Web Design
How to Register a .com.au Domain
How to get a .com.au domain: eligibility, choosing a name, registering it, WHOIS privacy and the .au direct option if you have no ABN.
We’re going to assume you’ve heeded our advice and decided to build your website using WordPress. Good choice.
One of the great things about using WordPress is that it’s so easy to build a website without much knowledge of website coding or web design. These days, it’s very much a plug-and-play endeavour.
To set yourself up for web design success, however, you really need to pick a quality WordPress theme to use. This will serve as the foundation for your site and dictate how it looks and feels, and what it’s able to do.
Read on to learn more about finding and installing WordPress themes:
Free WordPress Themes
If you’re looking to build your own website while keeping costs as low as possible, you’re in luck because there are plenty of WordPress themes available for download. It’s as easy as Googling “free WordPress themes”.
One of our favourite sites for finding free WordPress themes is ThemeGrill, which shares a long list of WordPress themes that won’t cost you a thing.
Free WordPress themes are ideal for those who are just getting started with their website or business and aren’t ready to invest in web design services or resources. Keep in mind, though, that you will likely be limited in functionality and options if you’re unwilling to pay for them.
Yes, you should be able to make your own tweaks to your website even with a free theme; however, more elaborate customisations are typically only possible if you pay for a more capable WordPress theme or pay a web designer to do them for you.
Premium WordPress Themes
While free WordPress themes are great, a paid WordPress theme usually offers much more value.
When you pay for a WordPress theme, you’re also usually paying for customer support, a theme builder, prebuilt website templates, design elements, integration options and more customisation options. All of these easy-to-use extras let you build a professional-looking website without having to hire a web designer.
Our favourite site for buying premium WordPress themes is ThemeForest (part of Envato Market). A paid theme our Mildura web designers have used for many clients is Avada, which ThemeForest promotes as its best-selling theme.
Installing & Customising A WordPress Theme
So you’ve picked out a new WordPress theme to use. Now what?
Most themes come with instructions for installation, so follow those to install the theme.
Next, it’s time to customise. Many, but not all, themes have an options panel in WordPress that makes it easy to change your website’s header, footer, fonts, colour scheme and other design elements. This will likely be called Theme Settings or Theme Options.
Look for it in the WordPress dashboard sidebar, either under Appearance or under your theme’s name:
If you don’t see theme options anywhere on your WordPress dashboard, which can be the case with free themes or themes custom-made by a web developer, you may only be able to change your website’s appearance through the Theme File Editor (called Theme Editor in older versions of WordPress), under Appearance or Tools in the dashboard sidebar.
Note that you will need to understand HTML and CSS code to make changes to your site this way. Don’t touch the Theme File Editor if you don’t know how to code: you’ll most likely do more harm than good and could break your website.
Need help? The web designers at Rock Solid Marketing can set up or customise your theme for you, so contact our team or read about our web design services.
