If you want to create a fully custom website with Elementor, then the new Hello Theme is absolutely the best option. It is lightweight, fast and simple to install. And best of all, it is designed to be used with Elementor.

With the Theme Builder capabilities of Elementor, you no longer have to be constrained to a Theme or what others want you to have on your site. You can now create a fully custom site and more or less ditch the Theme (Hello Theme is almost invisible).

In this post, I will explain the benefits of this approach, how it works, and how to use it. Along with a few simple examples to get you started.

Let’s go…

Benefits Of The Elementor Hello Theme

The Elementor Hello Theme is designed to be used with Elementor Pro, but it is essentially a stripped-down, lightweight theme.

The main benefits of such a theme are:

• Fast load time
• No bloat or excess code
• It’s a FREE theme
• No modules, elements or theme specific things you don’t need
• The ability to extend the theme using Hooks
• Designed specifically to be used with Elementor and Elementor Pro

If you have ever relied on a theme before, or found it to be too slow, heavy or hard to work with – a theme like Hello Theme is a godsend.

This is how fast Hello Theme is out of the box (not realistic of course – as it’s empty, but a good start)

Compare it with Divi and you will see a big difference:

Divi Theme

Elementor Restaurant Template

Ok, to make it a little more realistic, I loaded a Divi restaurant template and compared it to a very similar (and equally large) Elementor restaurant template:

Divi Restaurant Template

Elementor Restaurant Template

Not perfect for Elementor, as there are lots of requests (aka files being loaded) but the load time is nearly 1/2.

Nothing beats coding a website from scratch with HTML and CSS, but Hello Theme & Elementor Pro do a pretty good job.

Note: just don’t load 2MB images for your restaurant and you will get even faster load times!

Hello Theme Requirements

There are little to no requirements when working with the Hello Theme, apart from WordPress. But, I wanted to make sure you understand what this theme is – out of the box.

This theme is designed to be 100% customized using a page builder like Elementor. So, if you don’t have Elementor (or Pro) then you will have to get it.

This is what a simple page with a heading and two menu elements looks like:

So, if you truly want to be able to customize every part of the theme, then you will need Elementor Pro.

Sure, Elementor (the free version) has a lot you can customize, but there are many limitations, so you will only be able to create:

• Sections
• Pages

With Elementor Pro you can also create:

• Headers
• Footers
• Blog Pages
• Blog Archive Pages (Categories, Blog, etc)
• Popups

Setting Up Hello Theme & Child Theme

Setting up Hello Theme is actually pretty simple. All you need to do is go in to

• Appearance – Themes
• Click Add New
• Type “Hello Theme” in the search
• Hover over the theme and click Install

Adding A Child Theme

However, in order to truly set up a Theme for customization, you “should’ install a child Theme.

You can actually get one for the Hello Theme here. It is already set up using the WordPress standards for child themes (style.css and functions.php). So you are good to go!

• Click the green “Clone And Download” button
• Then click the Download Zip – that is the child theme you can upload to your site :>

Just add it to your themes, and activate it.

If you are going to use a child theme at all, that is.

It may become available on the WordPress Theme Repository at some point, but this is more than enough.

Not sure if you need one….

And Do You Need A Child Theme?

If you are not familiar with Child Themes, they are basically an empty theme that is connected to your main theme. But, they allow you to customize the main theme  without affecting the original.

This is great because it keeps the main theme un-edited and also means that when an update becomes available, all your customizations are not over-written by the update (which they would be if you edited the theme itself).

However, having said that, you only really need a child theme if you intend on editing the Theme itself. That means the

• style.css (ie. the CSS styles and code)
• any other theme file or functions code

If you are not familiar with any of that, or don’t want to learn it, then forget it. You can do it all with Elementor (usually – there are always exceptions) and don’t actually need a child theme.

It is just a cleaner way of working, especially for developers. I use them for myself and clients, but you don’t have to.

Customizing Hello Theme

As I mentioned above, there is actually not a lot you can customize with the Hello Theme – at least within the WordPress dashboard.

You can basically change the Logo, Icon and site name.

Further customizations only really include Additional CSS, so you can add custom CSS to your theme.

If you want to go deeper and customize the theme (beyond designing it with Elementor Pro) you will need to get your hands dirty in the code and use a Child Theme.

However, most of you will be using Elementor Pro, and there should not be any problems!

Creating A Header & Footer With Elementor Pro

If you use the Hello Theme one of the first things you are going to want to do is add a header and footer to your site.

Without it, you can only really create landing pages or blank canvas based pages with Elementor (or other builder).

The header and footer can be created once and applied to your whole site, automatically. Or, you can even create specific ones for some pages if you like.

If you want to see a video of how it’s done (easier, I know) then you can check out the video below:

But if you want the basics, here you go…

1. Click on Templates (under Elementor) on the side menu and then choose Theme Builder

2. Next, click Add New Template and choose Header from the dropdown

Also give your template a name (probably Header) and click Create Template

3. Now you get a choice of pre-made Headers (they are called Blocks) and you can use them to help speed up the creation. Or you can create one from scratch.

Don’t forget to click Insert (top right) once you have clicked on the Header block you want to use :>

4. Now you can edit your Header to your heart’s content. Change the background, add your logo. Tweak the layout of the icons or menu.

Just be careful to pick a Header block to start with that more or less resembles what you want as a result (at least in terms of layout) otherwise you will waste a lot of time trying to change it.

5. Once you choose to Publish it (when your design is ready) you are now asked to create a Condition. This is a choice of where you want the Header to be displayed.

Click on Add Condition (see the grey button below)

Now you have to choose the condition. The most common choice is the one displayed by default, Entire Site. Which then uses the header on your whole site automatically.

Now you can click the Green button at the bottom/right Save and Close. 

The header you have created will now appear on all pages and when you are creating a new page using Elementor.

You can certainly do a lot more here, for example if you need a specific header in a certain page (a lighter one on the homepage for example). Or even more. You can read all about it on the Elementor site.

Now, you just have to do the same for the Footer, and the basic site layout you need is good to go!

Summing Up Hello Theme by Elementor

Hello Theme is a great creation by the Elementor team, but you have to know what it is for and how to use it.

If you plan on fully customizing your own Theme with Elementor Pro and want it to be super fast, lightweight and the best it can be. It is a great option.

If you still want your theme to be created using the Customizer and have no interest in purchasing Elementor Pro, then it is not for you.

This is the future of WordPress and Theme creation in my opinion, and now is the time to get on board!

I might just have the answer to your prayers.

Thrive Architect is the most powerful, intuitive and easy to use WordPress page builder I have ever seen.

Note:  Below I am going to give you a 7 oreasons why.

And as a web designer (of 15+ years) who uses a whole bunch of these for clients (day in ​- day out) - I think I am kinda qualified to say that. 

This is a Game Changer!​

7 Reasons Thrive Architect Will Blow Your Socks Off

Rather than bore you with a review showing you every detail of the tool (like everyone else on the web), I thought I would give you the highlights of why Thrive Architect is worth your money.

Without further ado, here we go...

All WordPress page builders like Thrive Architect want to turn you into a web designer.

But most of them only make it about 3/4 of the way (at best).

They are often too complicated or just too limited to create what you really wanted on your website.​

The team at Thrive have created a super-intuitive drag and drop editor that even my mother can use - seriously!

It's a 100% visual editor that I will be amazed you can't learn to use quickly and easily​.

It gives you the power to ​

It gives you the power to design your own website instead of having to fork out loads of cash on a designer or developer.

Again, if you don't believe how easy it is, scroll back up and watch me build a homepage in under 20 minutes (without all the explaining, I could have done it in 15 or less).​

The previous version of Thrive Architect (Thrive Content Builder) and most other similar tools on the market do not have the depth of options this baby does!

Imagine what you want to create and you can - because Thrive Architect has an option for almost everything!

Let me give you an example:

In the previous version you could create a testimonial, but it was ALL predefined. You could change the text, the color (in part) and the photo, but if you wanted more freedom - TOO BAD.

In other builders you will almost always find the same problem - predefined elements with lots of options BUT NOT complete freedom to do what you want.

Alignment not corrent. TOO BAD

Want to add something NOT in the element. SORRY

Want to move that "part" below, not above. NOT POSSIBLE

With Thrive Architect is now SUPER-CUSTOMIZABLE. In some cases, you can pull an element completely apart, add to it, or delete things you don't want.

Of course, if you want to keep it simple - you can just tweak a few settings and you're done.

Below you can see a testimonial in Thrive Architect - every part is editable / customizable / moveable.​

Thrive Architect Testimonial Element

This tool is now insanely flexible. FULL STOP​

Another thing I am always disappointed with in page builders is the lack of focus on mobile.

Google is super focused on Mobile Ready (since last year at least).​

In fact, they are starting to penalize websites that are ​NOT mobile ready. (is yours?)

And next year they are taking it a step further by moving towards a Mobile First view of search. Which means, mobile ready websites will become even more important!

Some page builders have mobile options and views, but they are rarely easy to use or seriously helpful.

Thrive Architect has changed all that with:

• 3 distinct mobile views to test your design (PC, Tablet, Mobile)
• Application of design changes only on smaller version (so mobile design changes don't affect desktop or tablet - for example)
• Turn off specific elements/section on mobile (sometimes certain parts of a page or design make no sense or don't work on mobile)

All you need to do is check your website in the three views (Desktop, Tablet, Mobile) and tweak anything that does not work or look right. (See the video below for a live demo)

Thrive Architect Mobile Views

Thrive Architect Mobile Hide/Show

Of course, you should also check on some physical devices, but these tools will get you 99% of the way there in minutes!​

Here is a quick video I made using Thrive Architect to show you just how easy it is :>​

One of the biggest worries about a page builder plugin like this is:

What happens if I decide to remove the plugin?​

With most other page builders (including the older version - Thrive Content Builder) if you delete the plugin, you are left with a mess of "shortcodes" like this:

The team at Thrive have listened to their customers and decided to fix this problem. They came up with this solution:

Here is a detailed video from Thrive to show you exactly how they handle this:

When you are using a drag and drop builder like this there is NO BETTER SOLUTION.

There is always some cleaning up to do if you change your design (which in this case means removing the plugin).

I even have clients who want new designs/themes, and the same thing happens. If you turn off something (plugin or theme) that was responsible for the way your site looked you have to fix / change it. There is no magic wand.

But, this is pretty damn close!​

Thrive Architect can now be removed without having to panic (even if the plugin breaks at some point - same thing). Your site will still look ok and be legible.​

Thrive Content Builder (the old version of Thrive Architect) and a lot of other builders like Divi, Visual Composer and so on, limit you in what you exactly can edit.

They also put all the "details" and "smaller things" in places where they are hard to find.

With Thrive Architect, that has all changed.

Thrive Architect now comes with a Visual Editor that allows you to edit almost any detail you can think of.

Want rounded corners on that box? No worries.

How about a 3D button shadow tweaked to perfection? Easy peasy!

That an element too wide? It's easy to align or change the maximum width.

You can also fully tweak your text - with fonts, colors, shadows, different cases (caps, title etc).  Change the line height or letter spacing and more.​

You can fully customize the layout - positioning (absolute, relative, float, z-index), centering, padding and margin. 

I could go on, but you start to see the point.

Previously I was often stumped (and pissed off) that I could not do something.

I then had to "hack" the code or CSS to get it done for my site or a client's.

Big waste of time (more on that below).

Now you can adjust almost every web property you could possibly wish for. 

Thrive Architect - Layout Options

Thrive Architect - Text Options

I have no idea how much money YOU spend on web design or landing pages on your website, but chances are it is more than $100.

You can also take out Thrive Membership if you plan on using their Themes or other (awesome) plugins - like Thrive Leads for email optin forms, Thrive Apprentice for courses etc​

What about time savings?

All the other benefits and features I mentioned above (easy visual editor / drag & drop builder​, mobile website building, etc) will mean you can save a boatload of time.

Want to make a landing page?

Use one of their templates and then tweak it at lightening speed.​

Need to fix a website page? (even if your designer does it with this tool)

It is simple to edit text, images, headings and even layout (if you want to get your hands dirty).

No more "asking your developer" every time you need something (time and money savings right there!).

Thrive Themes uses the same philosophy: Build all the useful / standard stuff in, so that people like you don't have to download lots of extra plugins.

So, how does Thrive Architect save you from downloading all those extra plugins?

They have built-in elements like:​

For any one of these things (and more I have not mentioned) you would normally need to download a specific plugin OR pay a web developer to do the same thing (I know, I do it for my clients).

Now, with a few clicks of a button you can add/tweak these elements, add custom fonts and icons and a whole lot more!​

Summing It All Up

Thrive Architect kinda blew me away!

I have used a whole bunch of page builders/ drag drop builders in WordPress for my own sites and for my clients (yes, I build a lot of WordPress websites).

And nothing has ever been this simple and powerful.​

1. So​ easy my mother could use it.

2. Optimize websites for mobile.​

3. Landing Page templates ready to go (for any kind of page)​

4. Not going to break your site if you decide to ditch it later

AND GET THIS

It is only a one-time fee of $67 for one website (or you can take out a full membership with all the other plugins).

Try building a website for that money.​

​

The load speed of your website greatly impacts almost everything: the click-through rate, engagement rate, and conversion rate.

And that means a slow website is costing you customers, subscribers, readers and quite simply: money!

51% of U.S online shoppers said that they wouldn’t complete a purchase if the website is too slow. And as a result, it cost US businesses billions annually. So, you know this is serious.

But how slow is too slow?

Well, as it turns out, every second matters. Even a 2.8-second increase in load time saw a 2.4% drop in conversion rate.

(Image Source)

Unfortunately, saving seconds on website load speeds is easier said than done.

Load speed talks a big game, but how can you easily increase the load speed of your website?

There are a ton of things you can do, especially if you are using WordPress. (Ashley even wrote a mega-post on it a while back).

But, there is another simpler way. Why not use a ready-made solution: Google AMP.

Never heard of AMP, don’t sweat it. We are going to break it all down for you.

To start: here’s a look at where AMP excels, where it falls short, and where you should use it (or not).

What is Google AMP?

Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is an open-source project that aims to speed up websites. The intention behind creating AMP is threefold. The project aims to make:

1. Your content loads faster.
2. Your pages rank higher.
3. Your website looks cleaner.

And many people assume it aims to do that primarily on mobile devices. However, according to the Google AMP homepage, that’s not necessarily the only objective:

“The AMP Project is an open-source initiative aiming to make the web better for all. The project enables the creation of websites and ads that are consistently fast, beautiful and high-performing across devices and distribution platforms.”

Evidently, the AMP project isn’t meant to benefit only mobile device web browsing. It should improve web browsing on all devices, making the internet — and, more importantly, your blog — faster, more beautiful, and easier to find regardless of whether a user is using a tablet, laptop, or mobile device.

Consider this side-by-side comparison to give you an idea of what this looks like. On the left is the AMP-less page, and the page on the right uses AMP:

(Image Source)

You’ll notice a few key differences.

First, the mobile sizing is better with the AMP version. The logo in the upper right isn’t slightly cut off, and the “all” menu isn’t covering a word that says “America…” something.

Second, the AMP version has far more share buttons rather than using a “…” icon.

And lastly, the AMP navigation bar at the top is easier for users to navigate.

Those are, of course, just a few of the differences that the AMP project is making to websites. In Google’s words once again:

“We want web pages with rich content like video, animations and graphics to work alongside smart ads, and to load instantaneously. We also want the same code to work across multiple platforms and devices so that content can appear everywhere in an instant — no matter what type of phone, tablet or mobile device you’re using.”

So far, it seems that the AMP project isn’t just making these changes for the sake of change. For example, Relay Media, a company that helps website owners convert their pages to AMP versions, has converted 2.5 million pages in 30 days. And the Miami Herald claims that mobile users who visit an AMP article spend 10% more time on the page than users who don’t.

In other words, the Google AMP project can provide a huge performance lift seemingly overnight. But should you, personally, use it?

Let’s review the pros and cons of using it to find out.

Pro #1: Faster Load Speed

AMP web pages load faster than normal web pages.

This is partly because AMP HTML pre-renders content, partly because it minimizes style recalculations, and partly because it avoids using third-party Javascript in the critical path.

In technical jargon, AMP wants to speed up the “time to first byte” (or the time it takes a user’s browser to receive the first bits of data from a site’s servers).

But more important than how AMP increases your website’s load time is why that’s so important.

After all, why does it matter whether your website loads in a few seconds or a microsecond? Is that really going to impact clicks and conversions significantly?

According to Hubspot, the ideal load time for a web page is right around 1.5 seconds.

And that estimation isn’t just fluff. It’s backed by some seriously powerful data. In particular, by the fact that your page abandonment rate quickly increases as your load time increases.

(Image Source)

For those of you trying to generate leads and conversions with your blog, the numbers become even more detrimental.

One extra second of load time can add up to a 7% decrease in conversions. Another estimate says that slow sites cost the e-commerce industry over $500 billion a year in the US.

You probably don’t need any extra convincing. After all, you’ve left plenty of websites that took too long to load.

Websites that use AMP, on the other hand, see four times faster load times than before switching.

The point?

Fast load times — around 1.5 seconds — engage your audience better. Slow load times directly hurt your audience’s attention. They also increase the likelihood of bounces, abandonment, and lost revenue.

Pro #2: Better Mobile Rankings

AMP pages help your mobile rankings… indirectly.

Technically speaking, using an AMP does not directly affect your website’s mobile rankings. Google’s representative, Gary Illyes, exclusively stated that AMP is not currently a ranking factor in Google’s algorithm.

But Gary, that’s not telling the whole story.

Here’s what AMP pages do help. They help your website load speed, which helps your website bounce rate, which helps your Google rankings.

In simpler terms, a fast load time causes people to spend more time on your pages — the opposite of a bounce rate — which then increases where you land on Google’s SERP.

While the correlation between AMP pages and rankings isn’t direct, the correlation between bounce rate and rankings is. In fact, with a higher bounce rate comes a lower ranking.

(Image Source)

And if that’s not enough to convince you that AMP pages can help you increase your rankings and generate passive traffic to your blog, consider that the Washington Post saw a 23% increase in mobile search users who return within seven days.

Or that Slate saw a 44% increase in monthly unique visitors.

Or that Gizmodo saw a 50% increase in its impressions.

And when did these companies see these results? It was only after they integrated AMP.

There is also a mobile-first index coming soon on the horizon.

So can AMP help your rankings? Yes.

But that’s a direct result of the fact that it helps your load time, gives your pages a cleaner look, and performs better for mobile users. Which then decreases your bounce rate, increases your click-through rates, and organically lifts performance.

Pro #3: Cleaner Look

AMP can also give your website a cleaner look across devices.

Even if your website is already mobile responsive, it might not be clean. There’s a big difference between a mobile responsive website and a mobile website that is easy to read and easy to navigate.

Consider the difference between the image on the left and the image on the right, for instance.

(Image Source)

It doesn’t take a web design genius to see which one is better. The AMP page is far easier to read, uncluttered with sidebar ads, and truly fits the device rather than just pretending to fit the device.

And when users can easily browse, navigate, and read your content, they are more likely to click, share, or convert.

One publisher, for example, saw a 600% increase in their click-through rate after implementing AMPs. And the average in the same test for all participants was a 220% click-through rate increase.

Don’t confuse site ‘cleanliness’ with just design, though. Check out the second and third most common reasons that people abandon checkout carts:

(Image Source)

Both issues come back to experience. Having to create an account or navigate a complex checkout process on a clunky mobile site is a perfect recipe for abandonment.

AMP pages are mostly content-driven. But the same principle holds true. The easier something is to browse and use, the more people who will ultimately enjoy it.

AMP can drastically increase site performance. But there are a few major drawbacks as well.

Starting with the implementation.

Con #1: The Switch isn’t as Easy as it Looks

Sadly, the story of AMPs isn’t just filled with butterflies and unrelenting happiness.

As everything that goes up must come down, so too does AMP have its disadvantages. It will be up to you decide whether the good outweighs the bad or the bad outweighs the good.

Which brings us to our first problem: switching from normal ol’ pages to AMP pages isn’t always as easy as people make it sound.

One person from Search Engine Watch, for example, can’t seem to escape these index errors on 258 pages after integrating AMP on his website.

(Image Source)

And because of that and similar problems, only 23% of SEOs currently use AMP.

Many experts agree that AMP is actually making it harder, not easier, to publish on the web.

The good news for WordPress users is that a few reputable plugins have replaced a lot of the heavy lifting. Instead of having to swim through loads of JavaScript and CSS to integrate AMP, plugins like AMP and AMP For WordPress make the process as user-friendly as possible.

But keep in mind that, generally speaking, more plugins means a slower site. So be careful how you’re adding these AMP ones to your existing list (or see if you can reduce others to make room for one of these).

That difficulty shouldn’t necessarily dissuade you from using AMPs, but you at least need to be aware of it.

Con #2: Customizations Become a Bit More Difficult

Maybe you’re the kind of person who enjoys the simplicity of WordPress, but you also enjoy making some of your own customizations to the HTML and JavaScript every now and again.

If that’s you, then you might want to reconsider using AMP.

Once you start using it, the level of restrictions could quickly overwhelm your creative attitude. A limited use of code, advertisement placement, and overlay usage are just a few of the restrictions that AMP HTML will place on your website.

Here’s how Damon Burton at SEO National puts it:

“The downside of Accelerated Mobile Pages includes additional coding efforts and less than appealing layouts. AMP is a stripped down web language.

Since it is its own language that means integrating it requires additional knowledge beyond regular HTML and CSS. And once you decide to use AMP, your design options are extremely limited. That’s why AMP works so fast because there’s so little to load.

Do you sacrifice design and conversions for page speed and rankings? It’s a case-by-case basis. For journalists and news organizations, probably yes. For business verticals that require visual stimulation to convert leads and buyers, maybe not.”

In other words, if you sell your soul to the AMP gods, then your customizations are severely limited.

But maybe you’re not very worried about making customizations. Maybe you’re more concerned with click-through rate and conversion rate and rankings.

In that case, this con isn’t much of a con.

Con #3: AMP Pages Aren’t on Your Site

Technically speaking, these pages sit on other people’s servers. That means they’re not technically on your site.

Which leads to a trickle-down effect. It can distort your Google Analytics data. And publishers are seeing mixed reviews.

Indirect revenue businesses, like media sites that drive revenue through advertising, might run into financial problems with AMP because many are struggling to properly monetize it.

So if you’re banking on ad revenue, you might want to test a slower, more methodical implementation of AMP.

But if you’re selling products or services with a solid strategy to convert users from content-based pages over to lead-gen offers (back on your site), you’ll most likely be unaffected.

Whatever your situation may be, you now know the pros and cons of using Google’s AMP. So let’s ask the final question.

Should Your WordPress Blog Use AMP?

Ultimately, only you can answer that question.

But here’s a bit of help.

If you’re interested in fast load times for your websites, better audience engagement, and higher conversion rates, and you don’t know how to accomplish all of that on your own, AMP is probably the perfect solution.

If, on the other hand, you’re equally interested in those benefits but know how to increase your website’s load speed, design, and rankings without AMP, and if you have the desire to make heavy design modifications or rely solely on ad revenue, you’re probably better off without AMP.

Yulia Khansvyarova from SEMRush has this to say on the matter.

“This format benefits users and Google as it is supposed to improve engagement and user experience through mobile search. If you are a content provider, you should definitely embrace it. But it’s not useful for sites with complete functionality.”

There are currently 600 million published AMP pages with four times faster load speeds and using ten times less bandwidth.

But that doesn’t mean you have to join them.

In the end, you have to answer one question and one question only: Are the benefits too enticing, or are the limits too debilitating?

You landed on this page because you are wondering why you should use WordPress?

There are loads of options for building websites these days, and it can get a little confusing.

But if you take a good look at the benefits or reasons you should use WordPress for your website, I think you will be convinced.

WordPress is Free

Free is a powerful word.

And if someone said you can build your website using technology that is completely free, would you say no?

Probably not.

But maybe you would ask yourself if it was any good. After all, if something is free, often it is lacking in quality.

But not always.

In the world of software that is often not the case.

Some of the best stuff is free – like Java (used for Android phones like the Samsung Galaxy) and probably much of the banking software out there. It all revolves around what they call “open source”

But for you it means – community-supported and free.

So free is great for many reasons.

It’s So Easy Your Grandma Could Use it

I am guessing you have used Microsoft Word before?

If so, then you can use WordPress.

Writing a page or post in WordPress is very easy.

You simply type, add bold and italic, center align, add headings, images and that is pretty much it.

There are many more things you can do (and I will go into those below) but the basics are very easy.

So creating new content, and being the boss of your website is simple.

And that is what I tell my customers:

My goal is to give you a website you can control

Easily Add Functionality with WordPress Plugins

The way WordPress is designed, it is very simple to add functionality to your website.

Let’s imagine you need a contact form for people to email you via your website.

No worries. There are at least 5 great plugins you can add to do this.

If you need a stylish image gallery to present your latest photoshoot, no problem, the makers of WordPress themselves have a great plugin for that too.

In fact, WordPress has been around for so long that there are plugins for almost anything you can imagine!

And I have summarized some of the best in a post you can refer to when you need it.

WordPress Makes SEO Easy

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization (aka getting noticed on Google) is also quite simple when you use WordPress.

Of course, you need to learn a little about what SEO is, but with a simple plugin you can do get results in no time.

Adding SEO functionality is so simple with WordPress, I often forget I didn’t have it to start with.

And it is easy to use. It is a set of fields I fill in below each page or post before you publish new content.

It’s that easy folks.

Make it Stylish with WordPress Themes

Functionality is not everything, and sometimes you just want your site  to look great.

After all

Your website is your most important online asset, and probably your most often seen “business card”.

So you want it to look awesome, right? I hope so.

Well, WordPress comes to save the day again.

WordPress has themes. And themes are simply skins or styles you add that completely change the look and feel of your site.

So you can try a few out, and go with the one you love.

If you need a hand choosing one, you can read this post on how to go about choosing a theme.

You can also get a pro to help you too, if you need a hand.

Adding a Blog is Built-in

One of the best ways to advertise these days is to add great content to your website.

Whether it is videos, infographics or just blog posts, the best way to do this is by adding a blog to your website.

A blog is just a page with a date on it.

And WordPress was originally built around blogs. So adding one is as easy as pie.

Of course you can also build a site without one, so don’t feel pressured to create loads of content.

But the option is there. And it takes only a few minutes to add it.

WordPress Is Flexible

WordPress is really a complete CMS (Content Management System).

This means you can do almost anything with it.

The plugins and themes I mentioned above are some of the highlights.

But even if you don’t play with those, WordPress has lots of other simple, yet powerful, things to help.

You can easily create menus to get your customers to your pages.

Then there are the widgets – these are flexible elements that you can add to the header, footer or sidebar of your site.

What goes in a widget? Again, almost anything.

• Advertising
• Forms
• Buttons
• Images
• Content

and much much more.

In the end, by using WordPress you can create anything you can imagine – and often with zero programming skills.

Ecommerce is Simple to Do

Many of you are building a website because you want to sell something.

And WordPress has certainly not forgotten you there.

Depending on what exactly you are selling, there are plenty of options.

It could be as simple as adding a PayPal button to your site. (there are plugins to help!)

Or you can integrate complete eCommerce systems, like the free one from WooCommerce.

Of course, the bigger eCommerce systems are not forgotten either. You can integrate the more popular Shopify, or even BigCommerce (not sure about that one? Read this BigCommerce Review).

It is actually amazing how much functionality WooCommerce gives us for free.

So fear not if you have a shop, you can easily get online with WordPress too!

Loads of Support

Last but certainly not least, WordPress comes with a fantastic amount of support.

Because so many people use WordPress, and so much has been written about it, you will almost always find an answer.

There are forums, blog posts, support from the developers of WordPress, and plenty more.

So if you are tweaking or playing with things and you get stuck, chances are someone out there can help you.

And if you are not up for playing around with your site, you can always just pay a professional to do it.

Sometimes it is simpler and safer to do.

Try WordPress Today

I hope I have convinced you of the huge amount of benefits of using WordPress for your website.

As a web designer and developer myself I could just write all the code for my customer’s websites, but I don’t.

I use WordPress.

For all of the reasons above, and much much more, I could not live without it.

photo credit: thisismyurl via photopin cc

In this post I am going to review and compare some of the best, most powerful and easy to use themes on the WordPress market. And I have used all of these Themes extensively for myself and clients (so this is not just a basic review/overview).

By purchasing such a theme (or theme set) you are buying a future proof and powerful set of tools for your website, that will allow you to build whatever website you imagine. Rather than buying a cheaper one, and being disappointed, or having to add 20 plugins to get it how you want, these themes help you do it all.

Each major theme provider has such a flagship theme, and the ones I am looking at today are:

• Divi from ElegantThemes
• Thrive Themes
• X Theme sold on ThemeForest

If you are interested in a specific theme or just want to know which best suits your purpose, just use the Content Navigator on the side ->

Divi from Elegant Themes Review

Divi is a great theme and website builder all in one, and is the flagship theme from Elegant Themes.

It comes with a whole range of built in features and choice which make it a powerful option to have in your theme arsenal.

Note: I used this theme to create my other marketing website: Entice.

You can also check out a whole load of Divi example websites (real life examples) to see what is possible.

Or take a look at my Divi Theme 2.5 Walkthrough and Tutorial

Divi Features

In this section I will show you the main features, by topic, so you can see the kinds of things that you can do and what is included with Divi.

Variety Of Layouts

Divi has a wide variety of layouts that you can choose from, as well as elements that you can easily include on your page – more on that later.

Some of the easy to configure options you have are:

• Header choices (thin, sticky, secondary navigation etc)
• Navigation (top, side, secondary navigation)
• Side bars (left, right, both)
• Full width pages

The image below shows some examples of these:

Pre-Defined Pages And Templates

To help speed up your website development, it is crucial to have pre-built templates and pages. After all, why reinvent the wheel, right?

Divi comes to the rescue here too, with the following pages and templates ready-made:

• About Us, About Me, Our Team, Contact Us
• Various layouts 0f – Portfolio, Gallery, Shop, Project
• Blog (standard), Blog (tile/masonry),
• One Page Website, Sales Page, Case Study, Product Features
• Splash Page, Landing Page, Coming Soon, Maintenance

I am almost out of breath!

And they keep coming up with more. Some of them are impressively professional, and you could almost build a website in an hour!

Check out: my ongoing list of premade Divi layouts.

Fonts & Icons

No theme is complete without a huge list of fonts, to help you make your new website unique – and Divi does not disappoint.

I have counted nearly 100 fonts with Divi, which you can easily choose and enable at your whim. (A full list of fonts here.)

They also include an icon library, so you can create those cool icon circles that everyone loves these days, without needing an image library.

Head over here to see all the icons.

Other Features Worth Noting

Of course, it does not stop there. Divi also have some other features which are worthy of note:

• WooCommerce integration, with predefined product page templates (See a Shop Example)
• Fully Mobile Responsive Layouts of course!
• Video and Parallax backgrounds, to make those rows pop
• Security Checked – Divi has been fully checked for security vulnerabilities by Sucuri

Divi Page Builder

If you have ever used one of the WordPress page builders like Visual Composer from WC Bakery, you will know how easy building websites can be. And Divi is not exception here, with a built-in page builder that is drag and drop simple.

It also comes with a whole swathe of elements that you just have to place on your page, like:

Structural Elements (for structuring your page layout)

• Columns, Rows, Dividers, Sections
• Accordion, Tabs, Toggle

More Fun Elements for Your Page

• Text, Image, Video, Audio
• Call to Action, Newsletter Signup
• Testimonial, Social Follow, Contact Form
• Gallery, Image Slider, Portfolio
• Pricing Tables, Maps, Countdowns

Check out all the Divi Builder modules here.

This is what a page builder layout would look like:

Hopefully that has not overwhelmed you with information, but it is important to know what you are (and are not) getting with these Themes I find.

All in all Divi is quite powerful, flexible and can pretty much create any masterpiece you can come up with.

Divi Booster

One list thing. There is such a huge community of Divi users, that there is now a plugin to help you make the most commonly asked for changes in Divi that have not yet made it into the Theme.

I have never seen such a well supported theme before that someone has made such a plugin. It makes it even easier to use Divi to create amazing websites.

Check Out: Divi Booster plugin and what it can do.

Thrive Themes Review

I have talked about Thrive Themes and their built-in content builder before, but I thought it was worth adding them to this review as they are very similar in offering to Divi and X Theme.

Thrive entered the theme market just last year, but their founder Shane Melaugh has been in the internet marketing and WordPress game for a long time.

Thrive Themes is focused on creating stunning and high converting websites. That is Shane’s trademark – conversion and style.

So if you are looking to make sure your website not only

• looks good
• runs fast and works
• but also converts your visitors into customers

then this might be the theme for you!

Like X Theme, Thrive Themes comes in a variety of Theme flavors which are focused on specific looks or purposes:

• Storied – Blogging Theme perfect for displaying visuals
• Pressive – Perfect for a Marketing/Business website (great typography and design)
• Performag – Magazine style focused on Engagement, Ad revenue & Social Sharing (keep them onsite)
• Squared – Flat design great for any purpose (full of great marketing features)
• Voice – No header (side bar only) focuses on content (great for blogs, podcasts etc)
• Minus – Minimal Theme great for almost anything
• Ignition – Great for products, memberships, services
• Luxe – Designed for a feel of quality and luxury
• FocusBlog – simple business style website or blog

As you can see you get a lot of Themes to choose from when you buy Thrive. Below you can see theme layed out in order:

Thrive Themes Features

In general these themes were built with flexibility, modern design and conversion in mind, so you would not be surprised to hear that they offer:

• Mobile Responsive Design
• Built to load fast
• Easy to customize

Features built-in to save on plugins

• related posts
• optin forms
• social sharing
• image galleries
• fonts and icons

Landing Pages

Divi above did come with some landing pages and templates built in, but this is where Thrive excels, they have things like:

• Sales pages
• Optin/squeeze pages
• Leadgen pages, video leadgen pages
• Email confirmation and thank you pages

And many more. In fact the Thrive package comes with about 52 templates. You can see more detail on this in my review of Thrive Landing pages.

Thrive Content Builder

Probably one of the best website builders in the WordPress community, the Thrive Content Builder is powerful and WYSIWYG (which means you change/create and it really looks like the final result. No more preview button needed (although there still is one to check your work).

The builder basically sits on top of your page and allows you to

• drag and drop
• edit elements (size, color, margins, fonts etc)
• move elements
• change layout

It is all very intuitive and simple to use. And actually a lot easier than the other two themes reviewed here (Divi and X Theme).

If you want a full review along with video demo you can check out my Thrive Content Builder Review or see the demo below.

Elements for Page Building

The content builder makes page building easy (and blog posts too) and comes with a large range of elements for you:

• Columns, Sections, Tabs/Toggles, Dividing Lines (various)
• Text, WordPress Elements (with an editor), Images (scalable on the fly), Video
• Blog Posts Grid, Buttons, Custom Headlines
• Pricing Table, Optin Forms, Maps, Testimonials, Rating Stars
• Quotes, Click to Tweet, Progress Bar, Counters

And they keep adding more new ones all the time.

X Theme from ThemeForest Review

X Theme is being hailed as one of the best WordPress themes around. And with good reason.

It was developed with 4 distinct sub-themes/stacks (Integrity, Renew, Icon & Ethos), and if you take a look at what each one looks like, you will see that you can accomplish almost any look and feel with this theme.

To give you a taste for what each “stack” is like, here is a short description from the website:

• Integrity – Great for business, all-purpose
• Renew – Clean, concise & flat design
• Icon – Modern, minimal with unique layout options
• Ethos – Magazine and Newspaper sites (featured carousel)

Below you can see some of these “stacks” and how the layouts, and styles vary significantly.

You can more or less create any kind of layout and style that you can come up with.

X Theme – Various Layouts

X Theme Features

X comes with some great FREE extensions in the form of plugins that mean that you don’t have to buy your own. Here are some of the options you have:

• Video Lock (delayed video appearance)
• Content Dock (slide in optin forms)
• Custom 404 pages (ideal for adding search or lead capture)
• Google Analytics (make adding Google Analytics simple)
• Smooth Scroll (a slower scroll, as you see on many modern sites)
• Mail Chimp (easy mail chimp integration)
• Soliloquy Image Slider (simply embed an image slider in your pages.posts)
• Mega Menu (great for sites with large menus)

Shortcodes for Easy Page Creation

Note: more below on how these are integrated with the Visual Composer (ie. you don’t have to work with shortcodes manually)

Built into the X Theme are a whole bunch of shortcodes that make customizing your website simple. For example, some of the custom elements you can add to your website include:

• Columns, Accordion, Tabs, Gaps
• Responsive Images and Video
• Quotes, Drop Caps, Pull Quotes
• Icons, Lines, Featured Headings
• Skill Bars, Maps, Counters

This means that you can build your site quickly and with little to no technical knowledge (although if you are a designer like me, you can also get to the styles easily to customize).

Pre-made Standard Pages

There are also standard pages included with each X Theme stack such as:

• About
• Contact
• Pricing

So you can create a standard website without doing much at all.

Fonts & Icons

You can also easily include any of the 400 Google fonts into your website to customize it with ease.

And there are icon libraries so that you can easily add any icon you want, without needing to go create an image, and add to the size of your website too (icon fonts save you load time and apace)

Page Builder (Visual Composer)

I developed a website with X Theme recently using their free and customized version of Visual Composer which made creating the website a lot easier and faster.

It also integrates with all the shortcodes that X Theme comes with, which means that you can place and customize their unique elements easily without using messy code.

This builder is quite similar to the one in Divi, but is a little more powerful with more options (in my opinion) – or at least it felt that way when I had to achieve some difficult results for the website I was working on.

Either way, rest assured that you do not have to code the pages yourself to get the stunning results you see on the X Theme Website. You can borrow their pre-made pages, import them, and tweak them using the Visual Composer.

Revolution Slider / Slider Revolution

Revolution Slider with an X Theme Variation (Integrity Side Menu)

One of the most customizable and amazing sliders around  is included free with X Themes. You can create stunning sliders with effects like:

• Multiple images
• Video as a slider (or in a slider)
• Parallax background or elements moving apart from each other
• Fully custom fonts, styles, look and feel
• Embed as a header, in a post/page, full-width or not
• Transitions and timing fully customizable

In fact, there are so many features and options with this slider, it deserves a whole review of its own!

Integrates WooCommerce or BuddyPress, Translations and More

The X Themes team haven’t forgotten about all your favorite WordPress plugins either and have made sure that you can seamlessly integrate both WooCommerce and BuddyPress.

They have also made translation a breeze, include right to left languages like Arabic.

X Themes is all in all a very powerful set of themes all built into one, that allows you to create almost anything you could imagine.

Which Theme Is Best For You?

In this section I am going to compare various areas to help you choose the right theme. It will help show where some themes are stronger and others weaker, so might suit you best for a particular purpose.

What Do They Cost?

• Thrive Themes – $49 per theme, $59 for Thrive Content Builder or all Themes and Plugins for $147
• X Theme – $64 one-time
• Divi* – $69 one-time or yearly (more if you want the psd/photoshop files)

*Note on Divi: Although it is yearly pricing, you can buy the theme, install it, and not pay for the next year. You just lose support and access to their other themes (if you have not already used them)

How Many Themes Do I Get With Each?

Currently these are the themes that you get when you purchase each one:

• Thrive Themes – 9 Themes (and growing)
• X Theme – 4 distinct variants/stacks (with lots of customization)
• Divi – 89 Themes (you buy an Elegant Theme membership to get Divi -it comes with all themes & plugins)

Which Has The Best Website/Content Builder?

Although they are all relatively easy to use, Thrive Content Builder is the best around at the moment. (see the video above for a demo).

It is a full WYSIWYG editor so you really can create on the fly and see exactly what you are getting.

The other two themes have built in editors, that play around in the background with shortcodes (so it is a little harder to edit the HTML if you need to). Thrive works directly with HTML, and gives you access to it in the editor.

It is also very easy to tweak the elements and layout through the editor – so changing color, size, margins/padding, font etc, is all a breeze. That is how it was designed.

Which Theme Has The Most Built-in Elements?

It is very hard to say which is the best, but X Theme stands out as having a lot of elements at your disposal.

Having said that, I have made websites with Divi too, but the options are a little more limited (but not significant).

Thrive Themes also has a large range, but they are more marketing focused (so landing pages, optin forms, etc).

In the end you cannot really lose too much with any of them, but if you need a specific element (eg. pricing list, or optin forms) then double check that it comes with it. Some have specific elements like that, others don’t.

Which is the Easiest Theme to Build a Website For a Beginner?

I found Divi very easy to use and create a website with (like my marketing site Entice). It comes with easy to configure layouts, and lots of pre-built options to get you up and running fast.

However, Thrive Content Builder is also very easy to use as it is “what you see is what you get” so you don’t have to guess or preview all the time.

Which is the Most Powerful and Feature-Rich Theme?

I just finished building a very complex and large site for a client here in Switzerland, and we used X Theme with quite a few of the plugins you get with it (Revolution Slider for example).

The stack options (giving you 4 distinct theme sets) as well as the layout power built into the customizer makes this a very powerful (and cheap at $64 one-time payment) Theme option for a more experienced WordPress designer or website owner.

Which Theme is the Best for Conversions (more leads and customers)?

Thrive Themes was built with conversions in mind. It comes with built-in optin forms in the content builder, as well as lots of landing pages (sales pages, squeeze/landing pages, thank you & email confirmation pages).

They have also built the structure  and layout of the themes with conversion in mind, because the company owner is very driven and focused on these topics (as well as website design and speed).

Divi comes second because they also have some built-in landing pages as well.

X Theme has Content Dock plugin (for slide-in optins) and integrated Mailchimp optin forms

NoteL To get full optin form flexibility/options though, I recommend that any website owner uses Thrive Leads which also has built-in integration to almost any email service, 7 optin form options, and A/B testing. It is a great addition to Thrive Themes (or any other theme for that matter).

Which Integrates the Best With Ecommerce?

You have two options to consider if you want to use something like WooCommerce: 

X Theme has 4 unique shop designs.

Divi has a couple of pre-made shop layouts and product pages.

Who Provides The Best Support?

I don’t have enough experience with contacting support for all of these, but the guys atThrive Themes are amazing (fast, helpful, and willing to get onto your site and solve the problem).

I will update this later next week as I need to contact theX Theme guys with an issue I am also having.

In terms of forums the X Theme forums are quite extensive, and so are those from Thrive Themes.

Perhaps it is a testament to how simple Elegant Themes/Divi  is, that I have not needed to call them yet? And I have used about 10 of their themes on various projects.

Final Thoughts

In the showdown between X Theme vs Divi vs Thrive Themes there really is no winner, as it depends on what you want to achieve, what you need on your site, and what kind of help you need building it (website builders, plugins etc).

Photo Courtesy of : Maria Georgieva

The collection is divided into 4 parts, so you easy navigate and find the tutorial you need.

You might also want bookmark this page to always have it at hand.

How To Create A WordPress Blog

You might also just want to set up a WordPress blog from scratch, if you have never done that before. Head over to this post and learn how a WordPress blog is set up the easy way.​

So in this post I want to show you 7 stunning (yet hidden) WordPress features that can make your website/blog and how you work with it even more amazing!

Where is Distraction-free mode?

Just head to the top-right of your WordPress editor and click on the little symbol with arrows pointing outwards:

​This will then expand your screen to fill with the editor, leaving you to concentrate on your work!

To open the Revisions Panel first open the screen options (top left of the page)

After opening Screen Options, check/tick Revisions

Then scroll down and you will see the revisions below your post/page

There you will see the following settings, which are the images WordPress automatically creates from your uploaded image.

Note: These are the image sizes you see when editing an image in WordPress.

This will take you to the following page where you can choose the default category from the drop down menu as below:

Once you click edit, you will see that you can now easily define the date and the time.

Once you have clicked ok the date/time are set but don't forget to actually press Schedule!

This will open the WordPress Customizer.

Inside the Customizer you will see at the top Site Identity. Click on that.

Now you will see the Identity section, at the bottom of which is the favicon​

Now you can upload your favicon file.

At the top right of the page you want to click on Screen Options. Now you will see something like this (the contents will vary a little depending on your theme):

How you can choose: 

​So what that really means is that you can now add links in your menu to things like: 

You can also tune your menu links as well, but that is more than you probably need to know right now, so I will leave that for another post.