Lesson 4 – Choosing A Theme
What we’re going to cover
After this lesson you’ll have your theme installed and your site looking shiny and new.
1. What are themes?
If a WordPress install is the body of your site, your theme will be the fresh new outfit.
We’ll be looking at themes created specifically for the WordPress backend.
This means that in just a few clicks your theme can be added to your WordPress site.
Once installed, you’ll then personalise the look of your theme by updating your preferences with various options. All these options will be mapped out in documentation that comes with your theme.
Now, some people worry that “if anyone can buy a theme, can’t my site look identical to someone else’s?”.
A little bit “yes” but WAY more “no”
Firstly, as at March 2012 there were 644,275,754 active websites – growing at 5.1% per month (31.4 million). BusinessInsider.
That’s a lot of websites.
Most themes I use have been downloaded around 400 times. Some insanely popular themes have been download 10,000 plus times.
Each theme also comes with a huge amount of options, from layout to colours. Meaning two of the same theme can look entirely different.
If two people happened to have completely identical themes and settings, the chance of someone seeing both your sites is something like 0.000015%. And that’s if they even notice. (Don’t quote me on the math – but you get my point)
If you’re feeling that lucky, stop right now and go buy a lottery ticket.
Anyway, enough of my ranting. Lets move on!
2. Where to hunt for themes
There are two types of themes, free themes, and premium themes.
To no surprise, free themes are free, and premium themes are not.
What’s wrong with free themes?
Potentially nothing. However as the ancient internet proverb says, “a theme is only as good as its developer”.
When you go premium (generally a once off payment of $30-$100) you’ll get a better looking site, a superior build – meaning it loads faster and is loved by search engines, better documentation and also often human support (email/special access forums).
Don’t get me wrong, there are crappy premium themes as well…so it really comes down to buying GREAT themes from a TRUSTED places.
WARNING!!! Before you start searching for your theme it’s really important to focus on finding a theme that’s “really good” rather than “perfect”.
You can be sucked into the “theme vortex” just as easily as with YouTube – where one video turns into hours of funny cats and funny Idol auditions.
(Be strong, don’t click those links!)
Back to it.
In order for you to find the right theme, you’ll need to decide which group you come under:
It’s a one stop shop for selling online, best of all, it’s FREE!
WooCommerce will however require that you purchase a compatible theme.
You can technically get any WordPress theme to work but you’ll need to do some heavy backend code integration work. Trust me, it’s not worth it.
Where do I grab my themes?
I buy my themes from www.ThemeForest.net. It’s a massive, highly reputable site that offers great support and have extremely valuable reviews. These reviews help you weed out the dud themes and get closer to the golden slipper.
To find a WooCommerce compatible theme you can either click this link I’ve kindly created for you: WooCommerce Themes on ThemeForest
or
Follow these steps:
- Head to www.ThemeForest.net
- Hover over “WordPress” on the menu bar, then select “eCommerce”
- Then on the righthand side select “WooCommerce”
The quickest way to find the best themes is to filter by rating. I then open up each interesting theme in a new tab.
I then work my way through all the open tabs and view the demo of each. The demo gives you an idea of how your site can look while also showing you all the available widgets and options.
When you find a theme you like make sure you bookmark it, so you can easily find it later.
Where else can you get WooCommerce themes?
You can also buy WooCommerce themes directly from WooCommerce. They don’t offer a ton of options, but being built by Woo, they are very robust.
Next up, we’ll go through buying your theme.
It actually means you’ll have more template options. As our friends starting online stores require themes compatibile with an eCommerce plugin called WooCommerce.
You have free reign on all WordPress templates.
Where do I grab my themes?
I buy my themes from www.ThemeForest.net. They are massive, offer great support and have extremely valuable user reviews. These reviews help you weed out the dud themes and get closer to the golden slipper.
You’ll be able to use any theme listed on www.ThemeForest.net under the “WordPress” category.
Your real challenge will be sorting through the abundance of options. I’ll give you some pointers for filtering after the steps below.
To find a WordPress compatible theme you can either click this link I’ve kindly created for you: WordPress Themes on ThemeForest
or
Follow these steps:
- Head to www.ThemeForest.net
- Hover over “WordPress” on the menu bar.
- You can then click a relevant category or “Popular Items” to start exploring!
The way I like to filter through the themes is first by the suggested categories within “WordPress”.
Then, once i’m in a category I filter by “rating” and open up each interesting theme in a new tab.
I work my way through all the open tabs and view the demo of each. The demo gives you an idea of how your site can look while also showing you all the available widgets and options.
When you find a theme you like make sure you bookmark it, so you can easily find it later.
Next up, we’ll go through buying your theme.
3. Buying your theme
Buying a theme is really quite self explanatory, feel free to skip ahead to “Installing a theme” below.
One quick point: ThemeForest is part of the Envato group (a company started in Australia, yay!).
When you create an account with ThemeForest you have the option of either paying for your item directly or using credit, which gives you a discounted price.
Credit is uploaded in $20-$500 blocks.
Your credit is valid for their other sites as well, such as:
- CodeCanyon – awesome premium plugins
- GraphicRiver – tons of pro graphics/icons
- PhotoDune – top quality photos for sale
I use all these sites frequently so it makes sense for me to use credit rather than direct pay.
Completely up to you.
- Head back over to www.ThemeForest.net and select “Create an Envato Account”
- Add all your details and “Create Account”
- You’ll be sent an email confirmation. Click the email link
- Once back at ThemeForest click “Start using ThemeForest” and navigate to the theme you want to buy
- Click “Purchase” and select your desired payment method
- Once you’ve completed your payment you’ll end up in the “Downloads” section
- Hover over “Download” then click “Main File(s)”. You’ll now be downloading a zip file of your theme.
Note: You can also download the “Installable WordPress File”, however the “Main Files” typically contain the documentation of how to setup the theme.
Nicely done. Continue below to install your theme to your WordPress site.
4. How to: Install your theme to your WordPress site
Follow these steps to get your new look up and running!
- Ensure the zip file you downloaded from ThemeForest is somewhere easily accessible
- Unzip the zipped file
- The inside of your unzipped folder will look something like below. (If it doesn’t, you most likely downloaded the WordPress Install file, not the Main Files)
- Head to your website and log into the back end (www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin)
- Hover over “Appearance” and then click “Themes”
- Select the “Install Themes” tab then “Upload” and then “Choose File”
- Select the zipped file within the folder you just unzipped. It will look something like below
- Click “Open” and then “Install Now” back on your admin page
- Click “Activate” to make your theme live
- If you see something like the screenshot below, your theme is live. Click “Visit Site” to have a look at your sites new look!
The zipped file is your theme (don’t unzip it)
You’ll also want to take note of “Documentation”. It will include a how to guide for setting up your theme. This will typically be a PDF, or an .html file which is viewed in a regular browser (double click the file)
Before – with the stock standard theme (boring)
After – with a shiny new theme (not boring)
Nicely done! You’ve now completed the guts of your site and dressed it up.
Next lesson we’re going to show you how to get a pro logo for a lot less!
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