WordPress is an amazing platform for building your online business, but it can be hard to find a ready-made theme that fits your brand. Many have a really dark visual design, cluttered layout, and an overall feel that just screams “15 year old boy with a computer” – not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’m guessing that it doesn’t reflect you, or your customers.
If you don’t have the income to justify a completely custom website development, but still want great results, then here’s what I recommend.
Genesis Framework
Start with the Genesis Framework. It’s robust, optimised for content marketing, and can be customised with a range of child themes. Studio press developed a whole bunch of themes, all with a common core of code. So Studiopress took what all themes had in common and put it into a single theme (Genesis) so that each child theme only changes a smaller number of files.
First, you install the Genesis theme, then install your choice of child theme, either from Studiopress (developers of Genesis) or from another developer who specialises in Genesis child themes.
If you’re a designer/developer, or have lots of sites or just change your mind a lot, check out the StudioPress Pro Plus All-Theme Package.
Click here to download The Genesis Guide for Absolute Beginners (PDF – 1.4 MB)
Child themes
Child themes are what sit on top of the Genesis framework to give you your layout and styling. If you are comfortable with working in the dashboard and want the flexibility of making lots of changes to the site design without having to directly edit the css, then go with the Prose Theme.
Here is a short list of sources for feminine Genesis child themes that will help your site look a lot less “WordPress”.
Restored 316
Restored 316 Designs is a terrific source of minimalist, chic, and feminine WordPress themes. All are mobile responsive and many also feature styling for WooCommerce, so you can have a beautiful online store.
You can also buy brand packs
The Pixelista
The Pixelista has bolder designs, many suitable for craft or food bloggers.
Pretty Darn Cute Designs
Great range of layouts suitable for blogs as much online stores. Even has a theme with masonry layout, like Pinterest. https://prettydarncute.com
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links