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Choosing a Word Press Theme

Picking the theme (or template) for your WordPress blog can be one of the most important decision you will make about your blog.

Why does it matter so much?

Because so many people choose the wrong theme for the wrong reasons.

The theme isn’t just responsible for the blog’s appearance. It’s the structure of your blog – its skeleton and muscle. The theme will determine if Google can find your posts, if readers are pulled in or pushed away when they explore your blog, if comment and contact forms are usable and inviting.

The color or header of a theme is irrelevant. Never choose a theme because you like the pretty pictures! You can always change the pictures, the colors, and the fonts by editing the stylesheet. (And if you don’t know how, you can find someone who does.)

So what should you look for in a theme? At a minimum, you should be able to answer yes to these questions:

• Is it standards compliant?
• Is it compatible with the current release of WordPress?
• Has it been updated recently
• Does the author offer support?
• Is it widget ready?

You can research these questions by looking closely at the comments and downloads at the WordPress Themes Directory. If you download the theme from the creator’s web site, Google it to discover what others are saying.

But remember – it’s not the existence of bugs that’s crucial. All software has bugs and frequent WordPress updates combined with the many versions of a theme that can be found in various internet collections makes complaints inevitable.  It’s the willingness of the author to track down and correct problems that makes all the difference.

After you’re sure you have a well-behaved, functioning theme, then it is time to consider the layout and appearance of your blog. How many columns do you want? Right or left sidebar? What sort of header do you need? Does this theme make it easy to read the posts? Are there distractions or problems with low contrast you’ll need to correct?

When all that’s settled, you are finally ready to pick a theme. Should you choose a free theme or a premium theme? In other words – will you get a better blog if you pay for a WordPress theme? We’ll look at that next.

Similar Posts:

• Should You Buy A Premium WordPress Theme?
• What WordPress Plug Ins Must You Absolutely Have?
• Upgrade to WordPress 3.0

Tags: blog, themes, wordpress