Great small town promotions Wordpress theme?

Hello,

First, I think becoming a Google News site isn't the way to go, you're not a news organization. Also, as far as "getting found" is concerned, there are much better ways to do this.

Secondly, as far as a theme is concerned, try to look at themes from a functionality stand point and not so much aesthetics. You're going to be using your own images, so really what you're looking for in a theme is something that isn't going to let you down on functionality.

An event calendar or schedule can be created using a widget, or a plugin, so the theme having a calendar is not necessary.

WordPress is SEO friendly for the most part, and again, there are plugins to help with SEO. The theme does play some part in this, but for the most part (unless it is programmed incorrectly) the theme you choose shouldn't be the answer in the SEO department. The biggest part of SEO is going to come from content, and then plugins to help markup that content better (as well as how you format content that is outside of the scope of what the theme / plugin control).

Social media, again, look to plugins. Yes, some themes have built in links for social media, but in most cases, they are just as easily included and customized using plugins.

Hi Dan,

Check out WordPress themes, Drupal, Joomla, EE, and Magento templates, plugins, tutorials - ThemeSquirrel to look quickly and visually at a variety of the most popular WordPress themes - just use the navigation tree on the left to find categories of interest and scroll down.

As Robert suggests above you need to focus on functionality as much if not more than form.

Check out the blog for some information on basic WordPress SEO articles, and other places to buy WordPress themes - Where to buy WordPress Themes - best premium templates

I might recommend StudioPress (which plays very nicely with BuddyPress as you want this to possibly be a social networking site) or WPMU more for their support communities than their themes which are not the "flashiest". Disclosure - I've used StudioPress for all my sites for over two years now - the community support has been great, though I don't use them much anymore. They just started StudioPress.tv and other support initiatives and are founded by some good people in Denver.

Becoming a Google News site is not a trivial matter, and I wouldn't worry about it starting out, especially since you need at least 5 or 6 regular and documented authors contributing to your blog for awhile before Google will even consider you. Concentrate on your MVP - minimal viable product - first, and things like Google News in the future - it sounds like at this stage you are just starting out and your focus/goals are likely to change.

Feel free to ask any other questions via the contact form on ThemeSquirrel - happy to help a fellow Coloradan.

Cheers,

Joe

Here's a review and comparison of several local business directories for Wordpress. I'd recommend GeoTheme for what you're looking for since it has a mobile app for it:

Local Business Directory Themes - Geo Places, Geo Theme, City Guide, Vantage Comparison Reviews

Thank you very much for the replies so far.

Okay, so considering:

lower budget (not established yet)

non-techie or designer volunteers likely running our new site
(with me probably linking to whichever support or
hiring coders or designers as needed)

mobile friendly/responsive

local business listings - possibly including restaraunt menus
tourist bringing calendar or events functions

international ready

Which is probably the best fit for us:
City Guide | WooThemes
Business Directory WordPress Software | AppThemes
GeoTheme - Geo Wordpress Theme
Premium WordPress Themes by StudioPress

Thanks again.

Dan