Starting a blog is a huge challenge. Just picking out a theme can be overwhelming. It’s what sets your blog apart and helps make your job easier. Or, you know, harder, if you don’t choose the right one.
There are so many things that you need to take into account in choosing a theme: your host, your goal, your niche, your content, and so much more. Let’s find out how you can get the theme of your blogging dreams.
What You Need
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Blogging platfrom: Choose from WordPress, Tumblr, Wix, Weebly, etc. (For this blueprint, let’s tackle the first option. WordPress is a great way for you to start, whether you’re tech savvy or not.)
Setup Steps
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Figure out what your blog is all about. You can keep it generic like “Restaurants” or narrowed down to a particular niche like “Kitty Butler Cafes for Cat Lovers in the Tri-State Area”.
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Choose a set of features for your blog to have. Will you need a shopping cart? A great gallery? Multi-language support?
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Head over to https://wordpress.org/ and sign up for an account.
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Choose a plan and enter your domain name. If you don’t have one, you can get one from WordPress.
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Go to Appearance > Themes and click Add New.
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Enter a keyword on the search bar or scroll through the available themes.
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Click on Details & Preview to see how your site looks.
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Make sure your theme improves readability, looks simple.
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Check the theme’s browser compatibility, how it looks on different mobile devices, how it works with plugins you may need, and other aesthetic concerns.
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Once you’ve chosen one, click Install then Activate.
Timeframe
Time to do: 1 hour
Time to see results: 0 days
Additional Tips
If you don’t find what you’re looking for in the provided free themes, you can always do a search in Premium theme shops like StudioPress, Themify, Elegant Themes, and more. But if you do find a theme that you really like but is missing something, you can always find a plugin to help you. There are popular plugins that will help on WordPress itself. But you can also find one elsewhere and upload it on your WordPress site. Remember that responsive themes, mobile friendly ones, isn’t optional. So if a theme isn’t responsive, forget about it. Also, even if it does state that it is, you should do a test by copying the demo page URL and paste it on Google’s Mobile Friendly Taste page.
Potential Results
Finding the right theme will definitely take your blog to a whole other level. Having great content fill that theme will increase your conversions and improve your visibility.
