How I Set Up a Genesis Theme

When I started blogging, I use free WordPress theme for about two years, while knowing that I have to buy a WordPress theme later on.

Genesis Framework is widely used and highly recommended in blogs that I often visit or chance upon. Ready and convinced, I jump in to a new world of premium theme.

I used Genesis Sample (default) and Prose as the child theme of my blogs.

Prose has been discontinued. I still have a copy you can download if you like a minimalist theme.

On the other hand, I still use Genesis Sample which keeps on evolving although I don’t like some of the changes I didn’t see the need to buy another Genesis child theme.

But I’ve been looking at other minimalist Genesis child theme and also learning another framework, Generate Press which is said to make a site faster. I installed it in one of my blogs and will write about it as I navigate through a labyrinth.

Set Up Genesis Theme My Way

Back to Genesis theme. This post isn’t about how to install a Genesis Framework and a child theme. I’ll show you how I prefer to set the theme.

It’s more of how I dress up the site to make it look minimal yet pleasing to eyes that like to skim through sites. This is me most of the time.

1. Genesis Plugins

After activating a Genesis child theme, I install my favourite plugins:

• Genesis Simple Edits
• Genesis Hook
• Genesis Simple Icons (occasionally use)

I personally don’t like to install a lot of plugins in a site. I rather customize the site with code if possible.

But I can’t deny that having my must-have Genesis plugins make my blogging life easier. This is why I got stuck using Genesis; I am not complaining mind you.

Many plugins that are meant for Genesis themes but I prefer to use as much as possible the official Genesis plugins by StudioPress or made by Nathan Rice.

What plugins do you like to use along with a Genesis theme?

1.1. Genesis Simple Edits

Entry Meta (above content)

Updated on [post_modified_date] By [post_author] [post_comments] [post_edit]

Entry Meta (below content)

[post_categories] [post_tags]

In Footer Output I like to put copyright and link to the theme.

CMiaral · Copyright © 2016 - 2020 · [footer_childtheme_link] · [footer_wordpress_link]

Every year I updated the year and keep the year I started the site. I do this to all of my sites. The years are a reminder of how far I’ve gone.

Slow and steady. Keep on telling story.

Next I add a footer menu (WordPress dashboard > Appearance > Menu).

By doing so the Footer Output in Genesis Simple Edits is clutter free (which is the opposite in the past). And the menus are found in one place.

1.2 Genesis Simple Hooks

This is a plugin on which I place some codes. In wp_head Hook I place meta tags for SEO and website traffic.

• Bing
• Yandex
• Google Suite
• Google Search Console
• Google Analytics

You can also put meta tags in Genesis > Theme Settings > Header/Footer Srcripts to avoid installing the plugin.

In genesis_after_header /genesis_before_header / genesis_before_footer is where I put code ads like Google Adsense.

To place ads code within a blog post I use WP Insert, a plugin I recommend in managing and placing ads in a blog. Before I settle, I tried other plugins that are complicated to grasp.

2. Genesis Theme Settings

I hardly change anything in here; nonetheless, I’ll show you the settings I use in all of my blogs.

2.1. Site Layout: Content, Primary Sidebar

2.2. Breadcrumbs

• Breadcrumbs on Single Post
• Breadcrumbs on Pages
• Breadcrumbs on Archives

Yoast SEO will also allow you to enable breadcrumbs: Search Appearance > Breadcrumbs. I use Yoast SEO for a lot of things but creating XML sitemap is on top of the list.

2.3. Singular Content: similar to what you put in Genesis Simple Edits.

You can do a lot of customization in Theme Settings but I prefer to use my favourite Genesis plugins instead.

Sharing and Keeping Settings

To copy my Genesis settings from one blog to another (new), I export the settings.

1. Go to Genesis > Import/Export.
2. Choose whether you want to export Theme and SEO Settings. (The choose the latter.)
3. Click Download Export File

I export settings for Genesis and Yoast SEO and import it to a new blog. This blog hack saves me tons of time.

That was Easy

When I set up a Genesis theme, it seems to take forever. Maybe because I am distracted by a lot of things.

Now that I wrote this post, I can go back here whenever I necessary. (This is why I made this blog anyway. It’s my virtual guide.)

Setting up a Genesis theme is easy to do even for a newbie. Don’t be intimidated to move in to a paid theme especially when your blog keeps going. Do it early on and you’ll thank yourself later.

So what Genesis theme do you like the most?