Elementor Website Builder Review

Elementor is a WordPress Plugin boasting a simple drag and drop page builder and a live preview - making it a perfect choice for website owners who don’t have any prior experience in creating websites or coding. Rather than getting your brain jumbled and stressed about learning how to code a website, with Elementor’s simple drag and drop controls, you won’t have to worry about writing a single line of code. With that said, let’s take a deep dive into how Elementor’s interface works, its advantages/main features, and which pricing plan to choose. 

Main Features

Elementor offers a variety of features and advantages that makes it an excellent option for website owners. These features separate Elementor from other page builders such as Divi Builder, SeedProd, Beaver Builder, WP Page Builder, and many more. If you have used any of these page builders before, consider checking out the features/advantages that Elementor brings to the table. Without further ado, let’s get started.https://elementor.com/features/editor/

1. Easy to Use Drag and Drop Controls

Elementor is known for its supreme drag and drop controls. This sets it apart from all other page builders on the market. Elementor’s drag and drop controls are easy to learn, master, and implement. Elementor’s drag and drop controls eliminate the hassle of learning code such as HTML/CSS. With Elementor’s easy-to-use drag and drop controls, you can easily create professional-looking websites.

2. Live Preview

Are you tired of switching from your page builder interface back to your website just to see the changes you made? With Elementor’s Live Preview feature, any changes you make will automatically update to give you a preview of the changes you make to your website. This goes hand in hand with the Drag and Drop controls. Elementor’s Live Preview feature enables you to customize without interruption, letting your creative juices go wild.

3. Lots of Helpful Widgets That Replace Other Plugins

Elementor comes with widgets that make up your page. Some of these widgets are very simple such as adding a heading, button, or image. However, with Elementor Pro, you get access to widgets such as price tables, sliders, forms, recent blog posts, and social share buttons. Which can replace plugins that would previously have to be installed. Here are some features that Elementor provides which replaces other plugins:

• Popups
• Forms
• Pricing Tables
• Media Carousels
• Header & Footer
• Email Marketing Services
• Slides
• Motion Effects
• Google Maps
• Countdowns (to create urgency)
• And many more.

4. No Previous Experience Needed

The classic catch22, to get started, you need 15 years of experience and 3 PhDs. However, with Elementor, no previous experience is required to create a stunning website, which makes Elementor a perfect solution for non-developer owners or beginners. Compared to other page builders, Elementor’s interface is the easiest one to grasp since it provides a visual approach to building websites instead of dropping you into the world of code, which for most people can be pretty intimidating.

5. Hundreds of Pre-Designed Templates & Blocks

If creating and designing your pages from scratch sounds too tedious for you. You always have the option of using pre-designed templates, all thanks to the Elementor Template Library. The library includes pre-designed templates and blocks which you can use to drag and drop onto your already existing pages.

6. Elementor is 100% Free!

The best part about all of this is it’s 100% free! Elementor’s free plan is capable of creating professional-looking websites with ease. You don’t have to pay a dime to create good-looking websites, but Elementor Pro is an option we will get to later. Elementor is free and easy to use page builder and always will be. To get started, use the link below:

Start designing with ease using Elementor!

How Does the Elementor Interface Work?

When you first launch Elementor, you will see an interface similar to the image below:

(1)   This is the Live Preview panel which shows your current page. Any changes you make to this page will automatically show in this panel. This is perfect since it minimizes the hassle of switching back and forth from your design panel and website.

(2)   This is the Elements panel where you can add Widgets to customize your page further. These widgets are what make up your page. Think of your page as if it’s made up of many Lego blocks. The widgets are your Lego blocks, and the Live Preview Panel is your finished product.

(3)   This bottom panel is a menu for other helpful options such as Undo and Redo. This panel also allows you to switch from different screen sizes, which provides you with the option to make your website responsive. This is very important since more than 50% of visitors come from smaller screen sizes such as smartphones.

To get started designing your website, you can add sections on your Live Preview Panel that separate certain widgets from each other. You can create sections by pressing the (+) sign or “Add New Section.” This will then give you an option to select your structure. Pick the one that best suits your design.

Once a section is created, you can drag and drop widgets from your Elements sidebar into your page. To edit any of these widgets, simply click any widget, and the customization pane should appear on (2), which is the same sidebar for the Elements Panel.

Overall, the Elementor interface is relatively easy to get a grasp on. Within a few hours, you should be comfortable with using Elementor to design your website.

Here are some examples of what people have created using Elementor.

(List of images https://elementor.com/blog/showcase-september-2021/)

Elementor Free Vs. Elementor Pro – Which Is For You?

Elementor offers two options, free and pro. The free option gives you everything you will ever need for creating a personal website that not only looks good but is also easy to build. Elementor Free is best suited for simple websites such as personal blogs, portfolio/CV, etc. If you want to make your website more visually appealing and remove the hassle of diving into code, then the Elementor Free plan is for you.

However, if you are thinking about exploring Elementor Pro, here is a list of situations where you may want to consider upgrading.

1. You Want More Widgets and Features

The free version of Elementor only provides you with 30 basic widgets such as images, headings, icons, icon boxes, etc. These widgets are enough for most people. However, if you are building a small to medium-scale website that is a lot more complex than your typical WordPress blog, it is worth considering whether you want more widgets and features.

With Elementor Pro, you get access to more advanced widgets such as recent posts, share buttons, carousels, logins, call to action, etc. These advanced widgets provide you the opportunity to curate and customize to your visitors. Additionally, Elementor Pro eliminates third-party plugins, as mentioned before.

2. You Want More Predesigned Templates and Blocks

Like most people, creating and designing a website from scratch can be tedious at times. This is why you may want to consider upgrading to Elementor Pro since it gives you full access to the Template Library. The Template Library includes professionally designed pages and blocks which you can insert into your website. The process is straightforward and streamlined, so you won’t have to worry about how to integrate these templates into your website.

3. You Want to Design Individual Posts

Creating posts usually follows your Theme’s default settings. However, with Elementor Pro, you get the option of designing your posts from scratch. This allows you to have different designs for each post which for some people is very beneficial. This can be used to create different template designs for different post types such as review posts, blog posts, product posts, announcement posts, book reviews, etc.

4. You Want a Header Footer Builder

The default header and footer customizer use WordPress’ Header and Footer Builder. Which, for most people, is very unorganized and slow to load. However, with Elementor Pro, you receive complete flexibility in designing your header and footer. It is also much faster, much more customizable, and you get access to templates.

5. You Want More Marketing Options

If you are focused on marketing, Elementor Pro also caters to building pages that convert. You may want integrations or functionality that help you market to your visitors. With Elementor Pro, you have access to hundreds of integrations, from email marketing tools to social networking. Additionally, suppose you are a WooCommerce user. In that case, Elementor Pro is a must-have since it offers customization to your online store and allows you to create and design visually engaging product pages with widgets such as Menu cart, upsells, product-related tab, product categories, and much more.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Elementor is the best page builder in the market, and it’s not shutting down any time soon. That being said, this review should give you a better understanding ­­on what Elementor is, how Elementor’s Interface works, its main features/advantages, and the plans they offer. 

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