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

Understanding how WordPress themes are added to your website is non complicated at all, no matter which method you cull to use — and at that place are a few! The cracking thing is, one time your theme is installed, yous're prepare to start creating a standout website right away.

In today'due south mail service, we'll dig deeper into how to install a WordPress theme. Specifically, we'll cover:

Permit'due south go started!

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Where to Discover WordPress Themes (Both Free and Paid)

Learning how to install a WordPress theme on your website isn't hard to do. What is hard, though, is choosing the correct theme for your needs. But before we expect at what you need to successfully reach that, let's take a quick look at where y'all can notice WordPress themes.

Right now, the WordPress Repository is 1 of the most common places to find reliable and complimentary plugins and themes to extend the design and functionality of your WordPress website. In fact, there are over seven,400 themes in the WordPress Repository solitary.

Adding to that, at that place are also thousands of free and premium themes available for WordPress users that tin can be found in marketplaces such as MOJO Market, CSS Igniter, and StudioPress. That said, the most famous theme marketplace to engagement is Themeforest, which currently has over 46,000 WordPress themes to cull from.

How to Choose the Right WordPress Theme

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

Here are some tips to assist:

1. Decide Between a Free or Premium WordPress Theme

The free vs paid WordPress theme debate has been around for a long time. This makes information technology tough to know whether yous should save your money and go for a free theme or invest a pocket-sized amount of coin for a premium 1 and reap the benefits. If you come beyond a WordPress site with a theme that you lot like, yous can apply our theme detector tool to detect out what theme information technology uses.

Information technology really does come downwards to your budget, at that place are some things to consider before making a final selection:

Pros of Using a Complimentary WordPress Theme

Using a gratis WordPress theme comes with plenty of advantages:

  • They're free to use, which means if you end upwardly not liking it and want to change your WordPress theme, you lot've lost no money for giving information technology a try.
  • The gratis themes in the WordPress Repository are officially approved after going through a strict review process.
  • Costless themes found at WordPress.org will be uniform with all the free plugins found in the same identify.

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

For example, they typically have a limited characteristic set, are used by many people (making it difficult to create a unique website), and at that place'south usually little to no prompt back up if there are issues. Non to mention, free themes found outside the WordPress Repository may exist poorly coded, which opens your site upwards to vulnerabilities and attacks.

Pros of Using a Premium WordPress Theme

Just similar using a free theme, premium themes come with their ain set of benefits:

  • You lot become support for it to help you with things like bugs, technical issues, and customization (suggested reading: How to Customize Your WordPress Theme).
  • Yous'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 wait and exercise whatsoever you want.
  • If from a trusted theme marketplace, company, or developer, you'll know your premium theme is upward-to-date with all the latest versions of WordPress, HTML, CSS, and PHP.

Premium themes do, however, cost coin. Some paid themes require a yearly payment, and others require a 1-fourth dimension payment. This means if you lot buy one, and later decide to change, you're out whatever money was spent.

2. Know Your Niche

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

For instance, if you're starting a WordPress nutrient blog, y'all'll want to be on the lookout man for a WordPress blogging theme that caters to food websites. Meliorate yet, if y'all think you might desire to sell products and services to fellow foodies like yourself, y'all might want to check out some ecommerce themes that come with the functionality to start both an online nutrient business organization and weblog.

To make a good decision, recall about the blazon of content you lot desire to publish, cardinal features your theme will need, your target audition, and what industry y'all want to be in, and then you can narrow your options and make deciding a little easier.

iii. Use Credible Sources

Anyone that can develop a WordPress theme and make a profit off it, will. Merely the affair is, but considering someone has created a WordPress theme doesn't hateful it'southward free from bad code, viruses, or fifty-fifty spam links.

If y'all've decided to apply a free WordPress theme, the best place to look is the WordPress Repository. If you demand a premium theme or want to apply a gratis 1 from a third-party theme company, cheque for the following:

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

In the end, it doesn't matter what blazon of WordPress theme you need. What really matters is that y'all avoid using nulled WordPress themes, so y'all don't have bug in the future with site security, downtime, and lost site visitors.

four. Keep It Unproblematic

Information technology's easy to go caught upward in the entreatment of pop 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 amend.

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

Information technology's best to utilize a theme that has just what you need and nothing more than.

5. Expect for Responsive Blueprint

Not to be confused with mobile-friendly pattern, responsive blueprint is necessary for giving your mobile site visitors infrequent user experience.

Having a mobile-friendly WordPress theme ways that no matter what device your site visitor accesses your website from, it volition announced the same. The site visitor will be able to run into all your site'due south content, navigate the site hands, and click the CTA buttons yous want them to. That said, none of the elements on your website volition change, no matter the device or screen size accessing your site.

To bank check for mobile-friendliness, use Google'southward Mobile-Friendly test.

Google mobile-friendly test
Google mobile-friendly test

On the other hand, having a WordPress theme with responsive design ways 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 access your site content with ease.

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

Responsive Checker tool
Responsive Checker

The dandy affair about this online tool is that you tin evaluate your website using multiple device types, including laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. In improver, you tin 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 want it to for site visitors.

6. Evaluate the Theme Support

In that location may come up a time when you lot demand back up while using your WordPress theme. That's why being able to get in touch with the theme developer or their support squad is crucial.

Find out what kind of support is offered before deciding on a WordPress theme. And remember, virtually free WordPress themes come with very lilliputian support, if whatever at all.

7. Consider the Features

Lastly, you should definitely consider the features your WordPress theme comes with. Hither are some of the all-time things to await for in whatever theme you choose, whether it'southward free or premium:

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

Of course, every person needs different things for their website. Withal, the above-mentioned considerations will aid point you in the right direction and help you brand a decision.

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

How to Install a Costless WordPress Theme

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

Subscribe At present

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

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

From at that place, y'all can filter the results based on:

  • Featured
  • Pop
  • Latest
  • Favorites
Filter theme results
Filter theme results

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

Feature filter
Feature filter

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

Searching for a specific WordPress theme in WordPress

Once you lot observe a theme you might want to use, you can click Details and Preview to see more information about the theme, Preview to see 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 decide you want to use a theme institute in the WordPress Repository, click Install.

Then, click on Alive Preview first to see how your site will wait using the theme. This makes it easier to determine if the theme you're interested in is the one for you or not. When yous've fabricated the conclusion, click Activate to finish calculation it to your website.

Your WordPress theme is now installed on your website and y'all tin showtime publishing content right away.

How to Install a Premium WordPress Theme

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

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

Side by side, 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
Adding a new WordPress theme

Next, click Upload Theme to upload the goose egg 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 nothing file from your estimator.

Upload your zip file
Upload your nil file

Then, 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 lot desire to run across how your website will look using the uploaded theme, click Live Preview.

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

The upload method will work for whatsoever premium WordPress theme you have saved as a zip file. It will too piece of work when you need to import a theme from ThemeForest. Just download the zip file that's saved on your computer and follow the same steps above.

How to Install a WordPress Theme Using FTP

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

There are several FTP clients you lot tin can use, simply we're going to use FileZilla, which is easily downloaded on your figurer. Information technology'due south free to use and has a unproblematic interface. Keep in mind, all the same, this is an avant-garde way of installing a WordPress theme on your website and is not recommended for beginners.

Step i: Secure FTP/SFTP Credentials

To get started, you lot'll need to get your FTP or SFTP credentials to enter into FileZilla so it can connect to your site's servers (learn the difference between FTP and SFTP). This information is usually plant in your web hosting business relationship. If you have trouble finding information technology, reach out to your host and have them assist you.

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

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

Step ii: Enter Credentials into FileZilla

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

Here is the data you're going to need to enter:

  • Host: from your MyKinsta dashboard (or your site'southward IP accost 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 information technology will await like at the top of the FileZilla screen:

Using SFTP in FileZilla
Using SFTP in FileZilla

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

Stride 3: Upload WordPress Theme Files

Subsequently yous're connected to your FTP, it's time to install a WordPress theme on your website. Keep in mind that the left side of FileZilla is how y'all'll access your figurer files, and the correct side of FileZilla is how you'll access your site'south files that are stored on your host's servers.

To open up your site's files, click on the folders in the right-side panel until yous find the ane labeled Themes:

WordPress themes folder
WordPress themes folder

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

Adjacent, get to the left-side panel in FileZilla and search for the zilch file of the WordPress theme you want to install. When you find 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 take a while depending on the size of the file), you'll see 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. You'll notice your newly uploaded theme is right there, waiting for y'all to actuate and employ on your website.

Appearance, Themes in WordPress

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Summary

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

Luckily for you, there are non merely several methods to cull from for installing WordPress themes, but all‌ ‌of‌ ‌them‌ ‌are likewise relatively piece of cake, even for novice website owners:

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

And then, perform a little inquiry and find the perfect WordPress theme for your blog, online concern, or ecommerce store. So, install it on your WordPress site and then you tin can begin building a unique website that represents your make.


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