Smart Passive Income Pro Theme: set up guide

The easiest way to set up Smart Passive Income Pro theme is to use my StudioPress set up wizard. I explain how to do that in this tutorial.

Smart Passive Income Pro theme set up video one

Smart Passive Income pro theme set up video two

Configuring Smart Passive Income Pro theme

Once you’ve got the basic site set up with the widget areas configured in the same way as the StudioPress demo site, you’ll need to configure the widgets to suit your own needs.

Smart Passive Income Pro theme is configured by putting widgets into widget areas.

A lot of the widgets used are text widgets. You’ll need to use some HTML code to get the same look as the StudioPress demo. In case you didn’t use my set up wizard, I’ve included some code that you can copy, customize and paste into your own site.

I’m going to explain the settings for each widget area. Just follow along to set up your own theme to look like the demo version

Go to Dashboard > Appearance > Widgets

Header Right widget area

The Header Right widget area displays opposite your site title. It’s at the very top of your website on the right hand side.

The demo version of Smart Passive Income theme uses a text widget in this widget area. The text widget contains one line of text and a button. The text is wrapped in a span class of tagline. A strong tag is also applied to this line of text. The button is a simple HTML text link with a class of button.

Primary Sidebar

There is only one sidebar available in Smart Passive Income Pro theme. You can display the sidebar on the left or the right of the content area. Or you could choose a full width layout. If you don’t know how to do that see my Genesis Theme Settings page.

The StudioPress demo site uses four widgets in the primary sidebar widget area…

Genesis eNews Extended widget
Simple Social Icons widget
Search widget
Recent Posts widget

We now move on to the Front Page widget areas, these include…

Front Page 1
Front Page 2
Front Page 3 – Top
Front Page 3 – Bottom
Front Page 4

Front Page 1 widget area

The StudioPress demo site uses a Custom Menu widget in the Front Page 1 widget area. First set the large text you want to display. You do this by typing into the Title: box of the Custom Menu widget. Then choose the menu you want to display from the drop down list. Obviously you have to make a menu before it becomes available for you to choose in the drop down list.

Front Page 2 widget area

On the demo site, in Front Page 2 widget area, you will see a large laptop image with a block of text and a big green button.

Front Page 2 widget area contains one Text Widget, one paragraph of text and a HTML link with a class of button.

Front Page 3 – Top (widget area)

The Front Page 3 – Top: widget area contains four Text Widgets. In the demo site, these four text widgets do not have any text in the Title: box.

The first text widget in The Front Page 3 – Top widget area contains a heading wrapped in h2 heading tags.

The other three text widgets in The Front Page 3 – Top widget area contain…

An image, aligned left
A heading in h4 tags
A line of text with a span class of small

On the Smart Passive Income Pro theme, StudioPress demo site, the three small square logos for Rainmaker, StudioPress and Synthesis are 2x the visible size.

The images are 160 pixels square. But are set to display at 80 pixels square (width=”80″ height=”80″). You can do this by editing the image code in the WordPress editor. The images are also set to align left.

Front Page 3 – Bottom (widget area)

Front Page 3 – Bottom widget area contains two Text Widgets.
In the first text widget paste the code for an image. The demo site uses an image of Pat Flynn’s podcast player. The easiest way to make the code you need to place an image in a widget area, is to use the wordPress post editor. Once you’ve made the code, in text view, just copy the code and paste it in to your text widget.

The second text widget in Front Page 3 – Bottom widget area.
In this area the StudioPress demo site uses…

A title in the Title: box
A paragraph of large bold text using a paragraph class of jumbo
Followed by a single line of text with no HTML tags applied
And finally, a button made from a text link with a class of button

Front Page 4 widget area

This is the main content area, of the Smart Passive Income Pro theme, home page.
It has a white background.

The demo site uses four Genesis Featured Post widgets in Front Page 4 widget area. These Featured Post widgets display a grid of four blog posts from your site. To make your site look like the demo configure the Featured Post widget settings to display…

Category: All Categories
Number of posts to show: 1
Show post title: Yes
Show post info: Yes
Content type: Show content limit
Limit content to: 280
Show featured image: NO

Very Important Note!

All four of these featured Post widgets are set up in the same way…
EXCEPT FOR THE NUMBER OF POSTS TO OFFSET!

The first Featured Post widget should have a, Number of posts to offset: 0.
The second Featured Post widget should have a, Number of posts to offset: 1.
The third Featured Post widget should have a, Number of posts to offset: 2.
The fourth Featured Post widget should have a, Number of posts to offset: 3.

If you discover that the same blog post is being displayed more than once, in the Front Page 4 widget area. Check the Number of posts to offset: setting.

Also check to make sure you have published at least four blog posts on your site. Even WordPress can’t display posts that you haven’t published yet :-)

Footer Banner widget area

In the demo site the footer banner uses a text widget with…

A title in the text widget’s Title: box
A paragraph of text with a, p class of jumbo
And a text link with a class of button

Footer Widgets, widget area

The demo site displays six small logo images, in a straight line, in the Footer Widgets widget area.

This layout is built using one text widget and Genesis Column Classes HTML code.

If you used my set up wizard Widget Import & Export file, the code you need is provided. But! You will need to make the image code, using the WordPress post editor, and carefully paste that code inside the Column Classes HTML. I show you how to do that in the video.

After Entry widget area

The After Entry widget area displays after single blog posts.
It does not display on the front page, single web pages (pages are different to posts, remember) or archive and blog listing pages.

In the demo site for the Smart Passive Income Pro theme, After Entry widget area contains…

A text widget
With a title in the widget’s Title: box
Some paragraph text
A text link with a class of button.

If you got this far, congratulations

The Smart Passive Income Pro theme by Pat Flynn and StudioPress makes an excellent starting point for many different types of website. Not just sites based around affiliate sales.

And don’t forget, the way the demo site is set up is just one suggestion. Many of the widget areas used in the Smart Passive Income Pro theme are flexible. Which means you get different layout designs depending on how many widgets you place in each widget area.

WordPress Customizer

You can use the WordPress Customizer to easily change the main colors used in the home page. And you can replace the large laptop background image near the top of the home page.

Add all of these options together with a little bit of imagination. You could soon have a great looking site based on Pat Flynn’s design. StudioPress code. And customized just enough so that it looks like your own.

P.S. If you do decide to buy the Smart Passive Income Pro theme. Please consider using my affiliate link. It really would be much appreciated :-)