Pat Flynn has a reputation of always trying to provide his audience what they need. From answer session podcasts to video channels and blogs, everywhere you find Pat, you find his fans seeming to always have his back. In recent days, he’s actually now developed a WordPress theme over at StudioPress that is a direct replica of his own Smart Passive Income website. So, does this theme shine, or is it an investment that you would be better off passing up? Read the full Smart Passive Income Pro Theme Review to find out!

Editor’s Note: Smart Passive Income Pro Theme is no longer available. The alternative is GeneratePress.

About the Smart Passive Income Pro Theme

Smart Passive Income Pro Theme Review -Screenshot

The Smart Passive Income Pro theme was created by Pat Flynn and designed to work as an overly to the Genesis theme designed by StudioPress. In case you aren’t familiar with Pat, here’s a quick background for you.

Pat Flynn is the owner of SmartPassiveIncome.com and the podcast, available on iTunes, that shares the same name. He also has the AskPat podcast that he answers questions from the audiences’ submitted voice messages, on a daily basis.

Aside from podcasting, Pat also runs a YouTube channel that teaches people some of the many different ways that they can start to earn a passive income.

As mentioned before, his followers always swear that he won’t release a product or give advice that doesn’t offer value.

Now that you understand a little more about who Pat Flynn is, let’s take a look at the Studio Press platform.

Studio Press was created by Brian Gardner and offers many different themes with a strong emphasis on content and content marketing. He is also a partner with Rainmaker Digital, a company who offers tools and training for content marketers.

A Very Powerful Combination

For those of us who enjoy content marketing, this combination is certainly a powerhouse. With Pat known for always trying to deliver value and Studio Press having a reputation for designing very speedy, SEO friendly themes that focus on content delivery, the idea is definitely content marketer’s dream.

Smart Passive Income Pro Theme Features

All the StudioPress themes have some awesome features and the smart passive income pro theme certainly has its share of great additions.

Theme Options & Customizer

You can change some of the look within the initial theme options panel including the color, background images and fonts. This is accessed right from the sidebar of WordPress.

Smart Passive Income Pro Theme Review - Widget AreasCustom Page Templates

There are some pre-made page templates that are available, including Default, Archives, Blog and Landing Page. The landing page template is awesome because it removes the everything except the content and you don’t need to rely on some plugin to create landing pages.

Widget Areas

There are 8 different widget areas including 2 after entry widget areas that are right below your content. Great for an author area and a call to action area such as newsletter sign-up.

Smart Passive Income Pro Theme Review

While Genesis is known for delivering speedy sites, they typically more of a magazine look to them. For that reason, I have to say I was pretty surprised when I first saw the SPI Pro theme layout. Upon first look, I was certain that it would slow down the Genesis framework significantly.

Smart Passive Income Pro Theme: Pagespeed Insights

Thankfully, I can say I was very wrong. Even taking advantage of some of the more intensive features of the theme, such as the multi-level menu, did very little to slow the themes performance down.

With the speed of the site going well, it was time to take a look at some of the features of the theme.

The very first thing I noticed was the vast amount of widget space this theme is able to handle. There are actually 8 widget areas that can be taken advantage of and include anything that you like. This will allow users to place email opt-in forms, and popular posts, front and center for higher visitor engagement.

The widget areas look great regardless of what type of device is being used as the responsiveness of this theme is pretty impressive. I’ve seen many themes that will completely get rid of email opt-in areas for example when the site is viewed on a mobile device.

With the rise in mobile traffic, that is not a problem that you want to experience on your site. Thankfully, with the SPI Pro Theme, you won’t. Thanks to the responsiveness of the theme, your widget areas will display immediately at the end of the post.

The other main part about the theme that was pretty impressive is the speed at which the menu loads. Normally, with multi-tiered menus, there is a very slight delay when going into sub-categories. With the SPI Pro theme, menus and even sub-categories load very quickly and fluidly.

What About Theme Support?

There are a lot of theme and plugin platforms out there that will happily sell you a product, and then fail to ever be there when something goes wrong. Luckily, StudioPress isn’t one of those. With an active and well staffed support community, there is almost always someone online that will happily help you in the forums. If that doesn’t resolve your issue, then the StudioPress support team will typically respond to tickets the same day.

Pros And Cons Of The Smart Passive Income Pro Theme

Pros:

  • Speed – Even with the amount of customization and images used in the theme, nothing seemed to slow it down.
  • Sleekness – Thanks to the number of customizations, the theme looks crisp and professional
  • Customization – Multiple widget areas allow you to always get your most important content seen.
  • Designed for Content – After a short use, you can quickly see that this theme is designed with content creators in mind.

Cons:

  • May not be appealing for e-store or similar sites – The important thing to remember here is that isn’t what it’s intended for in the first place.

My Final Thoughts

Pat has certainly upheld his standards of quality product design by making this theme available. By doing so in conjunction with the StudioPress team, they have created a theme that is fast, professional, and really gets your message out there.

While this theme may not be perfect for everyone, if you’re wanting to make your content front and center while delivering speed and ease of access to your audience, then you really can’t go wrong with it. With the support team from Pat and StudioPress combined, this is certainly one theme that I can see having a strong presence for many years to come.

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7 Comments

  1. Hi Jay,
    Thx for this great review. I have started to use Smart Passive Income theme last year. This is the last of many genesis templates I have been using for many years. Actually, all my websites are built on Studio Press themes.
    However, I didn’t find the SPI to as fast as mentioned in the review. At least, it is considerably slower than other Genesis templates I am using. Just trying to figure out why!
    About Studio Press support, it used to be quite good a few years ago. They are slacking big time now with a response time of over 2 days sometimes. Community support is good, but for very specific problems it may easily happen that the question remains unanswered.
    Hopefully, Studio Press will do something about soon and go back to the great service they used to offer.

  2. I would rate Smart Passive Income Pro Theme 3-stars out of 5 — after having worked with it for over a month now.

    Sloppy typography is the biggest problem. Followed by responsive design issues.

    Affiliate marketers and Pat Flynn enthusiasts are raving about a mediocre theme.

    (After having written the above, I’m wondering what the chances are that this inconvenient review will be posted.)

  3. Hi Jay :),
    This is a GREAT post where you describe the Smart Passive Income Pro Theme so well.
    You write very well the pros and cons of the theme and who is the creator.
    Usually I dont read so much about blog/website themes, but this post makes me feel curious about how they work and how can I get some of them.
    Thanks a lot for this post Jay.
    Cheers. :)

  4. Hi Jay,

    I’ve been thinking of choosing a pro (paid) theme for one of my sites, and this one looks fantastic. Got a couple of questions, though:

    1. Do you think it will suite the site about portable gaming devices? I mostly write reviews and news about those devices.
    2. Maybe a foolish question, but I’ll ask all the same: does it have a “Custom CSS” functionality already built into the WordPress customizer, or do I need to install a separate plugin for it?

    Thank you in advance!

  5. Hi,

    Smart Passive Income Pro Theme maybe what I am looking for. I am looking for a magazine type look for my site to show off my articles on solar energy.

    I am looking for website speed and sleekness of theme. I need the WOW factor.

    The live demo is excellent. This sells the theme. Price is not bad considering all the bells and whistles it has.

    Great review and thanks for laying out the pros and cons of theme.

    Regards,
    Tim
    bold Solar Solutions

  6. For the past five years, I have only used StudioPress themes. Thanks for suggesting the Smart Passive Income Pro theme. I’m pleased to see it’s built for the StudioPress genesis platform.

    I first discovered StudioPress, and their Genesis platform years ago while searching for the most secure theme, I could find.

    You’re right about their support too. I’ve never had a problem with a StudioPress theme, but occasionally I didn’t understand how to get it to do what I wanted. Support responded right away and saved me from stressing.

  7. Hi Jay
    I really like the fact that this Smart Passive Income Pro theme is fast! It is also a genesis framework, which is the number one theme people use. With it offering 8 widget areas this theme is also pretty versatile. I also like the fact that I could place email opt-ins in the most visible areas. And most importantly it keeps these in place on the mobile device, which is excellent. Add the great support of the StudioPress team, in conjunction with the creator Pat Flynn, this is definitely a winner!
    Jay, can you tell me why you think it would not work well for eStore sites. Thanks for this great review!
    Chas