total confusion

Did you unzip the theme before you uploaded it?

yes, but beyond that, it is all geek to me! going to ftp, etc. never done it before. i know web marketing, seo, theory…not the techie application.
i downloaded it to desktop and unzipped it, then went to unlimited ftp on my bluehost account and triede to upload the theme…no luck

i know web marketing, seo, theory…not the techie application.

… You’re joking, right? You know all about the web, but not how to use an FTP Client?

I’m too stunned for words.

https://codex.www.ads-software.com/FTP_Clients

Well it’s possible. A friend of mine could program any kind of program you liked in pascal, C+, Delphi, you name it. But he couldn’t get 2 PC to talk to each other via a crosscable.

Yeah, but that makes sense, because those are two different things.

But you can’t build a website at all without, you know, putting files on a server. If you don’t know how to transfer files, how do you build a website?

Eh.. sitebuilder?

… You’re joking, right? You know all about the web, but not how to use an FTP Client?

I’m too stunned for words.

I’m in the exact same position as the person you are shocked about. I am a marketing manager. I know how to market things. Like the original author, I understand the theory of web marketing and SEO, and use it regularly. However, I have never had to actually build a website myself. I just started my own blog a month ago, and that was the first time I ever had to actually use an FTP client.

Think of it like this; most of your college professors had PhD’s and taught theory and some even wrote text books on their discipline. But you would have been shocked to learn how many of them only had academic knowledge and had never worked a single day in the real world. They know the theory, but they’ve never actually done it.

We are just like that.

The most common problem you find here is nested directories and files being put in the wrong place. First of all. Your theme may live in a folder WITHIN a folder Like this: theme-1-a/theme-1-a/(Here are all the theme files)

You have to make sure to upload the folder that has all the theme files in it and upload it to the wp-content/themes folder. If everything is uploaded properly (and you have an actual WordPress theme) When you go to “Design” in your Dashboard, you’ll see the theme listed there and you’ll be able to activate it.