Author MarionBlack
2014
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Rank 45523
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Choose a New Theme

If you're reading this or watching the video then chances are that you chose your theme when you first created your WordPress website and you're not happy with that first choice. But how to choose a different theme from the thousands of free (and premium) themes available? The answer is the 'Feature Filter'.

Everyone who takes their online business seriously should have a test website for trying out new themes and plugins without breaking their real (live) website. Free members can have two SiteRubix sub-domains and Premium members can have lots. You only need one website to be a successful affiliate marketer but you don't want to wreck that by trying out different themes and plugins on your live website. What would your visitors think if your website changed its appearance every few minutes?

If you don't already have a test website on SiteRubix then go ahead and make one now - just select the first theme you see. It doesn't matter which theme you choose because we're going to change it.

In your test website you'll want to go to Appearance > Themes. You can select 'Add New' at the top of the page or 'Add New Theme' at the bottom of the page. Either will take you to the 'Add Themes' page where you'll want to select 'Feature Filter'.

Under the 'Layout' section you'll need 'Responsive Layout' as Google wants your website to be mobile-friendly. Currently over 60% of online browsing is done from a smart phone or tablet so you'll want to capture that market.

Now you can consider the 'must haves' for your website's appearance. Do you want one, two, three or four columns? If two columns then do you want the sidebar on the left or right? People read from left to right so which is more important your content or your widgets? Content is King.

Remember every box you check will reduce the number of results and make your theme selection easier. Check too many boxes and there won't be very many themes that meet your criteria. Let's go for a balance. Remember that the choices are yours not mine I'm just showing you examples.

Now you can choose something that catches your eye. Install it on your test website and then customize it.

Once you have your test website looking just the way you want then you can apply the customization to your real website. Some themes have an Export feature so if the one you chose has that then you can Export all your customization and Import it to your real website.

If you're not happy with your new theme choice for any reason there's a money back guarantee (just kidding, it's a free theme) so you can go back to 'Add Themes' and try a different one.

Thanks for watching and happy theme hunting.

More Training by Marion Black - Sorted

As always I'm here to help you,



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TheBuilder Premium
Oh thank you very much my dear Marion. Since my first days here I was wondering about this. This lack of information was preventing me to move forward. Now that the chain is broken I will take off with many better websites.

I did not see the 'Responsive layout', what should I do. See attachment.
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MarionBlack Premium
@TheBuilder
They've changed it a bit since I made the video. I think all up to date themes have to be responsive now. You can check what your active theme looks like on different devices when you go to Appearance > Customize
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TheBuilder Premium
@MarionBlack
Good. Thanks for the tips.
I wish good health to you. Have a nice day.
Cheers
Usiba.
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WBoyer Premium
Great training video. Just one question. When I went to the optimizer it only had an About Optimizer link and when I clicked on it, it wanted me to upgrade to pro. Is that necessary? If not how do you get the basic version?

Thanks for all your help.

Bill
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MarionBlack Premium
@WBoyer
Which theme did you choose? There's no shortage of free themes with lots of options so I don't see any need to upgrade to the pro version of any theme.
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WBoyer Premium
@MarionBlack
I picked the same one you had in the video. I'll go back and find a free one. Thanks for getting back with me. I really learned a lot from your video.

Thanks so much

Bill
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Osteo Premium
Hi Marion
You have answered quite a few nagging questions that I have had since I joined WA. I would have appreciated this training at the beginning. It was probably there all long and I didn't see it.
it's very interesting that training at WA seems to be an organic one like
" Seek and ye shall find"
Good stuff
Thank you.
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MarionBlack Premium
@Osteo
Kyle's lessons are in chronological order and focused on getting your website built and earning money. My tutorials are ad hoc, mostly in answer to members' questions. I published this particular tutorial a few months before you joined WA.

Thanks for watching the video.
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azgorilla Premium
What a great video. The choices of making it mobile friendly was a great choice.
Question: When you clicked the "two column" then you showed the final results. Where were the two columns located?

At the bottom of page, there were three short "paragraphs" , a large image at the top and then a line or two between them.

Am I missing something here? Columns and then a sidebar? Not sure what I am supposed to be looking for.

Thank you for any clarification.

Tom
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MarionBlack Premium
@azgorilla
Thanks for your question Tom. I didn't realize that my video is a little out of date, there are no more 'theme name options'.

At the end of the video I didn't scroll all the way down the page so you couldn't see the 2 columns underneath the presentation page.

2 columns means 1 column for your text and 1 sidebar. 3 columns means 1 column for your text and 2 sidebars. I have 3 columns on http://freeandcheapebooks.com and 2 columns on http://wealthyaffiliatetv.com
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albinchero Premium
@azgorilla
Hi Tom, Marion has confirmed that, I was not getting that clear too.
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azgorilla Premium
@MarionBlack
Wow! Now I understand! The two sites you refer to makes total sense when it comes to the 2 or 3 columns. I think I like the 3 column look. I'll use that one for my new site to "practice" with.

Another question that perhaps you can help us with.

When it comes to the different options for changing out site, have you put together any type of video and explanations that not only SHOW us the differences in each site along with the REASON for having such-and-such changes and perhaps their benefits?

That would be a fantastic teaching video.

Thanks again for clearing the foggy 2 and 3 column information.

Tom
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MarionBlack Premium
@azgorilla
I normally use 2 columns but on the freeandcheapebooks.com site I wanted to add the 'Recently Added eBooks' (instead of Recent Posts) and there just wasn't enough room in a single sidebar.
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JenniferMc Premium
Wow, Marion, this video is awesome! It has helped me, no-end. Thank you very much, I have done all the training on setting up the theme, but this is so much easier to understand. Also, the training I did, did not show me how to make changes with the options page. So thanks again and all the best.
Cheers! Jennifer
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MarionBlack Premium
@JenniferMc
Yeah this video was done a couple of WordPress updates ago and when WordPress updated to 4.4.0 the Theme Options were discontinued. The only changes you can make now are through Customize or by creating a child theme
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