I have been building websites for years and I was hesitant to try a new page builder. This is a full review on Elementor, the WordPress page builder plugin. Once I heard about the ease of use of this new WordPress page builder, I had to give it a try.
Elementor is an easy to use drag and drop WordPress page builder. Using Elementor page builder replaces your website’s theme for that particular WordPress page. Elementor gives you a drag and drop interface that works seamlessly with your WordPress theme.
In this review, you will discover if Elementor’s page builder’s free version can give your website a face life that translates into conversions. You will also discover if Elementors’ pro version is worth the investment.
Click below for the Google Story version of this article:
Further down we will review the following topics:
- Complete Elementor review
- Is Elementor any good?
- Does Elementor slow down your website?
- Is Elementor easy to use?
- Is Elementor the best page builder?
- Best affiliate marketing spy tool Anstrex
- A FREE affiliate marketing course
- Why is it important to have a website?
Complete Elementor review
There are other theme builders on WordPress. I have found some to be decent and others to be horrible.
In this complete review of Elementor you will discover the answer to these questions:
- What exactly does this theme builder do?
- How will it help your website?
- Is the pro version worth paying for?
What exactly does this theme builder do?
This WordPress theme builder is a drag and drop website building plugin.
You first need to download a theme for your WordPress website.
Your website will need a theme for Elementor to work. Once you have a theme downloaded for your website you can download and install the Elementor theme builder plugin.
I personally use Acabado as my theme but you can use any free WordPress theme you want. I use that theme because it was specifically designed for bloggers.
It is a lightweight theme and that helps with my page speed.
You can use any theme you like but I recommend using a lightweight theme because Elementor will be added on top of the theme. This means that visitors to your website will have to load extra code when loading a page that is using Elemntor.
I only use Elementor for my websites main pages and not my blog post.
If you are building a website that is only going to have main pages it will not matter what theme you choose.
When you create a page on your website you will have an option to edit it with Elementor. Once edited and published, that page will have to load the extra code.
You will have the option to have some pages created on this website builder and others made on your original theme.
Within the settings, you can change what type of pages you want Elementor to load for. Unfortunately, this theme builder is extra coding that needs to be loaded by your visitors.
This slows down your website’s load speeds. But you can select what type of pages on your website you want Elementor to launch for.
In the settings, I have the bullet selected for pages only. This way it will only load for my main pages and not my blog posts.
If you are going to be creating content my advice would be to do the same. Use a minimalistic theme for your actual blog post and use Elementor for your main pages.
If you are building a website for small businesses and are not going to create any content this will be the perfect option for you. The Home, About, Contact, Services, product pages all can be built with Elemenotrs’ page building options and this will give those pages a professional look.
How will it help your website?
Using this WordPress page building software to edit the look of your website will give your website a professional look. You can make our website look great with elements. The elements are different options that you drag and drop onto the page.
You can start by dragging over a text element. You can place it and write any text you like your visitors to see when landing on that page.
If you want to have half the screen to have text and the other half you want it to have a different element you can click on the cross at the bottom of the screen that is next to the folder.
There you can add the different layout styles for that section.
If you want 2 different elements you can select what layout you want. Once added you drag and drop the elements that you want to have in each block.
For example, if you want to have text on half the section and a video on the other half you drag the text element to the side that you want text and you drag the video element to the other side.
Just that simple you will have created a professional looking section of your website. Absolutely no coding needed and your website will have a professional feel and look.
Here is a list of popular free elements that are available for you to use on your website:
- Text
- Heading
- Image
- Video
- Button
- Map
- Divider
- Countdown timer (great for scarcity)
- Icon (tons of emoji type of icons)
- Accordion
- Tabs
- Image carousel
- Image carousel
- Social media icons
- Progress bar
With these elements you will give your website a professional look.
You can set a different background to that section.
If you want to change the color of the section to have it stand out you will be able to change it to any color you like.
I like to use 2 different section colors. I alternate them for every section. Doing this will help the visitor identify the different sections but you can style it how you feel is best for your business.
For the hero section at the top of the website page I place a background picture.
Having the text on top of the background picture gives the website a nice professional look and feel.
This will increase conversions because it limits the level of risk for the visitors.
You want your website’s visitors to feel at ease about being on your website. They should feel comfortable to join your email list and or buy your product or services.
If website speed is not an issue, you may consider adding graphics to your website.
If I do add a spe I’ll graphic to a website it will be to have the text and pictures fade into the screen. At times I may have all the elements spin into view.
This looks high tech and it all can be done with a simple click of a button.
To add an animation graphic to your elements, click on advanced and then motion effects. Within the advanced tab you have many different options that will make your website page look aesthetically fantastic.
After you click on advanced – motion effects – you will see a drop down called “entrance animation”. Within that drop down you will see all the different motion effects that element can have.
These are the popular motion effects that you will find for your elements:
- Fade in
- Roll in left
- Roll in right
- Zip in
- Scroll up
- Scroll down
- Zoom in
- Zoom out
- Slide in right
- Slide in left
- Bounce in left
- Bounce in right
I stop using the elements that cause your elements to move around the screen because it did cause my website to load slower.
Google has announced that page load speed is now a ranking factor and I feel that it is not worth it. But if you are not worried about ranking and driving tons of traffic to your website then for sure go for it.
My website page load speed is pretty fast after I put this website on WPX so i may put it back on.
You can also have text with cool looking graphical elements to them.
For example you can have a word that gets underlined as the visitor scrolls past it. This is great for pointing out sales opportunities.
Elementor will help your website look professional and if you are building a website for a client they will be happy with the results.
If you are building a website for yourself, using this website builder for you WordPress website will give you the necessary tool that is necessary to create a website that converts.
What good is a website if it does not turn visitors into customers and this page building software is what I use to do exactly that.
Is the pro version worth paying for?
At first, I used Elementor’s free version but then when I wanted to increase my websites conversions I upgraded to the pro version.
The Elementor Pro version gives you the ability to place forms on your page. The form can be to collect an email or to collect information with a survey. Being able to collect emails from your website’s visitors will increase your conversions because with their email you can retarget them with an email drip.
This audience has already been to your website. They have already consumed some of your content and getting their email to start them on an email drip will increase your conversions.
It is much easier to convert warm traffic versus converting cold traffic. The focus of your marketing should be on targeting your warm audience.
Here is a list of popular pro version elements:
- Forms (email capture)
- Woo Commerce elements (physical products)
- Price list
- Templates
By far the most valuable element is one that has a form that captures email.
It is vital to your website’s success. If you are not using an email capture to at least collect emails with a direct message form. You should have a message box that forces the visitor to add an email when sending a message.
Before the message can be sent the email field has to be filled in. If your website or business sells a physical product you will get a lot of questions and having a chatbox with a live person is recommended but also having an option to send a message via email directly from your website will be a nice feature that visitors can take advantage of.
The key here is to capture email. Then retarget the warm visitor with marketing that both you and they find value from.
You can retarget the visitor with an email drip campaign and having this open line of communication with the visitor will increase conversions.
Woocommerce elements are for anyone who has physical products to sell.
If you are a dropshipper you do not own the physical product but you still have to market as if you do. This element is a must have for any business who is in the ecommerce vertical or if you are dropshipping.
The main benefits of Elementor Pro for ecommerce:
- You can have a price list on your products
- A countdown to ad scarcity for a sale
- Product price list
- Slides for products that are available in multiple colors
Another feature of the pro version is the template feature. With this feature you can select from many different already done for you website pages or sections.
You can scroll through and select a completely done for you website page template and load it to your page.
Then you take that page and edit the text so that it is specific to your brand and you are done.
A website page fully done within a minute. Super easy website built for you within minutes and you did not have to code.
I personally am too picky so I do not use any of the fully done for you themes but they are done well.
I do use the already done for you website sections. They have dozens of different sections to choose from.
A few are:
- About Us
- Review
- What are they saying
- Contact Us
They are already styled with background colors and text and pictures.
It is literally plug and play. Just swap out the text for your text and you are done.
Another amazing feature that I use all the time that is only available on the pro version is the save a template feature.
This feature allows you to create a page on a website and save it to your templates list. Then when you are creating another website page you can reuse this template.
Since I do not use their premade fully done for you website templates I am constantly using the save my template feature. Then I load it when I am creating a similar website page.
This feature saves me time and time is money in my book. The pro version is worth the investment just for this feature alone!
You will be able to pump out websites at lightning speed once you have a few templates saved. Website design agencies charge a lot of money for website design services and you can either make your website for a tiny amount or you can create websites for other businesses and undercut the competition.
Is Elementor any good?
Elementor is an easy to use WordPress website page builder and is more than good, but is perfect because of its abilities. This website builder is beyond good but it is what anyone who wants to create a website on a budget should utilize. No coding needed and is user friendly.
I have used many themes and website building software that turn out to be more of a headache than anything else.
Now it is not a perfect website building tool but the negatives do not outweigh the positives.
This drag and drop website builder is user friendly and can make anyone seem like a professional website designer. With all the features that it has it truly can give a website a professional look.
It may take an hour or two to test out all the features and what they exactly do and how they change your website. But once you have messed around with the different settings you will be a pro with the interface.
There really is not much to it but it does so much. The value that you get just from the free version is immense. The free version should cost what the pro version is priced at and the pro version should be more money.
I pay $200 a year for a simple theme that I use on my blog post. It is a lot more than what I pay for Elementor and it does not do a tenth of what Elementor does.
I pay $200 for Acabado and I do it because it is a simple theme that allows my blog posts to load faster. It is not a fancy theme, it loads fast because there is hardly anything to it and yet I pay $200 a year for it.
This is why I am shocked at the investment that Elementor is and just like any other software, the price will go up but honestly it should.
I know that many people wonder if Divi vs Elementor “Who is the best”?
Well, in complete transparency I have never tried Divi because it costs more money and I already love Elementor.
The nail in the coffin for me is that with Elementor it is placed on my existing theme. I prefer this because I mentioned before Google announced that page load speed is now a ranking factor.
I have a simple theme that I use for my blog posts (Acabado) and it loads stupid fast. No other website builder will be simple because of the features it has. With Divi I would have to use their posts templates and I know that they will not load faster than my theme.
I already have mentioned how Elementor can slow down your website but lets take a deeper look at this situation.
Does Elementor slow down your site?
Elementor is a website building software that is placed on top of your website theme. Because of this your website will have to load both your theme and your builder. This slows down your website page load speed.
With optimizations done in the settings screen you can almost eliminate any of the extra bloat that Elementor is introducing to your website.
On the left hand side of your wordpress dashboard you will see a tab for Elementor and you can find the settings in it there.
In there you will find a few tabs and in the general tab you will find bullets where you can select where you want Elementor to load for.
The options are:
- Posts
- Pages
- Book Reviews
- Product Reviews
- Recipes
- Video Reviews
- Stories
I only have pages selected because I only use it for my websites main pages. (Home, About, Contact Us, etc.)
You can select where you want to use the builder. If you are concerned about page load speed and ranking on Google this is the best builder and strategy.
Use a lean theme for your content pages because they will load lightning fast and use Elementor on your main pages to give your website a clean professional look to it.
I also offer website design services and this is why it is important to me to have a website that looks professional on the front end of the main pages.
Most of my conversions come from it and I understand why this is the case.
All themes also come with a text font and a color palate. Elementor has its own and as mentioned earlier your visitor will have to load all this extra code before they see your page.
Now you can eliminate this by selecting the checks next to where it asks you if you want to load their fonts and colors in the general tab.
This will speed up your website pages even if you are using Elementor on it. Using this out of the box will help tremendously and you should not see any change in your websites speed.
If you do have issues with your website page load speed it may be because you are using a slow hosting service like BlueHost. Once I have a website that has tons of content I use WPX for my hosting services. I typically score A on my page speed check on GT Metrics. Click here to take a look for yourself.
If interested in WPX super fast hosting services you can click the button below
A new tab will open taking you to WPX discount page
If you really want to speed up your websites load speed to help your Google rankings and your conversions that happen on your website I also use WP Rocket & Short Pixel to speed up my website.
WP Rocket clears out outdated cached files and it also will store a version of your website to anyone who comes to your website.
WP Rocket will also lazy load your pictures to help with your page load speed.
Short Pixel comprises your files size for all your pictures on your website. It will also change all PNG to JPG format of all your pictures to help your page load speed.
Using these plugins for your wordpress website will increase the speed of it and if you have Elementor configured correctly you should not experience any slow down at all.
If you already have a website and are not using these plugins they are a must because Google is focusing on user experience and they relate page load speed directly to user experience.
A new tab will open taking you to their discount pages
Is Elementor easy to use?
Elementor is very easy to use because of its drag and drop function. You can design a complete website using premade page templates that they offer. All you have to do is load the template from their list and overwrite the text and pictures to give the website a more personalized look.
Beside the super easy to use already done for you templates you also have sections that are already done for you that you can add to any website page that you are editing.
If a website page that you loaded from their templates is missing a review section that you really wanted for that page, you can simply click on the file next to the + symbol at the bottom of the screen and select the section option.
Scroll through the dozens of different sections that are available. You literally have a few variations of any section that you can think of.
After choosing that section you can change the colors of every element. Swap out the text for text that is more fitting for your business and you are done.
Add a form somewhere on the page if you like and it is now a professional looking website and you don’t know any coding whatsoever.
No coding necessary with Elementor’s website page building software.
I have mentioned forms a few times in this post and forms are extremely important for email capture and I use Gravity Forms and aWeber to do this.
Gravity Forms is the actual form builder that I use and aWeber is the email collection and distribution software that I use.
A new tab will open to their discount pages
All these extra features will make your website turn into a conversion machine and can all be managed by someone from another country who doesn’t speak much english.
This is how easy Elementor is to use and all your staff should not have any issues working with this tool to build websites.
Is Elementor the best page builder?
Elementor is the best website building software because you can use a theme on certain pages if you like and it all is drag and drop. You click on the add button and then select the layout and start dragging over the elements that you want where you want them.
The only other website page building software companies that are Elementor’s competition is Divi and Beaver Builder and Oxygen. I personally used Beaver builder and it is decent but I prefer Elemntor because I felt that the user interface was easier to navigate through and learn.
I found to have more options for graphical design and special effects. Combining that fact that I found ELementor to be easier to work with and that it has more features and special effects to choose from I found Elementor to be a clear winner between the two.
I have never tried Divi and I hear a lot of good things about them but once Google released the page load speed ranking information I decided to keep all my posts as simple as possible.
It is hard enough to rank as it is on Google and I don’t want to add any more difficulty to my websites.
This is why Elementor is my clear winner despite me not having tried Divi.
If you are not going to be creating a lot of content to rank on Google Divi may be worth a try because I think that they are the only ones that may be better.
If I am able to keep a separate theme for my post and test Divi for my main pages I would try it but until then I will keep my current set up.
I had Oxygen and they are great but I had a major issue with converting websites that were already done with tons of content. They are similar to Divi in that you can not use both their theme and use a different theme for certain pages.
I moved everything over and it was a nightmare because the spacing and fonts were all messed up.
I was going to keep it for my websites that I already had created with Oxygen as the website builder but I did not want to have to pay for 2 builders especially since I already pay for a blogging theme.
I streamlined everything into Acabado and Elementor and I could not be happier with my results.
Page load speeds are top notch and my website and other websites that I create with it look great.
A new tab will open to Income School’s home page, look for the Acabado tab
For the latest affiliate marketing secrets sent to your inbox directly, fill out this form and take the first step to changing your financial situation today.
