How does one embed a WordPress blog into an already existing website so that it matches the look and feel of the original site? The following post will hopefully answer that question.
First and foremost we need to download the latest version of WordPress and setup the blog on your server. I installed the blog in a subfolder so as to separate it from the site content.
Once the blog is setup we now need to create our own custom theme so as to make the blog look like the original site. To start off, copy one of the theme folders location in wp-content/themes. Rename the copied folder with a relevant name like the name of your website. This is the theme which we will be modifying. All future references are with respect to this folder.
We now need to know the blog is mainly divided into four parts. the Header, the Footer, the Content and the Sidebar. We will now need to modify each of these parts.
To modify the header file we need to modify header.php. Here is where you can add your banner, menu bar etc which exists on your website. Open the file in any editor and edit out the content to match your needs. You can remove the main banner of the original blog as it wont be required. Only edit what is required.
Next we modify the footer.php to add your website footer and to remove the default footer which may be present with the original theme.
The sidebar.php will help to modify the content in the sidebar. Some of the sidebar content can be modified through the admin utility of the the WordPress blog.
To modify the content we need to edit the stylesheet of the theme. This can be located in the theme folder and is usually called style.css. This is the most tedious part but is not too difficult. I was slowed down a little because the WordPress styling is done using div tags and my original site was done using tables. But it was sorted out in a couple of hours so its quite simple.
And there you go, a working WordPress blog embedded in your original website.