Make Money Online - Using a WordPress Theme

In order to make money online, it is important to have a website or a blog. In either case, you need to have the ability to add valuable content to your website or blog frequently each week. This not only attracts an audience (ie. customer base), but the search engines as well. For purposes of this article, we are going to focus on utilizing a WordPress theme to make money online.

 

The first thing that will come to one's mind, when decided to write a blog on a topic they are interested in, is selection of the theme or template for their blog.  When starting a new blog, the first step is to choose a platform.  There are many options including WordPress, Typepad and Blogger. Just do a quick search and you can start checking out the various platforms that are available. Probably the most popular blog available to all is WordPress, as it has thousands of contributors.  Because it's an Open Source project, it is free of charge.

 

This article describes exactly how you should choose your WordPress (WP) theme.  A WP theme is nothing but a piece of software used to build your blog.  It gives you various options to choose from in order to make the blog look exactly how you want it to.  Here are some tips that will help you decide which theme you want to pick.

 

1. Choose your category: Your category is a description of what you are writing about.  You can use this description to target a specific audience.  Simply put, if you are going to write a blog on how to care for your pet ferret, the category you would choose would be Pets.  Or if you like to target to the people interested in cooking then you category would be Food.  If you choose the category correctly the first time, you will not have to go back and change it later, thus saving you time and energy.  You can find a theme that applies to every major category, so no worries.  If you cruise around on the WP Theme directory, you can get a good idea of some of the categories that are available to pick.

 

 

2. Layouts and color schemes: There are bloggers who like to personalize their blogs by using their favorite colors.  You may not be able to get an exact match to your favorite colors, but with so many themes available, there's bound to be one that fits your desired color scheme. Again, if you get the right color at the start, you'll save yourself time and energy later trying to modify a theme to fit your needs. Although you should make sure you are happy with the appearance, you shouldn't spend too much time on this because you can always change it later.  You should be concentrating on the layout of the theme better.  Take some time to think about the layout that would work best for your blog. Be sure to take your time to find a layout that you like best by checking out the themes on the site.  This will help you formulate your own ideas and preferences, making it easier to decide on the right option. Although there are many different layouts to choose from, some of the most used are:

 

 

Single Column Layout

 

Two Column -- one wider column and a single sidebar

 

Two Column (Without Sidebar)

 

Also there are some layouts specifically designed for Photos centered and Videos centered blogs.  You need to decide on a theme you can look at over and over again, as you are going to be the person who sees your blog the most of all.  Experiment some themes with some test posts and pages.  Include block quotes, write comments and see how widgets would look in the different choices. This is the only way you are going to know if you've chosen the right theme.  Do not see the blog theme from your own point of view but from your reader's point of view.

 

 

3. Purpose of your blog: This is important as this will help you to select your theme for the long-term.  If you are going to write a blog only for you to vent out your emotions and thoughts, you do not need to give much importance to many other aspects of your blog like advertisements, widgets, etc.  But if you blog to help others like this one you are presently reading, or to make money out of it, then you need to also consider few other things in addition to the above ones.  You should think about whether or not you will be able to provide search engine optimization, whether or not advertisements will be supported, if you are able to use widgets like RSS feeds, Spam Protection, etc., and other things.  By default when you have signed up for a Wordpress blog, you will be provided with default themes.  You can use them or select your own from visiting the WordPress's own free WP themes or other Paid WP theme websites.These websites provide professional looking themes with excellent support.

 

 

4. Support: This could be one of the more important tips, because you need to be sure you can have access to support if needed when choosing your theme from a site.  Too many times a blogger will download a theme and can't use it, and when they turn to support for help they find they aren't getting any help because the site wasn't developed by the person running support, rather they are babysitting the site and helping to promote it.  This can lead to unneeded frustration and anger on your part, so always be sure the support is the best available.

 

Once you have a popular blog, there are many things that you can do to make money online with it. For instance, you can sell advertising space, as is common with many WordPress users. You can promote offers of your own, or via affiliate programs. Otherwise, you can use WordPress to set up a membership site, and charge a monthly subscription. As you can see, there are several possibilities to make money online with WordPress.

 

Zero Cost. Zero Obligation.

SOSComplete!