When To Find The Right WordPress Theme

Posted by Jeff

on June 18, 2008

Finding the right WordPress theme is one of, if not the only thing most new bloggers are focused on. Too often I get contacted by new, or soon to be new WordPress bloggers that want me to setup WordPress for them but are completely and totally focused on the theme. While the look of your blog or site is important, the first thing to focus on, for those new to WordPress is if you are going to stick to blogging.

The beauty of WordPress, and any CMS for that matter is that the entire “look” or theme can be easily changed without loosing any of the content on your blog or site. So if you are just starting out I suggest to find a nice free theme to get started and spend some time getting to know WordPress. Unless you have every little detail planned out your blog will evolve and you may find that the theme you originally picked out, maybe even paid for or paid to have it customized will not fit your future needs.

What I mean by future needs is that it’s so easy to add items to the sidebar with widgets and upload images to posts that you may find that your theme is too narrow for some items. Or maybe down the road you don’t like that custom WordPress header image you paid for and paid to have added to your blog.

But if you are determined to get started out with a custom or semi-custom WordPress blog or are ready to upgrade your WordPress theme then there are many nice themes to choose from. A quick Google search for WordPress themes will keep you busy for hours on end looking at themes. Make sure the theme is version 2.5 compatible and if it requires plugins make sure those plugins are version 2.5 compatible. Make sure it is “Widget Ready” and if it is AdSense ready, or has other embedded ads on it be sure to read the instructions for the locations of the ads and how to change them to your links or code.

There are more and more premium WordPress themes coming out everyday and these themes make it easy for someone with a little CSS skill to tweak and make them look totally original. Kyle Eslick over at WordPress Hacks has a nice list of premium WordPress themes, check it out here: Premium WordPress Themes Gallery

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Tags: WordPress Theme

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Comments

Comment by Kyle Eslick on June 19, 2008 @ 9:36 am

Hi Jeff,

Great post! Thanks for featuring one of our theme galleries on your site!

There are a lot of great premium themes, but I’ve found that they fit into two categories. You’ve got ones designed to upload and use (such as the Premium News ones where everything is controlled from the Admin Dashboard) and ones that are templates for people to easily customizable (such as Brian’s Revolution themes).

Depending on a buyers skill level and desire to customize, this is something they should definitely consider. Some have code that is easy to hack, while others require a certain amount of coding knowledge to successfully make your adjustments.

Comment by Robert Stout on June 26, 2008 @ 6:54 am

I take my themes on the Internet and from paper sources. But the post is helpful for me to search new sources for my work. Thanks

Comment by Stair lift on July 1, 2008 @ 12:34 pm

I have spent many hours to find good themes for my different blogs and it is a difficult task. I have downloaded many themes on my system but none of them suits to any of my blogs. Perhaps it is dilemma of choosing free and premium themes.

Comment by Kyle Eslick on October 24, 2008 @ 12:48 pm

Hi Jeff!

As you may know, HackWordPress.com recently updated our domain to WPHacks.com. I couldn’t find a contact form, so I’m posting it here.

Can you update the two links in this post to WPHacks? The rest of the URL should be the same.

You can delete this comment if you want. Thanks!!

Comment by Jeff on October 24, 2008 @ 1:13 pm

No problem Kyle and there is a Contact link on the top right sidebar.

Comment by Kyle Eslick on October 24, 2008 @ 2:54 pm

Thanks Jeff,

Sorry, I see it now. My bad. You can delete the comment above if you want.

Keep up the good work!

Comment by Dr. Uy Santiago on July 1, 2009 @ 12:33 am

I run several WP-blogs. Most of them are in german. The german blogging communitz is a kind of strange so I try to avoid them.

I am glad to find sites like this and have in general the feeling that the WP-Community in english is much more helpful than the german one and of course offers a bigger veriety in themes and plugins.

Therefore I am happy to spend some hours to adjust the themes to german.

Jeff and all the others.. Thank you a lot

Comment by Juhani Tontti on August 25, 2009 @ 2:30 am

My main monetization is through AdSense ads and my main problem is the low CTR.
Here is the url: http://www.ReverseMortgageEarnings.com

Now, if you look at it, is the problem the location of the ad, the format of the ad or the template?

Thanks,

Juhani

Jeff Replied:
August 25th, 2009 at 8:19 am

The ads are a little big and overwhelming the page. But I am no AdSense expert.

Drive-By comments will be deleted! Like "Thanks for sharing", "Nice post", or any other text that doesn't contribute to the discussion. If you ask a very specific question about your particular WordPress theme, it will probably be deleted. I can fix your WordPress site but for a price. If you ask a question like "Why don't my blog work right", it will be deleted. If you ask a question about your WordPress site without a leaving a link to it, it will be deleted. The point is to ask questions and or comment on the the actual content of the post, and to please use some common sense. All comments are moderated and will appear when approved. Thank you.