As a new blogger one of the most basic things you need to know and master is how to install a WordPress theme.  It’s not too difficult and not too technical, but you do need to have a few skills already mastered.  If you can browse the web and you have basic windows navigation skills then installing a WordPress theme should be no problem for you.

Here’s the step-by-step process:

How To Install A WordPress Theme

I’m going to assume that you found the WordPress theme of your dreams and have already downloaded the zip file…the adventure begins…

UPLOADING YOUR WORDPRESS THEME

  1. Most (if not all) WordPress themes can be downloaded in a zip file.  The first thing you need to do is extract the contents from your zip file.
  2. The process for unzipping a file may vary slightly depending on your “zip program”.  I usually just double click (open) the zip file and drag the contents from the zip file to my desktop.  There are other ways to extract contents from a zip file and hopefully you already have this skilled mastered.

Unzip WordPress Theme

  1. The next step is to upload your extracted file to your web server.
  2. Have you used FTP (File Transfer Protocol) before?  If so, use your FTP program to upload your extracted zip file to the following directory: /public_html/yourdomain.com/wp-content/themes
  3. If you don’t know what FTP is then I have an easy way for you to upload files to your web server…that is as long as your web host uses cPanel…if your host doesn’t use cPanel then your shit out of luck…kidding…just contact me and I’ll do my best to walk you through FTPing your files.
  4. Access your cPanel by going to http://yourdomainname.com/cpanel.  For this blog it would be http://www.bloggersproject.com/cpanel.
  5. Enter your username and password – by the way, if you don’t normally access your cPanel here you need to know your 8 letter login name.  My account uses the first 8 letters in my domain name for instance, “bloggers” would be my domain name.  If you know how to access your cPanel through your host’s front page then access it there and look at the upper left corner of your cPanel home page under stats you’ll see your username.
  6. Click on the little Unlimited FTP button (grouped under “Files”).  This runs a little Java program that allows you to use FTP inside your browser.  If you don’t have Java installed then you’ll need to take care of that now

Unlimited FTP

  1. You should be looking at two file directories now.  The left one has your local computer file directory and probably looks similar to what you see when you use windows explorer.  The directory on the right side is your web server directory.
  2. Navigate through your file directory (left side) and find your extracted zip file.
  3. Navigate through your web server directory (right side) to the following location: /public_html/yourdomain.com/wp-content/themes
  4. Now just use your mouse to drag the extracted zip file to the directory mentioned above on your web server.

ftp

ACTIVATING YOUR WORDPRESS THEME

  1. Go to your WordPress blog admin panel: http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin.
  2. Enter your username and password.
  3. Click the Appearance hyperlink in the left navigation.
  4. Click the Themes hyperlink under the Appearance drop down in the left navigation.
  5. The themes window should open and you should see an image of your new theme
  6. Click the image or hyperlink with your theme name.

WordPress Themes Page

  1. This will open a lightbox popup with your new theme (this is a sample of your site).  Click “Activate” ThemeName in the upper right corner.
  2. Test your blog by going to your live website/blog.

That’s it!  Lots of little steps that should get you up in running in no time.  Of course there are always little snafu’s so if you’re having a problem feel free to contact me in the comments area below.

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