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Looking to outrank everyone in 2020? You’d better read this to get ahead on these 2020 SEO trends.

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This may be of interest to you.

When it comes to copywriting, whether it's emails, articles, or even writing an ad, headlines are the single most important factor when creating great content.

Why?

Because headlines determine firstly whether or not your target will invest time in what you've got to say.

And second, how much time and attention they will invest.

Fail to get this right, and the rest of your content might as well be written by a cat playing with your keyboard.

So today, I'm going to share with you 7 simple secrets to writing like an elite copywriter TODAY, by focusing on how to write a killer headline.

Tip 1: KISS

You've probably heard of this before, and it's super important when it comes to writing headlines – Keep It Simple, Stupid.

In other words, simplify the message you're trying to convey, and try to avoid any confusing or superfluous language.

It's all about getting the reader interested, versus showing them something 'creative'. They might think creative is cool, but it usually won't get the click.

The main key when implementing the KISS strategy is this: Focus on ONE big idea.

Don't try to cram 5 different benefits/features into your headline, or it'll just overwhelm the reader.

Simply pick what you think is the most powerful aspect of what you're going to be showing them, and center everything around that.

Tip 2: Benefits

When you buy some new shoes, do you buy them purely because of the materials made to use them?

Do you buy them because you'll be able to get 5000 more steps out of them versus a different brand?

Or do you buy them because they will provide you benefits such as comfort, fashion, and perhaps even social status?

We don't buy things because of their features – we buy because of the benefits, which can be either be either pleasure-related, and/or solves a problem (or helps you run away from a problem…)

Most of the time, running away from pain or solving problems is the most powerful motivator, so try to keep that in mind when writing your headline, and see if you can work it in.

Tip 3: Hooks

I always teach people to use hooks in their headlines wherever possible, as this is the thing that makes people super curious about reading more (or even more curious in the product itself).

It is the 'thing' designed to catch people's attention.

For example:

• How to Used 'Screwed Up Paper' To Stop Dogs Digging
• 3 Herbs That Balance Blood-Sugar
• 3 'Healthy' Foods That Make People Fat

In each of those examples, you can see there's a 'thing' that people can use to solve their problem.

You don't have to give away exactly what that thing is in the headline, but if you do, at least draw curiosity to it (eg. Why would 'screwed up paper' stop dogs digging? Now I need to read more and find out..)

Tip 4: Subheadline

The subheadline should be clear and direct, and strongly reinforce the value of the main headline.

For example:

Headline – How to Used 'Screwed Up Paper' To Stop Dogs Digging
Subheadline – Discover How This Simple Piece Of Paper Can Quickly And Permanently Stop Your Dog Digging In Just Minutes

You don't ALWAYS need a subheadline, but they can be perfect for squeezing in a little bit of extra information that you couldn't fit into the main headline…

… and they're also perfect in bridging the gap from Headline to Content.

Tip 5: Use A 'Style' Of Headline

There are a few different styles of headline which I'll explain below.

If you're stuck for ideas, just pick one of these 4 below to help get the ball rolling:

Ask A Question
What better way to get your readers attention than by asking them a burning question?

It’s a great way to make them sit up and pay attention, while making them feel as though you really understand how they are feeling.

Use Power Words
I've included a list of power words further down this article to help you get started, but I also wanted to mention it here because it's exceptionally effective.

Words such as “Warning, Special, Uncover, Success and Winning” are all positive words that evoke emotion. Sprinkle them throughout your copy and make sure you use at least one power word in your headline and sub-headlines.

Be Controversial (if it suits your audience)
Your job is to elicit a response from your reader. So, if you know your target audience and what makes them tick (and you better), you can get away with using controversy to capture attention.

One example of this I see all the time, which is done in a kind of sneaky way, is when a book/series is advertised on TV, and they say "Available at all good book retailers".

It's not exactly specific on where people can find the book, but it gets them thinking… Who are these good retailers? And who are the bad ones?

If they can't find the book at a particular store, it must be bad… and vice versa.

Cater to the "How-to" Crowd

How To styled headlines work extremely well, especially when they directly target a specific solution to a problem or task.

For example, “How to hit the New York Times bestsellers list with your first book!” targets the new author who is yearning to become a bestseller but doesn’t have a lengthy backlist (or any backlist at all).

Be very direct and targeted with how-to headlines!

Tip 6: The 4 U's Of Copywriting

If you've studied copywriting much in the past, the 4 U's is a term you might've already heard.

For those who haven't, let me explain what it means, and how it'll help you write better copy.

For your headlines to be engaging and effective, they should contain all of the following four points:

• Your headline should provide a sense of URGENCY.
• Your headline should be UNIQUE.
• Your headline should be USEFUL.
• Your headline should be ULTRA-SPECIFIC (direct).

Urgency persuades people to take immediate action, because they're aware that they'll lose an opportunity of some kind (eg. Cart closes in 24 hours).

Incorporating a sense of urgency into your headlines definitely helps to motivate people, but be careful – You must ensure that your urgency is REAL (at least as far as the reader will ever know), otherwise it could brand you as a dishonest marketer.

Unique is a critical component of a successful headline because it will provide your reader with something fresh and new, instead of the same thing they’ve seen countless times before (and likely become unresponsive to).

Customers are bombarded by sales messages every single day from multiple sources, so you need to work hard to capture their attention with a uniquely crafted headline that your readers haven’t seen before.

Don’t be afraid to be edgy, to take risks and to offer your customers something different. They’ll take notice!

Useful in your headlines gives people a reason to continue reading. This is where you highlight the most important benefit of your product, and persuade them to keep reading to find out more.

This is probably the most important of the 4 U's, and ties in perfectly with the use of Hooks I mentioned earlier.

Ultra-Specific ensures that you are being direct when targeting your market. It guides you so that your headline is effectively communicating your message to your audience and clarifying its benefit.

As I mentioned earlier, it's important to focus on one big idea, otherwise you'll risk losing your readers' focus and attention.

Tip 7: Power Words

To help you get started, here are some power words commonly used in successful headlines and ad copy.

Most high-converting headlines will incorporate at least one of the following words:

Mystery Words: Secrets, Insider, Proven, Expert, Revealing, Unlock, Uncover, Announcing, Rare, Unusual, Explore, Discover, Exclusive, Private.

Excitement Triggers: Savings, Save, Bonus, Instant, Lifetime, Special, Unleash, Ultimate, Maximum, Exceptional, Powerful.

Urgency Words: Rush, Immediately, Instant, Limited-Time, Temporary, Last Minute, Urgent.

Power Words: Boost, Grow, Succeed, Accelerate, Turbo Charge, Guaranteed, Tested, Profitable, Trusted, Amazing, Stunning, Phenomenal, Incredible, Unbelievable, Jaw-Dropping, Sensational.

Simplify Words: Easy, Simple, Fail Proof, Foolproof, Effortless, Child’s Play, Easier, Stress-Free, Easy Going, Laid Back.

Remember, when it comes to writing great copy, practice makes perfect.

But by simply employing even just a few of the tips I've mentioned today, you'll significantly improve your copy skills in no time.

Good luck, and I can't wait to start reading some of your amazing headlines out in the wild as I go about my day 🙂

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Q: Do you create an affiliate site based on 1 product that can be purchased at a place like Amazon? I’m an amazon affiliate.

A: There is no one correct way to create an affiliate site.

I have lost track of the number of affiliate sites that I have created over the years, but I am pretty sure there was only ever one that was focused on a single product.

My site was called BallFourBook.com and it was a fan site about the book Ball Four by Jim Bouton. I still have the domain, but I’ve been pointing it straight to the Amazon page for the book for quite a while.

Anyhow, it’s a strategy that can work, but there are so many variables, such as the size of the audience, the commission, the price, etc.

The commission for a book on Amazon is 4.5%, so on a book that costs $15 you’re going to get $0.45 per sale. With a typical conversion rate of 2%, you’d have to send 100 clicks to make nearly $1.

When I was doing it I had a passion for the book and was generating a lot of unique content related to the book. It became pretty popular and the author even included the URL in the last edition of his book.

But it was never a huge success. It was one of lots of affiliate sites that would generate some money here and there. And that’s the key – don’t count on one niche site to make you a fortune. Experiment with a bunch of different topics and methods as an affiliate.

The post Affiliate Sites Focused on One Product appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

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On average, businesses spend anywhere from 11% to 13% of their total budget on marketing. Those numbers seem to be true no matter who you are. Even if you are a multi-billion dollar company, you use about the same percentage of your budget for marketing as a small business. Fine. That’s what you’ll do. Allocate about 12% of your budget and be done, right? Not so fast. Marketing isn’t an all-inclusive, one and done deal. You need to delve into that 12% and divide it up. How do you know where all that money is going? How do you know

We hope you enjoyed this.

This may be of interest to you.

Q: Do you create an affiliate site based on 1 product that can be purchased at a place like Amazon? I’m an amazon affiliate.

A: There is no one correct way to create an affiliate site.

I have lost track of the number of affiliate sites that I have created over the years, but I am pretty sure there was only ever one that was focused on a single product.

My site was called BallFourBook.com and it was a fan site about the book Ball Four by Jim Bouton. I still have the domain, but I’ve been pointing it straight to the Amazon page for the book for quite a while.

Anyhow, it’s a strategy that can work, but there are so many variables, such as the size of the audience, the commission, the price, etc.

The commission for a book on Amazon is 4.5%, so on a book that costs $15 you’re going to get $0.45 per sale. With a typical conversion rate of 2%, you’d have to send 100 clicks to make nearly $1.

When I was doing it I had a passion for the book and was generating a lot of unique content related to the book. It became pretty popular and the author even included the URL in the last edition of his book.

But it was never a huge success. It was one of lots of affiliate sites that would generate some money here and there. And that’s the key – don’t count on one niche site to make you a fortune. Experiment with a bunch of different topics and methods as an affiliate.

The post Affiliate Sites Focused on One Product appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog.

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Over my many years as an online marketer, I've tried a lot of different types of affiliate marketing.

All of them "work", but some will be a lot more profitable than others for you depending your own business.

So in this article, I'll be covering 5 different types of commissions you can earn, along with pros and cons of each.

Keep in mind that this is just a limited selection based on my own experience, and that there are many other programs out there – mostly quite similar, but some will be better/worse.

1. Physical Products (via Amazon.com)

Personally, most of the products that I buy online are from Amazon.com and they are physical products.

Yes I buy digital and other products from elsewhere but physical products, something I can feel and touch and see in my mailbox or on my front doorstep, is something I’m more likely to buy.

Many other people out there are similar to me, so it’s not surprising that ecommerce (physical product) sales are very high online.

Physical products can be just about anything including vacuum cleaners, TV sets, chopping blocks, vitamins, exercise equipment, books, etc.

The problem, however, as an affiliate of these kinds of products, is that Amazon pays out such a low commission on each sale.

Personally I make a very small amount of commissions each month from Amazon, but in some circumstances it’s the ideal choice for the type of product that I want to promote.

Here are the Pros and Cons…

Pros:

• Lots of products to choose from
• Compared to purchasing inventory and so forth, being an affiliate means you are just the middle man, so there are lower costs and it’s a simpler model.
• If you already have physical products that are selling well, then this can be the ideal ‘backend’ to those ecommerce sales. For example if you already sell chopping blocks on amazon or via your own ecommerce store, you can offer your customers a link to a recommended set of knives on Amazon and make commissions on those sales.
• Well recognised and trusted place to shop from
• Beyond the product you promote, your commission extends to any other items they add to their cart also for the subsequent 24 hours.
• High priced products like Robot Vacuums, decent laptops, etc, can still make 6% commissions look ok if you are making daily sales.
• Can be low competition if you choose the right niche

Cons:

• Low Commissions, this is a big problem. Most Amazon affiliates make around 6% (they start at 4% and go up to 8.5% if you are making 3131+ sales per month)
• Requires a high quality site (they don’t allow new affiliates unless you can show them your site looks reputable and ready to go).
• Cookies only last for 24 hours. So if someone clicks your cookie and then they purchase 2 days later, you don’t get the commission.
• They don’t accept PayPal. This isn’t a huge con, but for a small percentage of your market who only trusts buying online via PayPal this isn’t ideal.
• In most cases it’s far more profitable to be an affiliate elsewhere (see the other recommendations below), or become vendor on Amazon (as opposed to an Amazon affiliate.) Sourcing products from manufacturers in the USA, China or elsewhere, and shipping those products to Amazon FBA, is significantly more profitable, but has higher set up costs and time involved.

2. CPA (Cost Per Action)

CPA marketing involves the lead taking an action, usually in the form of filling out a form, getting a quite, making a small purchase, or filling out a form.

The owner of the offer pays out a commission for each lead you send through their system who successfully completes the 'action'.

There are some decent offers around that will earn $45-60 per action (usually a sale), but they're rare, and typically you'd be looking at a few dollars each.

Example: MaxWeb, A4D

Pros:

• Often no refunds
• Some offers provide commissions for leads, not just sales

Cons:

• Usually pretty low commissions (there are some exceptions)
• Some offers are tricky to convert, because they require the visitor to submit a lot of info (annual income, education level, phone number etc)
• Can be limited to promoting on certain platforms

3. Low Ticket

There are a lot of low ticket offers out there, but keep in mind most of them were created in order for the vendor to build a list of customers.

It's important to do your research, and check the product you plan on promoting is high quality.

To check, either purchase a copy, or ask the vendor or affiliate manager for a review copy.

If you only stick to higher quality offers, it will pay off in the long run, as you won't be seen as someone who's just trying to push people to any old offer to make a sale.

Example: Clickbank, JVZoo

Pros:

• A lot of offers to promote
• Many offers have upsells, which you also earn commissions on
• Low ticket is often an easy point of entry for making some quick sales

Cons:

• Can be tricky finding high-quality offers
• Some offers have high refund rates

4. Recurring Billing

Recurring billing offers are a great way to generate ongoing commissions that keep coming in for months or even years after you've promoted.

Take web hosting for example… With 1.5 BILLION websites currently on the web and each requiring hosting, it's a huge market.

If you're able to tap into even just a tiny percentage of that, you can make a killing. Plus your efforts to make even just ONE sale turns into multiple commissions as each rebill comes in.

Examples: Web Hosting (bluehost.com), Site Builders (wix.com)

Pros:

• Usually low refund rate
• Often high quality (many vendors constantly improve the product to raise the stick rate)
• Recurring commissions are great – eg. receiving money for something you may have even forgotten about

Cons:

• Some products don't have great stick rates
• Can be tricky to initially forecast earnings until stats start coming in

5. High Ticket

High ticket offers are usually digitally delivered and sell for a higher price (e.g. $497 to $2497+)

They are comprehensive offers like coaching programs, high value software, and so forth.

They exist in a number of niches, for example a coaching program on “How To Live Your Dream Life” in personal development, may sell for $499.95, an 8 week online weight loss bootcamp may sell for $699.95, or a product that shows users how to build an online business by following the founder’s own model, may sell for $2500-$10,000.

And these offers typically pay out a 50% commission.

They sell for a higher price because a lot more time goes into their creation (videos, software, possibly a members group, etc), and into their customer service, than what goes into a low ticket product. Plus also the higher price serves to limit the number of people they need to offer support to, and means that can be of a higher quality.

One of my top students, Matt, started out earning commissions from Language Learning programs, getting paid 75% commissions on $99.95 sales.

He was doing well there, but then he had a big leap up in his income when he transitioned to promoting higher ticket products and made over $600k in his 2nd year online.

Pros:

• It only takes 2 sales a week of a $2.5k product to make 100k+ per year.
• If it’s a high quality product, with a great webinar, and lots of successful students, then usually conversions to sales can be very high (e.g. you get 100 people to a webinar and 5 may purchase a $2500 product).
• You don’t need to have a list. You can run paid traffic direct to an article, video or quiz, that then simply leads to a webinar signup page provided by the vendor. If you run paid traffic to this, then that’s all you need to do in order to get the ball rolling.
• It’s a great way to monetise the building of your list. If you want to have a list, but don’t know how to monetise it, then one way is to make an option page, and on the ‘thank you page’ where people get to download their free gift from you (a report, or audio track or something), you can also recommend a relevant webinar for them to sign up to (via your affiliate link).
• It’s a good ‘relationship builder’ for you and your list (if you have a list.). If it’s a good webinar, then even if people don’t buy from you, they will stay on your list and come back to future webinars and purchase other things from you in the future. A good high ticket product to promote is one that also teaches some things on the webinar itself so that it provides a positive user experience, regardless of if it results in a purchase or not.

Cons:

• There are a lot of poor quality programs out there, and for people who are new to earning commissions, it can be very hard to decipher which is a quality program to promote and which is not. It’s important to be picky, as your potential buyers are spending a lot of money here and it needs to be a high quality program.
• Mindset. Often newbies feel that lower ticket = easier, and higher ticket = harder. Though they are not easier, nor harder, they are just ‘different.’ Yes it’s easier to make a low ticket sale, but it’s not necessarily easier to make 50 sales at $50 a sale, than it is to make ONE sale at $2500.
• Usually high ticket products need a webinar in order to sell them. For some people, setting up an evergreen webinar funnel can seem a bit daunting.

We hope you enjoyed this.

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So, you’ve launched your blog—that’s awesome! But, where are all your readers?

Because there are so many blogs on the web so you can’t expect to launch your blog and get a ton of traffic right away. Instead, you need to promote your blog (and promote it a lot) if you want to attract loads of readers.

While promoting your blog and driving traffic to your site may take time, it’s not difficult.

Here are 7 ways to promote your blog in 2020.

1. Syndicate Your Content

Have you ever heard of content syndication? Even if you haven’t heard of the exact term before, you likely already know what content syndication is. Content syndication is when web-based content is republished by a third-party website.

In simpler terms, it’s when you reshare your existing blog content on other established platforms like Medium, LinkedIn, and so on. Resharing your blog content on established platforms like these will help you introduce yourself and your blog to new audiences.

You might be concerned that by syndicating your content, you’ll get penalized by Google for duplicate content. But don’t worry, syndicated content isn’t the same as duplicate content. As long as you make it clear to search engines and readers that the post is syndicated, you won’t get in trouble for duplicate content. So, when you syndicate your content, make sure to include a canonical link, or at the very least, a regular link back to the original article.

2. Be Active on Social Media

Of course, one of the easiest ways to promote your blog is by being active on social media. Plus, it’s free!

There are tons of users on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter that you can introduce your blog to. So, every time you publish a new blog post, you should be posting about it on social media.

For example, Blog Tyrant, a blog that offers in-depth tutorials to people that want to start a successful blog, shares their latest blog posts on Twitter.

Image Source

Notice: In the tweet, they include #BloggingTips. Using relevant hashtags will help your social media posts be discovered by users that are looking for that specific topic.

To reach even more of your target audience, you can use social media ads. With social media ads you can target users based on specific demographics, interests, and more. This means you can promote your blog to the exact users that would be interested in it the most.

3. Participate in Forums and Online Communities

Aside from being active on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you should also participate in other forums and online communities. When you participate in online forums and communities related to your niche, you can make connections with people that are interested in what you have to say. Naturally, if users like what you say in those online communities, they will likely start following your blog as well.

To find forums and communities you can join, do a simple Google search for “your keyword + forum.” Here’s an example:

Image Source: Google

Search through the results to find large, active communities where you can share your advice, connect with your target audience, and promote your blog.

You can also join forums and online communities that are specifically for bloggers to make important connections in the blogging world and get more tips on promoting your blog!

4. Start Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is also a great way to promote your blog and it’s an effective strategy to get more backlinks for your site. But, if you want to attract more readers to your blog with guest blogging, you have to get it right.

Choosing the right blogs to guest post on is key to a successful guest blogging strategy. You should be guest posting on blogs that are related to your niche and have a similar target audience to you. Doing so will ensure that the readers of that blog will be interested in your blog as well.

The blogs you guest post on should also be high-authority blogs with a ton of loyal readers. This will help you present yourself as a thought leader in your niche and make sure that loads of people see your post, instead of just a few.

Don’t forget to create an engaging author bio that encourages readers to check you out. Take a look at this example for inspiration:

Image Source

5. Work with Podcasts

Podcasts have become super popular in recent years. So, why not work with podcasts to introduce your blog to a whole new audience? There are a ton of podcasts that regularly interview bloggers and industry experts—and you could be one of those guests!

To find podcast hosts that are willing to interview you, do a Google search for “podcasts accepting guests” or something similar. There are podcasts that talk about just about any topic under the sun from politics to celebrity gossip, so you’re sure to find a podcast related to your niche that’s accepting guests.

You can also use a site like PodcastGuests to easily connect with podcasters.

6. Repurpose Your Content

Repurposing your blog posts is an effective way to stretch your content further and find new readers for your blog. When you repurpose your blog posts, you’re basically just turning it into a new form of content like a video, SlideShare presentation, or an infographic. Doing this allows you to introduce your blog to users that weren’t even searching for blogs in the first place.

For instance, let’s say a user is searching YouTube for tips on how to choose a domain name. If you repurpose your blog post titled “How to Choose the Best Domain Name for Your Website” into a YouTube video, that user can discover your content. If they like your video, they’ll probably check out your blog for more helpful tips.

7. Run a Giveaway

Everyone loves a good giveaway! So, running a giveaway is the perfect way to create a buzz around your blog and gain loads of new readers.

There are a few steps to running a successful giveaway such as choosing an awesome prize and setting the giveaway rules. But, the most important step is choosing an easy-to-use yet powerful giveaway tool that will help you reach your goals.

With a giveaway plugin like RafflePress, you can give extra contest entries to users for completing specific actions like visiting a page on your website or signing up for your email list. As you can see, these bonus actions will easily help you reach your goal of growing your blog.

Don’t forget to promote your giveaway on social media like this blogger did below.

Image Source

The more you promote your giveaway, the more entries your giveaway will get. And the more entries you get, the more traffic you can drive to your blog.

Over to You

Stop sitting around and hoping that readers will find you. With these easy ways to promote your blog, you can increase traffic to your site and gain a ton of loyal readers in no time.

Syed Balkhi is an award-winning entrepreneur and online marketing expert. He is the co-founder of OptinMonster, WPBeginner, MonsterInsights, TrustPulse, and WPForms.

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It’s been some time since I’ve published an interview in my “Affiliate Marketing Legends” series, and today I’m excited to bring you my newest guest — Brook Schaaf of FMTC. Here is his brief “profile” and my interview with him follows under it. Enjoy!! Name: Brook Schaaf Current Role: Owner …

Affiliate Marketing – Sweet Spot Between Numbers and People [Affiliate Marketing Legends Interview with Brook Schaaf] Read More »

The post Affiliate Marketing – Sweet Spot Between Numbers and People [Affiliate Marketing Legends Interview with Brook Schaaf] appeared first on Affiliate Marketing Blog by Geno Prussakov.

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Developing a WordPress theme is surprisingly easy to do. Many people have the impression that theme building is a heavily technical process that requires experience with web development. You’ll be happy to know that isn’t actually the case. 

WordPress is an amazingly flexible platform. Usually, that means things need a lot of tweaking to work properly. While that may be true in advanced cases of speed optimization, it isn’t the case with WordPress themes. 

Just as it’s easy to change themes on a smartphone or a computer, WordPress themes function the same way. So, if you ever felt inclined to make your own theme in Windows, the process is not that far off for WordPress. 

Why Make Your Own Theme

You might be wondering why you’d want to make your own theme when there are so many available. You’d be right to think that, as there are many beautiful and functional WordPress themes on the internet.

One of the most popular reasons, is to have a look and feel that is completely customized to the brand of your site, or how you would like users to engage with content on your site. The good news is that you have two options with this, which are to code a theme from scratch, or to customize a premium theme yourself.

In both scenerios, there are plenty of resources and tools to help you along the way. A great place to start, is at QualityWordpress, as they have loads of choices of themes — but completely customizable and broken down in ‘review’ and ‘list’ style articles.

However, no matter how good they are, they’re not your own. Making something yourself makes it unique. If you have that curiosity, and we’re guessing you do as you are reading this article, then this guide is for you.

Things You Need to Start

Before you can begin creating your own WordPress theme, you need to have two things:

A WordPress website of your own. 

A Starter Theme. This is something that will help you to create your own theme.

Why You Need a Starter Theme

Think of a starter theme as a blank canvas. You get a fresh, clean slate with all the dimensions and boundaries already set. You only need to begin painting it with the colors you like.

In WordPress terms, you get a blank theme without having to code a theme yourself. It also shows you how all of the parts of a theme work together. Essentially, starting with this does most of the background work for you. 

Make sure that you choose a starter theme as you don’t want this to become a roadblock. Some great ones are Bones or Underscore. 

Underscore in particular is quite popular. Not just because it has all the things you need, but also because it’s made by the famous Automattic company. They have a solid reputation for building safe and efficient web tools. 

Now that we have all the toolswe need, we can begin. 

 Install a Local Development Environment

Don’t be put off by the technical-sounding name. This is merely a server you’ll install on your computer – it’s essentially an offline version of WordPress. This allows you to make any changes to the site on your computer without affecting your online site right away. 

This gives you the opportunity for trial and error while you decide what you like best, without everyone else seeing what you’re up to. 

The software you need for this is called DesktopServer. Compatible with both Mac and PC, it’s user-friendly and safe, but most importantly, it’s free. 

After the installation is done, you can get your starter theme.

Get Your Starter Theme

Go to underscores.me and, just like setting up a Facebook account, the site will ask you a couple of questions like what name you want to give your site. 

It’s best not to go to the advanced options at this point as these options might seem daunting, and you don’t need to know what they mean just yet. 

Finally, click the ‘Generate’ button and download the theme in a zip file. 

Use DesktopServer to install the file, and you now have your starter theme ready for you to customize!

 Some Terms You Need to Know Beforehand 

Template files:

These are the bricks that you’ll use to build your site. These files usually end with a “.php” extension. 

They’re also named according to what goes where. For example, if a template is named “sidebar.php” this will be the sidebar on your site.

Hooks:

These are bits of code added to template files that tell them what to do. 

For example, if you have a code that says to change color when the mouse cursor hovers over the sidebar, then when someone visiting your site hovers their mouse cursor over your sidebar, the hooks will tell the sidebar template to change color.  

 Let the Tinkering Begin

Now that you understand all the basics, it’s time to begin creating your own theme. 

Just like any other inspirational work, look around a little and see which parts of a site you like. Then, make a small sketch of the site you have in mind with that part you like on a piece of paper. 

This is an important step as you might like three different things but once you put them side by side, you’ll see that they don’t work together. You’ll no doubt find this to be true in the first two or three sketches you do. 

You’ll soon realize why some WordPress themes sell for hundreds of dollars. But don’t let that demotivate you. You are only just starting out on your journey, so don’t compare your creation to those that have already finished theirs.

Once you’re done with your final design, apply the changes to the software and save it. Now it’s time to test it and upload it to the internet. 

Testing and Uploading Your Theme 

In order to test if your site, go to Theme Unit Test. This will send your site a set of data that will test if it’s working properly.  

After you’ve completed the tests successfully, it’s time to upload it. If you haven’t altered any of the installation paths when installing DesktopServer, then you should find the themes folder located inside the website folder, in the Documents directory.

Documents>Website>Themes>Test Themes

Make a copy of the Test Themes folder to your desktop or wherever else you prefer. Now, compress this folder using Winrar or 7-Zip. 

Go to DesktopServer and install this zip file just as you did with the Underscores theme. 

And there you have it, your very own WordPress theme!

We hope by following these steps, you’ll be able to create your desired theme and gain some experience using WordPress. Good luck and have fun!

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