How To Switch Your WordPress Theme To Kadence?

In this article, I will guide you on how to switch your WordPress theme to Kadence.

Kadence is a very popular theme in the WordPress industry. It is a multipurpose, lightweight theme that comes in free and premium versions.

The free version has limited functionalities, but with Kadence pro you can take your Kadence theme customization to a whole new level.

Kadence is highly SEO-friendly and supports popular SEO plugins like Rank Math, Yoast, AIO SEO, etc. Plus, it is also compatible with page builder plugins like Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, Divi Builder, etc.

Making it the right choice for business owners, bloggers, affiliate marketers, freelancers, etc.

To sum it up, Kadence not only offers great website speed, but also gives you tons of customization options.

Benefits of Switching Your WordPress Theme To Kadence

Kadence is a popular WordPress theme with more than 200,000 active installs and scores a 5/5 star rating.

I have gathered a brief summary of features listed out below. But there are still many more features of this theme.

1. Multipurpose – create any type of website using Kadence theme
2. Create unlimited sites with Kadence pro license
3. Fully responsive and SEO-friendly
4. Kadence in lightweight, the loading time is fast
5. Free version comes with header builder and footer builder
6. Kadence pro offers multiple header elements
7. Sticky and Transparent headers in free version
8. Sticky sidebars
9. Conditional headers in Kadence pro
10. Author Box and 25+ social follow icons
11. Offers lots of Page elements and post elements
12. Comes with Related posts even in the free version
13. and a lot more…

Counting all the features and plus points of the Kadence theme, I see some benefits here.

Firstly, you save a lot of your design time. As the theme has already got multiple features that help you create any type of design you need for your website.

Secondly, you do not need to install unnecessary third-party plugins for simple tasks and activities. Such features come included with the theme. For example, a published and updated post date feature for blog posts or pages comes built into the theme.

Thirdly, KadenceWP offers hundreds of starter templates that can be used straight-away. Just change the color palette to your brand colors, replace the site’s existing fonts with yours, add your site identity, and you are ready to go.

Fourth point is about the Kadence theme documentation. Creators of Kadence have a huge collection of theme documentation and video tutorials that help beginners to get started.

Steps on How to Switch Your WordPress theme to Kadence?

Assuming you already have another WordPress running on website, follow these steps to change your WordPress theme to Kadence.

Step 1: Backup Your Website

Before making any critical changes to your website, it is highly advised that you take a full backup of your site.

In case something goes wrong, you would not like to loose your data.

If you are using a good hosting like Cloudways, Hostinger, or Bluehost, they already have an auto backup feature.

But, you can also use good backup plugins like UpdraftPlus and WPvivid Backup, that ensure every last bit of your website’s files are backed up.

Step 2: Download and Install the Kadence Free Theme

For switching to Kadence theme, you will first need to go to your WordPress dashboard > hover your mouse on Appearance > click on Themes.

This will bring up the WordPress themes dashboard.

On the top, click on the ‘Add New’ button.

Now type in “Kadence” in the search bar. Once you see the theme hit install.

Step 3: Activate Kadence Free Theme

After installing the free Kadence theme, you need to activate it.

Once Kadence theme has been activate, and assuming you have already completed your website’s backup, you can get rid of your previous WordPress theme.

Until now, you have completed installing and activating the Kadence free theme on your WordPress website.

We will be proceeding further with steps that involve purchasing and downloading Kadence pro, and later customizing your Kadence theme website.

Step 4: Purchase and Download Kadence Pro

Kadence theme has two versions, free and pro.

We have already gone through the steps of installing and activating the free Kadence theme.

Kadence Pro offers multiple advanced features and functionalities. The free version is great, but is limited. Whereas, performing Kadence theme customization with the premium version is much easier.

To switch to Kadence Pro, you need to purchase and download the Kadence Pro Addon plugin or signup for one of KadenceWP Bundles.

What do I get after purchasing Kadence Pro and Kadence Bundles?

Have a look at the table below for better understanding.

If you only purchase Kadence pro, you do not get other KadenceWP plugins.

Downloading Kadence Theme Pro Addon

For downloading Kadence Pro, login to your Kadence account.

Followed by, click on “Product Downloads”. This will display the Kadence pro addon zip file.

Download the zip file to your computer.

Step 5: Upload the Kadence Pro Plugin

Now, it is time to upload the Kadence pro addon to your WordPress website.

Go to your WordPress dashboard and under Plugins, click on Add New.

Then click on the “Upload Plugin” button.

Now, upload the zip file of Kadence Pro addon plugin.

Once you have uploaded, click on install and later activate the Kadence Pro plugin.

Step 6: Licensing Your Kadence Pro Addon

To switch your WordPress theme to Kadence premium version, you will also need to complete this step.

This verifies your purchase and entitles you with updates and premium support from KadenceWP.

On your WordPress dashboard, click on Appearance > Kadence.

It will open the Kadence dashboard showing you an area where you can input your license key and license email.

On KadenceWP website, under your account, click on Product API keys.

Get your license key and license email from there and enter them into your WordPress dashboard, and click activate.

Step 7: Enable Kadence Pro Settings

Kadence Pro comes with multiple settings. For a total Kadence theme customization on your website, it is advised to enable all its Pro Addons.

From your WordPress dashboard, click on Kadence. This will open the Kadence dashboard.

Here, you can see its free and pro addons.

Just enable all of them.

Addons like Header Addons, Conditional Headers, Header/Footer Scripts, and Hooked Elements are important Kadence theme features.

Step 8: Customize Your Kadence Theme Website

After learning how to switch your WordPress to Kadence theme, it is also important that you know a little bit more about how you can customize your Kadence theme website.

Kadence already has a lot of options to customize.

Let me share some Kadence theme customization examples which you can right away perform from the theme customizer.

Example 1

Create a single-row, two-row, or three-row header using the Kadence header builder and other header elements that come with the premium version.

Example 2

If you have more content, you can enable the Kadence Ultimate Menu. It will fit in more content in the primary navigation of your site.

Example 3

You can add custom scripts like Google analytics and Facebook pixel using the Header/Footer Scripts.

Example 4

The Hooked Elements in Kadence Pro allow you to easily create anything and apply anywhere on your website. Create a custom sidebar that displays only on selected pages or posts.

For advanced customization, you can always download the free version of Kadence blocks.

If you have signed up for a Kadence Bundle, then you already get the premium version of Kadence Blocks, which is much better than the free version.

Kadence blocks allows you to easily design your homepage, create pricing tables, table of contents, landing pages, thank you page, FAQ section with schema, add countdown timers, etc.

Both Kadence and Kadence Blocks combined are compatible to build on Gutenberg.

If you are looking at page builder options, then Elementor is the best choice.

FAQs – Switch Your WordPress Theme To Kadence