Recently, I have been getting a lot of positive comments about the appearance of my blog and some are even asking for advice on how to improve on theirs. The truth is, I didn’t even know anything about website creation until a year ago. Like most beginners, I started with a basic WordPress theme and gradually discovered my preference for premium themes.
So I thought it would be a good idea to write an article, showing how you too can use Genesis to build a fantastic business website (just like mine).
What Is Genesis?
Genesis is a software created by StudioPress, a company that designs premium themes for WordPress websites. It is a very popular choice for beginners to advanced bloggers. This software is like a framework that contains the nuts and bolts to make your website more powerful, optimized and secured.
For more designs and customization, you can choose from a variety of child themes that suits to your niche.
How Does It Work?
Before you get started with Genesis, you must first create a WordPress website. Genesis will not work with the simple drag-and-drop website builders. If you are using any of these, see if you can move your blog to WordPress instead.
(1) Choose a Theme
Next, head over to Studiopress site and browse through their theme collection. To learn more about a particular child theme, read the theme details by paying attention to a few things.
- A layout is similar to the anatomy of a website. It provides a pathway for navigation so, the more simple the layout, the easier it is for people to read your blog post, one after another.
- Ideally, you want to choose a theme that comes with an HTML 5 markup. In layman’s term, this simply means that the theme is using the latest language to structure and present content on the Internet.
- As of April 2015, Google has added mobile friendliness as a prerequisite for site ranking, so you should also be using a mobile responsive theme for yours.
- Next, check out the demo to have a feel of how the theme looks like. Explore the different layouts, templates variation and color selection and see which one suits you the most.
- You may also be interested to see how your site would look like on a mobile device.
(2) Install the Theme
In order for a theme to work, it must have the Genesis framework. So, when you download a theme on the computer, you are actually getting the framework and the theme at the same time.
To install, you just need to upload the frame and the theme onto your WordPress site. Here’s a quick video on how this is done.
On your dashboard, you’ll find a Genesis icon and under ‘Theme Settings’ is where you select all the customization that comes with the theme.
(3) Customize Your Theme
This step is completely optional. You can go with the default settings that comes with your theme OR you can choose to change the style and design completely, just like what I did with mine. It would involve some code tweaking in the theme editor and can be a steep learning curve if you haven’t done this before.
My suggestion is that you watch a couple of YouTube video tutorials (there are some good ones that will show this process step-by-step) to have an idea before you proceed with your own customization.
How Much Does It Cost?
Genesis is a premium software, hence it comes with a price.
The Genesis framework itself cost $59.95 and the combination of framework plus themes can range between $79 to $99. If you are on a shoestring budget, the framework itself also functions as a theme. So it’s not always necessary to purchase a child theme. Learn to do some customization and your site will look just as good.
It’s also worth mentioning that the purchase is a one-time fee that comes with unlimited updates and technical support. When you are on Genesis, you can use Genesis-specific plugins/widgets (which are super cool) and install the same theme on multiple sites as well.
What Do People Say about It?
Here is the general consensus of what people think about Genesis from Studiopress.
- It’s easy to install. As you can see, one click to download and upload, you’ll get a Genesis powered website.
- The resources for Genesis themes are extensive. Website professionals, bloggers and entrepreneurs all have great things to say about the software.
- Yup, it’s a bit pricey, but there’s a good reason for that because they have really smart people working behind the scene to keep this software updated and optimized at all the time. I see it as a good business investment.
- The end result is outstanding. Genesis powered websites simply offer better designs and user experience.
- My personal experience with them has been great, especially with the technical support. They were prompt and resourceful. I would give them a 5 star.
Is Genesis Worthy of Your Time?
It took me 3 days to get my website up and running with the Genesis theme and that’s because I did some customization on my own. I wasn’t sure if I did a good job, but obviously after hearing the feedback, I knew it was worth the effort.
What’s more important is that Google also love my site 🙂 My web traffic has been growing steadily since the theme transition and it just hit a new high a few days ago.
Build a Strong Website Foundation
As Studiopress continues to develop on their platform, I am convinced that more people (even beginners) will learn to appreciate good quality websites. What’s more important, they rank so much better on the search engine because of their great features.
Are you interested to learn more about how to build a strong business website? Check out my recommended training platform here and I’ll show you.
Do you have any thoughts or questions about using Genesis for your website? Please leave them in the comment area below and I’ll get back to you.
Hi Cathy,
I’ve been thinking about getting Genesis for a while. It’s not cheap, but I want to get one soon. Your article only got me excited. Thank you for the detailed review.
Very informative site including videos to walk you through. I myself am very interested as I have not created sites before joining WA and I am always looking for something better, and will most likely be getting into Genesis shortly. You can play with looks and words as much as you want, but for me you had me with content and how it would impact me as a user and a web developer. Thanks.
Hi there Jeff,
Genesis is a very popular premium theme among website owners and you can sometimes find its demonstrations on one of those video training within Wealthy Affiliate. I love using it and I’m sure you would too.
I love using the Genesis theme to build websites. It has so many options available to it, and using a child theme with it gives it endless opportunities to customize the site while still keeping it clean and able to load quickly.
My newest site, Little Biz Software has the Eleven 40 Pro theme on top of Genesis. I think it’s amazing!
I’ve heard about software created by StudioPress just recently but I didn’t realize they delved in the WordPress themes side of things. Over the past seven years, I’ve always stuck to free themes and done alright with them – although I do see certain themes that stand out from the Premium side (every now and again). Tell me, do you really feel there is that much difference between an excellent free theme and a premium option?
Hi there Chris,
Here are some of the reasons why I choose to use a Premium theme;
1) It allows my website to look distinctive from many sites that are using free themes.
2) It works well with my browser (Chrome) and most importantly, compatible to the latest version of WordPress.
3) You won’t be disappointed with the responsive design that comes with a Premium theme.
4) (I’ve heard that) Free themes could sometimes come with ‘bad codes’ that could breach the security of your website.
Considering the amount of time I spend on building my business website, I don’t want to put myself in a position where I need to restart all over again without any kind of support. I know not all theme developers can guarantee me this, but at least with a premium support, I feel more reassured.
It’s not wrong to use a free theme if you’ve found it to give you excellent results. My only concern is that because it’s free, theme developers can choose not to maintain it and therefore, it’s quite risky to place my website on that kind of framework.
Hey Cathy,
I have been using Genesis for 7+ years and it’s one of my favorite premium WordPress themes to use. One thing I have done over the years is buy a Genesis WordPress child theme and then use the Elegant Themes Divi Builder. The reason being is because I have found Divi Builder makes it very easy to customize pages and post on your website. I was wondering if you have any experience using the Divi Builder?
Also, I was wondering what SEO plugin do you use with Genesis. For me I really like All In One SEO a little better than Yoast. I have read that Genesis doesn’t always play good with third party SEO plugins. I was wondering if you have found that to be true too?
I do like to use a custom CSS plugin to help make style changes without having to handcode the code into the core theme?
I do know a lot of developers that only use Genesis for their clients websites. Are there any other premium themes that you have used?
Sorry for taking such a long time to reply, Garen. To answer your questions;
1) No, I have no experience with Divi Builder, but I’ve heard about them. Is it a website builder? How is it different from WordPress?
2) I am an end-user and I don’t create websites for clients (at least not yet). Genesis is the only premium theme that I’ve used so far but I am open to other recommendations if you have any.
3) I actually found something interesting from this comment. Under my Genesis setting, I only have ‘Theme Settings’ and ‘Import/Export’. I’ve installed All in One SEO since the beginning of my website and never know that there’s actually a built-in SEO settings specifically for Genesis. Why is the SEO setting not found in my WordPress dashboard? Is it because AIOSEO is activated?
Thanks!
Hey Cathy,
1. Divi is a WordPress theme by Elegant Themes. It’s pretty much a drag and drop framework that is very easy to work with. I have used it for a couple of years. Really is a wonderful theme.
2. There are a handful of other premium WordPress themes I recommend other than Genesis. Headway, Elegant Themes,Avada, iThemes, etc.
3. For Genesis it overwrites the SEO settings for Genesis once activated. That is the reason you don’t see your SEO settings inside of Genesis. AIOSEO is actually a lot better than the standard Genesis SEO settings.
Hi Cathy,
I have been looking at the Genesis framework and I think it is the way to go. It is very customisable with so many child themes to choose from, you are spoilt for choice. Like many people, Genesis takes a bit more patience than other basic WordPress themes, but the results can be truly outstanding, as you have proven. It’s on my shopping list now, thanks to your excellent review.
Hi Martyn,
Genesis is a great software to use. Easy installation, great resources and excellent results. For me, starting my online business with the framework gives me the reassurance that I’ve got my foundation right and I am sure it will do the same for you too. If you need any help at all with the themes, just send me a PM at Wealthy Affiliate and I am more than happy to help you out 🙂
I have considered Genesis themes in the past, but never used them. I know they have an extremely good reputation and I’m sure I will use them in the future some time. I’ve currently settled on a different theme known as Divi. From what I can see though, you’re theme is pretty cool.
Hi Nigel, Divi by Elegant Themes is also a nice theme to start with. From what I heard, their drag-and-drop page builder is quite an interesting feature. Go to know you found something that suits your blog.
I’m using a free theme on my site at the moment and have often wondered about the merits of using a paid for one like Genesis. This has provided me with a bit more information. Although I am more than happy with my theme, I am a little more convinced after reading this to invest.
Hi Andy,
After you read a few more sites built on premium themes, you’ll come to understand the difference in terms of web navigation, loading speed and even Google ranking. That goes to show how much they can really do – Genesis is just one of them.
I have over the last couple of days installed Genesis on my website. It was so easy to do and there was only a couple of steps to follow which was good. I have certainly noticed that my load time is alot quicker now. Lets hope it leads to an improvement in my search rankings as well !
Hi there Andy.
Most Genesis websites that I’ve seen load fast, but there are also other factors to consider such as the quality of hosting and the file size on your web content. I used GT Metrix to check my loading speed sometimes and get mostly image errors which can easily be rectified.
If you like to know more, here’s a proof that Genesis did improve on my website SEO.
Great post!
The Genesis framework is awesome. It is the ability of this theme to have built in SEO functionality that is light weight without adding a plugin and how you can make slide shows and many different layouts and have the options to turn them on/off.
The Genesis themes set you up for success by having all the essentials to get you ranked and liked by Google rather than some free themes setting you up for failure. Also, how they set you up with all the child themes that work great with the framework is a great feature as that is very important when running a bigger more successful blog that you can’t mess up on and you need safety nets.
When you mess up on a child theme it won’t effect anything on your main theme. This is a great theme with SEO, child themes and design functionality all built in. It works better than the Thesis theme as there is really no learning curve with Genesis. StudioPress have been around for a while and been the top the whole time when it comes to selecting a WordPress themes.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, Brandon.
As many comments have been coming in, asking if it’s difficult to use, you clearly pointed out that there really isn’t much barrier in learning how to use Genesis. I read a lot of reviews, but after installation, it appears to be easier than I thought. I also like the fact that I don’t have to worry about my site becoming outdated because I know the guys at Genesis will have that covered.
And sure enough, when Google update on mobile-friendliness in April 2015, many businesses were scrambling to update on their WordPress theme. Genesis users are clearly ahead of this, so it’s good to know that our website is supported by a reliable theme.
Sounds like a really interesting take on WordPress themes. Tell me – how difficult is this thing to get good grips with? I only ask due to the complex nature of some WordPress Themes. Great article by the way 🙂
Hi Chris,
If you are happy with what is being provided by the framework and/or the child theme, it’s just the matter of installation. If you want to do customization like me, that can be a bit challenging. But like anything else, if you are willing to learn, it will become easier. Have a look at some free tutorials on YouTube and see if they meet your expectation.
I’ve heard a lot about Genesis themes. Are there other great options that maybe don’t cost as much? What other WordPress themes would you recommend?
Hi Sarah, I have only used Genesis and can’t provide you any opinions on other premium themes. I did a quick research and found some really elaborate reviews with price comparison here. Maybe this can give you some direction on how to select a WordPress theme for your site.
Cathy,
I started my online business site with a free theme also. They do have a lot of limitations. You mention a child theme and the video talks about having a lot of them to choose from. Is it needed to build a good looking and functioning website with Genesis? Is it worth the extra cost?
Hi John,
You don’t necessarily need a child theme to build a functioning site. The framework that comes with the Genesis Sample Theme works just fine. You can purchase a child theme if you want something good looking to suit the style of your blog. For me, the cost is worth it, granted I did spend some challenging hours learning how to customize the whole theme to my liking. It might work for you too.
Hello Cathy,
That’s indeed a very nice theme and you made a great analysis about it. I find the price very reasonable for the choices and the final result. With this article you definitely put me into thinking about my WordPress theme. After all, our target is to give useful and nice written information to our readers in a business, clean, and good looking environment.
You are right, George.
It’s very important that we provide good user experience for readers coming to our site, not only with good quality content, but also with good quality designs. In my opinion, Genesis is pretty good at delivering the two. I am sure you’ll like it for your business website too.
I don’t build websites without the Genesis Framework. I’ve tried it before and I didn’t like it. The theme I have on my website now is the Foodie Pro theme by Genesis. It is very easy to customize and has a lot of features. I feel like the Genesis framework should be a basic part of any online business tools. The investment is worth it. I’ve had the framework for about 3 years now and to date, it is the best way to run a website that I know of.
Hi Kinya,
Genesis Framework is well-known for their built-in SEO technology, something we as online business owners need, but too complicated a subject to dwell on. It’s good to know that we have the professionals in Genesis to sort that out for us and I think they are doing a pretty good job at the moment.
The fact that Genesis helps me create my first website from scratch goes to show that it’s not impossible for newbie to learn how to use this powerful software. Totally agree with you on the investment.