How To Build Your Online Presence On The Cheap – Step 5: The Do-It-Yourself Website Theme

This is the 5^th installment of the series, so if you are just arriving you should start at the beginning. Also be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed, sign up to receive updates via email (I promise – no spam!) and bookmark this site so you don’t miss any updates!

In the previous step we got your domain name, signed up for your hosting server and installed WordPress. In this step we’ll look at finding the right theme for your brand.

FINDING A THEME

For the uninitiated, a WordPress theme is the look and style and functionality of the website. Everything from the layout, images, colors, font styles and more are determined by the theme you are using. It is possible to have and try out multiple themes on your website with a simple click of a button or two, but you can only have one theme activated at a time. There is a cool little plugin called “Theme Test Drive” that enables you to test out a theme on a live site without anyone else being able to see it, which can come in handy if you are indecisive or if you stumble on a theme you like further down the road. So keep in mind that while you do want to settle on a theme that you will use for a while to build your online presence, one of the beauties of WordPress is that it’s relatively easy to change the theme and plugins, so nothing has to be permanent.

This is the place you could spend an incredible amount of time, so I would recommend starting out with a plan rather than diving straight in. There are countless free and premium themes available and just as many websites with lists of the best of each type (“Top Minimalist Themes”, “Best Red Themes”, etc.). Run a quick search on Google for WordPress themes and you’ll see what I mean.

Better yet, search for WordPress themes on the bkmacdaddy links page to see the most recent related articles. Here are some of the results as of this writing:

10 Sites To Find The Most Amazing WordPress Themes - http://is.gd/1Pvd5

16 Premium ArtWorks WordPress Themes For Free – http://bit.ly/1AHhrZ

Free Paper WordPress Themes – http://bit.ly/3tdVx

30 Fresh WordPress Themes, Domain Names & Brand Packs – http://bit.ly/OVOCy

Websites where you could find great WordPress themes – http://bit.ly/18ct4E

6 FREE WordPress Themes You Need Today – http://bit.ly/23nINi

20+ Free & Stylish Typography WordPress Themes – http://bit.ly/16dO49

So you can see how this could take a bit of time. There is also a pretty good search feature built into the administration side of WordPress that allows you to define parameters and preview themes, but I would not recommend using it if you are looking to save time. Before you dive in and spend the next 3 months scanning through theme showcases and roundups to find the one that catches your eye, here are some suggestions to hopefully streamline the process:

Start With Your Goals (again)

What are you trying to accomplish with your online identity? This is again important because you don’t need to spend time looking at corporate themes if you are starting a design blog. Narrow your theme search by aligning it with your goals. However, don’t limit yourself entirely to a specific genre because you might find something outside the norm that will work for you.

Set A Budget

It is pretty likely you are reading this post because you have little or no money to spend, so rest assured that there are an outrageous number of very high-quality themes available. If this is the case for you, refine your search to free showcases only. However, if you have the money to invest in what is called a “Premium” theme – usually somewhere between $30-$100 – you can step up a bit to some themes that have more polish, functionality and uniqueness than most free themes. Personally, I wouldn’t spend any money on a premium theme – not just because I can design my own, but because there are so many GREAT free ones! Still, if you have a bit more money to invest you can get a custom theme made to order that is built around your logo and color scheme. Obviously this is the optimal way to go because you should end up with a one-of-a-kind website that doesn’t look like anyone else’s. If this is your desire and something you wish to explore, it is a service I provide for a relatively reasonable price. Just email me and we can discuss the possibilities!

Make Your Own Style Guide

Have you ever redesigned a room in your house? Part of the preparation is to look through magazines and TV shows to find color palettes you like. Usually you will go to the paint store and look through the color samples and try to match different colors together to create an appealing look that matches your style. Then you will find furniture and all of the other elements for the room that you desire, careful to make sure they each contribute to the overall look and style you want. I’m sure you see where I’m going with this. Put together a style guide for the theme search that includes the following:

» Color palette (usually 2-4 colors is best to keep from overwhelming your visitors. Of course you also want it to match well with your logo.)

» Typography (look at how websites you like use type – is it legible? Large enough? Distracting? What fonts are incorporated?)

» Layout (1, 2 or 3 columns? What type of content will reside in each column? Do you want a cleaner, minimalist layout or a high-content, news magazine-type of layout? Do you need space for advertising?)

Make A Shopping List

You may not even know all of the elements you will want to include in your website, and it is likely you will come up with more even after it’s been up for a year! So it’s a good idea to have an ongoing list easily accessible to help you decide on a theme.

Most current quality themes will be “widget-ready”, which means you can infinitely and easily add widgets to your site as you desire. Widgets are plugins to WordPress that add various types of functionality, usually to the sidebar column. Having that expandability is one of the best features of WordPress! Still, it will be prudent to know that, although the themes you look at will not be utilizing every single element you are going to want to use, they will have the ability and layout that best suits your needs. The best way to do this is to have your list of those needs before you start. I’ll start you with some “must-haves” for building your online presence and you can add to it as you see fit:

» Basic social media integration capabilities (Twitter feed, Digg button, Flickr photos, Facebook status, etc.)

» RSS subscription

» Ad space (if you intend to get to a point of selling advertising)

» Links to latest news or articles in your related field

» Easy to find and navigate blog components (comments, category and page navigation, etc.)

» Anything else you can think of…

When working with a designer/developer (me!) each of these elements and more are easily configurable to your liking. Some designers will also assist you for a reasonable fee in customizing a theme of your choosing to make minor adjustments, so that may be a less expensive route that will aid in getting you up and running.

These are just a few primary considerations and not nearly comprehensive, but if you start your theme search with these preparations you should save a significant amount of time. Also keep in mind that WordPress has been around for several years now and has gone through several versions, so it is important to make sure your chosen theme is not so old or outdated that it doesn’t function with the newest version of WordPress.

It may be wise to set a deadline as well, because, as I said earlier, this can become a very long process. There are so many great themes available and more being created daily, so don’t get caught up bookmarking 200 themes to choose from. Try finding 3-5 you really like. You can try each of them out easily in your WordPress installation to make your final decision. Remember – your decision upon a theme is not final! You can change it later if you want and it’s pretty simple to do.

Now start your search! You may want to create a bookmark folder in your browser to save the themes that catch your eye so you can find them easily to review and compare later.

Once you find the few themes that you want to try, go ahead and download them to your computer. They will usually be downloaded in a compressed “zip” file.

Now log into the admin side of WordPress and navigate to the Theme area by clicking on the left sidebar on Appearance and then clicking on Add New Themes.

This will open up the built-in theme search feature, which we are avoiding for the time being. Toward the top left of this page click on the link labeled Upload, which will show the following page.

Click on the button labeled Browse and navigate to the place on your hard drive where you have saved the theme(s). Select the zip file you are going to upload and then click the button labeled Install Now.

Wait for it to upload,and then click on the link labeled Activate.

Now click on the button at the top left of the page right next to the name of your site labeled Visit Site to see your new theme!

Keep in mind that you haven’t added any plugins or content yet so it will be a little bare. But in the next installment of this series you’ll learn how to add plugins and content to get your site ready for sharing! Hopefully by then you will have found and installed your theme and will be ready to go!

Please leave any questions or comments you may have below. I respond pretty quickly so don’t hesitate to ask for help or give additional suggestions if you have them. Good luck in your theme search – and have fun!

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