How to Start a Profitable Blog Course
DAY TWO
The Intro:
Today we are going to dive into how to make your blog look nice, and how to get your blog ready for business.
This means today we are going to cover:
Picking and installing a theme.
Customizing your theme to get it ready.
Let’s jump into it!
Picking a theme for your blog:
There are a levels of themes when it comes to blogging: free, paid, custom.
Free is the most affordable and where most people start (including myself). Free themes give you a good looking blog, but they aren’t always the most customizable. They don’t very often let you choose your colors, or fonts. Typically though they are good enough to get your blog to a place where it is making money. Then once your blog makes money you may consider upgrading to a paid theme.
Paid themes are the in-between step between free and custom-built themes. Paid themes typically allow for more customization meaning you might get to pick your fonts or colors. They can range in price from $50-$700.
I didn’t purchase a paid theme until my third year of blogging. I had started making over $10,000 a month before I upgraded so you definitely don’t need a paid theme to be successful.
You can find paid themes on CreativeMarket
Custom themes are completely made for you and your blog. You will typically see custom themes on celebrity websites, authors, speakers, or very successful bloggers. Getting a custom theme typically costs between $900-$3,000 so I definitely don’t suggest it to someone just starting out.
Today I’m going to help you get started with a FREE theme.
Installing a theme:
The free theme I suggest is called Edge, it is what I used when my blog got to the point of making a solid income.
Today I’m going to show you how to install Edge and make it look good for your readers.
The first thing you’re going to want to do is go to Bluehost.com and sign into the blog you made yesterday. Then you are going to click “WordPress” on the top right in blue to get started.
Once you get into your website by clicking “WordPress” you are going to look on the left side and click “Appearance” then “Themes”
Then at the top of the Themes section you are going to click “WordPress.org Themes” here is where you will be able to see all the themes already pre installed for your blog. Once you get into the WordPress.org Themes section you are going to search for “Edge”. Edge is the theme I’ll be showing how to use, and it is the first result that comes up when you search “Edge”.
You are going to hover over Edge and click “Install” this will install the theme onto your blog so you can work with it and edit it. After you click Install it will download the theme then you are going to press “Activate”
After you click Activate you will be brought to the theme page where you will see that the theme is installed then you are going to click “customize” there you can customize many things to make the blog look more like you and your style.
As you can see I’ve already added a few things to the theme to make it look more my style. I’m going to talk you through some things you can customize.
About Edge: Here you can see more details about edge there isn’t anything in this section to customize just more information/
Edge WordPress Settings: Here you can update your blog title and logo, upload a header image, change the background of your blog to an image, and change your home page from displaying your latest blog posts to displaying a page instead.
Edge Theme Options: You can change things that have to do with your blogs layout, You can change the pages that are featured on your home page, You can update your social media links that display on your blog, You can change different optional things for your theme, you can change the background image of your websites footer.
Edge Slider Options: You can change the location of the slider (a thing that displays a large image with a button that displays a button) and You can change the pages that come up in the slider.
Edge Widgets: Main Sidebar you can edit your sidebar (where you see my photo above) and you can change your footer content.
Edge Colors: You can change the colors of the links, and buttons.
Menus: You can change the menu that appears at the top of your website.
Additional CSS: this is where you would post custom code, you probably won’t use this section for a while.
The first thing I recommend changing is under “Edge WordPress Settings” then “Site Title & Logo” its your Site Title and Tagline. Your site title will likely be your blog name but with spaces and without the .com part. Your tagline will be your blogs mission such as “Sharing my life and helpful tips”.
The second thing I recommend changing is the colors on your website, I would change them to colors you plan to use.
Other than that I recommend just tinkering around and learning the settings with time.
Want step-by-step tutorial videos showing you how to install, and customize your theme? I’ve got them here inside 30 Days to Blog Success which you get 50% off of for being a part of this free email course with code: EMAILCOURSE at checkout (as long as you join before your 6-day course is over.)
30 Days To Blog Success will also teach you:
The strategies six-figure bloggers use to make money and how to execute them for yourself.
What to put into your blog posts to increase your chances of making money.
What pages you need on a blog to make money. How to create them with no experience.
How to make money blogging by talking about things you love without doing coaching, creating products, or doing sketchy marketing tactics.
Click here to learn more about 30 Days To Blog Success and don’t forget to use code: EMAILCOURSE for 50% off.
Tomorrow:
Tomorrow we are going to be talking about how to write blog posts, how to figure out what to write about, and how you can make money as a blogger.