WordPress is the almost widely-used Content Direction System in the world for building self-hosted websites. Chances are if yous're non already, you've decided to use WordPress for your own website. But do you know how to install a WordPress theme?

Agreement how WordPress themes are added to your website is not complicated at all, no thing which method y'all choose to utilise — and there are a few! The great matter is, once your theme is installed, yous're set up to start creating a standout website correct away.

In today'southward mail, we'll dig deeper into how to install a WordPress theme. Specifically, nosotros'll embrace:

Let's become 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 hard to practice. What is hard, though, is choosing the correct theme for your needs. Merely before nosotros look at what you need to successfully achieve that, let's have a quick expect at where y'all can find WordPress themes.

Correct now, the WordPress Repository is i of the most common places to find reliable and gratis plugins and themes to extend the pattern and functionality of your WordPress website. In fact, there are over 7,400 themes in the WordPress Repository lone.

Adding to that, there are too thousands of gratis and premium themes available for WordPress users that can exist found in marketplaces such as MOJO Market, CSS Igniter, and StudioPress. That said, the nearly famous theme marketplace to date is Themeforest, which currently has over 46,000 WordPress themes to choose from.

How to Choose the Right WordPress Theme

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

Here are some tips to help:

i. Determine Between a Gratuitous or Premium WordPress Theme

The costless 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 get for a free theme or invest a modest amount of money for a premium ane and reap the benefits. If you come up across a WordPress site with a theme that you like, you tin can apply our theme detector tool to detect out what theme information technology uses.

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

Pros of Using a Free WordPress Theme

Using a free WordPress theme comes with plenty of advantages:

  • They're free to use, which means if y'all end up non liking information technology and desire to alter your WordPress theme, you've lost no money for giving information technology a endeavor.
  • The free themes in the WordPress Repository are officially canonical afterward going through a strict review process.
  • Free themes found at WordPress.org will exist compatible with all the costless plugins found in the aforementioned identify.

That said, free themes practice come with some disadvantages too.

For case, they typically have a limited feature set, are used by many people (making it hard to create a unique website), and there's unremarkably niggling to no prompt back up if there are issues. Not to mention, free themes found exterior the WordPress Repository may be poorly coded, which opens your site up to vulnerabilities and attacks.

Pros of Using a Premium WordPress Theme

Just like using a gratuitous theme, premium themes come with their own set of benefits:

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

Premium themes exercise, however, toll coin. Some paid themes crave a yearly payment, and others crave a sometime payment. This means if you buy one, and later decide to change, y'all're out whatever 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 you decide on a theme volition assistance you find WordPress themes that will have the blueprint and functionality you demand.

For case, if y'all're starting a WordPress nutrient blog, you'll want to be on the lookout for a WordPress blogging theme that caters to nutrient websites. Better yet, if yous think y'all might want to sell products and services to boyfriend foodies like yourself, yous might want to check out some ecommerce themes that come with the functionality to first both an online food concern and weblog.

To make a skilful decision, think near the blazon of content you want to publish, central features your theme will need, your target audience, and what industry you want to be in, so you can narrow your options and make deciding a lilliputian easier.

3. Use Credible Sources

Anyone that can develop a WordPress theme and make a profit off information technology, volition. But the matter is, just because someone has created a WordPress theme doesn't mean information technology's free from bad code, viruses, or even spam links.

If you've decided to use a gratuitous WordPress theme, the all-time identify to look is the WordPress Repository. If you lot need a premium theme or want to use a free 1 from a third-party theme company, bank check for the following:

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

In the end, information technology doesn't matter what type of WordPress theme you demand. What actually matters is that yous avoid using nulled WordPress themes, so yous don't accept problems in the future with site security, downtime, and lost site visitors.

4. Keep It Elementary

It'due south easy to get caught up in the appeal of popular multipurpose WordPress themes such equally Avada or Ten. And while these themes may have the features and design some people need, the truth is, uncomplicated is oftentimes better.

This is especially true for those but starting out. Sometimes multipurpose themes come up with besides many features, accept a high learning bend, and affect your site's speed and functioning.

Information technology'southward all-time to use a theme that has just what y'all need and nothing more.

5. Look for Responsive Design

Not to exist confused with mobile-friendly design, responsive design is necessary for giving your mobile site visitors exceptional user experience.

Having a mobile-friendly WordPress theme means that no thing what device your site visitor accesses your website from, it volition appear the same. The site visitor volition exist able to encounter all your site'southward content, navigate the site easily, and click the CTA buttons you lot want them to. That said, none of the elements on your website will change, no matter the device or screen size accessing your site.

To check for mobile-friendliness, utilize Google'due south Mobile-Friendly examination.

Google mobile-friendly test
Google mobile-friendly test

On the other paw, having a WordPress theme with responsive design means that when your site visitors click on your website using a mobile device, your website will adjust according to the screen size. Elements on your website will modify to render seamlessly for site visitors and so they can admission your site content with ease.

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

Responsive Checker tool
Responsive Checker

The neat thing about this online tool is that you can evaluate your website using multiple device types, including laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. In improver, you can navigate the site as if you were really accessing information technology using a mobile device to brand sure your site looks and functions the mode y'all want information technology to for site visitors.

6. Evaluate the Theme Support

At that place may come a time when you need support while using your WordPress theme. That's why being able to go in touch on with the theme developer or their back up team is crucial.

Find out what kind of support is offered earlier deciding on a WordPress theme. And remember, most free WordPress themes come with very little support, 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 await for in whatsoever theme you choose, whether it'southward complimentary or premium:

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

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

At present, allow's take a wait at how to install a WordPress theme onto your website later you've chosen the perfect 1.

How to Install a Costless WordPress Theme

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

Subscribe Now

To start, 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

From there, yous can filter the results based on:

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

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

Feature filter
Characteristic filter

Lastly, yous can search for a specific WordPress theme if yous know the proper name of it by inbound the theme's name into the search bar:

Searching for a specific WordPress theme in WordPress

Once you detect a theme y'all might want to use, you can click Details and Preview to run across more data about the theme, Preview to encounter a preview of the theme in action, 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 make up one's mind you want to use a theme found in the WordPress Repository, click Install.

Then, click on Live Preview showtime to see how your site will look using the theme. This makes information technology easier to decide if the theme you lot'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 now installed on your website and you tin can get-go publishing content right away.

How to Install a Premium WordPress Theme

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

To showtime, download the theme you purchased from the theme marketplace or company you bought it from. Save the downloaded zip file to your estimator.

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

How to install a new WordPress theme
Calculation a new WordPress theme

Next, click Upload Theme to upload the cypher 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 zippo file from your computer.

Upload your zip file
Upload your naught file

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

Install a premium WordPress theme
Install a premium WordPress theme

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

Lastly, click Activate to make the theme ready to proceed your website.

The upload method will work for whatever premium WordPress theme you accept saved equally a zippo file. It volition also work when you need to import a theme from ThemeForest. Only download the zip file that'south saved on your computer and follow the same steps above.

How to Install a WordPress Theme Using FTP

The concluding method we're going to bear witness you is using FTP (file transfer protocol), which is the standard network protocol used for transferring computer files betwixt a client and server on a computer network. In other words, an FTP helps yous upload files between yous and your website'southward servers.

There are several FTP clients you can apply, but nosotros're going to use FileZilla, which is easily downloaded on your estimator. It's complimentary to utilize and has a unproblematic interface. Keep in heed, however, this is an advanced way of installing a WordPress theme on your website and is not recommended for beginners.

Step 1: Secure FTP/SFTP Credentials

To get started, you'll demand to get your FTP or SFTP credentials to enter into FileZilla so it tin connect to your site's servers (larn the deviation between FTP and SFTP). This information is ordinarily found in your web hosting business relationship. If you accept trouble finding it, attain out to your host and take them assist you lot.

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

When you practise this, you should see your credentials under SFTP/SSH. You'll need your username, password, and port:

Footstep two: Enter Credentials into FileZilla

Later yous've found your FTP/SFTP credentials, open up FileZilla.

Hither is the information you're going to need to enter:

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

This is what it will look similar at the top of the FileZilla screen:

Using SFTP in FileZilla
Using SFTP in FileZilla

After y'all've entered your credentials, click Quickconnect. FileZilla volition so connect to your site'south servers.

Stride 3: Upload WordPress Theme Files

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

To open upward your site's files, click on the folders in the right-side panel until you find the one labeled Themes:

WordPress themes folder
WordPress themes folder

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

Next, go to the left-side panel in FileZilla and search for the nil file of the WordPress theme y'all want to install. When y'all find information technology, 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'south servers (this may accept a while depending on the size of the file), yous'll come across the files on the right-side console in FileZilla.

files uploading to a site's servers in FileZilla

Lastly, log into your WordPress website and become to Appearance > Themes. Yous'll notice your newly uploaded theme is right there, waiting for you to activate and apply on your website.

Appearance, Themes in WordPress

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Summary

If yous're going to use WordPress as your Content Management Organization, you're going to demand to know how to install a WordPress theme. And chances are, you'll go through a few WordPress themes until you find the one y'all like and has everything you lot need.

Luckily for you lot, there are non only several methods to choose from for installing WordPress themes, only all‌ ‌of‌ ‌them‌ ‌are also relatively easy, even for novice website owners:

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

So, perform a niggling research and find the perfect WordPress theme for your weblog, online business concern, or ecommerce store. Then, install it on your WordPress site so y'all can begin building a unique website that represents your make.


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