Why Blogging Frameworks Rock

One of the reasons I promote premium WordPress themes is that they help me do things much easier than it used to be in the old days of blogging. For instance, I dropped Brian Gardner from the Genesis theme (affiliate link) framework a line and asked if he could help me add back in my “subscribe via email” box that used to be in the upper right corner of my design. It took him all of 30 seconds to do this for me.

So, that got me looking around.

I realized just how much I could do without asking for help. For instance, if I switched [chrisbrogan.com] over to be a multi-author blog, I could toss in an “author box” to tell you who wrote which piece without much fuss. (All these kinds of options exist in different ways on all kinds of other premium WordPress themes, by the way. I’m just talking about this one because it’s what runs my site right now).

I also found that I could do more with SEO, if I wanted to improve my search engine efforts on the site. This actually led me to find a few things I wanted to change, and will now research so that I don’t break anything.

Finally, in the widgets area, I found that there were a lot of drag and drop opportunities to add functionality (and remove it) at will. This is partly because WordPress 3 is much easier to use than ever before, but also because some of what Genesis threw in there appealed to things I might need at any given moment.

For instance, the question I asked Brian Gardner? It was already answered for me here on the widgets page:

Premium Themes Rule

I’m getting ready to launch some projects on some other themes, but the lessons I learned the other day while trying out Genesis a bit more were really useful.

There are plenty out there, and you have your favorites, I’m sure. I’m not voting for favorites any more. I just like that well-developed themes really count for something. There are some real winners out there that help me do my job much better. If you haven’t made the switch to something a little more custom, give it some thought.

The Genesis Framework empowers you to quickly and easily build incredible websites with WordPress. Whether you're a novice or advanced developer, Genesis provides you with the secure and search-engine-optimized foundation that takes WordPress to places you never thought it could go.

With automatic theme updates and world-class support included, Genesis is the smart choice for your WordPress website or blog.

Find out more about the framework features
Check out the Genesis demo and the wide variety of child themes
See example designs in the Genesis design showcase

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Stephen Johnson

I couldn’t agree more Chris – premium themes are so much better to work with. I’ve been using Brian’s ‘Church Theme’ on my blog since since early last year. I particularly love how modular the layout is and pain-free in terms of adding or removing functionality (that would otherwise be a total hassle on a non-supported theme). It rocks!
http://raulcolon.net Raul Colon

Chris,

I remember going through all the trouble of grabbing code from different places and trying to make it work. Now most of these frameworks save so much time you can really focus on the blog or websites objective.

It is curious of how many small businesses don’t know this exist and get hammered with fees like if the person setting up the blog was actually creating it from scratch.

This article I will share with a few possible clients which are using the wrong people to manage or create their blogs. Since it is so clear they will get an understanding of how easy it is to make changes on a blog. It will also save them lots of money since they are getting charge for many hours when i probably only took a few minutes.

Thanks again for the great info.
http://keithbloemendaal.com Keith Bloemendaal

I recently switched several sites to Genesis, I am still getting used to using hooks instead of going in the single.php (or other php file) to make changes, but I like it so far…
http://twitter.com/MimiMeredith Mimi Meredith

I am just beginning the process of moving my blog: http://blog.thegoodnessgrows.com to Word Press. I offer the link only if you want to “see” what I’m about to describe. My amazing designer, Scott Smiley (mangusmedia.com) , has pushed GoDaddy to the limit from a visual perspective, but nothing can make up for the fact that it incredibly difficult to do the one thing I really want to do: create community. Comments not only are cumbersome, but in a hideous green. The spam filter is awful….please, who can’t guess someone named “cheap replica” is spam?…and there is no ability to upload video for anyone operating on OS X (and correct me if I’m wrong, but there are a few creative bloggers out there who wouldn’t separate from their apple product all for the sake of a video moment.)

Thank you so much for this post, which affirms what I’ve know but hesitated to do. Moving two years worth of posts makes me tired thinking about it, but the idea of all this flexibility is inspiring to me!
http://www.goNOLA.com Nathan

Hi Chris – But why did you switch from Thesis? You seemed to be such a fan. Can you give a little insight regarding the differences between the two?
http://www.christinegreen.com/ Christine Green

Raul,
Though a lot of the workings of the premium themes are “easy” to do, the key is being familiar enough with WordPress and with the specific theme so that you know how to do what you want to do…as in where to find the area of the dashboard and then what to check or uncheck. Many business owners don’t have the time to learn their way around WordPress or a theme.

While I agree that they should not be paying huge fees for small changes, a small part of and sometimes a large part of what they are paying a web designer/developer for is their knowledge about where that checkbox is and all the consequences of changing it from unchecked to checked.

I’m sure I could make a few excellent slices if I knew exactly where to do so during a neurosurgery procedure, but if I am not knowledgeable about exactly what I am doing I could do some damage. Obviously this analogy is extreme, but I have seen some well-meaning novice WordPress users mess up their site with one simple “click” and not know how to fix it. I can’t tell you how many people say to me “but I heard WordPress is easy to use.” And I respond “well that depends on your knowledge and what you mean by easy.” Then I try to teach them and they get lost after 5 minutes.

It is like anything else. It is easy once you know the platform but I have been studying it for years and I am still learning new things that it can do. I design sites with the Thesis theme, which I love, but it is also supposedly “easy to use” – and again, it’s all relative.
http://raulcolon.net Raul Colon

Christine,

One thing is the capability that the Framework can offer you. I personally develop with Drupal and I agree that it does take time and it is a never ending learning process.

It is ok if you are charging your client for your knowledge of making changes, adding modules, configurations, or whatever is needed to give your client what they need. What was wrong with my previous example was that the Developer was charging my client for 20 hours when the change was completed in 20-30 minutes. They would sell to the client the fact that they coded everything from scratch.

I don’t think it is right for people that are not IT Savvy to pay more than they should. If your developer is charging you a certain amount an hour for their knowledge and services then they should just charge for the time it took them.

I do agree with your argument and I do provide Application Development. But I have very good relationships with my clients because I am transparent and I try to transfer at least the most basic knowledge.

Thanks for reading my post and commenting.
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

I wrote a post about why – http://www.chrisbrogan.com/move-to-genesis/ .
http://squarejawmedia.com/ Brian McDonald

You know the real challenge is showing customers, peers, others, etc. that have never built or managed a website, what a bear it is to manage content without a strong CMS/platform. My personal desire is to see these people have to hard code pages ala 1995-2005 era and understand why a platform really saves time and money while delivering a better experience. Thanks for writing this Chris I’m saving for clients who fight me on keeping their old HTML site instead of building a robust interactive site!
Kevinmspence

I’ve always been a hardcore Thesis guy, but I’ve given Genesis a shot at the advice of a friend. Can’t say enough good things about Brian and his team. Great product, great support.
http://www.getinthehotspot.com/ Annabel, Get In The Hot Spot

Yes, I use Thesis. It’s super. Genesis sounds marvelous too. But I don’t want to do everything myself. I prefer to make a wish list and get my lovely geek/hubby on to it. The technical stuff does my head in. I just want to write and slot that writing into my blog framework.

I do recommend people anticipate possible future additions to their blog so they leave room for them. For example with the multi-author option would you make Authors a drop down under About? And by the way, if you go down that route I’d be honored to join you here. Lol:)
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

True that. You’re right, Brian. It’s hard to point it out.
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

True that. You’re right, Brian. It’s hard to point it out.
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

I think that’s a great way to do it.

And not for chrisbrogan.com , but maybe for another project. : )
http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

I think that’s a great way to do it.

And not for chrisbrogan.com , but maybe for another project. : )
http://www.ricardobueno.com Ricardo Bueno

People always ask me how difficult/easy it is to customize a theme. I think the answer is relative. Some people are tech-savvy and figuring things out comes easy whilst others need much more help and there’s a higher learning curve.

Ultimately, I think that the support one gets via a support forum by purchasing a premium theme, goes a long way in finding answers to the questions you have on customizing a theme and shortening that learning curve to figure things out without breaking anything.

All of that to say, that the support and ease that comes with customizing a premium theme, is well worth the less than $100 investment.
http://www.dangeroustactics.com Christian Russell

I think people who have never used a premium theme just don’t understand how much they get for a few bucks. It changes everything.
Bob Dunn

This was a great choice Chris. I have been using this framework for clients since it came out, in fact a StudioPress fan for sometime! They have done some amazing stuff!
http://www.christinegreen.com/ Christine Green

I hear you, Raul, and agree 100%. I charge clients only for the exact time it takes me to do something. My hourly rate takes into account my knowledge and expertise. Thanks for the dialogue!
http://raulcolon.net Raul Colon

Thansk! Enjoy the rest of the week!
http://www.jordanol.com air jordans

If you haven’t made the switch to something a little more custom, give it some thought.
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If you haven’t made the switch to something a little more custom, give it some thought.
http://www.blackfridayplanet.com/ William Hushburn

I think this choice was a good one.

Why Blogging Frameworks Rock

Premium Themes Rule

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Genesis Framework

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