My First Divi Site is Up!
Hi Everyone
I just built my first Divi site. Phew!
I popped the link on my Wealthy Affiliate profile if you're curious to take a quick squizz.
When I bought into Elegant Themes in December and started playing around with Divi, I honestly thought it had me beat. It is very different to building with Wordpress and I just didn't think I'd ever find the time to get the hang of it (on top of everything else I've got on the go).
But like all things online (and in life), it just takes a bit of getting used to.
Practice makes perfect
I say this to my son every time he gets frustrated when he's learning a new skill. And I'm saying it to myself now. What looked really tricky at first, now feels pretty easy. And fun!!
Not that I'm saying my first Divi site is perfect... but I do think it's a lot more professional than any of the previous sites I built.
I'm the Public Officer for a Non-Profit Organisation and I built this site for them - so in a sense, this is my first professional site. I didn't build it for me but for a company. And the Directors are happy with how it turned out. Yay!!
What do you think?
Take a look at the difference between my original site I created for Physical Literacy for Children. (You can still view the orginal one at PhysicalLiteracyforChildren.com, the new site is a .org)
Original Site (Home Page)
Using Free Wordpress Theme for Non-Profits
New Site
New Site (Home Page)
Using Divi by Elegant Themes
It took me 3 years to buy a paid Theme for my site. Now I wish I had done it sooner. Because it's a lot easier to build a site from scratch than it is to convert a site to Divi after you've built it... I think. We'll see... Have to get to get to work converting my own sites over to Divi next. Then I'll report back.
Benefits of Divi by Elegant Themes
- Their Themes and Templates are awesome, inspirational
- It gives your site a Designer feel
- Which turns you into a Professional Web Designer
- Each Theme contains a pack of different Templates, e.g. Landing Page, Home Page, About Me Page, Contact Us Page etc. All you have to do is tweak them to make them your own.
- You can save sections and pages to duplicate elsewhere on your site
- Once you've bought into Elegant Themes you can use it on all your sites. You pay once-off for life, or once a year for all 87 of their Themes.
- Elegant Themes are constantly upgrading and innovating, much like Wealthy Affiliate does - and just like WA, all enhancements are free (i.e. included in the original membership price)
I'm sure I'll uncover a bunch more benefits as I continue to learn all the wonders of Divi.
Over to You
Are you using a paid Theme or a free Theme on your Wordpress site?
If you bought into Elegant Themes, have you got through the learning curve and entered the fun part yet?
To Your Success
Recent Comments
65
Your site looks fabulous! I myself, have had lots of unwanted frustration with free themes. In fact, I experienced it probably for 3 months and got so fed up I just paid for a theme.
I also went with Divi. I used Divi for about a month and then decided to change to the Divi Extra theme which I love. I don't have to use so many plugins with this theme. And you're right, it does make you feel like a pro website designer. Keep up the awesome work!
Heya Kisha, Thanks a mill!
Aah, wonderful to hear from another WA member who's enjoying Elegant Themes. Interesting that you prefer Extra to Divi, maybe I should take a closer look.
I haven't loaded any new plugins since I installed Divi. I've cleared out a few plugins recently from my older sites. Realised I wasn't using them. Maybe I can let go of a few more soon.
Thanks for stopping by to share your experience.
The new site looks smashing Lauren, very professional. I bet PLC are very happy to have you and your skills onboard.
I went with Thrive Themes about 4 months ago and like you I found it a steep learning curve. But now I’m loving it.
I only looked into a paid theme as my Bootcamp sites beautiful black and white theme was giving me Google errors on every image! I had more errors than posts! But I’m so glad now that I did take the plunge.
I have all my sites using it, plus the 2 I built for others so it’s streamlined my work as I only need to learn how to use one builder.
The templates make it so easy and fun to build professional and mobile friendly home pages, landing pages and posts. I’m loving it.
Best wishes as you convert your sites to Divi. I had a few glitches when I move my two to the Thrive architecture but they were easily sorted.
Wow, Heidi, you never cease to amaze me. You are so on the ball. Congrats on moving to Thrive Themes, I've heard they are also brilliant. And it sounds like you're acing it.
Such good news to hear I may be kissing my Google errors goodbye. Having the same problem.
Wow Lauren! The new site looks great! Very professional. I can totally see why the organization is happy with it!
I will absolutely consider Divi Themes going forward. With every site so far, I have a found a free theme and then upgraded (about $30 each) to get the additional features.
I have purchased 2 Avada Themes for $60 each. Avada seems similiar to Divi. TONS of customization options and completely overwhelming at first. I've been trying to decide if I should invest more time in learning Avada to make it easier to customize all of my sites.
From the sound of your post, that answer seems to be "yes", no matter what paid theme you choose :)
Thanks!
Kim
Hi Kim
Thanks for your enthusiastic response!
Oh, interesting. That's exactly the reason I went with Divi. You brought up an excellent point.
Then I started building the Non-Profit site and compared the price of upgrading just that one Theme to a Pro Theme - it just didn't seem cost effective to me. And then I discovered a post on Non-Profit Divi Sites and I was more convinced than ever that I was taking the right path.
You get so much more with Elegant Themes... with 87 Themes and loads of Templates, the possibilities seem endless. You're not restricted to one Theme.
I can't wait to upgrade to lifetime membership. Saving up for that at the moment.
I don't know Avada at all, but yes, I would definitely explore all options as you've already made the investment.
Another interesting thing I've noticed... I've been learning Get Response at the same time and there's quite a bit of design overlap. So if you learn one design tool it can help you get to grips with another. No learning is ever lost.
Have fun. Learning curves are worth it in the end.
yes, beautiful work! ... thanks so kindly for sharing your winning experience with us today ... all the best, cheerio .. :)
Hi Keisha, Thanks for your lovely, cheery supportive message.
All the best to you too my friend.
yes, love your new site -- soo-o polished and pro - look 'n feel!
keep at it and kindly do let us know as we're all looking for beautiful themes to work with to create 'beauty' in all things around the world to share! ....
cheerio ... :)
What a difference a paid theme makes, and Elegant Themes does produce an elegant look. You're right, though, the learning curve is rather steep. I bought into Elegant with the Extra Theme but could never make it work for my site - they couldn't produce a full-width Slider above a page with a left and right sidebar. My experience was technical, which doesn't take anything away from what Elegant does. I'm glad you were able to make it work and are now having fun. The visual result is stunning.
I went with Themify Themes, because they could accommodate my website, which doesn't need the visual effects (except in the Slider). Themify is a lot easier to work with, too.
That's my experience. Thanks for telling us about your success with Divi; most people could use it to produce very good looking websites. Ted
Oh, interesting Ted. Thanks so much for sharing your experience. So happy to hear you found Themify and it's working for you.
I have access to Extra as well, of course (as it's another Elegant Themes flagship Theme), but it didn't really appeal to me. Am thinking of trying out Bloom next. Divi definitely seems the most popular though, according to my research - and according to the support team at Elegant Themes.
I chose Extra when I first started because it had more flexibility over what Divi could do, and Extra was more compatible with blogging sites. My site is educational, and Extra had the right structure for my needs. Too bad the one critical factor was missing - I needed my left and right sidebars to produce a Table of Contents visible at all times.
Aren't paid Themes so much better than free ones - you get support and updates, and the cost really isn't an issue. Much success. Ted
Hi Lauren, I'm building my website with DIVI too... took me a while to figure things out convince myself of the benefits (over for example Elementor), but it's working out well! I love where you are going with your site. Keep up the good work!
Hi Laura, fab to meet you. Oh, I haven't come across Elementor. Glad to hear you're also enjoying Divi. Thanks for the compliment. Would love to see your Divi site, if you're keen to share the link. I noticed it's not on your WA profile.
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Hi Lauren, your site looks fabulous! You must feel very proud of what you've achieved on it.
I bought Thrive themes last week, and the idea is that I'll convert my existing site to Thrive. I installed a new theme but am yet to create a new landing page, and opt-in etc. That will be a massive learning curve. In all honestly I'm a bit scared! I hope I get the hang of it, because I'd like to also promote Thrive as an affiliate. Is Divi something you can promote as an affiliate also?
I want this year to be the year of conversion!
Wishing you well Lauren. Sounds like you're on fire!
Hi Melissa, Thanks so much for your enthusiastic response! Wonderful to hear you've bought into Thrive Themes. What fun.
Yes, I'm happy with how the site turned out, though it's hard to get perspective now. I'm still too deeply involved in the re-design. Every time I look at it, I see something else I want to change.
Interestingly, I think I'm more proud of myself for seeing out the process to the end than I am in the finished product.
I totally understand your fears - I was scared too. Now that I've got to the other side, I can confidently assure you that you will get the hang of it and you will be in a position to promote Thrive before you know it.
I found it easier to handle when I just took it step-by-step, section-by-section, page-by-page. I bought a course on Udemy to help get to grips with Divi and I'm sure I picked up some tips in the first few lessons but I didn't complete the course. Once I had the basics, I found it easier to just muddle along, trying this and that. And accessing Elegant Themes company videos whenever I got stuck. Sometimes they helped, sometimes not.
And it may sound weird, but learning to hover over things instead of clicking was half the problem solved.
Good luck with your learning curve. Wishing you all the best.
Oh, and yes, Elegant Themes has an affiliate program. I'm planning to write a review post on my site in the next week or two.