Radiate Personality: Install A WordPress Theme That Fits
Your blog is an extension of your business, your topic, and, ultimately, YOU. Your theme should be no different.
It’s important to pick a theme that reflects you, as well as the purpose of your blog. You may adore hearts and flowers, but if your blog is about technology, a hearts and flowers theme may not be the best choice. Instead, pick out themes that reflect what your blog is about, then narrow your selection down to the one that fits your personality and personal style.
When selecting your theme, it’s also a good idea to choose one that is simple and doesn’t contain huge headers and lots of graphics, unless of course your blog topic is related to graphics. A simple theme will make your site load faster and draw your reader’s attention to your content, which is where you want it. A fancy design only wows on the first visit, it’s an annoyance after that.
Don’t worry. If the theme you choose today doesn’t work for you, you can easily change it to another one at any time. That’s one of the great benefits of using WordPress.
Okay, is your new theme downloaded and ready to install?
In your WordPress admin panel, open the “Appearance” menu on the left-hand side and click on “Themes.” On the Themes page, you will see two tabs at the top, “Manage Themes” and “Install Themes.” Click on the “Install Themes” tab and then on the “Upload” link at the very top, next to “Search.” Use the browse button to locate and select the theme on your computer and then click “Install Now.”
If this is your first time uploading files through WordPress, you’ll need to fill in the FTP information for your web host. This information should have been provided for you by the hosting company in your welcome email. In most cases, the hostname is your domain name (www.mydomainname.com) or the IP address of the server your site is hosted on and the username and password are the same as the username and password you use to sign into your hosting account. Fill in the required information, select FTP as the connection option and then click “Proceed.” WordPress will install the theme for you.
If, for some reason, WordPress is unable to install your theme for you, you may need to do it manually. You will need to unzip the theme on your computer and then use FTP software to upload your files, but don’t worry, you can download and install FileZilla for free. Once you have it installed, enter your FTP information in the area highlighted in red on the image below and click “Quickconnect.” You can leave the Port field blank. If the quick connect section isn’t showing when you open FileZilla, simply select “Quickconnect Bar” from the “View” menu and it will show up.
You should now be connected to your hosting account. In the panel on the left, marked “Local Site”, locate the unzipped theme folder on your computer. In the panel on the right, marked “Remote site,” navigate to the themes folder as follows: public_html –> wp-content –> themes. Now, using your mouse, grab the theme folder from the Local Site panel and drag it into the Remote site panel. This will upload the entire theme folder to your website.
That’s it! You’ve installed your theme! Just return to the Themes page in your WordPress admin section and locate your new theme on the “Manage Themes” tab and click “Activate,” then select the “Widgets” option from the “Appearance” menu to begin customizing your sidebar.
That’s all there is to it. You’re done!
