How to Install a Theme in WordPress
If you are here for the first time and want to start from the beginning, please go to my first post on How to Build a Website
In this post I will be talking about :
How to Install Free Themes in WordPress
Before we get started though, I said in my last post on How to Install WordPress that we were going to do a bit of housekeeping, but I am going to save that until we have finished installing our theme.
The first thing you need to do is access your dashboard, aka your back end, so enter your domain name followed by , /wp-admin, example : www.yourspringwedding.com/wp-admin.
That will bring you to your login page, enter user and password, and you will be in the back end of your website.
If this is the first time you have seen your dashboard, don’t worry it just looks a bit overwhelming, but once you start to play around it will get less intimidating.
***I added this comment when I was about half way through this tutorial. If you see on top of the screens below it says update to WordPress 3.0, well I didn’t, I thought I would do it later, well when I tried to install the theme that I chose, I got this message and couldn’t get back into my dashboard. ***
Fatal error: Call to undefined function register_nav_menu() in /home2 wp-content/themes/wedding-bells/functions.php on line 16
Eeeeekkkkkk
Luckily, when I searched the code in Google, some other people had the same problem, see WordPress Forum anyway I had to go through FTP (File Transfer Protocol), delete the theme manually, and then update WordPress.
Not recomended, so update your theme first. LOL
How to Install a Free Theme in WordPress
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Click on Appearance, as shown below.
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You may get a page that says Install Themes at the top.
or you may get this one, click Add New Themes.
The smaller arrows show the currently installed theme at the top. The one at the bottom is a WordPress Original Theme. Any Themes that you download will be here if not activated.
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There are three ways to choose a theme here.
Starting at the top,
Featured/Newest/Recently Updated.
Click anyone of those to get a selection.
The next arrow down is a search box, so type in a topic and there might be a theme especially for it. Like weddings for instance.
The option in the red box allows you to pick certain features, ie: three side bars, color, etc. If there is a theme that has all your requirements, this option will find it when you have selected your preferences, and hit Find Themes.
For this demonstration I am going to pick the first option, but am going to go back later, and change it, because I know there’s a wedding theme I want to use.
So, I’m going to select recently updated. You should play around with the options, and get used to the dashboard.
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You can preview any theme, or click install when you have found one that you like.
and Install Now
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Activate
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You can now see that your new theme is now at the top of the page as Current Theme.
Click on your site name to see your new theme.
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There it is. You have now successfully installed your new Theme.
I do like this theme, but it’s not exactly a Wedding feeling…. unless your Marylin Manson… be right back.
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Well that’s better.
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In my next post I will be covering.
Various Premium Themes
The Theme I use for Newbie2Newbie… if you thought this was cool, buckle up , cause this theme is amazing !!!
and, a little tidying up of our theme.
I promise….LOL
I hope you found this post in my series on How to Build a Website useful.
Please leave a comment, Tweet and share.
Thanks,
Neil
Hi Neil,
great post. If I had had this information before installing my theme and my blog, it would have saved me tons of trial and error – and frustration. That’s why I’m going to share this helpful post with my following.
Thanks for sharing.
Take care
Oliver
Oliver Tausend recently posted..The Anatomy Of Quitting – Would You Like To Change Places With Another Person
We’ve all been there Oliver, in fact I was trying to install some code yesterday to get Google Webmaster Tools set up for this site.
It took me four hours.
The instructions say to copy the code into your Header, but it doesn’t tell you how to do it.
It’s a little time consuming to actually do it , and record it at the same time, but I will have more fresh How To’s regularly.
Thanks for the comment, and compliment….. bring on the noobs
This is a really helpful tutorial Neil & I am sure plenty newbies will benefit from it.
I have seen the “Upgrade To 3.0″ tag on my WP blog too, but my gut has told me not to go there. Thanks for confirming that my gut knows all!
Keep up the great work!
Michael
Michael B Wilbraham recently posted..Plug-In Profit Site Review
Hi Michael,
I think we are all a bit nervous when we are upgrading WP, what if it’s all lost…EeeeeKKKKK.
It is highly recommended that you do for security reasons.
I found a plugin yesterday called WP-DB Backup which backs up the data base of your website and emails it to you. It can even be set to daily if you post a lot, how cool is that.
At least if you have your data base saved and you won’t lose any information.
Thanks for the kind words,
Neil
Excellent tutorial Neil
Any suggestions for free and/or paid theme sites?
Peter Fuller MBA recently posted..Does your Retirement Plan include Jumping out of a Window
Thanks Peter,
My goal is to have tutorials on a wide range of topics, keyword research, SEO, pluggins, traffic generation, etc. for the newbie.
I am working on a tutorial about Premium Themes right now.
The free themes you get from WordPress are fantastic. They level the playing field, so you don’t need to know Web Design, code, or pay what can be a lot of money for someone to design you a site.
That being said, the paid or Premium Themes offer a lot more versatility.
The one I’m using is Socrates. I’m still tweaking it, but I absolutely love it, not only can you choose options like how many side bars you want, where you want them, colours, I don’t even know how many headers, they’re are adding niche headers all the time…. and take requests, but it is easy to do.
They also have a forum where you can ask questions not ony about the Socrates theme, but also WordPress. They cater from the Newbie all the way up to the experienced user.
As you can see I am stoked about this theme, but will leave some for the post. LOL
If you want to take a look, my affiliate link is in the top right corner.
By the way, I will never promote anything here that I do not use myself.
Thanks again for stopping by, and the comment.
Take care,
Neil
You did a great job with this step by step post to installing a theme. Anyone thinking about doing this at least now knows what to do.
The screen shots really helped by the way.
Talk to you later Neil,
Jerome Ratliff
Jerome Ratliff recently posted..How I Viciously Got Attacked at the Zoo
Thanks Jerome,
I think there are a lot of people that would like to start a website, or blog but have no idea where to start. I know I didn’t have a clue. ..glad you liked the screen shots, I’m thinking video next….. still thinking… LOL
Take care,
Neil
This is a great idea here Neil if you could have seen me trying to figure this one out when I got started you would have wanted to post a vid to youtube.
This is great value and I’m sure when people get a hold of this they will love it. Good job.
Steve Shoemaker
Hey Steve,
Thanks, a few months ago when I first started to get interested in all this, I could not for the life of me find anywhere with step by step instructions. They all seemed to assume I had some prior knowledge…. ” just copy and paste the code into the header of your website. ” Huhhh ??? So I figured I’d do it, and learn at the same time.
Thanks for stopping by.
Take care,
Neil
Neil,
You did a great job on this post. When I am helping others create a blog and/or website, I also use WordPress and they always have a problem with their theme.
This is an awesome explanation and can really give someone the edge that is unsure on what they are doing.
It can also be a great read for the experienced, more ideas doesn’t hurt.
Thanks for the value!
Have a great day Neil.
Tommy D.
MLM Prospecting Hero
Tommy DiPietro | MLM Prospecting Hero recently posted..HONEY- I Blew Up Our Home Based Internet Business!
Hi Tommy,
Thanks,
WordPress is definitely the way to go for noobs, IMHO.
I didn’t hear about it for a couple of weeks after I got interested in building a blog.
My first attempts that I had were like a copy paste your blog together, almost like a MS Excel format.
When I found WordPress it was soooo much easier. I think I’d still be setting it up if I hadn’t found WP.
Cheers,
Neil
Wow, Neil – I am so happy to see some good discussion going here.
I agree with everybody – these kind of step-by-step tutorials are priceless.
Now we just need to spread the word that they are here.
Look forward to the next one!
Ana
Ana | Traffic Generation Cafe recently posted..SEO vs PPC Faceoff- Which Side Are You On
Hi Ana,
Thanks for stopping by again, and for all your help.
I still have a few bugs to iron out, but am happy with the direction it’s going.
Time to get more social
Neil
Hi Neil,
Great tutorial here and many people will definitely learn a lot from it.
People love “how-to” articles! You are doing a great job here.
Keep them coming!
All the best,
Mavis Nong
Mavis Nong recently posted..Blogging Tips – 3 Primary Steps To Higher Rankings!
Hey Mavis, thanks.
I know I’m a 1-2-3 sorta guy, so I figured that some other people would be to.
Glad you liked it. Come back anytime.
Neil
Hi Neil,
Wow you did a really great job with this! I would have loved to see it when I was building my first blog! Now I know where to send anyone just starting out.
Really awesome stuff!
Susanna
Susanna Hess recently posted..2 Business Mistakes- 99 Of People Make One – Which One Do YOU Make
Thanks Susanna,
I’m still working on a few things to spruce up the blog a bit,
… you can always tweak along the way.
but I figured I might as well start to publish some posts while I’m working on it.
Like they say good enough, is good enough…. At least in the beginning
Feel free to send the noobs my way
Neil