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HOW TO CHOOSE A WORDPRESS THEME

7/1/2015 For Non-Techies

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WHY ARE YOU BUILDING YOUR WEBSITE? All businesses, regardless of size and purpose, can benefit from having a website. Websites have

become the easiest way for potential clients to find a business, get an idea of what the business is

about, and figure out if they want to do business with them. Whether you are selling products,

services, or just sharing your knowledge, a website can help you find and develop new customers.

Websites are now easier to create than even just 10 years ago, thanks to Content Management

Systems (CMS) like WordPress. But that also means that there are so many different options for

themes and designs, that you can now spend days browsing through thousands of WordPress

themes, just trying to figure out which one you should use for your new site.

So how do you narrow it down?

CHOOSE A THEME BASED ON YOUR PURPOSE Your first decision is to define the purpose of your website based on your business and its goals.

Your new website can:

Be your online business card or brochure, providing a general description of your

products and/or services, along with contact information.

Your website can help your business get found by new clients, near and far.

For these types of sites, there are many options for basic themes that will help you have a

professional online presence, while keeping it simple for your customers. You want to find a

theme that is easy to navigate, and provides just enough customization to enter your

business information without making it look busy. If you won’t be writing articles about

your services or blogging in any way, you don’t have to worry so much about setting that up

right away. Of course, if you do decide to start a blog to engage customers, you can always

add those posts later when you’re ready.

You can find some examples here:

https://colorlib.com/wp/best-vcard-wordpress-themes/

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Establish you as an expert in your field, by helping you showcase your portfolio of work

through pictures, articles, and news about your business.

For individual business owners, independent consultants, small businesses and home-based

businesses, potential clients are using websites to check out their credentials and get

familiar with the products and services provided. In this case, your website can be a

powerful tool to showcase your knowledge and expertise in your field, and explain the

reasons why they should choose your services over anyone else’s. These days, a large

percentage of the population use their phones and tablets for research, so any theme you

choose should be responsive so that it automatically changes based on the screen size of

the user’s device.

Some examples of great, simple business themes can be found here.

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http://www.nimbusthemes.com/small-business-wordpress-themes/

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https://colorlib.com/wp/free-wordpress-business-themes/

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For lists of themes based on the content type (parenting, entertainment, fashion, health,

design, etc.), you can check out these options:

http://magazine3.com/themes/#all

Sell your products, any hour of the day or night.

WordPress themes with eCommerce capabilities can help you build a beautiful, professional

retail site that will promote your products to new customers, regardless of their location, or

the time of day. If your customer base is in the demographic of heavy phone and tablet

users, it would be ideal to choose a responsive theme so that anyone can purchase your

products, even when on the go.

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http://www.wpthemesspot.com/7-best-wordpress-ecommerce-themes-collection/

Once you define the purpose of your website based on what kind of business you want to have

online, you will want to have a theme picked out so you can get started with making your

WordPress site have your own "look and feel".

ONCE YOU CHOOSE A THEME But, every theme works on top of the standard, "out of the box" WordPress software, which is

available for free on their own site. So your first step towards setting up your website will be to

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install WordPress wherever your website will be hosted. Then your second step will be to install the

theme that you want to use, so you can start customizing it for you.

A Word about Website Hosting Services

We have been using 1and1.com as a website hosting provider for years. We have found that they

have a simple install process that is helpful to quickly set up a new website.

Need better web hosting? Choose 1&1. Free: domains, marketing tools, search engine ad & more.

Check OFFERS!

There are many, many... as in thousands, of hosting providers these days. Everyone has their

personal preference, so if you've already registered your site and are ready to go with them, no

problem. I will use 1and1.com when I talk about the hosting provider specific process (like installing

WordPress from within the hosting account), but that is a small part of this course and many

hosting providers provide similar screens.

FOR MORE INFORMATION If you would like additional information on WordPress, and basic web design, go to our website blog

at: http://www.cloudenup.com/articles.

If you’re interested in learning how to use WordPress from Beginning to End, you can check out our

training session on Udemy: WordPress Beginning to End for Non-Techies. Through September 15,

2015, the course in on sale for $15! Over 4 hours of video training, plus the entire course eBook

available to you.