WordPress is the most widely-used Content Management System in the earth for building self-hosted websites. Chances are if you lot're not already, yous've decided to use WordPress for your ain website. Simply practise you know how to install a WordPress theme?

Understanding how WordPress themes are added to your website is not complicated at all, no matter which method you choose to utilize — and there are a few! The great matter is, once your theme is installed, you lot're set to start creating a standout website correct away.

In today's post, we'll dig deeper into how to install a WordPress theme. Specifically, nosotros'll cover:

Let's get started!

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Where to Find WordPress Themes (Both Free and Paid)

Learning how to install a WordPress theme on your website isn't difficult to practice. What is difficult, though, is choosing the right theme for your needs. But before we look at what you need to successfully achieve that, permit's take a quick look at where y'all can discover WordPress themes.

Right now, the WordPress Repository is i of the most common places to find reliable and free plugins and themes to extend the design and functionality of your WordPress website. In fact, in that location are over 7,400 themes in the WordPress Repository alone.

Calculation to that, there are too thousands of free and premium themes available for WordPress users that tin exist establish in marketplaces such as MOJO Marketplace, CSS Igniter, and StudioPress. That said, the most famous theme marketplace to date is Themeforest, which currently has over 46,000 WordPress themes to choose from.

How to Choose the Correct WordPress Theme

So, how are y'all supposed to know which WordPress theme is right for you?

Here are some tips to assistance:

1. Decide Betwixt a Free or Premium WordPress Theme

The complimentary vs paid WordPress theme debate has been effectually for a long fourth dimension. This makes it tough to know whether you should save your money and go for a costless theme or invest a small-scale corporeality of coin for a premium one and reap the benefits. If you come across a WordPress site with a theme that you lot similar, y'all tin use our theme detector tool to find out what theme information technology uses.

It really does come downwardly to your budget, there are some things to consider before making a last choice:

Pros of Using a Free WordPress Theme

Using a complimentary WordPress theme comes with enough of advantages:

  • They're free to use, which ways if y'all end up not liking it and want to change your WordPress theme, you've lost no money for giving it a try.
  • The costless themes in the WordPress Repository are officially canonical after going through a strict review procedure.
  • Gratis themes found at WordPress.org will be compatible with all the gratis plugins found in the aforementioned place.

That said, free themes do come with some disadvantages also.

For instance, they typically have a limited feature set, are used by many people (making it hard to create a unique website), and in that location's usually piddling to no prompt support if there are issues. Not to mention, free themes constitute outside the WordPress Repository may exist poorly coded, which opens your site upward to vulnerabilities and attacks.

Pros of Using a Premium WordPress Theme

Only like using a complimentary theme, premium themes come with their own set of benefits:

  • Y'all get support for it to help yous with things similar bugs, technical issues, and customization (suggested reading: How to Customize Your WordPress Theme).
  • You'll receive frequent updates, which come with increased security and features.
  • The feature sets range from mild to wild, and then y'all tin can pattern your site to look and practice whatever you want.
  • If from a trusted theme marketplace, company, or developer, you lot'll know your premium theme is upwardly-to-date with all the latest versions of WordPress, HTML, CSS, and PHP.

Premium themes do, nonetheless, cost money. Some paid themes require a yearly payment, and others require a 1-fourth dimension payment. This means if you buy 1, and later decide to change, y'all're out any money was spent.

2. Know Your Niche

WordPress caters to all kinds of websites, so y'all can expect WordPress themes to do the same. Knowing your niche before y'all determine on a theme will help yous find WordPress themes that will have the pattern and functionality you need.

For example, if yous're starting a WordPress food blog, you'll want to be on the watch for a WordPress blogging theme that caters to food websites. Meliorate yet, if you think you might desire to sell products and services to beau foodies similar yourself, yous might want to check out some ecommerce themes that come with the functionality to start both an online nutrient business and weblog.

To make a good decision, think about the blazon of content y'all want to publish, cardinal features your theme will need, your target audience, and what manufacture you lot want to exist in, and then y'all tin narrow your options and make deciding a little easier.

3. Utilise Apparent Sources

Anyone that tin develop a WordPress theme and make a profit off it, will. But the thing is, just because someone has created a WordPress theme doesn't mean information technology's free from bad lawmaking, viruses, or fifty-fifty spam links.

If you've decided to use a free WordPress theme, the all-time place to look is the WordPress Repository. If you need a premium theme or want to apply a gratuitous one from a tertiary-party theme company, cheque for the following:

  • Author reputation
  • Frequency of updates
  • Positive customer reviews
  • Number of sales

In the terminate, it doesn't matter what type of WordPress theme you need. What really matters is that you avoid using nulled WordPress themes, so you don't accept bug in the futurity with site security, downtime, and lost site visitors.

4. Keep It Elementary

It's easy to go defenseless upward in the appeal of popular multipurpose WordPress themes such as Avada or X. And while these themes may have the features and design some people need, the truth is, simple is often ameliorate.

This is especially true for those merely starting out. Sometimes multipurpose themes come with too many features, have a loftier learning curve, and affect your site's speed and performance.

It's best to apply a theme that has just what yous need and aught more.

5. Look for Responsive Pattern

Non to be confused with mobile-friendly design, responsive design is necessary for giving your mobile site visitors exceptional user feel.

Having a mobile-friendly WordPress theme means that no matter what device your site visitor accesses your website from, information technology will announced the aforementioned. The site company will exist able to come across all your site'due south content, navigate the site easily, and click the CTA buttons you desire them to. That said, none of the elements on your website will change, no affair the device or screen size accessing your site.

To check for mobile-friendliness, use Google'south Mobile-Friendly exam.

Google mobile-friendly test
Google mobile-friendly test

On the other hand, having a WordPress theme with responsive design means that when your site visitors click on your website using a mobile device, your website volition accommodate according to the screen size. Elements on your website will change to render seamlessly for site visitors then they tin can access your site content with ease.

To cheque for responsive design, use the free Responsive Checker tool:

Responsive Checker tool
Responsive Checker

The nifty thing near this online tool is that you lot tin evaluate your website using multiple device types, including laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. In addition, you can navigate the site as if y'all were actually accessing it using a mobile device to make sure your site looks and functions the way you desire it to for site visitors.

6. Evaluate the Theme Support

There may come a time when you need support while using your WordPress theme. That's why being able to become in touch on with the theme programmer or their back up squad is crucial.

Find out what kind of support is offered before deciding on a WordPress theme. And remember, well-nigh complimentary WordPress themes come with very little back up, if any at all.

7. Consider the Features

Lastly, you should definitely consider the features your WordPress theme comes with. Here are some of the best things to look for in whatsoever theme you cull, whether it's free or premium:

  • Social media sharing
  • Built-in SEO optimization
  • Cross-browser compatibility
  • Inclusive WordPress page builders for easier site creation
  • Pop WordPress plugin compatibility
  • Multilingual and translation ready
  • Ecommerce support

Of course, every person needs different things for their website. However, the above-mentioned considerations volition aid betoken you in the right direction and assist yous make a decision.

Now, let's take a look at how to install a WordPress theme onto your website subsequently you've chosen the perfect i.

How to Install a Free WordPress Theme

If you want to use a theme establish in the WordPress Repository on your website, the easiest way to practice this is on the backend of your website.

Subscribe At present

To start, log into your WordPress website and get to Advent > Themes in the WordPress dashboard and click Add New.

How to install a new WordPress theme
Adding a new WordPress theme

From there, you can filter the results based on:

  • Featured
  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Favorites
Filter theme results
Filter theme results

Or, you can utilise the Feature Filter push button to filter the theme results based on specific features.

Feature filter
Feature filter

Lastly, yous can search for a specific WordPress theme if y'all know the name of it past entering the theme's name into the search bar:

Searching for a specific WordPress theme in WordPress

Once you discover a theme you might desire to use, yous tin can click Details and Preview to meet more information about the theme, Preview to see a preview of the theme in activeness, or Install to install the theme onto your WordPress site:

Preview or install a WordPress theme
Preview or install a WordPress theme

When you lot decide you want to apply a theme establish in the WordPress Repository, click Install.

And then, click on Alive Preview first to meet how your site volition look using the theme. This makes information technology easier to decide if the theme you're interested in is the 1 for you or not. When you've made the determination, click Activate to finish adding it to your website.

Your WordPress theme is at present installed on your website and you tin can commencement publishing content correct away.

How to Install a Premium WordPress Theme

If you've purchased a premium WordPress theme, you'll demand to utilize the upload method from your WordPress dashboard to install your theme.

To start, download the theme you lot purchased from the theme marketplace or visitor you bought it from. Save the downloaded zip file to your figurer.

Next, log into your WordPress website and go to Appearance > Themes in the WordPress dashboard and click Add New:

How to install a new WordPress theme
Adding a new WordPress theme

Next, click Upload Theme to upload the zippo file of your premium WordPress theme to your website from your computer:

Upload theme feature in WordPress
Upload theme characteristic in WordPress

Click Browse to select the zip file from your calculator.

Upload your zip file
Upload your zip file

So, click Install Now to add the theme to your website.

Install a premium WordPress theme
Install a premium WordPress theme

WordPress will install your premium theme on your website. If you desire to see how your website will expect using the uploaded theme, click Live Preview.

Lastly, click Actuate to make the theme ready to go on your website.

The upload method will work for whatsoever premium WordPress theme you have saved equally a nada file. It will besides piece of work when you lot demand to import a theme from ThemeForest. Just download the zilch file that'southward saved on your estimator and follow the aforementioned steps higher up.

How to Install a WordPress Theme Using FTP

The last method we're going to bear witness y'all is using FTP (file transfer protocol), which is the standard network protocol used for transferring reckoner files between a customer and server on a computer network. In other words, an FTP helps y'all upload files between you and your website's servers.

There are several FTP clients you can employ, only we're going to use FileZilla, which is easily downloaded on your computer. It's free to apply and has a unproblematic interface. Keep in listen, notwithstanding, this is an advanced way of installing a WordPress theme on your website and is not recommended for beginners.

Footstep 1: Secure FTP/SFTP Credentials

To get started, you'll demand to become your FTP or SFTP credentials to enter into FileZilla so it tin can connect to your site's servers (learn the difference between FTP and SFTP). This data is usually constitute in your web hosting account. If you take trouble finding information technology, reach out to your host and have them help you.

If you use Kinsta hosting, first log into your MyKinsta account and click on Sites in the dashboard and and so on the Info to get the credentials needed:

When yous exercise this, you lot should see your credentials under SFTP/SSH. You'll demand your username, password, and port:

Step two: Enter Credentials into FileZilla

After you've found your FTP/SFTP credentials, open up FileZilla.

Here is the information yous're going to need to enter:

  • Host: from your MyKinsta dashboard (or your site's IP address preceded past "sftp://" for other hosting providers)
  • Username: from your MyKinsta dashboard
  • Password: from your MyKinsta dashboard
  • Port: from your MyKinsta dashboard

This is what it volition await like at the pinnacle of the FileZilla screen:

Using SFTP in FileZilla
Using SFTP in FileZilla

Afterward you've entered your credentials, click Quickconnect. FileZilla will then connect to your site's servers.

Footstep 3: Upload WordPress Theme Files

After you're connected to your FTP, information technology's time to install a WordPress theme on your website. Keep in listen that the left side of FileZilla is how yous'll access your computer files, and the right side of FileZilla is how you'll access your site's files that are stored on your host's servers.

To open upwardly your site'southward files, click on the folders in the right-side panel until you discover the i labeled Themes:

WordPress themes folder
WordPress themes folder

When you do, any WordPress themes already installed on your website volition appear underneath the file folders.

Side by side, go to the left-side panel in FileZilla and search for the zip file of the WordPress theme you desire to install. When you notice it, right-click on it and select Upload:

Uploading WordPress theme via FTP
Uploading WordPress theme via FTP

When the files are done uploading to your site's servers (this may have a while depending on the size of the file), yous'll come across the files on the right-side panel in FileZilla.

files uploading to a site's servers in FileZilla

Lastly, log into your WordPress website and go to Advent > Themes. You'll notice your newly uploaded theme is correct at that place, waiting for you to actuate and use on your website.

Appearance, Themes in WordPress

Installing a new theme is ever a crucial moment! Learn 3 dissimilar means you tin can use with this step-by-stride tutorial and get your site a new look in minutes 👀🔜 Click to Tweet

Summary

If y'all're going to apply WordPress as your Content Management System, you're going to need to know how to install a WordPress theme. And chances are, you lot'll get through a few WordPress themes until you notice the one you like and has everything you need.

Luckily for yous, in that location are not just several methods to choose from for installing WordPress themes, merely all‌ ‌of‌ ‌them‌ ‌are also relatively easy, even for novice website owners:

  1. You tin install a theme through the Appearance>Themes > Add New option directly from inside WordPress.
  2. You can install a theme by uploading it as a naught file via the Upload Theme characteristic.
  3. You can install a theme Using an FTP client.

So, perform a little research and notice the perfect WordPress theme for your weblog, online business, or ecommerce store. So, install information technology on your WordPress site then you tin begin building a unique website that represents your brand.


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