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My FIRST WordPress ... SUGGEST A THEME PLEASE?

by Mangozoom
33 replies
Hi Guys

I finally entered a new era and have been messing about with WordPress ... just so you know I have managed to make a full time living without using a WP so far

However I have a little more time and am teaching myself some new tricks

One of my existing sites is around the beauty theme and incorporates Adsense and Amazon.

Can anyone suggest any simple yet elegant themes please.

John
#suggest #theme #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author NerdGary
    I personally like to use "Mystique" theme by digital nature... its in the themes within wordpress search.

    Check it out... Works for me.
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    • Profile picture of the author CJHALLOCK
      Originally Posted by NerdGary View Post

      I personally like to use "Mystique" theme by digital nature... its in the themes within wordpress search.

      Check it out... Works for me.
      I've used a bunch of different themes both free and paid and so far I am stuck on Mystique!!!!!! Very easy to edit and you can use it to do just about anything and completely change the look in just a few short steps!
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  • Profile picture of the author leonorimurray
    you should start by guiding about trought your own experience. You´ve in the market, making money without a wordpress... that will be it. I am sure you have a lot to share with your puplic.
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    • Profile picture of the author Enfusia
      Originally Posted by leonorimurray View Post

      you should start by guiding about trought your own experience. You´ve in the market, making money without a wordpress... that will be it. I am sure you have a lot to share with your puplic.
      Well, for adsense I like Vista look 2353 theme
      It's super easy to hack the main and post pages to get rid of those pesky post dates and times so that your blog looks more like a static you're likely used to building.

      The adsense placement is good and it outperforms others for ctr that I have semi split tested (one for 5k visitors and the other for 5k ect)..

      The color of the theme is pretty versatile as well.

      I hope this helps.
      Patrick
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      • Profile picture of the author Enfusia
        Oh and Duh I forgot.
        For many Amazon applications I like either
        1. Inove 1.4.6
        or
        2. Note Pad theme

        Now! I hope this helps, geez am I gettin old or what?
        Patrick
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        • Profile picture of the author SantiSantana
          I currently use the free version of Heatmap Adsense. You should have a look at it.
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          Writer for hire

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  • Profile picture of the author TelZilla
    I've been trying to free up some of my time so I quit making my own themes and started using Atom. It's a pretty decent framework that is easy to use and free.

    You can see it in action on my blog.
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    Don't get so wrapped up in making money that you forget the important things in life.
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  • Profile picture of the author wilsonusman
    dude go get yourself a good product from thesis theme because you can custom make them yourself or just go with genesis framework those are some awesome tools you can't go wrong with and the themes come out very original.
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  • Profile picture of the author fullmatrix
    My recommendation is Woo themes, they have great themes and a lot of choices, second best is elegant themes, they are cheap but good!
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  • Profile picture of the author maidmarion
    I like 'Eye Candy'. Can google it to find link. It is a One Column theme, if you want a one column theme. Can still put ads and adsense on there. Just need to change the header to your own header. Nice and simple.
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  • Profile picture of the author Quentin
    I just use the default twenty 10 and getting sales so I guess it is just a personal choice.

    This is my latest one I just set up last week drip feeding content. Google is picking up all the posts as they go up and traffic is growing.

    Best Perfume and Fragrances

    My policy is keep it simple.

    Quentin
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    • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
      It depends upon how comfortable you are with coding
      and design.

      At first, I got Thesis which allowed me to create a decent
      looking site with just a few clicks of a button and little or
      no re-coding required.

      However, as I'm pretty technical, I like to get into the
      code so I can do some neat stuff with tracking and have
      more control how the site performs.

      I couldn't do that easily with Thesis as it has it's own
      framework to learn too.

      Therefore, like Quentin, I prefer to use the base code of
      TwentyTen and then develop my own theme around that.

      That way, you only have to learn one theme inside and
      out to get it do exactly what you want.

      For quick and impressive looking squeeze pages and sales
      pages though, OptimizePress is pretty neat.

      Dedicated to your success,

      Shaun
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      .

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  • Profile picture of the author rikkib51
    Hey,

    Bombax Theme
    Mystique Theme

    Try it
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  • Profile picture of the author warriortx
    Flexsqeeze is what I use.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mangozoom
    Hey guys

    You are all so very helpful and I appreciate it.

    Mystique - took a look and it seems ok. Is it easy to monetise and are there any other overriding factors why people love it so much?

    Coding - I can punch the code into my intruder alarm and that is about it. Do I really have to know this stuff or can I get by without it (if so I may be doomed to a life of Xsite Pro).

    How I make money - Leonor was asking me to spill the beans as to how I make my cash. My business is simply a number of niche sites that I monetise with adsense, clickbank and other programs (yesterday I banked a nice $3K which was nice).

    As I am not really that technical I have to rely on my marketing skills. I generate and drive traffic using my cunning/stunning article marketing approach plus SEO, backlinking and social bookmarking.

    The key to my success is sniffing out those keywords and working them. Also becoming a bit of a Jedi with articles that incorporate my target keywords is a massive driver.

    I am thinking of starting a 'My $100 dollar a day WordPress' type threads and maybe keeping a diary. What do you think?

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author Superior Content Creation
    Check out these themes--all free and it's really easy to plug in your banners. They are all set up to be monetized. I've built a few sites with these themes lately, and they're really clean for freebies.

    New WordPress Themes - New and Fresh Free WordPress Themes
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    • Profile picture of the author Luis Medilo
      I recommend Thesis theme.
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    • Profile picture of the author neilsisson
      If you dont mind spending a few bucks ($30-$50) there are some really nice themes on Themeforest. If you are not strong on the coding/design side of things they frequently have more advanced control panels that allow you to change the themes by clicking rather than typing

      That said it really depends on what your plan is for monetizing the site. If you are planning to make all your money with advertising, then you'll need a different type of theme than if you want to be able to set up a blog you can sell your latest/affiliate products from.

      Originally Posted by dru-man View Post

      Check out these themes--all free and it's really easy to plug in your banners. They are all set up to be monetized. I've built a few sites with these themes lately, and they're really clean for freebies.

      New WordPress Themes - New and Fresh Free WordPress Themes
      At first glance, some of those themes look sweet. Thanks for the resource dru-man...
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  • Profile picture of the author madison_avenue
    There some good suggestions on here, I have used Mustique myself and it's pretty good. Artisteer themes are easy to edit for non-technical users.

    But it looks like you have a successful formula using Xsite pro and I would be tempted to stick with that! It seems the search engines like what you are doing and the way that you are doing it. "if it ain't broke don't fix it!".

    The good thing about html styles is their simplicity and lightness there are now so many Wordpress sites all looking similar, using a html site might be giving you an edge!
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  • Profile picture of the author Ruth P
    If you are new to Wordpress then choosing a theme that has easy options to customize it a little is definitely a good idea.

    For that I recommend Juicy WP Themes and WooThemes (I use both happily)
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  • Profile picture of the author Shannon Herod
    I use Headway theme and love the way it can be costumized. You can do anything you want with this theme and it is all drag and drop.

    Then you can creat a "skin" and use that skin across multiple sites. Cool stuff.

    Shannon
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    • Profile picture of the author Mangozoom
      Originally Posted by Shannon Herod View Post

      I use Headway theme and love the way it can be costumized. You can do anything you want with this theme and it is all drag and drop.

      Then you can creat a "skin" and use that skin across multiple sites. Cool stuff.

      Shannon
      Hi Shannon

      Will take a look.

      By customised does this involve html or is it easy?

      John
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      • Profile picture of the author Shannon Herod
        Originally Posted by Mangozoom View Post

        Hi Shannon

        Will take a look.

        By customised does this involve html or is it easy?

        John
        No it is a true drag and drop costimazation.

        If you want 2 sidebars you just drop another in. If you want one section to disply posts like regular and another section on the same page to display posts from a certain category you just drop it in.

        Plus way to much to mention here.
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    • Profile picture of the author imkevintan
      As a WordPress service provider myself, I've used and installed many themes for my clients. These are my favorite and most recommended themes.

      Premium Themes:
      1. Thesis
      2. StudioPress
      3. WooThemes
      4. ElegantThemes
      5. StandardTheme
      Free Themes:
      1. WooThemes (they've free themes too)
      2. TwentyTen
      3. Atahualpa
      4. Platform
      5. Mystique
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    I have to agree with Quentin and Shaun OReilly: it is difficult to find a theme that is better coded for the new WP3 than the new default, TwentyTen. The only thing I miss in it is the possibility to have more than one custom menus - although it can be tweaked to have them.

    And if you didn't know: you can create an infinite number of "child themes" for it...
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    • Profile picture of the author michaelwilding
      I use Frugal instead of Thesis and I find it more user friendly.
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    • Profile picture of the author imkevintan
      Originally Posted by Istvan Horvath View Post

      I have to agree with Quentin and Shaun OReilly: it is difficult to find a theme that is better coded for the new WP3 than the new default, TwentyTen. The only thing I miss in it is the possibility to have more than one custom menus - although it can be tweaked to have them.

      And if you didn't know: you can create an infinite number of "child themes" for it...
      Yeah I agree with you. That's the reason why TwentyTen is my favorite theme if I don't want to spend any.
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  • Profile picture of the author Zeus66
    I like Flexibility and Tony Shepherd and Tony Newton's new theme, EazyTheme. Both are very easy to customize and you don't have to be any kind of expert to use them to get something nice up and running fast.

    John
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    • Profile picture of the author Karen Blundell
      along with twenty-ten, I really like Graphene and I've been creating quite a few child themes for it.
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      • Profile picture of the author Drew1
        Slightly off topic but here goes...

        Use one of the default themes for now and concentrate on building your website. Choose your categories wisely and write excellent content.

        As your doing this you will most likely decide you need your theme to cater different addons/applications which will of course change the design.

        A lesson i've leared in my last 10 years...Don't choose the theme at the start because you'll probably spend so much time chopping and changing that you'll choose a more suitable one down the line anyway.
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  • Profile picture of the author lamberw
    I did my site with Socrates. Check the link called 'The Profit Share' in my sig file as an example of what can be done with it!
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    • Profile picture of the author UKproofreading
      I use "RedBel" it's simple but has some nice features like the nav bar. It might not fit in with your site but you may like it.
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      • Profile picture of the author vkdjk
        I uses Thesis, Flexibility and woo themes
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