How to Install WordPress Themes : Step by Step Guide

Step by step guide on how to install WordPress theme : WordPress is one of the most used Content management systems for blogs today . All praises to the very easy interface and effective management features in WordPress that make WordPress a breeze to use . For new WordPress users it might be a bit confusing to use and install WordPress themes manually , but you will get a hang of it very soon . If you are new to WordPress then you can follow this guide to install WordPress theme .

To start with , there are two methods to install WordPress theme , which are :

• METHOD 1 : You can upload and install the theme through WordPress
• METHOD 2 : You can manually upload the theme through FTP and install the WordPress theme .

The first method is the most convenient ,  but if any case you are not able to install WordPress theme using WordPress , you can use the second method to manually install WordPress themes through ftp .

How to get a WordPress theme ?

Before we install WordPress theme , we need to have a WordPress theme which we are going to install . You can do a Google search for WordPress themes and choose from a variety of free and premium themes . Most of the sites provide a free demo of WordPress themes , take a look at those demos  and select a theme with the best designs and features .

Alternatively i would recommend can browse through many free and premium themes from the following sites and get the theme of your choice . These sites are very trusted by the WordPress community and have a lot of affordable and feature packed themes .

• Theme Junkie
• Theme Forest

Visit the above sites and browse through the different categories of themes . browse through the demos of various themes and download any theme which interests you . the theme will be downloaded in a zip file , inside which you will a manual , read me file and other license files . Extract the theme files to your desktop or any other location convenient to you  .

Note: Read the manual and read me  files carefully as they will help you to customize and troubleshoot any problems further when you install WordPress theme .

[ METHOD 1 ] How to install WordPress Theme the Default way 

• Step 1: Login to your WordPress dashboard . From your WordPress menu on the left side , select appearances > themes .  In the page that opens , click on install themes to install the WordPress theme .

• Step 2:  Now you are viewing the WordPress theme manager , Through this page you can search many free and premium themes . As we already have a theme , we will proceed further to install WordPress theme .

• Step 3: Now we have to upload the WordPress theme . click on choose file and navigate to the folder where you had extracted the theme files. Select the theme file and press enter . Now click on install now to install now the WordPress theme .

• Step 4: When your WordPress theme is installed , you will see the following page . Click on live preview to see a preview of the theme on your site before you actually install the WordPress theme . If you like the click on activate to install the WordPress theme .

 

• Step 5: Alternatively your newly installed WordPress theme can also be viewed from your WordPress theme page , along with previously installed themes .

 
That was the default method to install WordPress themes . If in any case you are not able to install WordPress themes through this default method , then follow this second method to install WordPress theme manually though a FTP server . Follow these instructions below .

[ METHOD 2 ] How to install WordPress Theme Manually through FTP 

According to your host the folder structure of your hosting may differ , so i will guide you through the basic steps to install WordPress theme , which is similar for all hosts .

• Step 1: Extract the theme files :

• Step 2:  Connect to your Ftp server using the login details provided by your hosting service provider .
• Step 3:  Once connected to your hosting server . open the following directory in your ftp server .  “ yourwebsite.com/wp-content/themes/ “

• Step 4:  Upload your extracted theme folder into the theme folder inside your ftp server . Wait for a few minutes until the theme files are uploaded .
• Step 5: Once the theme is uploaded , Login into your WordPress dashboard and click on appearances and select themes . Your new theme will now appear in WordPress , click on live preview to see how the theme look on your website or click on activate to use the theme on your site . Now you can go ahead and install any WordPress theme .

You have now learnt to successfully install WordPress themes . But the most important part is to install WordPress themes from legal sources . Do not download WordPress themes from warez sites or illegally . WordPress themes download illegally will have malware and bad links in them which will get your site hacked or worse penalized by Google . If you face any problem through this process , then let me know of them through the comments . i will try my best to help you out .