Build-A-Blog Workshop Day 6: Researching and Browsing for a Theme

28 Apr 2009

Build-A-Blog Workshop Day 6: Researching and Browsing for a Theme

Author: Jim | Filed under: 30-Day Blogging

We’re almost through with our first week of posting, and already we have our website up and running on an awesome domain name. Just think: a week ago, you had nothing! Now, you have your entire future laid out in front of you.

On day 5, we installed the WordPress blogging platform to our servers. It’s nice to have the system in place, but now we are faced with a template (as pictured below) that looks… well… pretty darn bland.

Luckily for us, WordPress is a very flexible system.
Let’s see if we can’t make things look a little better, eh?

Why You Need To Customize WordPress

Remember when I told you that your domain name was the most important part of your blog? Well, I lied. In fact, I would argue that having a compelling design can really make or break any website. If you are using a generic template, you will NEVER be an industry professional. While a template is going to be the first step, we want to put a significant amount of time into improving the look of our blog. Need an example? Let’s check out the amount of customization I did on Jimvesting.com, even after purchasing the $50 premium theme!

Ask yourself this: which blog would YOU rather subscribe to?!
I thought so.

Finding an Awesome WordPress Theme for your Blog

I want all of you to do 30 minutes of recon work on finding that winning theme for your blog. Go ahead and open up your own text document where you can jot down your notes and findings (namely URLs of themes you like). This is an important step in the process, and I can only guide you to your final destination. Search Google for things like “Premium WordPress Themes” and check out the footers of blogs you like to see where they got their themes. You aren’t going to be buying anything today, but you need to cut out a solid 30 minutes to look into your future theme. A theme can really drive your traffic, so make sure you are getting what you want.

Remember, we will be customizing these later. Because of this, the true order of your preferences when browsing for themes should be the following IN THIS ORDER:

Layout (e.g. where things are on the page)
Advertising Locations (ads should be plentiful, but not detract from the look)
Aesthetics (how new and professional the actual design appears)

Notice how aesthetics are really the third qualifier of a good theme. Because we can change any awkward color combination to our liking, we need to focus more deeply on where things are, rather than what things are.

Places to Consider for Free and Premium Themes

First of all, let me reiterate that I am only going to fully back premium WordPress themes for your use. Simply put, having a free template… even if you modify the heck out of it… may detract from your reputation. So definitely be careful that you aren’t using one that thousands of others already are! If I’ve seen your theme before, I automatically register you in my head as an amateur! While you need to do your own detective work, I will give you a few resources on both accounts to get you started.

Free WordPress Theme Resources:

WP Theme Designer (Recommended!)
Smashing Magazine’s
“100 Free Themes” List
WP Zoom’s “45+ Free
Premium Themes” List

Premium WordPress Theme Resources:

Make that list of potential themes and you’ll be well on your way. Be sure to look thoroughly through your options, reminding yourself what you will put where in each template as you browse. Remember: it’s not the way it looks, but the way it could look.

-Jimvesting