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Do you have any idea how many WordPress blog themes exist. I don’t know either, but I suspect it is close to one thousand, maybe a lot more.

So what, why is this significant?

Most of you may have no idea of the importance of the theme you select for your blog. Frankly, I’ve looked at a couple hundred themes, and find most of them ugly… really ugly, and often totally inappropriate for the subject of your blog.

How do you choose one that will enhance the quality of your links and encourage people to buy from you? You need to consider this if you want to make money online.

Wordpress themes are available free online if you do a search. What most of us are totally unaware of is the SEO capabilities of themes. It actually makes a huge difference to your money-making potential.

Here are some things to look for in a Wordpress theme – how to choose the best one, in other words.

· Probably the most important thing is that the theme is compatible in different browsers.  When you build a site, don’t look at it only in Internet Explorer. Check the appearance in Firefox as well. Check it out on PCs and Macs if you can. 

How it looks in different sizes of monitors is also important. You don’t want anyone’s experience on your website to be diminished because the theme is not compatible with their browser.

It isn’t easy to think of all these things is it. Well, you no doubt know a lot of people owning computers. Contact them and ask 2 or 3 questions about their computers. From this, select a few that are willing to occasionally check out for you, what you need to check.

· Widgets are an essential part of any quality theme, and without them, you probably won’t make any money. You need to know that you can add widgets to your Wordpress theme.  One of the great features that Wordpress software has, is the availability of add on scripts called widgets.  These are extremely easy to upload.  But, if your theme can’t handle widgets easily, in other words easily add them to the sidebars of your blog, then forget it. Change themes, as your sidebar widgets are extremely important to the overall look of your blog.

· You need your blog to load quickly, under 3 seconds if possible. Your theme decides this and you surely lose people who don’t have the patience for you slow-loading blog to load.

If you are using a free theme, try loading someone else’s blog site that uses the same theme you’re considering. Do this before you take the trouble to use it yourself on your own site.  If the CSS is compressed, this can speed page load time.

· Is the theme SEO optimized?  It doesn’t matter how good your content is if the search engines can’t find it. Some examples of SEO omptimization are as follows. Does your theme have an emphasis on content rather than graphics, content being the most important aspect of any blog. How about HTML validation, do you have it.
You should display post extracts on archive and category pages. Recent comments should also be shown.

The quality of advertising widgets, like banners is also very important.

· Make sure your word press theme has a search capability. This is a basic item that usually appears on top, but there are still some themes that just don’t provide a search function.

On my Niche Market Strategies Blog at http://www.niche-market-strategies.com do a search for “how to find profitable niches” and you will discover a series of 8 posts that answer your search request. These very valuable posts are about 9 months old, and not easy to pin-point without the search function.

· Finally, can you grow with the design?  As your site blossoms, and becomes loaded with content, will you be able to keep the same theme? You don’t want to have to change your theme at this point. It’s a good way to stun your subscribers, and make them feel lost with the theme they got so used to.

Finally, there are many free themes, but also some paid themes that usually come with extra features and greater flexibility. Are these more powerful themes worth the money you pay for them?

Why don’t you tell me. Please comment and tell me which paid themes appear to be most effective. We shall discuss this again in a week or so, after I see the comments.

Happy blogging, and keep it profitable.

Fred Farah

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