When it comes to selecting a WordPress theme, it can be overwhelming and confusing with the amount of options available.
Don’t worry! We’re here to help.
So, what is the best WordPress theme? The ideal theme is not a traditional WordPress theme, like you might think. Instead, it is a builder. More specifically, a drag-and-drop builder. This is Divi by Elegant Themes.
Since discovering Divi eight years ago, we have never turned back or used a different platform. We have built hundreds of websites using Divi. In fact, this post you’re reading and the website you are on right now were built with Divi.
In this article, we discuss what Divi is and the difference between it and traditional themes. We also cover:
About Divi
Divi is a website building platform that allows you to design websites without having to code or install and configure plugins. The technology is designed to support amateurs who are just getting started, to seasoned professionals. According to BuiltWith.com, Divi is the most widely used premium WordPress theme in the world.
Elegant Themes prides itself on Divi’s ease and efficiency through drag-and-drop building, true visual editing, custom CSS control, a plethora of design options, inline text editing, and more. Divi allows you to create a website without coding and confusing backend work.
Difference Between Divi and Traditional Themes
With traditional WordPress themes, knowledge of HTML, CSS, and Javascript are needed if you want to customize your website. Unless you use a WordPress theme as-is, coding is part of the process.
With traditional WordPress themes, you will download the zip file for your selected theme, upload it to your WordPress site, and then re-code to swap out text, photos, and colors.
With Divi, as you read in the “About Divi” section, it is much simpler and more efficient to use with no knowledge of coding required.
Installation
Let’s talk about how easy it is to get started with Divi. You will:
- Install a Divi theme, just like you would any other WordPress theme.
- Download Divi from your Elegant Themes account.
- Go to your WordPress dashboard.
- Click Appearance > Themes.
- Then, click “Add New” at the top of the page.
- On the next screen, click “Upload Theme” at the top.
- Select your downloaded zip file from your computer.
- Click “Install Now” then click “Activate” once it’s loaded.
Yes, it’s that simple! Now, let’s build a page and check out the Divi magic.
Divi Demo
On your WordPress dashboard, click “Pages,” then “Add New” at the top.
The next screen will take you to the familiar WordPress page builder, but with a new button that says “Use Divi Builder” in the middle of the screen. Before you click that button, name your page and click “Save Draft” at the top. Now, click the “Use Divi Builder button!”
The page will reload to a front-end view of your webpage, and you’ll see three options:
- Build from scratch
- Choose a premade layout
- Clone existing page
Build from scratch will give you a blank page where you can start selecting sections, column sizes, and modules. Sections house the columns, and columns house the modules. The modules are things like add images, contact forms, image galleries, text boxes, etc. Take a look at the screenshot below.
Clone existing page is exactly what it sounds like. It allows you to make a copy of a previous page you’ve built. This is an excellent feature for making your website look uniform.
Now, you may be thinking, “I’m not great at design and if this is a drag-and-drop builder, where do I begin?”
This is where Divi has you covered. When you click “Choose a Premade Layout,” a page will open with professionally designed layouts. At the time of writing this article, Elegant Themes has 282 layout packs and 2,068 page layouts!
You can see all their layouts here: https://bizygrit.com/templates
Once you select the template you like, Divi will load all the images and Latin placeholder text, just like you saw in the preview. From there, all you have to do is click on the elements and swap them out with your information, colors, and images. If there’s something you don’t like or need in the template, you hover over that section, column, or module and click the little trash can.
So, as you can see, instead of purchasing one theme and being limited on what you can do, Divi has provided you with unlimited opportunities and designs.
Support
Support is one of the main things we look for when implementing a third-party vendor, software, or service to our business. Waiting days for a response or getting half-assed answers is not something we take lightly.
After using Divi and working with Elegant Themes for years, we can attest that their support is top-notch. They have even logged into our site (with our permission) and fixed a problem or added code so we could get the desired look we wanted with a page.
Community Support
While the customer support at Elegant Themes is fantastic, the community support is something we’ve never seen.
The number of people using Divi is more than 800,0001. Because of this, the internet has an astounding amount of videos, blog posts, and tutorials created by users worldwide.
Over the years, we’ve had some crazy requests for web design elements on people’s sites. Before turning to Elegant Themes Divi support, we go to Google and type in exactly what we are looking for.
Example: “How to make columns not stack on mobile Divi Theme.”
Sure enough – in the top search results, there’s a blog post by Allen Longstreet with Ezoic giving a step-by-step walkthrough with screenshots. https://www.ezoic.com/how-to-keep-columns-side-by-side-on-mobile-in-divi/ Thank you, Allen. Your post has saved us many times!
Community support doesn’t stop there. When we hired our first virtual assistant (read more about hiring a VA here), we had tons of applications for people who knew how to use the platform and were way more advanced than we were.
Divi Marketplace
Additionally, Elegant Themes has opened its platform to third-party developers and created Divi Marketplace, where free and premium plugins are available for purchase to help take your site to the next level.
We have not personally purchased anything from Divi Marketplace thus far. We’ve been able to do just fine with what the standard builder offers. We have used outside plugins from divilife.com and have been very happy with our purchase.
WooCommerce Integration
What if you want to sell a digital or physical product online? Well, we’ve got great news for you!
Divi integrates very well with WooCommerce. Once the WooCommerce plugin is added to Divi, you’ll see the Woo Modules added to the drag-and-drop builder.
WooCommerce is a platform that is installed into WordPress. It allows you to sell physical products, subscriptions, and digital downloads right from your website. You can integrate payments with companies like Stripe and PayPal, and can manage your orders from the WordPress dashboard.
Hosting
A common question we get asked when talking about WordPress is, “Who do you use for hosting?”
We’ve used several companies in the past: Godaddy (we only use them for domain names now), WP Engine, and Bluehost. But, the one we have stuck with for years now is SiteGround.
SiteGround is a cost-effective platform that provides more storage space and traffic options as you grow (especially their GoGeek plan). They have an easy-to-use dashboard, as well as step-by-step, clear instructions for installing WordPress on your site and setting up your domain name.
And the SiteGround support! (Did we tell you how important support is to us already??) Their chat support has some of the most knowledgeable and responsive people we’ve come across.
Divi on Unlimited Sites
Divi themes has two options for paying: $89 per year or a $249 lifetime fee. Both come with full support, and you can install Divi on an unlimited number of websites.
Unlimited sites might not mean much to you if you’re a single business owner. In the web development world, this is game-changing. Many themes and plugins offered for WordPress usually come with a few options. Pricing for one site, pricing for three sites, or you can buy a developer license for unlimited sites that cost a considerable amount more.
In conclusion, Divi Theme and Divi Builder have allowed us to grow our business and spend less time learning code and web design.
A quick Google search shows that 37-43% of the internet is built on WordPress2. In its stripped-down version, it can be an intimidating platform to work with. Divi changes all that and turns it into a fun, easy-to-use platform.
To see everything Elegant Themes and Divi offers, visit their site at: https://bizygrit.com/divi.
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