There’s a lot of documentation on the Internet about installing WordPress themes, and most of them will tell you how to do the same thing that I’m about to say here. WordPress is a little bumpy to get used to at first, but once you get the hang of using it, I’m confident that you will find it’s the ONLY blogging platform for you. Since its initial release, it has only gotten better, and with good reason. There are literally thousands of developers who are working on and with WordPress. Whether it’s working on WordPress itself, or developing plug-ins to enhance our WordPress experiences and functionality, all of this helps make WordPress the best out there. As if that weren’t enough, it’s FREE.

Finding a Suitable WordPress Theme

Finding a WordPress theme that suits your needs isn’t always an easy search. There are a couple ways to go about it: a Google search or hiring someone to build a custom theme. Depending upon what you’re looking for, here are a few keyword search suggestions:

• free wordpress themes
• professional wordpress themes
• business wordpress themes
• 1-column wordpress themes
• 2-column wordpress themes
• 3-column wordpress themes
• custom wordpress themes
• premium wordpress themes

Mix and match these terms to narrow your search.

Downloading WordPress Themes

Once you’ve chosen the perfect WordPress Theme, it’s time to download it. Most, if not all, of the time, WordPress themes are packaged in a .zip folder. Windows XP and above have a built-in utility for extracting .zip files. Otherwise, you will need a utility like 7Zip to open the archive. 7Zip is free and easy to use.

1. Click the download link.
2. Click the radio button next to “Save File” in the pop-up window.
3. You computer saves the file to your Downloads folder or desktop usually by default.
4. Navigate to the file on your computer and right-click it.
5. Select “Extract here” from the list.
6. Windows will extract the theme files to a named folder usually bearing the same name as the theme. The theme is now ready to be uploaded to your hosting account.

Uploading Your New Theme to WordPress

1. Open your preferred FTP client. I suggest and endorse FileZilla. FileZilla is free, updated often and easy to use.
2. Connect to your hosting account where your WordPress site/blog is installed.
3. Navigate to the “Themes” folder. The path normally goes something like this: /public_html/yourdomain.com/wp-content/themes
4. Navigate to the theme folder on your computer.
5. Right-click and select “Upload”.
6. Your FTP client uploads the theme files to your WordPress site/blog.

Activating a New Theme in WordPress

If you’ve uploaded your theme correctly, it will appear in your Dashboard when you click “Appearance” and select “Themes”.

If you theme doesn’t appear under Themes, check your FTP to ensure the files went inside the “Themes” folder.

From the “Manage Themes” page, left-click the new theme to preview it.

WordPress shows you a lightbox preview of how the theme will look on your site.

If you satisfied with the preview, then click “Activate” in the top right corner of the preview. The theme is now installed and activated on your WordPress site/blog.