Install New Wordpress Themes Help Page.

Ok, you’ve got your Wordpress Blog Installed and you’ve had a go at creating your first Wordpress Pages and WordPress Posts.

Now you want to intall a new Wordpress theme to your blog to give it a professional appearance. This page gives you the step by step instructions for installing a Wordpress Theme to your self-hosted Wordpress Blog.

As with all Wordpress Installs, the process is always the same.

• Find the object to install from an internet site
• Download it to your PC
• Unzip the files
• Upload the files to your Blog
• Activate it.

Step 1.

Find the Wordpress Theme (or sometimes called Wordpress Skin) that you want to use. There are hundreds of Free wordpress themes available at: Themes.Wordpress.net

Use the Wordpress Theme Sorting Options on the left hand column to restrict the number of available themes to those that meet your requirements. I would recommend limiting the list to those Wordpress Themes that are “Widget Ready” (see my article for help on Wordpress Widgets). Then select either 1, 2 or 3 column themes depending on your preference, and perhaps the color preference. (on the last item dropdown List select “ALL” option to ensure that the themes are restricted to the combined selection, ie Widget Ready AND 2 Column AND Blue … for example, rather than “ANY” which will search for “Widget Ready OR 2 Column OR Blue” )

Once you have browsed the available Wordpress Themes and found the one you like, click on the download button to save the Theme Zip file to your Computer. (I have a Wordpress folder under “My downloads” folder, and then folders for Themes, Plugins, just to help keep things organised)

Step 2.

Unzip the files to a local folder on your PC.
(Note: If you are using cPanel on your Host Account for example with a BlueHost Account, then you can ommit this step.)

Step 3.

Upload the Files to your Wordpress Host Account. The Files need to be placed in the Themes Folder under WP-Content folder of your Blog Host Account.

You can either use an FTP Client for this or if you are using cPanel then just upload the Zip File using the File Manager, and then click on the uploaded zip file to highlight it and click on “Extract Files” at the top right of the cPanel File Manager.

Step 4.

Now Log into your WP-Admin section (the Wordpress Blog Back-Office) and goto the “Presentation” section. The new Theme should be available for you to select by clicking on the theme thumbnail image.

Job Done, you have succesfully intalled a new Wordpress Theme to your Wordpress blog.