Get the best WordPress Tips

You might be thinking that WordPress is just for individuals and small businesses that do not have a very big budget for their websites. Well, my friend, you are mistaken. There are big companies out there that are using WordPress for their websites. It would be hard to distinguish that indeed a WordPress theme is being used because their sites are customized to meet their requirements. But believe me when I say that their sites use WordPress.

Here are some examples of these sites that I am talking about:

• Katy Perry Beauty (www.katyperrybeauty.com) – This is the official site that will promote the launching of Katy Perry’s perfume.

• Inside Blackberry (blogs.blackberry.com) – The official blog of Blackberry uses WordPress.

• Harvard Law (blogs.law.harvard.edu) – A site that allows Harvard and Radcliffe students to have their own blog within the Harvard community.

• CBS New York (newyork.cbslocal.com) – This is the major news source for New Yorkers in the metro area. It features news, sports, weather and others.

• Kobe Bryant (kb24.com) – This is the official site of Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers

See what I mean, even big named celebrities and musicians use WordPress for their official sites. They even use it to promote their products. Even well known universities and colleges all over the world also use WordPress for their sites.  You can definitely see that WordPress is for everyone.

For more examples (to convince you to use WordPress for your site), please visit http://wordpress.org/showcase/. You can also visit WordPress Sample Portfolio. Remember that these sites started with any basic WordPress theme and then later on modified to meet the requirements of the site’s owner.

Once you have chosen the right theme for your site and you have already customized it according to your liking, you need to learn about the ins and outs of WordPress. Before you go and experiment on your site, familiarize yourself with the basics of the WordPress Admin Panel.

The WordPress admin panel is found in the admin area of your site. This contains a list of items that can be modified in your website. To go to the admin panel, you need to log in to your WordPress account.

The first thing that you would notice on the admin panel is the My Dashboard button. This offers a general idea of what is happening in your site. It also allows you to edit your website’s content. To fully manage the entire site, you need to go to the subpanels where you would find the following.

Posts – This is where all the textual content of your site is added, edited or deleted.

Media – This houses the library of media files which includes images, videos and other files.

Links – Your favorite links (external, that is) can be added in this part.

Pages – These are the pages that would appear on your navigation menu (example: Home, Contact Us, Services)

Comments – Here you have the option to allow visitors to post comments. You can approve or delete these comments.

Appearance – This is where you change the overall look of your website.

Plugins – Adding, editing or deleting a plugin in your site.

Users – If you have several people that you trust with your site, you can add them here and give them privileges to make changes to your website.

Tools – Other tools that are necessary to run your website would be found here.

Settings – More options about your site’s privacy and appearance are located in this menu.

For a more detailed discussion of the WordPress admin panel, check this article at http://yourwordpressexpert.com/wordpress-admin-panel/

With the millions of websites and WordPress themes on the internet, you can be sure that there would be a couple of people (or more) that would be using the same theme. And being a newbie, you would probably experience some difficulties with your theme. Even if you are a seasoned blogger, you would still come across some problems if and when you decide to change the look of your site.

One way to solve the problems that you are experiencing is to ask other users if they have encountered the same thing. Or better yet, ask them to help you figure things out. And as I have a lot of free time, I made a list of support forums for the most popular themes. The people in these forums are very helpful and understanding.

If your theme is not listed above, you can find the forum for it just by typing the theme name plus the word forum in the search engines.

Do not be afraid to ask for help. You would not accomplish anything by insisting that you can do it on your own. As I have said, the people in these forums are very experienced, understanding and helpful. You would learn a lot from them as I did.

As I have said, choosing a theme for your WordPress website can be a very overwhelming task. Add to that, you have to take steps in making sure that your website is as unique as you. You need to consider making some minor or major changes to the theme that you are going to use.

Some modifications to your theme might be in order so that your site would not look like anything that is already on the internet. If you think that you know what you are doing, go ahead and do it. You would be able to make some minor modifications to your site. But it may take a while before you can achieve the look that you want.

Now, for those who are afraid to tinker with their websites, there are WordPress theme customization services that you can find on the internet. It is true that these services can cost hundreds of dollars but there are some that are offering these services for very reasonable prices. Here are some of my recent finds:

1) www.gabfirethemes.com – The most basic package would only include WordPress installation and configuration and theme installation. To customize your existing theme, such as changing the colors, you need to pay $299.

2) WordPress Theme Customization Services – This is the cheapest by YourWordPressExpert.com.  They have two packages that you can choose from depending on your needs. If you do not have a theme yet, they could assist you in choosing one for your site. Then, they would customize the theme to match your site requirements. The starter package would cost $195 while the business package is $295.

Good luck with your quest in finding the best theme customization services.