Tag Archives: premium

How to Modify your WP Theme

In my previous post, I showed you how a premium theme can contribute to the monetization of your wordpress blog.

There is however another reason why I think you're better of with a premium theme: they are easier to to modify.

I modify wordpress themes for 2 main reasons:

If the (x)html code generated by a theme isn't W3C compliant, then I try to fix it. I check the validity of the produced source code at the W3C Markup Validation Service. I'm very picky about that because I believe that perfect codes are better indexed by the search engines.
In case you find an error and you can't fix the code yourself, ask the company or person who designed your premium theme. I am sure they'll do this for free, as it is in their best interest to deliver perfect codes.

The other reason why I like to modify a theme is to make the theme a bit more personal. Small changes are usually enough to make a difference.

At the time of writing...
The WP theme I am using right now, as any other premium theme designed by Woothemes, is very easy to modify. In case you also installed a Woo Theme go to your WP dashboard, and click on your theme's options menu (at the lower left-hand side of your wordpress 2.7 dashboard). There you can add your custom logo, your tracking codes, your banners, etc...

Also, Woothemes are fully widgetized, which makes it a breeze to add widgets to your blog's sidebar.

Well, there you have it. Next time I will talk about some essential plugins you need to install. Talk to you later!

How To Install a WP Theme

I just installed WordPress 2.7 and I am very impressed with the new layout of the dashboard. It's completely different from previous wordpress versions. The navigation buttons are on the left-hand side of the screen now, and although it took me some time to get used to it, I like it.

WordPress always comes with the default theme, so the first thing I did was getting a nicer wordpress theme. A wordpress theme is like a template and it gives shape to the looks and feels of your WordPress site.

Where to get WordPress Themes?
There are many excellent themes out there and many are completely free. Some theme builders sell their themes. Themes that are for sale are called "premium themes". You can download some of the best free and/or premium WordPress Themes at these places:

How to install a theme?
To install a theme, unzip the one you downloaded and upload the complete folder to your wordpress themes directory. You have access to that directory via FTP under: your domain » wp-content » themes

Now log in to your wordpress admin area (dashboard), click on "Appearance" and click on the theme you want to preview. To install your selected theme, click "activate" (upper right corner).

Voila!

P.S. Did you know you can earn some good cash with premium themes? Watch the upcoming posts!