StudioPress

Before I share ten reasons why StudioPress offers the best WordPress themes, let me tell you my story.

My very first website was for a product I created called Interview Angel in 2008. I did not know anything about websites (only that I needed one to sell my product online). So I paid a talented graphics designer to create the layout for the website. She did an admirable job for me back in the day when the vast majority of web traffic was through computer browsers (today it is through mobile devices).

I then paid a web developer to code the design layout into a website.  The site was not built on WordPress and it was quickly overwhelmed with security attacks.  By this point, I was already out of pocket several thousand dollars and fighting spam every week.

After about a year, I decided to then hire someone to convert the site to a WordPress framework. Total additional cost: $3000. The site looked the same (which was what I wanted) and it was now more secure.  Unfortunately, the fact that it was not a mobile responsive design made it essentially unusable on mobile devices.

From that point forward, I set out to learn how to design in WordPress myself.

The first professional WordPress theme I then invested in was Standard Theme, developed by a reputable team of four developers in Atlanta. They had over a thousand customers, but one day, the team decided to just call it quits. No warning. They just walked away from their customers to follow other pursuits. Since that moment, I learned never to invest in a team that small. If you are considering a WordPress theme run by a couple people, you are taking on a lot of unnecessary extra risk.

Now in search of a new WordPress theme provider, I searched Google for answers (as you may being doing right now). I asked in forums and all signs pointed to one company: Copyblogger Media (now known as Rainmaker Digital) and their trademark StudioPress line of premium WordPress themes.  The number of sites worldwide that are based on StudioPress themes is now approximately 200,000.  Here are ten reasons why it is so popular and I use and recommend it for all of my sites.

10 Reasons StudioPress Offers the Best WordPress Themes

1. Search Engine Optimization – State-of-the art code and smart design architecture means search engine see your content. Studiopress is actually an entire library of premium themes that all run on the industry-recognized Genesis framework.
2. Responsive Mobile (HTML5) Designs – WordPress sites than run on Genesis and a StudioPress child theme are automatically mobile responsive. What that means is that when people visit your site on their phone, the site automatically adjusts the layout to be mobile friendly for them.  StudioPress themes are also designed to look professionally across multiple browsers and new ones are released every year. It just works perfectly.
3.  Unlimited Websites – Once you buy the Genesis Framework and your first child theme (for about $100), you can use that theme on any number of sites you want for yourself, your family, and even for your clients as I do.  And if decide you want to refresh the look and feel of a site, you can install a new StudioPress child theme that runs on the same Genesis framework.
4. Airtight Security – StudioPress themes are designed (and regularly updated) for your protection.  The Genesis framework follows WordPress security best practices and integration with security plugins like Akismet to filter out spam are seamless.
5. Instant Updates –  The company behind StudioPress regularly code, test and communicate updates to its Genesis framework so that your site remains current and safe. And these updates are available free of charge to customers and appear automatically in your WordPress dashboard.
6. Customizable and Fast  – StudioPress sites are designed to be fully customizable. You can switch the theme color for example in an instant. Not happy with the sequence of content on your homepage in your child theme template? You can move them around.  The Genesis framework is also designed to be clean code that does not bloat your site leading to extra page load delays.
7.  Widgets and Layout Options – Widgets are the term for sections of code that are inserted into your WordPress layout. But as a WordPress user, you don’t need to actually code and StudioPress themes have several built-in custom widgets such as widgets to display post excerpts and an image thumbnail.
8. Extensive Support Forum  – StudioPress customers get access to an extensive community of website owners and developers. If you run into a problem with your site, changes are someone has a solution for you.
9. Solid Documentation and Customer Support – There is a learning curve to WordPress and to applying a theme to showcase your business online. StudioPress has a solid library of resources whether you are the do-it-yourself type or whether you prefer to take control of your site after a web designer (like me) sets everything up on your behalf.
10. Compatible with the Rainmaker Platform  – The Genesis framework is also the foundation for the Rainmaker Platform, a complete turn-key WordPress solution available from the same company.  Depending on your goals, Rainmaker may be your best WordPress starting point (here are 10 Reasons to Try Out Rainmaker). But if you start out with a self-hosted WordPress website based on a StudioPress theme (you can now seamlessly do so through the new StudioPress Sites solution), it can more easily be converted into a Rainmaker Platform site or vice versa.

The Best WordPress Theme – In Summary

In summary, the best WordPress theme isn’t technically one theme.

It’s an entire library of premium themes from StudioPress, all of which run on the award-winning Genesis framework.

Once you invest in StudioPress for about $130, you can purchase new child themes as a returning customer for about $55 each. You also have the option to purchase a license for all StudioPress themes, for access now and for all future releases in the future. That’s what I have for my family and for my clients. If you are a Rainmaker customer (and I am as well as shared in this post), you automatically gain access to a full library of StudioPress child themes.

New for 2017: Rainmaker Digital launched StudioPress Sites, a solution that integrates StudioPress themes and managed WordPress hosting. It’s worth considering as an alternative to a StudioPress themed site hosted with another reputable host company like WP Engine.

A noteworthy benefit of StudioPress Sites is that it includes the company’s Content Optimizer tool (formerly known as Scribe Content) – Rainmaker Platform includes this tool too. Content Optimizer helps you optimize blog posts for search engine keywords.

For your reference, this site is based on the Digital Pro Theme from StudioPress, but runs on the Rainmaker Platform.

Final Note: New child themes that run on Genesis get released to StudioPress first and are then later offered within the Rainmaker Platform.  Child themes that are designed by third party developers are not included in the Rainmaker Platform (only child themes designed by the team at Rainmaker Digital).

Full Transparency

I have an affiliate relationship with StudioPress so if you decide to invest in StudioPress via this link (or any of the StudioPress links in this post), I am eligible for a commission from the good folks at StudioPress. There is no extra cost to you and your use of my affiliate link helps support the growth of Graceful Resources.

If you start using StudioPress, I would encourage you to set up an affiliate relationship with them as well.  You’ll want to spread the word too.  The software is that good, and I would use and recommend it even if there was no affiliate program.

What questions do you have about StudioPress?

If you have any questions about StudioPress (or the Rainmaker Platform from the same company) please let me know via response to the free Graceful Resources email mailing list or my contact form.  I am here to help.