Recognize this theme:
Looks familiar, right?
It’s the exact theme that I’m running on www.brendanmace.com.
I’ve seen bloggers recommending themes that they don’t personally use.
To me, that’s dishonest.
If you’re claiming a theme’s the best – use it.
The theme I use is called Magazine Pro. It’s from StudioPress, and takes advantage of the multi-million dollar Genesis framework.
What makes a good WordPress theme?
#1 – Reliable support.
Chances are your theme will BLOW UP at one point or another. Maybe not a doomsday scenario, or anything to freak about. But you probably will need help. And having reliable support available can be a massive tylenol replacement.
#2 – SEO.
This stand for “search engine optimization.”
A good theme has a framework that’s designed to improve your site SEO. That means that your (warning geek slang coming) HTML scripts are easy to scroll. And that your site has a solid silo structure. Which means that the theme naturally enhances internal linking.
#3 – Design for Click-Rate
This means that your design encourages readers to stay engaged.
You MUST have a WordPress theme with featured images for blog posts.
Pictures draw readers’ attention. Your CTR will be WAY higher when you use these in your blogging.
Take a look at my home page:
Notice how there’s an image beside each blog post?
That’s how it should be.
Visitors will be THREE times as likely to click on your posts with a featured image. Your WordPress theme should 100% have this function. If it doesn’t… look somewhere else!
#4 – Design for Authority
A good WordPress theme radiates professionalism.
That means that visitors feel like they’ve stumbled onto an expert blogger.
You definitely do NOT want to give off the impression that your a noob.
This is the kind of vibe you get from some of the free or cheap wordpress themes.
Who would buy from this site:
Probably NOBODY!
It looks like it was built in the 1980’s.
Not exactly a user experience that vibes authority.
So why pick a StudioPress Design?
StudioPress creates websites with the Genesis framework.
This coding has all four of your bases covered.
It’s got:
- reliable support
- SEO advantages
- increases CTR
- looks professional
How long will it take to set up?
Out of the box – StudioPress theme’s can usually be set up in around 30 mins or less.
Take a look at my home page.
Nothing on my site took longer than a few minutes.
It’s very reasonable to expect a good looking site in the next 20-30 minutes of your day.
This isn’t necessarily a huge perk. Most good themes are easy to set up.
What’s bad about StudioPress?
Alright, so up until this point, it’s been a love fest for StudioPress.
Let’s discuss reasons to not pick this theme.
#1 These themes are POPULAR
This sounds like a good thing, right?
Well the problem with popular is that other bloggers will have the same theme as you.
In a marketplace like “internet marketing,” you wanna differentiate your blog from others as much as you can.
You certainly DO NOT want to blend in.
So one thing to consider is that many marketers are buying StudioPress themes.
The flip side of the coin is that it’s hard to find an unpopular theme that’s nearly as good.
And of course, with some minor tweaks, you can make your site look unique while still keep benefits of StudioPress themes.
#2 It’s not FREE
We all love free.
A common mistake for newbies is to pick a free wordpress theme.
StudioPress is not a free option.
And while I wouldn’t say it’s expensive, either. The $90ish price tag will scare some people away.
Whether you go with StudioPress or not. You will have better success with a paid theme.
Yes, saving money is great. There are certain times, however, when it’s in your best interests to loosen the purse strings.
A wordpress theme is one of those times.
Which StudioPress child theme should I pick?
So before you can pick any child theme, you have to buy the Genesis Framework ($70).
All in – you’re looking at around $90 with a child theme included.
And then every child theme you buy from then on is really only about twenty bucks a pop.
You have a number of excellent options.
Let’s look at a few:
This one looks great for a magazine style site!
How about this one for a food site?
Or what about modifying this one?
So, you get the point.
You want to pick a wordpress theme that suits your audience.
There’s a good number of them to choose from, and they all come with the Genesis Framework.
Most people reading this post are into “internet marketing.”
Chances are, that’s why you stopped by the blog.
So I’m gonna give some special attention to my personal favourite theme.
My #1 Theme = Magazine Pro from StudioPress
This theme is used on www.brendanmace.com
Take a look around the site – and see what you think.
What you should know is that I did very little to modify this theme.
The website you’re looking at RIGHT NOW, is not much different than Magazine Pro – right outta the box.
Breaking it DOWN
The header section is clean.
You see that logo right there?
I bought that on Fiverr.
Five bucks, and I personalized an awesome looking theme, and made it my own.
If you haven’t heard of Fiverr.com (no affiliation), it’s a website where you can purchase loads of different things for only 5 bucks.
Almost ALL of my design work comes from fiverr.
There’s some great providers on there. And you definitely can’t beat the price.
Anyways…. let’s move on!
The next thing I like is the sidebar.
The original design (out of the box) is a subscription box.
And while I used to be ALL OVER sidebar opt-ins.
Recent testing shows that very few visitors actually opt-in from the sidebar.
Ad blindness is growing. More creative ways are necessary to collect leads from your site. More on this in a future post. But if you’re interested in list building, you should check this out!
So INSTEAD…
I got rid of the sidebar opt-in form (useless anywho), and replaced it with a cartoon image of myself.
Why do that?
It further personalizes my site.
People only buy from REAL people that they know and trust.
Now I wise guy might say here, “if you’re going for the real angle, why do you feature a cartoon.”
And you know what, that might be something worth testing.
But the POINT is that having these nice little touches will personalize your site.
Of course, Magazine Pro is doing most of the work for me.
But it’s a good idea to change a few things here or there.
The Social Box is not part of Genesis
I love it.
Looks like this:
This is not a feature of Magazine Pro.
It’s a third party WordPress plugin called “social box.” (no affiliation)
When I bought it, the plugin was just $7.
It’s probably still that price.
A steal IMO.
Pictures, pictures, everywhere!!!
One of the main perks of this theme is that posts have featured images. And anywhere these posts are mentioned, there can be an awesome looking picture.
This even includes the SIDEBAR
There are lots of themes that have featured images on the home page.
Very few have these images on the side of a website.
Here’s a look at all the pictures:
Not only does having featured images look cool.
It can be powerful for your user metrics as well.
It’s common knowledge that images get a higher CTR (click-through-rate) than just standard text links by themselves.
This has two main benefits:
#1 – More traffic to your internal pages (from within your site)
Getting more clicks on posts (once a visitor is on your site) means that visitors will read more of what you have to say, which leads to more clicks on your affiliate links. And consequently, to more SALES.
This alone is worth the price of admission.
Now instead of visitors landing on your homepage, and clicking the back button. You have a much better chance of retaining visitors, and making WAY more money.
#2 – Google Love
One of the most important things you can do for Google is USER RETENTION.
Google loves seeing that a visitor is:
- staying on your site for longer
- reading more pages
Both of these user metrics are improved by increasing your CTR.
So having these featured images, leads to visitors staying longer, and clicking on more posts.
If you take anything away from this review/tutorial, it’s that featured images can dramatically increase the traffic to your blog.
What are your other options?
There’s more than StudioPress out there.
That just happens to be my preference.
I’ve tried the Thesis Theme with mediocre success.
I used to love thesis, but it’s getting a bit dated.
Www.brendanmace.com ran Thesis before switching over to Magazine Pro.
Another great option is ThemeForest
The ThemeForest marketplace has a whole collection of top notch WordPress themes. There are some duds on there as well. If you’re careful in your selection process – you can find a gem of a theme.
My #1 Choice for a WordPress Theme
StudioPress comes with everything you need in a theme.
Expect to have:
- awesome support
- SEO benefits (increases your traffic)
- modern design
- advanced features (like sidebar images)
There are other options out there – and of course – to each their own.
If you’re unfamiliar with your options, you really cannot go wrong with a StudioPress theme. This a multi-million dollar company that designs some of the most professional, and user friendly WordPress themes on the market.
Maybe I’m biased. I love their stuff. But then again, I’ve tried the others. And this to me is the most impressive.
Here’s one final look before I say goodbye:
You could create a site similar to mine in the next 30 minutes!
I did nothing fancy.
There’s no complicated code.
Or hours put into customization.
I bought the theme, and made a few adjustments here or there. And that’s it!
You could easily do the exact same thing.
And in fact – I recommend it.
Head over to StudioPress, and find a modern looking WordPress theme for your site.
