After downloading the Genesis Framework, follow the instructions below:
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance > Themes.
- At the top of the page, click on Add New.
- At the top of the page, click on Upload Theme. (You won’t be able to find the Genesis Framework in the WordPress directory. Since it’s a paid theme, you have to upload it yourself)
- Click on Choose File and find the file named genesis.0.0.0.zip (the numbers will obviously change since the version you’ll download will be different from the one in the tutorial)
- Open that file and click on Install now.

You can activate the theme if you’d like too, but it won’t do much. You will get this error: “Please Activate a Genesis Child Theme: We’ve noticed you are using the Genesis Framework parent theme alone. We strongly recommend you run a Genesis child theme with it (we even have a free theme you can use).”
The Genesis Framework is the foundation the Ginny theme sits on. Without a child theme (the Ginny theme), the Genesis theme won’t work properly.
In the next step, we’ll install the Ginny theme.