Step-by-Step Guide to Installing a WordPress Theme
Before you set up your theme, you’ll need to set up your hosting account. If you haven’t done that, you can watch our video on setting up hosting.
- The first thing you’ll do is log in to your backend WordPress site by going to yourwebsite.com/wp-admin. Enter your username and password and click on Log In.
- Once you’re in, go to Appearance on the left hand side and click on Themes.
- You already should have some preloaded themes from which you can choose. If you like any of them, simply click Activate on the theme you like.
- If you’d like to look more, click on Add New at the top of the screen. You’ll see a variety of available themes. You can also look at themes based on popularity or most recent by using the links toward the top.
- To get a better idea of what the themes look like, click on the Preview button to see more information on the site design. If you know the name of the theme you want, enter it in the search field at the top right and hit Enter. The thumbnail of each theme will look different than the live preview. When you initially upload a theme, you’ll have to take additional steps in order for your site to look like the theme thumbnail.
- Once you find the theme you like, click on Install and then Activate.
- Take a look at what your website looks like by clicking on your website name in the top navigation bar. Keep in mind that you’ll still need to do some tweaks here and there to get your site looking the way you want it.
Congratulations – you’ve just installed a WordPress theme on your website!