having keywords in it is great, but not necessary. It’s more important to make it descriptive and interesting.
Break up your post with subheadings. Highlight them and use the Format drop-down on the second line of posting icons to apply the Header 2 or Header 3 style. Using styles for headings will help search engines understand your site better later, and that makes for better page ranking.
Check for sentences and paragraphs that are too long. Break ‘em up!
Check spelling… little red dots under what you typed may mean you made a mistake. Fix those.
Add Post Tags. These are usually 1-2 word descriptions of what you wrote about. You can change them or add more later, but put on at least a couple. We’re creating good habits here!
Add at least one image. You can get it from Flickr, if it’s licensed correctly for your use, or use a picture or image you create yourself. Right above the icons at the top of your post window, you’ll see the words Upload/Insert followed by four buttons. The first button allows you to Add An Image. Be sure to give the creator of the image credit.
Tweak the look… add any bold or italic or colors needed, but don’t get carried away.
Hit Save Draft if you want to put the post up later, or Publish to put it live on your website right now!

The Numbers On The Picture Match The Steps Above

Do NOTS For Creating Posts In WordPress

Avoid copying and pasting content from Microsoft Word or similar programs. If you must paste from Word, use the Paste from Word button with the “W” on it, on the second icon bar.

Of course, don’t take content from any site without permission. That’s not a reputation you want to build for your business.

Image Credit: Karilee Orchard

Please Share:

PDF

Tags: first website, learn, WordPress blog

Three Words For The New Year

Written on Jan 1, 2010 by Karilee in Entrepreneurship

1 Comment - Leave a comment!

Jonathan Fields from Awake At The Wheel talks about his 10 Driving Keywords for 2010. That led me to Chris Brogan’s post on his 3 words for 2010, which is by now an ongoing tradition at his blog.

More Useful Than New Years Resolutions

I have to agree with many commenters on those posts that this technique is more useful, for me, than creating resolutions for New Years. If you take Chris Brogan’s advice to go a little deeper with the words, past simple goals to symbolic guideposts for your year, the thinking exercise definitely becomes more useful.

…what I’m trying to do with the words is come up with something that would take more than a sentence to describe, but that when you think about it, the ideas explode out to fill your head with thoughts of how you might want to conduct yourself.

- Chris Brogan

Take a few minutes to ponder where you want to go in this new year and decade, with your life and your business.

My 3 Words for 2010

Here are my words for my life and for this blog in the upcoming year, as well as some of what they evoke for me. Some of my definitions won’t make a bit of sense to you without the stories that go with them, but what’s important is that you choose words that have rich meaning for you.