Need to Design a Wordpress Theme?

Wordpress is the most popular blogging platform and is growing fast thanks to the open source community behind it. Now if you are thinking about starting your blog and you have decided on going with Wordpress, you are going to need a template that is catchy and search engine friendly.

You have three options really:

1. Order a custom made template: This is usually the best option as you get your own unique design that sets you apart from competition. But you could end up paying thousands for a template, so this option is not for everyone.

2. Choose a free or premium template: Many bloggers use this option but I simply don’t recommend using free templates. Think about it. If it’s free, it’s probably being used by thousands of other bloggers. Premium templates (could cost as low as $50), bring the competition down a notch, but still your blog design will not be unique.

3. Write your own Wordpress Template: This option is for the brave. If you know PHP well, then you are already a few steps ahead of everyone else. Of course, you need to know CSS and possibly AJAX to write a “cool” theme for your blog, but you can always mix and match existing CSS files that are made available with free themes. You can also use the book pictured above to feel your way through the process of making your first theme. Wordpress Theme Design is an intermediate to advanced book so if you don’t know PHP or haven’t heard of WordPress yet, you may want to keep away for now. But it’s an excellent book for those who know PHP. I only recommend this option if you know what you are doing. It could save you thousands if you use your own skills to write your theme but that also means that you will have less time to do other things such as marketing for your blog [On a side note, if you check SitePoint's Marketplace, you will see that many developers sell fairly simple templates there for $200 - $500 a pop. So your efforts won't go unrewarded if you learn to develop templates fast! ].

I personally like the first idea if you have enough money to outsource your blog design to professionals. Having said that, the second option works the best for beginners. Make sure you know what you are getting yourself into by choosing one option over the other. The first option is more costly, the third option is more time consuming, and the second option is less time consuming and costly but will require you to do a unique redesign when you have the money. But it’s good to have options!