Have you looked through the themes available from WordPress? Thousands upon thousands – I lost track. There are so many WordPress themes available, but choosing one to fit your niche is more important than you think. How to choose one that will enhance the quality of your links and the propensity of people to buy is a task you need to undertake if you want to master making money with a blog.
Just do a search for WordPress themes online and you will find many available for free.
Here are some tips that I recommend when looking at themes:
· Probably the most important feature is that the browser is compatible across the top browsers. This sounds like a no-brainer, but believe me, it can happen and it can cause a problem. When you build a site, look at it in Internet Explorer as well as Firefox. Check it out on PCs and Macs if you can. You don’t want anyone’s experience on your website to be diminished because the theme is not compatible with their browser.
· The next feature you want to look for is the ability to add widgets to your word press theme. Most themes will state in the description if they are “widget-ready.” Widgets are extremely easy to upload. They are absolutely necessary as you can add all sorts of extras onto your blog.
· Is the theme SEO optimized? This is also very important for money making capabilities. Themes that are SEO compatible will include an emphasis on content rather than graphics, have HTML validation and should display post extracts on archive and category pages. Basically, look for one that states “SEO Optimized” or “SEO Friendly.”
· Make sure your word press theme has a search capability. This is the little Search box on the site itself. This is a basic item, but there are still some themes that don’t have the compatibility for search.
· Is the theme already overused? You don’t want to have a theme that someone else has seen before. Customizing it is the key to this.
· Do you plan on having advertising on your blog? If you do – either banner ads or Adsense – make sure that the theme supports them in its design.
· Finally, can you grow with the design? This last step is a big one – I have run into this problem before and I lost many readers due to a design change. As your site develops, you want to be able to add and change things to a degree that you do not have to change your whole theme. For example, you may not want advertising right now, but if you changed your mind, could you add it?
These tips will help you get started with a theme and maximize its potential. Choosing a theme, customizing it and developing a site may take you days, even weeks, but as you get better at it, you will be setting them up in no time. Trust me!
