Believe it or not, but this blog is an oldie! I’ve had it for years and it was mostly a hobby back in my school days.
Needless to say, I’ve been through a lot since. Lots of themes, for example.
However, nothing can compete with the Genesis Framework and a good child theme. I swear by it!
Why I chose the Genesis Framework (and recommend it to anyone else too)
I’ve tried it all – free WordPress themes, premium WordPress themes, a custom theme made by a friend and some premium themes by a third party (which later on turned into a big scandal! If you know, you know).
We learn by making mistakes, and I have learned it all the hard way.
The benefit of that is my gained knowledge of what NOT to do.
After the ‘Pipdig scandal‘, I was startled and unsure of what to do next. I needed a new theme, but there’s so many out there. And after experiencing such a stab in the back from a company I thought was trustworthy, it was difficult to find the courage to spend money on another.
That’s when you start doing research.
After asking around in several serious blogging groups and reading lots of articles, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Genesis Framework is the most trustworthy, strongly built, SEO friendly and versatile WordPress tool out there.
Get the Genesis Framework and a child theme here!
What exactly is the Genesis Framework?
As the title implies, the Genesis Framework is – well.. a framework.. on which you can build or install a theme.
The framework is the backbone of your theme. It has clean code and is easy to read for Google, thus making it very SEO friendly! That’s why I recommend to it anyone who wants to be found in relevant Google searches.
However, you’ll find that simply installing the Genesis Framework to your WordPress blog isn’t enough. It’s just the skeleton, so it needs some muscle and skin to look good! The muscle being the content you produce and the skin being a child theme.
A Genesis child theme is a theme built ON the Genesis Framework. It is the ‘skin’ that surrounds your ‘skeleton’ and makes it look aesthetically pleasing (and user-friendly). And by adding strong ‘muscle’ (posts and pages) you make it look extra fit and attractive.
Okay, seriously though, how did I manage to turn the human body into a blogging metaphor? This wasn’t planned, I swear.
How to get the Genesis Framework and a child theme
Convinced yet? Or do you simply want to check it out yourself? This is where to find the framework, and I’ll also share some great child themes:
- Genesis Framework. You NEED this in order to use any of the child themes mentioned below.
Child themes by StudioPress (by WP engine, the creators of the framework):
- Foodie: Food blog layout.
- Infinity: Business-y and professional looking.
- Elegance: Photography layout.
- Mai Lifestyle: Lifestyle, beauty and fashion layout.
- Essence: Travel, health or anything really.
- Magazine: Magazine or news-website vibes.
- Refined: Cute and feminine. My personal favorite!
These are just my personal picks. For more options, check out their full list of WordPress themes! Can’t find anything that you like on there? Then have a look at Creative Market as well – loads of their themes are Genesis Framework child themes as well (always check the description!).
After buying the framework and a child theme, you’ll receive an e-mail with instructions on where to find your download files.
You’ll find the StudioPress downloads if you login to your My StudioPress (you created an account during checkout) and go to the ‘Themes & Plugins’ tab.
Download the file named “Genesis Framework” and, if you bought a child theme from them as well, also download that theme file.
In case you are very tech-savvy and you want to build your own child theme – you can download the ‘Genesis Sample‘ file. This is a sample child theme that you can customize by changing and adding code. NEVER make any changes to the Genesis Framework code itself, as everything will reset when the framework updates. Only make changes to the sample child theme!
But no worries about that! If you simply purchase a child theme that you think looks awesome, you won’t have to mess around with codes AT ALL! And I’m assuming that’s why you’ve landed on this article anyway!
Installing the Genesis Framework and child theme to WordPress
At this point I am assuming you already have a WordPress blog running on your own domain.
Just to make things clear – you must have a blog on WordPress.ORG, not WordPress.COM. The Genesis Framework ONLY works on self-hosted websites. Not sure what I am talking about? Have a look at The Difference Between WordPress.Org And WordPress.Com.
Or are you, by any chance, still in the process of starting your blog? Then my Blogging For Beginners Guide might be of great help to you!
Okay, assuming you have your self-hosted blog up and running and you have downloaded the Genesis Framework and a child theme, it’s time to log into your WordPress dashboard.
Here’s the steps you will have to follow to successfully install everything:
- Go to ‘Appearance’ > ‘Themes’.
- Click ‘Add New’ on top of the page.
- Click ‘Upload Theme’ on top of the page.
- Click ‘Choose file’ and select the Genesis Framework .zip file in your folders. It is very important to install the framework FIRST. The child theme comes later. Also, if you didn’t get a .zip file, you can compress the file yourself by left-clicking it and selecting ‘Compress [file name]’ to create a .zip file.
- Click ‘Install now’.
- Now repeat steps 1 to 5 to install the child theme.
- Go to ‘Appearance’ > ‘Themes’.
- Click ‘Activate’ under the child theme. Make sure you activate the child theme and not the framework itself!
Want to customize things in your child theme? You can do so by going to ‘Appearance‘ > ‘Customizer‘. And depending on your chosen child theme you can usually get support from the developer as well.
Well that’s everything, really! It’s very easy to set up. So..
Happy blogging!
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