Digital Marketer, AI Consultant, Published Author, ClickFunnels and Kit Specialist
I love it when I find great information I can share with my readers. Have you ever wondered how your WordPress blog works? The cheat sheet infographic below shows how all the elements come together to create great looking blogs and websites. Source: Yoast
The beauty of WordPress is the availability of hundreds if not thousands of themes to get that look and feel regardless of the industry you are in. You can find beautiful and functional themes that are both free (use caution when looking for free themes+) and for a nominal cost. Here are some links to many great WordPress themes in no certain order. If you find others please let us know by leaving a comment or let us know which WordPress themes you think are the best. Find out outdated link? Please let us know in the comments. Theme List: 50 Beautiful Ecommerce WordPress Themes 60+ Best WordPress eCommerce Themes Free WordPress Portfolio Themes: 30 Free WordPress Gallery Themes 100 Excellent WordPress Themes Free WordPress Themes Theme Sites: Arcane Palette Museum Themes Catalyst Theme Premium WordPress More Free WordPress Themes New WordPress Themes Storefront Themes Theme Jam Press75 StudioPress Templatic DIY Themes Legend Themes Clover Themes ColorLabs Site5 WordPress Themes Web2Feel iThemes TemplateSOLD ThemeFuse The Theme Foundry Rocket Theme WordPress Free Theme Directory WP Themes Elegant Themes ThemeForest Graph Paper Press Headway Themes Photocrati Theme Trust Themes Zen Theme Wars Mojo Themes Woo Themes ThemeShift Organized Themes Organic Themes RichWP SoloStream Themes by bavotasan.com PageLines WPZoom WPyuzu WordPress Themes Viva Themes *Please note: I have linked to affiliate marketing programs on some sites listed above to help pay for this site. Please be cautious of free WordPress themes to make sure they come from a reliable source.
The feature I like the most about WordPress is its ability to let you change the look and feel of your site. It can be done on the fly without any web development background. You can accomplish this by finding the perfect themes and plugins to suit your needs. WordPress has thousands of self-installs which means there are hundreds of options for free themes and a huge array of themes for sell. I always suggest to my clients that they find a theme that matches the subject matter of their WordPress blog. Here’s an example of a friends blog Tandem Revolution, which covers her and her husbands biking adventures. I like the use of the image across the top showing the spokes of a bike. It is a simple yet effective use of a theme that matches the topic of her blog. Free themes tend to have some limitations and affiliate links. Whereas paid for themes give you more flexibility with customization. I suggest starting out with something free if you are on a limited budget. But if it is in your budget I would take your time and find something that fits your needs. If your traffic grows you can change your theme at anytime. The theme I use for this site was free and fits in well with the look and feel of my book. Here are five sites to locate your perfect WordPress dream theme. #1| ThemeForest Themes for any budget and any industry ThemeForest has a wide variety of WordPress themes for the average blogger and those looking to sell product using WordPress. Themes are affordably priced for those on a budget or those looking for something unique. I have included a screenshot of the e-commerce theme WpShop below to show the power of WordPress. It is not just for blogging and can be used to sell a myriad of product, list homes and rentals, promote a restaurant or business. Theme Forest on Facebook #2 | Elegant Themes Offers lots of themes at a great price Elegant Themes has lots of great themes to pick from and at only $39 a year gives you access to 61 designs. Plus ET says they release 2-3 new themes each month so you are sure to find something. You also get 30-days to decide if it is worth it with their money-back guarantee. I like how they target themes towards specific industries such as restaurants, retail and a host of other themes to match your needs. Since I love food I included the MyCuisine theme as the screenshot below. #3 | Woo Themes Lots of free themes and a wide variety for any industry Woo Themes is another big player when it comes to WordPress themes. Woo offers any array of themes that are build for SEO and functionality. I have heard through the grapevine that Woo offers great support from tutorials, video tutorials and user support forum. The thing that I like most about the Woo Themes is you can sort themes on their website to find the perfect match. How about at least a dozen free themes to boot? There is bound to be something for everyone with Woo Themes. Woo Themes on Facebook #4 | StudioPress WordPress themes built on the Genesis Framework These themes are built with search engine optimization in mind. Wondering what the Genesis Framework is? Here’s more information on that and why you should go with StudioPress. I have to admit that these are some of the best WordPress themes I have seen. The layouts are nice, clean, modern and eye-catching designs that stand out. Plus you can get all themes for one great price and you get future themes at no extra charge. #5 | Legend Themes New player in the theme market offering clean designs Legend Themes is located right here in Boise and has just a few themes to pick from along with the free Emphasis Theme. The Snapshot theme is perfect for those who enjoy the art of photography. All themes have a nice clean look to them and offer various customization. The price on this theme and others are $70 which includes technical support. More Resources: 80+ Clean and Simple WordPress Themes 380 Premium WordPress Themes Free “Leather” Theme from Legend Themes MagPress Free WordPress Themes Article by Dennis J. Smith ““ Promote Your Business Or Cause Using Social Media ““ A Beginners Handbook
Are you thinking about starting your own blog but scared off by technology? It might not be as hard as you think when it comes to starting a blog. If you know Microsoft Office you’re already halfway there. If you don’t its still easy when you have tools that simplify the process. Windows Live Writer from Microsoft is one of those must have tools for bloggers. Windows Live Writer lets you manage your blog regardless of where its hosted or the format you are using. I use it to update all my WordPress blogs and an older blog I have on Blogger. But it can be used with LiveJournal, TypePad, Windows Live Spaces, SharePoint and others. Plug-ins are available that give Live Writer even more functionality. Visit the Live Gallery to find out what’s available and to install plug-ins you find beneficial. The toolbar across the top of Windows Live Writer lets you control aspects of the font, text alignment, adding images, tables and inserting other items into your post. You can also cut, paste and undo changes if you aren’t satisfied. The side bar to the right duplicates editing tools such as current drafts, recently posted articles and inserts into your article. It’s really easy to get around the application to create the perfect blog post. The edit mode tab allows you to create your article much like you would create a Word document(add images, hyperlinks, tables and more). Preview mode loads the theme of your blog and gives you a sneak preview of what your readers will see. It might not display a perfect rendition since it depends on the theme you use. The bottom area of the application lets you assign categories, tags, the author, future publish date and more. Those who have a little more knowledge of HTML can click on the Source tab and use HTML code to customize a post before going live. Here’s a great resource for those interested in learning more about HTML. If you have a blog have you used Windows Live Writer? Another blogging tool? Give it and try and see what you think and share some of the articles you’ve written with Windows Live Writer. Please feel free to leave your comments below. Download Windows Live Writer Windows Live Writer Plugin Gallery By Dennis J. Smith
Blogging is an important component of any businesses social media plan. This blog is a WordPress blog and using one of many free themes available. WordPress is the number one choice for bloggers around the world and open source. It’s possible to find free services for blogging like Blogger.com and WordPress.com. Both work just fine if you are just starting out and on a tight marketing budget. Before Facebook and Twitter, a blog was one of the first ways a business could interact with its customers. It allows 2-way discussion and communication with your customers. It is also an easy way for someone not familiar with website coding to get online. WordPress.com Blog – socialmarket.wordpress.com If you want to keep your cost down the free version of WordPress is the route to take. Create your free account by filling out some basic information so you can keep the account protected and secure. With the free version your blog address will be yourblogname.wordpress.com and you are limited in storage space. However you can upgrade to premium features if needed at a later date. You are forced to stay with WordPress and if you change your mind you can always import your blog postings into another blog service. If you want more control over your blog, better search engine optimization, better selection of themes and plug-ins then regular WordPress is the best option. You can get your own domain name (typically $10 a year) for your blog and monthly hosting is inexpensive. When done with the registration process you can start posting right away. There are a few other things to set-up like categories and tags but that can be done as you go. By setting up categories and tags you will help your readers find postings they are interested in. I suggest that you take a few moments and think about the goal of your blog and your target audience. Write out the categories that best fit with your blogs focus. If you were going to write about fashion your categories might be hats, shirts, pants, accessories and shoes. The tags you might use would be bonnets, derby hats, t-shirts, polo shirts, jewelry, watches, jeans and tennis shoes. WordPress starts you out with the default theme which you can choose to use or you can search through hundreds of free themes or find specially customized theme for purchase from many different sources. If you are a real estate agent you can find a theme geared towards the housing market or whatever line of business you might be in. If you are a hobbyist you can find lots of themes to showcase and blog about your favorite hobby. If you don’t like a theme all you have to do is find another that you like and install that theme. Anything you’ve already posted takes on the look of the new theme. Just keep in mind that with the free version of WordPress you are limited in your choices of themes. But there’s something for everyone and more are being added all the time. Check out more WordPress themes here: http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/ I’ll talk more about themes, plug-ins and widgets in a future post to give you time to get familiar with the free WordPress. Plus I’ll cover the differences between the free version and hosting a WordPress blog.