So you’ve decided to get a premium WordPress theme for your website? And you already know why you should not use a free WordPress theme. In my last post, I’ve highlighted 10 reasons why I chose Genesis Framework for my WP blog and today I’ll be discussing with you why do I feel it’s my biggest blogging mistake. First, I applaud your decision to get a premium WordPress theme. Many newbie bloggers choose free WP themes and later on they realize their mistake. Then to rectify, they buy a paid theme which affects their search engine ranking (for short period). There’s no doubt, premium theme is a best solution for your blog. But choosing a best theme is very much essential to get desired results. This is not just a Genesis Framework review, it’s my one year experience that will certainly help you make a wise decision.

Whenever we think of premium themes Genesis word pops up in our mind. It’s obvious because StudioPress is a prominent company. But if something is famous that does not mean it is equally beneficial for all. For example Genesis Framework is known for its robust security features, but do you know how difficult is it to customize it? A person who is familiar with coding can easily mould it as per his/her needs, a DIY person who has little coding experience can also do the same by using internet resources, but a total newbie will face a lot of issues to get things done.

Oh! I missed something. I forgot to tell you that Genesis themes are not like ordinary WordPress themes. Genesis has two things: a framework and a child theme. Framework works as a foundation which contains all SEO aspects and security features and child theme is nothing just an apparel. You did not get it? Let me explain you, while customizing your theme you may modify/change crucial coding parts of your theme which may affect your theme security or SEO, therefore, to let you customize easily without compromising security, developers have introduced child theme. A child theme lets you customize your theme look without touching your important theme core code. Genesis Framework sits on the top of your WordPress code and Child theme runs on your theme framework.

This is an appreciable feature because whatever mistakes you make while styling your theme will not affect your search engine ranking and security.

You might be thinking, if everything is good then why do I feel it’s my biggest blogging mistake? I have already given you a hint if you didn’t notice then read on, my friend.

I’ve been using Genesis from the very beginning of my WordPress blogging journey. Frankly, I’m not a coding expert therefore you may think me like you who just need a theme that is easy to customize and has robust security features. Let me clear here Genesis Framework does the job fairly well. But, my friend, my concerns are different. After all I’ve been using Genesis Framework for more than a year. So, listen to me, my bragging rights! Hey just kidding! I’m just trying to grab your attention; if I’ve not got yet.

Genesis Framework Review 2018 –

First of all, let us know what is Genesis Framework

As mentioned above Genesis Framework is like a foundation of your blog. It contains all sophisticated coding and SEO things. When you buy Genesis Framework from StudioPress, you get one Framework file and one child theme file. First, you’ll have to install framework and then you can install child theme to style your blog. You are not supposed to do anything with the framework until you’re a coding expert. But with child theme you can do whatever you want to do (hey, who says that? Indians must know!).

For your information, though you get a child theme with your Genesis Framework but that is just like a blank canvas. It does not give stylish look to your theme. You’ve to customize it on your own. StudioPress provides it to you so you can easily customize your theme without touching crucial coding of your framework.

Unlimited updates, sites, and support: You get everything unlimited. There’s no restriction on installs, you can install it on as many as websites you want including on your clients websites. This really appreciable. Many renowned theme stores don’t let you do that and restricted to up to one install. Updates, this is the major reason that insists us to have a paid theme. You can find many renowned free themes and their developers also keep theme up to date but as mention in my free or paid theme comparison post they are not obliged to do so and anytime they can stop updates. But with Genesis Framework, you get unlimited updates. Apart from that, you can contact Genesis support team to get help on an issue.

SEO features and security: When you have a Genesis Frame, you don’t need to spend countless hours to make your theme SEO friendly and don’t need to think of security; just keep your theme up to date. This way you can focus on your work.

Affordable: Isn’t it?  Yes, Genesis Framework is expensive but the thing unlimited makes it affordable. We bloggers often run multiple blogs; if you’re a newbie and has only one blog at the moment but I’m cocksure in the future you’ll be launching more.

Genesis Official Plugins: Genesis offers a range of plugins like Genesis Simple Hooks. Such plugins let you add codes in your theme without actually going into your theme code areas. You can easily add Google Adsense or other ads anywhere inside your theme.

Adsense Auto Ads Integration Feature: In its latest update 2.6.0 it has added Google Adsense Auto ads integration feature, you can simply enable auto ads on your Genesis theme by adding your Adsense publisher id.

Responsive design: No need to mention, how important is responsiveness? Nowadays, majority of traffic comes from mobile devices therefore it becomes crucially important that our website should be responsive across all devices and its load time should be less as much as possible. Genesis themes are also popular among bloggers and developers because of their load time and responsiveness. As expected, you also get different layout options.

Not for a total newbie: Genesis themes are not that easy to customize. If you’re looking for drag and drop theme setup options then here, on Genesis, you will be missing them.

Site personal customization is not available: Above I have mentioned that you get unlimited support but that is not for personal site customization. You can use it to get help on theme functionality. However, you can use their help resources to get things done. You can also hire a SutioPress theme expert to get help to customize your theme.

Lack of customization options: You’ll miss many advanced customization options on Genesis theme settings section. Actually, they provide basic setup options. You will need install to other Genesis plugins to get more theme setting options.

No child theme only: Let’s suppose, you’ve bought framework only and in the future if you think you need a child theme like Magazine Theme Pro then you’ll have to pay framework price again. You cannot buy child theme alone. Genesis has a Pro Plus Membership plan that gives you access to all Genesis themes. By paying one time price $499.99, you get all themes that are available on the store and as well as all future themes.

Read more about Genesis Framework on its official website.

Who should buy Genesis Framework?

Genesis Framework is best for developers because all they need is a well coded framework so they can easily do customization. Also, unlimited installs help them earn profit. Genesis is also famous among pro bloggers many pro bloggers like Harsh Agrawal from Shoutmeloud have used this framework; that’s a big trust factor. If you’ve little knowledge of coding and CSS then you can pick this framework. You’ll have to work hard to make your theme elegant. For newbies, who don’t understand coding or CSS, it’s not recommended. However, if you love to play with CSS then go ahead. In customization difficulty scale, I give it 3 stars out of 5 which means you don’t need to be an expert, basic html and CSS skills are sufficient.

What if you’re building a website for your business?

If you’re building a website to make your business online and your budget is high then you can hire StuidoPress team to make your website as per your needs. They can help you build a website of your choice under certain budget. For your information, you can easily add payment gateway to your website.

Genesis has a range of child themes to choose from. You’ll get child themes for all purposes like business, magazine, news etc.

Genesis Customization options

As mentioned above, generally Genesis Framework is for DIY kind bloggers and developers. Therefore, you’ve to customize it on your own. However, you can get paid personal support from StudioPress team. You can also find third-party developers to customize your website. Apart from that, you also have some third-party tools like Genesis Extender Plugin and Design Palette Pro that let you customize your website without having any coding experience. These tools or plugins come with drag and drop options, all you need to do is just add or remove different sections on your website to get desired look.

My thoughts after using Genesis Framework for more than one year

I’ve been using Genesis Framework on my blogs for more than one year and I’ve not faced any technical issue yet. Genesis updates its themes frequently to improve site performance and remove the technical glitches or bugs. If I talk about its design then I also have not faced any responsiveness related issue. I faced a customization problem and when I contacted to the support team the reply was not good. They mentioned that they don’t provide step by step instructions for site customization. Click here to know what support will you receive from StudioPress. Only thing that let me down is lack of customization options, you’ve to do everything on your own, there are only few resources on internet pertaining to Genesis theme customization. This is the reason why do I feel it is my biggest blogging mistake. Let me elaborate further.

While setting up a WordPress blog, what are the priorities of a newbie blogger?

First and foremost priority, save money as much as possible.

Cheapest and best web-hosting without compromising performance.

Best and inexpensive premium theme.

Were your priorities same? Then congratulations! You’re on the right path. First, it is our right to save money. When I was setting up my WP blog, I’s looking for every alternative to save money. In my opinion, free web-hosting services like Blogspot, WordPress.com are better than a poor shared Web-hosting. Therefore, never compromise with hosting. Here put money aside because you’re going to spend hours and hours to create quality content and your web-hosting may ruin your hard work; if hosting is poor.

Next important thing is choosing between free or paid theme. No room for free WP themes. There are many renowned premium WordPress themes stores available out therefore you can get a better deal due to competition.

After spending significant hours, I decided to buy Genesis Framework. Genesis themes reviews were very positive. I read a sufficient amount of reviews to make a choice. I visited Genesis theme store and most of the themes were available at the cost of $99.99. Only the Genesis Framework was available at $59.95. Though I liked other themes but due to fund shortage, I bought framework only.

Installing was pretty easy. But the actual task, customization, started after that. I was used to use Blogger themes but this was totally different. Tough I knew html and CSS but I faced difficulties to find tags to customize specific areas of my theme. I wasted my precious hours in customization. Although I enjoyed doing so, but eventually I realized that to save only $40 or ₹2500, I spent more than 60 hours; altogether counting till date (still I’m working on logos and other things like landing page). If I multiple these hours with my earnings of that time then total becomes $230 or ₹15000.

Read: 10 Reasons Why I Migrated My Blog From Blogger to WordPress

Now did you get why I’s saying this was my biggest blogging mistake? I could have used that hours to write more or do other stuff. Worst thing is that I still have a lot of customization to do.

So should you buy Genesis Framework?

Yes and no. If you’ve read this article thoroughly then you already have the answer. It’s very simple buy Genesis Framework if you think you can customize it. Otherwise, choose a Genesis theme. With Genesis theme, you get the same framework and a well designed child theme. I recommend you Business Pro or Executive Pro Theme, however, it depends upon your requirements and type of blog. Simply, visit Genesis store and check out their themes and choose one that looks perfect for your blog.

Genesis one time $499.99 price is also a good deal for developers or bloggers who have multiple websites.

l’d been in the same situation as you. Therefore, I’ve come up with this Genesis Framework review so bloggers like you can know pros and cons of Genesis Framework. I can understand initially all of us have limited money to invest but from my experience, Genesis theme is worth buying than Genesis Framework. However, choice is yours.