This guide will help you get started with Start Blogging Themes and show you how to install/activate your new theme and import all the content.
Let’s get right into it!
Your SB Theme download can be accessed from your customer dashboard.
In a few minutes, you’ll have your brand new theme up and running on your website:
1. Install Kadence Theme
First, you need to install the free Kadence Theme on your site.
On a new site, go to Appearance → Themes.
Click “Add New” at the top of the page. You’ll see a list of themes available to you.
Search “Kadence” in the search bar, and the Kadence Theme will show up.
Hover over the “Kadence” theme and click the blue “Install” button.
Within a few seconds, the Kadence Theme will be installed and the “Install” button will change to say “Activate.”
Click “Activate” to activate the Kadence Theme on your website.
2. Install Kadence Starter Templates Plugin
With the Kadence Theme installed and activated, the next step is install and activate the free Kadence Starter Templates plugin on your site.
If you activated the Kadence Theme from the first step, you should see an alert at the top of your screen that says, “Thanks for choosing the Kadence Theme!“
If so, choose the “Install Kadence Starter Templates” button to install the plugin on your site.
It will automatically install and activate the plugin within a few seconds.
If you don’t see the alert at the top of your screen, you can easily install the Kadence Starter Templates plugin from the WordPress plugin repository.
Go to Plugins → Add New.
Search “Kadence Starter Templates” in the search bar, and you’ll see the Kadence Starter Templates plugin show up.
Click the blue “Install” button if it’s not already installed, and activate the plugin on your site.
3. Download Your Start Blogging Theme ZIP File
With the Kadence Theme and Kadence Starter Templates plugin on your site, it’s time to install and activate your new Start Blogging Theme.
After purchasing your theme, you’ll receive an email with access to your theme download.
The download link sent to your email will be valid for 24 hours from when the email was sent.
If that link is no longer available, don’t worry. You can download your Start Blogging Theme ZIP file from your account.
Go to your SB account and sign in with the email you used to purchase your theme.
From the “Dashboard” tab, you will see an area for “Downloads” containing the ZIP file for your SB Theme.
Click the “Download” button to download your theme file.
4. Upload Start Blogging Theme ZIP File to Your Site
With your theme ZIP file downloaded, we now need to upload this file as a new theme on your website.
Go to Appearance → Themes, and then click the “Add New” button to add a new theme.
Next, click the “Upload Theme” button which will allow us to upload your new theme ZIP file.
Click the “Choose File” button and choose the SB Theme ZIP file you downloaded from your account.
Once the file is chosen, click the “Install Now” button to install your theme.
WordPress will check and ensure you have the Kadence Theme installed (the parent theme), which we installed in step 1.
Click the button that says “Activate” to activate your new SB Theme.
Your new SB Theme is now installed and activated!
Your site will now have all the styling from your new theme.
However, now we need to import all the content (pages, blog posts, and settings).
5. Import Start Blogging Theme Content and Settings
With your new theme installed and activated, we need to import all the content so your site can have all the new core pages, blog post outlines, optimized customizer settings, and more.
If you don’t already have the Kadence Starter Templates plugin installed and activated from step 2, do that now.
Go to Appearance → Kadence → Starter Templates.
In the upper-right, choose “Start Blogging 101” from the dropdown. You’ll see the SB Theme you have purchased.
Click on the theme that you purchased. You’ll see a modal that says, “Import Starter Template.”
There are two dropdowns in this modal that I’ll explain:
- Import Details – This tells you that the Kadence Blocks plugin will be installed and activated on your site (if it isn’t already). Your new theme requires the free version of Kadence Blocks to be activated on your site. This will be done automatically.
- Advanced Settings – Here, you will see two enabled switches, “Import Customizer Settings” and “Import Content.” With these enabled, all the optimized customizer settings will get imported on your site along with all the content (core pages, blog post outlines, and more).
This import step is meant for a new blank website.
If, for whatever reason, you don’t want to import the content or override your customizer settings, you can disable either or both switches.
However, keep both switches enabled if you’re starting with a blank website.
Now, click the blue “Start Importing” button.
After a few seconds, you’ll see a message saying, “Import complete!” with a button that reads, “Finished! View your site“
Congratulations! You have successfully imported all your new theme’s content and settings.
6. Make It Your Own
You’re all done! You have the perfect starter site with everything you need.
Start customizing your site exactly to your liking, swapping out the images, and adding content to make it your own!
Every Start Blogging Theme comes with a dedicated cloud library containing all the individual sections and full pages used to build the theme.
Go into any post or page. Click the Kadence “Design Library” button in the toolbar at the top.
You’ll see a tab at the top that reads “SBT” with the name of the theme you purchased. In this case, it is “SBT Discover.”
If you choose that tab, you’ll see the dedicated cloud library full of templates for your theme including full pages, sections, elements, and blog post outlines.
If you ever want to redo a section or start over, you can easily import the original sections as often as you’d like!
We hope you enjoy your SB Theme! ❤️