- This video is sponsored by WPForms.
The most beginner friendly drag
and drop form builder for WordPress.
Hey guys, my name is Christian Taylor.
Welcome back to Craylor Made
where I like to talk all things, branding,
marketing and entrepreneurship.
Today, I'm taking a look at Divi to answer the question:
Is it really worth the price?
It's been a while since I looked
at an Elegant Themes product
but I actually started my WordPress journey many years ago
using an Elegant Themes subscription.
Back in the day they used to offer dozens
of themes for an annual fee
and you could just pick the theme
that best suited your website.
Since then Elegant Themes has continued
their subscription model
but they've scaled down mainly to their flagship theme.
Divi - Divi is a super theme on steroids.
Not only does it have hundreds
of demo layouts and website packs,
it's also a proprietary WYSIWYG page builder.
You can use the Divi theme
which uses the Divi page builder
or you can use the Divi page builder plugin
with any WordPress theme.
For $89 a year or $249 lifetime,
you'll gain access to Divi
and the other Elegant Themes products
which we'll touch on later.
My experience with Divi was relatively positive.
It's definitely a top tier super theme that I respect.
It features a high quality backend
that is intuitive to edit
once you get past the initial learning curve.
After installing, you'll want to refer
to the Divi documentation to learn the ropes
of importing website layouts and using the backend.
The great thing about Divi is
that it's a widely popular and supported theme.
So you can find tons of articles
and YouTube videos on how to use it.
You can also reach out to Divi's support team
which is pretty responsive and offers 24/7 chat support.
They advertise the reply time of a few hours
but for basic questions and inquiries,
I usually get a reply in just a few minutes.
Go on their site and try it,
I think you'll be surprised at how quickly they respond.
The Divi page builder offers
a front end visual builder similar
to what you'd get with Wix or Squarespace
and you can also access a traditional backend block builder
if you enable the WordPress Classic Editor.
If you want that WYSIWYG experience
of editing a page visually, typing right into the controls
and dragging elements around,
I think Divi is a great page builder.
I enjoyed using the front end editor much more
than I enjoy the front end editor on WPBakery
but if you want to use the backend editor,
I wouldn't recommend Divi.
I find that it's really hard to follow
without having previews of what each element is
like you would have with WPBakery
and it's a frustrating experience.
I'm looking at texts, texts, text, image, not knowing
what block of text or what image I'm working with
and it just makes me want to rip my hair out.
So I would stick to the front end editor
if you're going to use Divi.
Speaking of frustrating experiences,
the header system is atrocious in Divi.
With most themes, you would edit the header styling
in the themes main settings panel.
With Divi, the header is 100% customizable.
You can change every element
and make a completely custom header and footer.
I really appreciate the flexibility
but Divi's implementation
of layout imports simply doesn't make any sense.
When you input a page layout with demo content,
the header doesn't change.
It stays as the default Divi page header from years past
and the only way to get a similar looking header
is to search the Elegant Themes website
for free header packs.
Find one that looks like it fits the style,
download the template and import it
to the header section of the backend.
If this sounds confusing, it is,
I actually bought a header pack
on the Elegant Themes website.
So I have a lot of header styles to choose from
and I'm not stuck hunting down free headers here and there
on the Elegant Themes blog
but there should be free header styles that ship
with the theme and match the demo page layout.
This is hands down the most frustrating part of Divi.
I don't think it's a deal breaker
but it's a wacky learning curve to overcome.
Divi does have a marketplace on their website
and everything available is from third-party developers.
You can find extensions, child themes and layouts.
It blows my mind that Divi is a big enough theme
to where they have their own in-house marketplace
for third-party extensions.
It's like you can buy a theme for your theme
Ana that's why Divi is a page builder
just as much as it's a WordPress theme.
As mentioned earlier, you can upload
the Divi page builder plugin to other themes
and get the same WYSIWYG page building experience
on any WordPress site and that means
you can easily drag and drop elements onto any page.
Just like building a contact form with today's sponsor.
WPForms, WPForms is the most popular
and beginner friendly drag and drop form builder
for WordPress.
I like WPForms because it's effortless
to create forms with no coding required.
They call it stupid simple
but it's not just simple, it's powerful.
Do you need to easily acquire signatures,
securely accept payments or donations,
hide or show fields based on a person's selection.
Do you need to follow up with people
who started filling out your form
but abandoned it before submitting it,
WPForms can help you do this and much more.
So join the over 4 million users who use WPForms
to take the pain out of building online forms.
Go to wpforms.com or visit the link
in the description below to get started today.
Thanks to WPForms for supporting the channel
and now let's explore some
of the added bonus items that come with Divi.
Also, included in your Elegant Themes account
is access to extra.
Their magazine theme useful for blogs and news publications.
It's built using the Divi page builder
so the experience is much the same as the Divi theme.
You also get access to two Elegant Themes plugins,
Bloom and Monarch.
Bloom is an email opt-in and lead generation plugin similar
to Sumo or OptinMonster.
Monarch is a social media sharing plugin that
puts or share call to action on your post in various spots.
These plugins can both be installed
on any WordPress website
including sites that don't use Divi
and they can also be installed on unlimited WordPress sites.
I'm not gonna focus too much
on these bonus items in this video
but I wanted to mention them because it is a value add.
Speaking of value, is Divi actually worth the cost?
I happen to think Divi is one of the best values out there
of any WordPress theme
and let me explain why.
So typically when you go to build a WordPress website,
you would look on a marketplace
like ThemeForest to find a theme.
You can expect to pay a $60 one time fee
for one license to the particular theme
and you'll get six months of support from the developer.
After that, the developer has every right
to charge you for a new support plan
and you'll have to buy a license to use the theme
on every website you install it on.
So if you have two websites, that's $120,
three websites is $180 and so on.
Divi is different, for $89 a year or $249 for life,
Divi offers installs on unlimited websites
and ongoing support.
If you subscribe to the yearly plan, you would have support
and updates for as long as you're subscribed.
If you cancel your subscription,
you will lose access to support and updates
but you can continue to use
the last version of Divi installed on your sites
from before the plan expired in perpetuity.
With the lifetime plan, you will get customer support
and updates to Divi for forever.
Not to mention it can be used on unlimited sites.
249 can seem like a big price to swallow
and I'm not suggesting you go out
and buy Divi if it's out of your price range.
But if you're thinking it's expensive
think about a site like Squarespace or Wix
where you're paying a monthly fee
for every site you create in perpetuity.
Operate two Squarespace sites
and you're paying around $300 a year
just to keep them running.
With Divi, your only ongoing cost
to run your websites is web hosting.
Get a server from a host like Cloudways
and for $10 a month, you could easily host
five plus WordPress websites with no problems.
And you might be wondering what are the odds
that Divi is even gonna be around in five years?
If I purchase a lifetime subscription
is that even sustainable for Elegant Themes?
What if they pack up shop a year from now?
I can tell you that's not gonna happen.
Elegant Themes has been a persistent player
in the WordPress theme industry for years
and being that they were using the subscription
in the lifetime purchase business model
when I used their themes many years ago,
it's safe to say they aren't going anywhere.
I used Elegant Themes before Divi was even cool
and they've preserved their level
of support, high quality themes
and great value over the years.
So in the end, I think Divi is a great fit
for two use cases.
First, beginners who are looking
for a powerful WYSIWYG WordPress theme
that's got a ton of tutorials online to help you get started
not to mention high-quality customer support
but Divi can also be a great fit
for users needing a repeatable model
to make WordPress websites, affordably and efficiently.
I said this in my video,
exploring the best WordPress themes,
you should pick one to two credible super themes
and master them.
Whether you're doing a lot of websites for yourself
or you're doing freelance web design,
you should become an expert with one to two powerful,
flexible widely supported WordPress themes
and get as fast with it as possible
so you can crank out websites one
after another, after another.
So if you're getting into freelancing
or you're just the type of person who has a bunch
of website projects you're always working on,
the lifetime Divi plan is widely enticing.
You are allowed to use it on client websites.
So for a one-time $249 fee,
you can use Divi again and again and again
and neither you nor your client
will ever have to pay a dime for further access.
Is Divi the most impressive WordPress theme I've ever tried?
No, I'd say it's about in line with salient, Avada
and other super themes I've tried.
They all have their strengths and weaknesses
but Divi is no slouch.
I've seen some really clean websites built with Divi
and if you're considering it for your website,
I highly recommend it.
Be sure to check out the Elegant Themes site
for sales using the link below
as sometimes they are running deals
on both yearly subscriptions and lifetime subscriptions.
Also, be sure to check out WPForms
and try it on your website, using the link
in the description below.
So what do you think of Divi?
Would you use it on your WordPress website?
I'd love to know your thoughts in the comments down below
and if you liked this video,
do be sure to hit that Subscribe button and click the bell
so you don't miss when I release new videos.
With that said, I will catch you guys next time.