Brief background on importance of having a unique, branded website and how customizing an existing WordPress theme can help achieve that without needing full custom theme development.

Reasons to Customize Your Theme
  • Reflect your brand visually
  • Add/remove specific functionality
  • Optimize site performance
  • Make content easier to update
  • Stand out from competition
Where to Start
  • Choosing the right base theme
    • Popular frameworks like Genesis or underscores
    • Review theme features and flexibility
  • Using child themes
    • Avoid losing work from parent theme updates
    • Overwrite parent CSS, templates, etc.
Customizing Design Elements
  • Typography
    • Font sizes, styles, line heights
    • Heading and body fonts
  • Colors
    • Primary, secondary, accent colors
    • Buttons, links, highlights
  • Logos and graphics
    • Favicon, header logo, other brand assets
Modifying Theme Structure and Layout
  • Page templates
    • Custom page layouts (e.g. homepage)
  • Widget areas
    • Sidebars, headers, footers
  • Content elements
    • Feature blocks, testimonials, etc.
Going Further: Code Modifications
  • CSS customizations
    • Advanced styling adjustments
  • Template files
    • Header, footer, archives, etc.
  • Functions file
    • Custom code snippets
Testing and Launching Your Customized Theme
  • Preview on staging site
  • Browser test for responsiveness
  • Migrate live when ready

Includes practical examples of customizing popular Themeforest themes (e.g. Astra, GeneratePress) to achieve specific brand goals.