There’s nothing like a custom designed website or blog to give your organizing business a professional online image, but it’s good to know there are other options if you don’t currently have the budget or the need for a custom site. When I discovered premium WordPress themes, it opened up a whole new world for me – and it can do the same for you and your business.
There are literally thousands of themes available on the Free WordPress Themes directory and elsewhere on the Internet, and I used to spend hours looking for just the right one for a client’s site or one of my own. Sometimes, when I finally found one that was just right, I’d find it didn’t work properly or wasn’t up-to-date to handle all the current features of WordPress.
Last year one of my clients introduced me to iThemes and I haven’t looked back. Their themes are gorgeous right “out of the box” but someone with knowledge of HTML and CSS can easily customize them to more closely match your business branding or your personal vision.
Because they’re so easy to use, Scott and I were able to create new websites for three clients in one month without working overtime or falling behind on our commitments to other clients. The two screenshots above represent our Basic WordPress Package, with little to no theme customization. Fresh Appeal Staging is based on the Edmond theme, and Amazing Space on the Yukon Theme.
The third site, 3 Step Solution by lk, is based on the Flexx Theme. This site required our Enhanced WordPress Package in order to customize the colors to match our client’s logo. The Flexx theme is really quite amazing, because it allows to you customize your layout without any technical expertise. This is the same theme I used for the Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistants Group and W.P. Consulting & Associates websites. You have to look pretty closely to tell, don’t you?
If you’re ready to try building your own premium WordPress site, here’s how you can get started:
- Purchase your domain name from your preferred domain registrar (I recommend MyDomain).
- Purchase a hosting account from Hostgator (affiliate link) or another service that allows one-click installation of WordPress.
- Purchase the theme you like best from the iThemes Theme Store.
- Install WordPress, upload your theme, and your site is now ready for your finishing touches!
If it sounds like this will take more time or technical skill than you have, contact me for a free consultation. I’d love to help you make your ideas come to life.
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Hey Janet,
Nice article. I love WordPress and was really looking forward to using it to setup our new website. Unfortunately, I need an online store and the all the functionality I am looking for is not quite there yet. Since it is quite popular, I am sure it will all be available sooner than later. I am using WordPress for my personal blogs though, and it’s really nice.
Not sure if you’ve checked out Elegant Themes, but he has some gorgeous ones (IMHO).
Tina, have you looked at iThemes’Ecommerce Theme? I imagine you have, but thought I’d mention it, just in case. Elegant Themes look good too!
Read Janet Barclay’s post: Get Your Website Up and Running in No Time!
Hey Janet, thanks for the suggestion. I will look again… I have looked at SO many. I have some added “needs” for an online store, because I now live in Quebec. I need to have multi-language support, and sales tax computing that allows for cumulative taxes. In addition, I am looking to have the Canada Post shipping module integrated for shipping goods.
The closest I came in WordPress was the Shopp plugin, who also have a Canada Post module. They just released a new version a few weeks ago, but sadly multi-language did not make the cut this round.
There’s another quite nice one called ECWID that looks very promising (but no Canada Post module as of yet). It’s also a hosted solution if you plan to have more than 100 products. I already have hosting, and not really looking to pay what some companies want for a hosted online store.
Okay, now I probably sound like I am whining. I’m not, really. There are just so many choices out there, and sometimes it’s really hard to find the right fit. I did a LOT of research!
So, at this point, I am strongly leaning towards using an opensource shopping cart; one that fits our functionality requirements, has some nice features and looks pretty decent out of the box. Maybe in a year or two, I will revisit WordPress and the ecommerce development will have caught up. I hope so, because there are some truly gorgeous WordPress themes cropping up…
Hey, I get it, Tina. One of my clients has been looking for the ideal combination of ecommerce, blogging, and other features for a very long time. We’re making do in the meantime, but it’s frustrating not to be able to do exactly what you want, especially when their are so many solutions out there that are close but not quite it…
Read Janet Barclay’s post: Get Your Website Up and Running in No Time!
You don’t have to worry about the design of your site because you can always download a lot of theme to choose that is free from wordpress. And this is one thing that we should all grab. You can even edit it according to what you want
Read kirsty’s post: Split Tests on Shopping Carts and Content Management Systems
Kirsty, free themes are fine if you’re just starting out, but they generally don’t have the features that make for a really slick looking site, which you get with premium themes from iThemes and other suppliers.
Read Janet Barclay’s post: Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for December 2010- Calendars