On Friday I did a quick (HA) WP Robot review. I’ve been using it to spiffy up sites and get dead weight making money around here.
One of the big things about spiffying up sites is finding themes. I don’t know about you, but for me, theme finding is fun and can be frustrating, AND almost always takes hours. Have you seen how many awesome themes there are out there? Not to mention the fantastic themes they keep adding to the Elegant themes membership site?
So I’m trying to be all focused here and after I had upgraded one of my new sites to wp 3.0 I saw the new default theme. Yep, the old fashioned Kubrik is gone and Twenty Ten is in. Well let me tell you what… it didn’t take long for me to fall in love.
Twenty ten is so clean. It’s a lot like the vigilance theme I had on this site before the upgrade which I really liked. The other rockin’ thing about Twenty Ten is you can super easily change the header and background to create a site that looks like no other even though it’s still using the default wordpress theme. And that just rocks.
I’ve heard they SEOd the hell out of this theme and the code is clean and super Google friendly ~ which is a bonus for sure.
So I thought I’d take a minute (because that’s really all it takes) to show you how to pimp out Twenty Ten and make your site your own.
Let’s start with a header. I’ve been creating my headers using a free program called xheader. It’s super simple to use. Just open it up and choose new then pick create a blank header.
It opens up a size box and you want to fill in 940 X 198 ~ that’s the size of the header in Twenty Ten.
Now it opens up your creation page.
Here’s how I make this super simple and easy. I go online or wherever and find 3 images that relate to my topic. I save them on my computer. I then choose the upload image button and upload all three images to the header. (they will show up all on top of one another so it looks like they disappear but just click on them and then drag them to the side).
I position the three images across the header. You can click on them and make them bigger or smaller by dragging the edges ~ just be careful you don’t make them too big they get distorted.
Once the images are positioned I save. I don’t add words to the header because Twenty Ten will put the title of your site right over the header. Xheader will give you a number of options of which level of awesomeness you would like to save. I think I usually pick the very good one ~ I can’t see the difference between them.
Save it to your computer.
Now let’s add the new header to our site. This is just as simple.
Open your dashboard and choose Twenty Ten as your theme if you haven’t already. (remember you have to have wordpress 3.0 installed on your site for this to show up).
Once you’ve chosen Twenty Ten you’ll see in the sidebar area of your dashboard a link that says header in the “appearance” section.
click that link.
Click the browse button and find the header image you saved from xheader. Then click upload.
Once it’s uploaded scroll down and click save at the bottom and click through and check out your new header.
Now ~ a new header’s great, but to really take your site to a “custom” level you might want to add a different background. This is JUST as easy, if not easier than the header.
Find an image or color or background worthy something and save it to your computer. (you can use jing to take an image of something if you need to). Go to the background link under appearance and then browse for the image and upload. Scroll down and save!
It’s that easy. Now you’ve created a custom site that is yours and yours alone and you didn’t have to spend hours searching for it. 
I used it on this Cool Christmas Gifts site and you can see it looks great.
I’d love to hear if you’re using Twenty Ten and what you think!
No related posts.
Jackie, do you know how to remove the time stamp on the posts on Twenty Ten? I can’t figure out how to do it. I want to remove the time stamp on my anxiety blog because the topics are evergreen and I don’t want to dissuade anyone from commenting on older posts, but I can’t find that time stamp. Any ideas? Thanks!
Lisa @ goLITE BLU Energy Light´s last [type] ..Clearblue Easy Fertility Monitor
Hey Jackie,
With this theme, somehow my Home Page has (noindex, nofollow) showing up in Page admin. I can not see how the setting can be change. Any ideas please.
Steve@Online Picture Frames´s last [type] ..What I like about Logan Pro-Framing F300-2 Pro Joiner
not sure exactly what you mean, but my first idea would be to check your privacy setting (under settings –> privacy) and make sure you have it set for search engine traffic. Sometimes that is set wrong out of the box.
Hey Jackie, I’m trying to display RSS with the Twentyten RSS widget. Could you please show me how to take out the RSS title. Why is it pointing to the home page?
Also, how do I get rid of the items below the icon?
Thank you,
Steve
Steve´s last [type] ..10 Setup Steps For Your Home Based Business
The RSS widget is meant to feature the RSS feed of ANOTHER site in your sidebar. When you add the RSS widget to your sidebar you have to fill in the information for the RSS FEED you want to show. You have to use the RSS feed address, give it a name etc. Choose how many posts you want to show. My guess is you added the blog url instead of the feed url to the widget.
Hey Jackie! I just finished working on 2 sites that used the Twenty Ten theme and I really love it too! It was MUCH easier to customize than I thought at first and my clients love their look. Must admit I looked more closely at the theme after reading this post.
Now I can’t wait to add more samples to my portfolio
Sweet ~ and congrats!
Thanks for the tip on xHeader Jackie. A very useful tool. With Twenty Ten, excerpt ‘Continue reading’ shows up in Categories and Archives by default. How do you setup it up on home page? Or do you need a plugin for in? If so what is the best plugin?
Thanks
Steve´s last [type] ..Do Your Potential Customers Forget About You
To create excerpts on the homepage I use the “homepage excerpts” plugin. It works well. You can set it up to have all excerpts or even to show one full post and the rest excerpts (which is what I do usually if I do excerpts)
I’ve been back to this post a few times! Finally bit the bullet today and upgraded WP and my theme to 20 10. Didn’t use xHeader but used info to put together a header that is not too bad!
Thanks for the inspiration, I have been meaning to and wanting to update the look of my Gold Coast Blog for ages! Now I will be more inspired to write more posts to it regularly!
I am stumped with the RSS though. I cannot seem to find the sitewide RSS. Am I missing something or do I need to install a plugin?
Your RSS feed is created when your blog is created. Your RSS address will be http://yourblogname.com/feed
If you put that in the address bar it will show you your RSS feed.
Very cool Jackie. This may be just what I need for future blog; I need a bare theme (it’s even in the domain name). lol
Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing´s last [type] ..Welcome To The All New DennisEdellcom!
Jackie,
I am using the Twenty Ten theme for links to my lenses with Unique Article Wizard for the content, but I cant see how to make the links show up. Any thoughts?
I don’t understand what you’re doing.
Can you tell me more please. A theme has nothing to do with links really.
Sure, here is my site: http://stressreliefsteps.com
It’s an old domain I have and decided to use it to make links to my lenses. I added em all- but they don’t show up anywhere on the site. What’s up with that?
ok gotcha. You have to go into the widgets area and add the “links” widget to your sidebar. Then they will show up.
I’m not sure how I missed this post but it’s certainly timely. Struggling with customizing themes especially the banners. I can’t use the xbanner software though as I just bought a MAC and it need the windows environment to work – (don’t want to install that). I’ll look for an alternative.
Anyway, the Twenty Ten looks like a good option to try. I have some domains to get going with and have no qualms about using automation to get the products going. So thank you Jackie (and to your readers) you always have great recommendations and tutorials. Now I just need to decide if I should use WP Robot or WP Zon Builder!
Kat@Halloween Fancy Dress Costumes´s last [type] ..Sexy Halloween Fancy Dress Womens Halloween Costumes Sexy Halloween Costumes updated Mon
check out this post ~ http://internetmarketingformommies.com/header-image/ it will help you create some decent headers. I’m pretty sure it’s mac friendly. (and free)
Thanks so much for that tip Jackie. I have now created two banners for my new websites that I’m really happy with. Instant Banner Creator is indeed Mac friendly and I had no problems at all. Thanks again for all your great advice and easy to follow tutorials
regards
Kat
Kat@Halloween Fancy Dress Costumes´s last [type] ..Sexy Halloween Fancy Dress Womens Halloween Costumes Sexy Halloween Costumes updated Mon
no problem ~ glad it worked for you.
Jackie
I’ve not yet upgraded to WordPress 3.0 as I’ve been told that it’s difficult unless you’re very computer literate, and I’m not! Is it really that difficult?
And you mention ‘upgrading one of your new sites’. If I upgrade, do I to upgrade my horse blog as a separate exercise? Your advice would be appreciated.
Regards
RUSSELL
If you go into your cpanel ~ and go to the fantastico button you’ll see your sites lined out there. There should be an upgrade to 3.0 link next to the domain name. All you have to do is click it. It’s not difficult.
You have to upgrade every site you have individually. So if you have one site you have to upgrade 1 site ~ if you have 30 you have to upgrade 30.
Jackie,
What’s this about upgrading wordpress? Doesn’t it upgrade automatically in the dashboard section? Do you mean I have to go to my hosting company and do something else?
Michele
Michele´s last [type] ..Matt Morris Micro Cap Millionaires Trade Ideas
When wordpress upgrades its software yes, you have to upgrade your sites with the new version.
It’s quite nice, don’t you think? I’ve even kept it as a theme for a couple of small blogs that I’ve ust set up.
I never did like that Green default theme, always felt it was really ugly.
Dean Saliba´s last [type] ..2 Things You Probably Didn’t Know You Can Do With Google Analytics
Thanks for the information Jackie. Since I’m new to the blogging world, I appreciate the great tips on the 20 10 theme and Xheader (the 20 10 theme does look nice by the way). Looking forward to trying it.
Jackie, I loved this post. I have been wanting to add some no fuss niche affiliate sites to my biz and I always over think the theme and probably choose one that is distracting. I decided to throw up a quickie Christmas toys site using the Twenty Ten theme after I saw it here. I REALLY like the clean layout: http://www.bestgreentoys.org/ Now I just have to get busy on the content. Thx!
Tiffany´s last [type] ..White Vinegar For Household Cleaning
That site looks great Tiffany ~ what are you using to pull in those products?
WP Zon Builder Plugin. It can pull in the description and reviews in the comments and all that jazz too but also the option of doing a small product placement like what you see on the site.
Tiffany´s last [type] ..White Vinegar For Household Cleaning
oh for heaven’s sake. I was JUST looking at that plugin when I flipped back to my mail LOL. That looks really good. They have a commission junction one too I see. I am debating between the wp robot CJ module and this one. Thanks.
Finding a fun wordpress theme is half the battle. I actually just bought one theme that I could easily customize to my liking. After seeing your Christmas site, however, it make me feel as if I have wasted my money!
Kathy@vampire girl costume´s last [type] ..Kids Vampire Costume
Awww… there’s plenty of space for purchased themes. I just use them for different things.
I have a very expensive theme I purchased that I never use anymore because I’ve found things much easier to get up and running ~ it bums me out, but it happens.
Thanks Jackie, I had already fallen for twenty ten myself but you have taken it further than I knew how to. Will be doing some more playing with it when I can get a little time
Glenda Williams´s last [type] ..Natural Way to Relieve Stress That Keeps You Awake
Great info Jackie!! Thanks so much, you always give us such awesome tips, and they’re always right on time!!
Mommy Reporter´s last [type] ..Money Monday- An easy way to budget
Very timely. I have a new niche site I want to build, but I was dragging my feet because I hate trying to find a theme I like. Thank you so much for the tip!
Thank you for that useful information … the whole process you describe seems feasible even for someone who is not very technical.
BTW I think Rebecca didn’t mean monetizing a .com extension but WordPress.com
Fran
Fran@boomers making money´s last [type] ..The Build-and-Move-on System of Affiliate Marketing 4
I struggled to make the twenty ten theme look good for my site but yours really works. I’m guessing this is a .org site because you can’t monetize a .com site unless I’m missing something. I agree the Elegant Themes templates are just great and I’m tempted to use them for my next venture.
Rebecca´s last [type] ..I Can’t Stop Eating!
Not sure what you mean about monetizing ~ you can monetize any site you want. It doesn’t matter what extension it’s on.
I think referring to Word Press hosted versus downloaded WP and host yourself version…
Thank you for the great info,I am still new to this whole blogging thing and look for any great information out there.
Thanks
Ina@Home Based Business Ideas´s last [type] ..A Home Based Franchise and It’s Advantages
Great post as usual Jackie! Thanks for showing your custom header photo it looks great!
Kris @livingtraderjoes, vitamix, cooking´s last [type] ..Meatless Monday- Macaroni & Cheese
Your site looks really good! I wish wish wish we had a trader joe’s around here. I hear such great things about it. Keep up the great work.
Hey Jackie,
I do love my Elegant Theme, but always on the look out for something else — I can’t help myself. Wondering if it isn’t worth a look with all that free time I have on my hands (just kidding).
Thanks for the introduction
devin
Devin the Travel Writer´s last [type] ..The Sunday Check In- 8-29
Yeah I love my elegant themes too, on my bigger main blogs ~ but this is perfect for quickly setting up niche sites.