Amateur Blogger

You’ve finished with your brainstorming and decided on a niche market for your new blog. Keyword research is complete and you have downloaded the latest version of WordPress and are ready to install your new blog. Now it’s time to decide what you would like your new blog to look like. It’s time to find a theme for your blog.

You will want to consider the following factors in finding the best theme for your situation:

1. Your Budget

Your first basic decision is to either use a free theme, a premium theme or a custom theme. The obvious advantage to a free theme is the cost – which, of course, is free! There are literally tens of thousands of free WordPress themes available for your use. Deciding among them will be the hard part.

If you decide to move up to a premium theme you will find that for only a modest cost, usually in the neighborhood of $20.00 to $100.00, that you will have a much more customized theme with added features that will make your blog easier to use and more effective.

The disadvantage to either a premium or free theme is that there will be many other sites using the same theme as yours. If you are concerned about having an absolutely unique look to your blog, and your budget allows for it, then you might want to consider a custom theme design for your new blog.

Experienced web developers familiar with WordPress and with PHP coding develop custom themes from the ground up. A custom theme will have a one-of-a-kind look singular to your site, and generally speaking will have many features not present on a free or premium theme. Needless to say, the cost of a premium theme may vary from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars or more. If budget is not a concern, a premium theme is definitely something you should consider.

2. Functionality

Depending on the goals of your blog, determining how much functionality you want in your theme is an important step in the process. If you expect to grow your blog you will probably want enhanced functionality and flexibility that is best offered with a custom theme design. For instance, if your goal is to ultimately include advertising on your blog then make certain that your theme is a two or three column theme so that you will have some option about where to include your future advertising.

3. Future Investment in Additional Customization

It’s hard to predict the future and many bloggers find that their needs change as their new blog evolves. You may need to add some features or functionality to your blog to enhance the user experience or to begin monetizing your website. Remember that any WordPress them can be customized quite easily by a web developer familiar with CSS, XHTML and PHP. If those terms are meaningless to you then you should consider hiring a web developer to customize your theme.

Next in the series – Choosing a Blog Theme Template – Part 2.