After installing WordPress, your first job is finding a new, attractive, and useful theme. But how do you actually install and activate it once you’ve found it? The video below walks through the whole process.

Themes are just half the picture — most sites also need a handful of plugins. Some themes even ship with their own bundled plugins. The video also covers where those go and how to install them.

Three Methods

1. From the WordPress repository: Appearance > Themes > Add New or Plugins > Add New. One click.
2. ZIP upload: hit Upload Theme/Plugin on the same screen and select the .zip you downloaded.
3. FTP manually: when you can’t access the admin, drop the unzipped folder into wp-content/themes/ or wp-content/plugins/ via FileZilla.

Checks Before Activating

• Last-updated date — avoid anything older than a year.
• Compatibility with your WordPress version.
• Active developer support? (forum, GitHub Issues).
• Review count and average rating.