Jun
Jun

How to Pick a WordPress Theme

If there’s one consistent challenge that I see confront people that are trying to start a blog, it’s that they get really worried about how things look.

Like way too worried.

But, I get it.

You want things to look right and you want to be proud of your site.

Same thing happened to me when I first started.

But what I found is that it was a lot less important for me to get stuck on how it looked rather than writing.

In fact one time I had a WPLaunch customer who spent so much time worrying about getting the look & feel of her theme tweaked just the way she wanted that she ended up losing all enthusiasm for writing to begin with and it took us a while to get her sorted out and back on the right track!

Now that being said, you should always be happy with the look & feel of your site.

I just don’t want you to get sidetracked by it – it can always be changed later to something else.

So how do you pick a WordPress theme for your blog?

Keep it simple

When it comes to picking the theme you want to use with your new WordPress blog, it should be simple.

You don’t need tons of color variations, and complicated layouts.

There’s a time and a place for those kinds of things, but when you’re just getting started isn’t one of them.

Responsiveness is required

The truth is that a lot of your readers are going to be accessing your site on a mobile device, so your theme should look perfect on smaller screens.

Virtually all themes available in 2021 are going to be responsive “out of the box” but it never hurts to check and make sure by resizing the demo you’re looking at by dragging and changing the size of your browser window on a desktop computer.

Stay away from page builders

Don’t get me wrong here – I love page builders. At least the good ones.

But when you’re starting a new WordPress blog you don’t need to get bogged down trying to figure out how to use a page builder when you should be creating content.

Here’s the bottom line:

You’re starting a blog, not becoming a web designer.

Start simple and stay far away from the things that are not going to be in your wheelhouse.

Find an easy-to-install plug-and-play theme that looks great to get started.

That’s the whole point – to get started, and be done so you can focus on the RIGHT things.

You want a theme that’s professional and looks great, and will grow with you until you’re ready for something more specialized.

I use and recommend using premium themes from Studiopress (and some of my very own premium themes that will be available soon!) for some of my websites.

Premium themes usually run around $100 or so, but they’re worth the money!

Everything you need to know about how to install a WordPress theme is in this video below:

See Also:

Should I customize a WordPress theme I just bought? (Questions & Answers)

Feb

"Should I customize a WordPress Theme I just bought? When you’re just getting started with your website it’s hard to know what you need. It’s easy to get distracted by the excitement about the possibilities and all the new and great things you can do with your new blog. But that can also be a […]"

Keep Reading...

How to choose a domain name

Jun

"My bet is that once you figured out that you wanted to start a blog and you knew what you want to blog about the first thing that happened was that domain names started running through your head. And what you choose for your custom domain name can be different if you’re starting a personal […]"

Keep Reading...

Can Digital Marketing Save Your Business?

Feb

"Can digital marketing save your business? It’s a fair question and one worth answering. After all, the global pandemic has everyone trying to figure out ways to keep their businesses afloat during the hardest economic times in decades. Let’s get right to the point: can digital marketing save your business? Absolutely, here’s why. Digital marketing […]"

Keep Reading...

How To Make A WordPress Blog Step-by-Step 2020 | WordPress Dashboard Tutorial

Feb

"In part 3 of my in-depth WordPress training series I’m taking you through a full tour of the WordPress dashboard and how all its various features and functions work in your self-hosted WordPress site! When you login to your WordPress site you’ re going to see a lot of options available to you. In this […]"

Keep Reading...

Website Content Is Important – 7 Surprising Pages You Need On Your Website

Mar

"Website content is important. But that begs the question, “why”? Why is website content so important? Website content is important because it’s the bread and butter of your online business. It’s the one thing that makes everything on your site work together – the design, the architecture, the branding – all of it. So it […]"

Keep Reading...

6 Crucial Questions About Features & Functionality

Sep

"Let’s start with a seemingly simple question: What do I need to know to figure out how much a website is going to cost? I’m going to answer that question with a question. Actually, six different questions. I’ve built a lot of quotes and responded to a ton of RFPs to do website builds. In […]"

Keep Reading...

How to find your voice and approach

Jun

"Finding your voice is one of the most important parts of when you’re going to start a new blog. And one of the feelings that people get when they start to think about how they’re going to approach their topic usually sounds a little like this: “I’m not an expert, I can’t do this!” It […]"

Keep Reading...

How to choose your blogging platform

Jun

"There are a lot of choices when it comes to the platform you choose to start a blog. But I’m only going to recommend one: WordPress. A self-hosted WordPress blog is the right choice here. I’m not talking about starting on wordpress.com and doing things there. I’m talking about having your very own self-hosted WordPress […]"

Keep Reading...

Can you pause ClickFunnels?

Jan

"Sometimes things get rough, and you need to step back and regroup to figure out what step to take next. First off, it’s important to know that Russell Brunson and the ClickFunnels team legitimately want you to be successful with your online sales funnels. But they also understand that sometimes you get in a pinch […]"

Keep Reading...

How To Set Up WordPress & CloudFlare?

Mar

"Do you need to be using WordPress & Cloudflare? See if this sounds familiar: Ever been freaked out by the thought of your site being hacked? Ever had to pay someone (like me) to clean it out after it’s been hacked and vowed to never let it happen again? I’ve heard the horror stories and […]"

Keep Reading...