As I mentioned in the WordPress - Choosing Permalinks quicktips tubetorial, WordPress has a lot of nice features unconfigured out of the box. For example, despite there being probably thousands of free themes for WP 1.5 and 2.x series, the standard install only comes with two themes. One is so so and the other is boring. Neither one is particularly optimized.

Fortunately, doing a Google search on free WordPress themes will give you lots of options to choose from, including one, two, three, and even some four-column themes. (I created a five-column static theme but have yet to convert it to WordPress.)

One of the best places to find WP themes (and plugins) is Weblog Tools Collection, though the rumor is that Performancing may have some in the future.

So, once you troll through all the free themes and find a few you like, download it to your computer, upload to your blog’s web server, then activate the one you’d like to use. Try a couple and see what works best for you. For example, don’t forget to check out our Cutline WordPress theme, which has been optimized for search engines, as have all the other great free themes at Performancing Themes. (Cutline is by Chris Pearson and the Perf themes are by Brian Gardner and J. Angelo Racoma.)

If you have an existing blog with a theme you’d like to replace, don’t forget all the codes to transfer to the new theme:

1. Advertising.
2. Promo.
3. Special tweaks.
4. Metrics tracking.

I try to regularly change my blog themes, to prevent stagnation, but I often forget my metrics code.

Anyway, changing a theme is pretty easy, but watch the video below if you’re unsure.