Do you know ‘How to Install a WordPress Theme on your WordPress site? Installing a WordPress theme ( free or paid) is quite easy.No matter to worry. You can install free WordPress theme directly from the WordPress Theme Directory with a few steps, within a few seconds. But if you install a premium theme, then download the theme( theme’s file in .zip format), upload it and install on your site from the WP-Admin’s theme area in the same way as you do for a free one. As usual, you need to purchase a premium theme from the developers or third-party selling sites in order to use it. Because premium themes are not available at free of cost, rather need to be bought from market place. On the other hand, free themes are available in large quantity. No need to spend a single dollar if you install a free WordPress theme. However, before installing a theme, you need to start a website and install WordPress.
But before installing a theme you should know some facts about it like this:
- Is it responsive?
- Is it SEO-Friendly?
- Is it Customizable?
- Does it support plugin integration?
- Does it provide coding section like custom css?
- Does it give support and update?
The theme you want to install must be responsive, namely, every kind of device like pc, tablet or mobile will be able to upload and display on its screen properly. A responsive theme is a need that everyone should have installed to yield better user-experience.
A SEO-Friendly theme is a must for a WordPress theme. It helps search engine crawl and index a site. It shows rich snippets to search engine as search result.
An easy-to-use theme gives customizability. Because of this, you can exactly set website logo, website icon or favicon, header, footer etc. Even as a user, you can increase or decrease font’s size, change font-colour and colour for background of posts or pages. Customization allows you to adjust a particular feature of your website.
You know that plugin is a great tool to add more functionality to your WordPress site. Plugins are available in WordPress plugin directory at free of cost. Also, you can use premium theme but it needs to be purchased. But the matter of fact that your theme should support plugin integration, that is to say, it must be compatible to use plugins.
Custom CSS is a built-in section within your theme’s file. It allows you to add certain lines of codes to carry out a desired function. As usual, free WordPress themes do not give you this advanced feature. All the premium themes have built-in custom css section to add and save some codes so that you can modify certain changes. That’s why premium themes are more popular than free ones.
Update and Support is an essential feature of a WordPress theme that you ought to take into account while going to choose it. The scope of support is limited in case of free themes. But, on the other hand, if you choose a premium theme, you will get more support from the theme developers.
Now which theme needs to be installed on your site is a matter you should consider with pros and cons. No matter to worry. You can choose either a free WordPress theme or a premium one. If you want to work on low budget, then opt for a free theme and you can upgrade to a premium one as per your needs.
Do you want to know more about selecting a WordPress theme? Read our article on how to choose a WordPress theme with essential features. Now, let’s come to our main topics that outlined below.
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Which Kind of Theme Do You Want to Install? Free or Premium?
Which Kind of Theme Do You Want to Install depends on you. As far as theme installation is concerned, you have to go through a number of steps one by one, such as selecting theme from appearance menu, searching for a theme in WordPress theme’s page, selecting the theme and installing it with success until you see ‘activate’. In case of a premium theme you need to to go some steps forward like purchasing the theme, downloading it and uploading on your site before installing. Website’s themes are classified into two groups:
- Free WordPress Themes: These are generally called WordPress themes. These are available in the WordPress theme directory free of charge.
- Premium Themes are normally not available in the WordPress directory. You can buy a premium theme from its developers, selling companies ,third-party affiliate site or market places.
How to Install a WordPress Theme( Free)?
You can install a free WordPress theme right from the WP-admin dashboard via the WordPress theme directory. Only follow the following instructions to learn ‘How to Install a WordPress Theme( free)?
Go to the “WP-Admin Dashboard”
Go to the WP-Admin Dashboard of your WordPress site. The dashboard is also called the WP-Admin or WP-Control Panel. It is the point from which you can go to different menu and sub menu of your site.The Dashboard has a URL like this’https://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/index.php.
After login, first of all, you have to land on this area and you can see and access various options like, posts, pages, appearance, tools, settings etc.
Click “Theme” under Appearance
After landing on your WP-admin, locate the the ‘Theme’ sub menu. You can access theme from Appearance. The Theme sub menu has a URL like this:https://www.yourdomain.com/wp-admin/themes.php.
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Click on ‘Appearance’ it will expand and show the sub menus like theme, customize,widgets etc. Now click on ‘Theme’ and it will take to its defined URL as mentioned just above the screenshot.
Click”Wordpress.org Themes”
By clicking on theme you have seen “WordPress.org Themes” at the upper part of your theme’s page. Now you have go to WordPress themes directory. So, click on “WordPress.org Themes” as seen below.
In the above screenshots you can see three options like WordPress.org theme, upload and premium. You cannot see the premium option at first time as there will be only remaining two, namely, the upload and the WordPress.org themes. I have installed a premium theme so the updater plugin displays this option to access other premium themes from this option.
Choose a Theme by “Category” via “Search” or “Applying Filters”
You have now come to WordPress.org themes directory. You can find out and select a theme by resorting to anyone of the following four categories like below:
- Featured
- Popular
- Latest
- Favourite
Besides, you can search for a theme right from the ‘Search Themes’ located at the right extremity of the WordPress Theme Directory’s navigation bar as marked above with arrow. Just type the name of the theme and it will appear within a few seconds.
There is another menu on the navigation bar called’Feature Filter’ that you can see located in the middle of the navigation bar. From feature filter you can choose any theme based on a particular subject having special features and and layout.
So, first of all, choose the type of theme, then choose features and layout. After marking up these three type of selectors click’ Apply Filter‘ and in an instant the themes matching the filters will appear on the directory. Thus applying filters you can find out a theme.
Click “Install” to Get the Theme Installed on Your Site
So far, you have searched for a theme and found it on the WordPress theme directory. Now, you can install the theme but prior to installation you can see its details.
Do you want to know more about the theme that you have searched for and found it to have appeared in the block of the directory? Just click on the “Details & Preview” or on “preview” option to look its appearance and other details like theme’s features, ratings and version of the theme.
Now, your theme is ready to be installed. Just click on ‘Install” and your theme will be installed within a few seconds.
Click “Activate” to Let Your Theme Work
The theme you have installed will not work unless you Activate it. By activating the theme you let it work.
Also, you can check your site’s appearance from the ‘Live Preview’ option. It will show how your site appears on the theme. Now, just click on”Activate” and your theme works on your site. You can now customize your site step by step. If you don’t customize your site, the theme will work by default.
How to Install a Premium Theme?
You can Install a Premium Theme in the same way as you do for a free WordPress theme but before installing the theme you need to purchase, download and upload it in your WordPress site. I am going to give you a detail about ‘ How to Install a Premium Theme’ on your site. Follow the tutorial till the end.
Create an Account, Choose a Theme and Pay Bill
As usual, you cannot use Premium Theme free of cost. In order to use it you have to pay a certain charge either on monthly or yearly basis. So, first of all, create an account entering required information like user name , password etc.
After creation of account, choose a theme and pay bill to purchase the theme. Also, you can check the details of a theme before purchasing it from the theme’s selling page that contains details about it. Once the theme purchased, you can access and download it. A confirmation email too will be sent to you entailing your product and purchasing information.
Download the Theme in .zip Format
Go to your account directly from the current page or login thereto after logging out. Inside your account you can see your product details. There will be options like documentation, changelog, download etc.
You can see above in the picture that there are many links to help users. You need to download the theme. Therefore, click on the” Theme Files” to download it. Keep the downloaded file( theme’s file) in your computer’s local storage. Generally, these files are downloaded compressed in .zip format.
Go to “Theme” under Appearance from WP-Admin Panel
Go to WP-Admin Panel of your WordPress site if you are not logged in. Scroll down until you reach the “Appearance” under under WP-admin dashboard. “Appearance” is a menu containing many submenus. Keep your cursor on ‘Appearance’ and it will pop up the hidden menus inside it like customize, theme, widget,menus etc.
You have to go to “Theme” submemu, so, click on it as marked by an arrow under Appearance.
Go to”Upload Theme”
By clicking on ‘Theme’ you will be taken to”Upload Theme” option as pointed below by an arrow.
This button allows you to go to the media of your WordPress site or your PC. So, click on “Upload Themes” and you will be taken to the media in a wink.
You can now see that the browser has taken to “Browse” in order to access your media wherefrom you can select a file. So, click on ‘Browse’ and in an instant the browser will take you to the media. Select the file, click on “Open” and it will upload in your wordpress site. Generally, such kind of files are kept in .zip format.
“Install” the File Now on Your Site
Till now you have selected the downloaded file which is in .zip format. Look below for better understanding. So, your theme is now ready to be installed.
Now, just click “Install” and your theme’s file will be installed forthwith. During installation the compressed zip file is unpacked and then installed.
Click “Activate” to activate the Theme
You have so far installed the theme with success on your WordPress site. Now you can use the theme to customize your site. But your theme will not work until you activate it. So, click “Activate” and your theme will be ready to work.
Upon activation of theme you can customise your wordpress site. This article being on How to install a WordPress theme I don’t discuss on site customisation, though you will know it in another tutorial.
