Getting Started with WordPress and Elementor
If you’ve ever wanted to create a professional website but felt overwhelmed by all the coding involved, you’re not alone. When I first started building websites, I nearly gave up after struggling for weeks trying to get a handle on HTML and CSS. But then I discovered WordPress and Elementor – and it changed everything.
WordPress powers over 43% of all websites, making it the world’s most popular content management system (CMS). It allows anyone to easily build and manage a website without needing to know how to code. You simply choose a design theme and start adding your own content. But customizing your design further used to require digging into code, until Elementor came along.
Elementor is now the most popular WordPress page builder plugin, with over 5 million active installs. As soon as I installed it, I knew it was a game changer. The intuitive drag-and-drop editor let me completely customize my WordPress site’s design just by using simple widgets – no coding skills required! I could instantly see changes live as I edited pages from desktop to mobile view. Other handy features like popups, forms, and buttons made enhancing user experience a breeze.
In this beginner’s guide, we’ll walk through exactly how to get up and running with WordPress and Elementor from start to finish. With Elementor’s 300+ templates and widgets at your fingertips, you can launch a professional site faster than you might think. And by the end, you’ll have the confidence to turn your big website ideas into a reality.
So let’s dive in and I’ll show you just how easy it is…
Understanding WordPress and Elementor
WordPress powers over 43% of all websites globally, cementing its status as the world’s most popular content management system (CMS). With capabilities ranging from blogging to ecommerce, WordPress offers unparalleled flexibility and customization options for all website needs.
At its core, WordPress is open-source software that runs on web servers to manage and organize content. The backend interface allows you to easily create, edit, and publish content without needing to know web development or coding. Themes and plugins further extend functionality.
Elementor is the most popular WordPress page builder plugin, actively used on over 5 million websites. It allows you to visually build and design pages through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. With Elementor, you can create beautiful WordPress sites without touching a line of code.
Some key features that make Elementor a go-to choice:
Responsive Editing Tool
Elementor’s responsive live page editor lets you instantly preview edits across devices. Toggling between desktop and mobile is seamless, ensuring your site looks great on all screens.
Modular Widget System
The plugin offers over 90 widgets ranging from text, images, and buttons to complex ones like forms, tabs, sliders, and more. You simply drag, drop and customize.
Template Library & Themes
Browse from over 300 free templates and themes to instantly design pages. Import templates with a single click for complete websites.
Speed & Performance
Elementor builds lightweight pages that load quickly. Code is neat and clean without bloat. Images and fonts load faster.
Ease of Use
Intuitive editing options, drag and drop builder, responsive design features, and reusable templates make Elementor easy for beginners.
With its front-end editing capabilities, responsive design features, modular widget system and pre-made templates, Elementor streamlines WordPress site building – making it achievable even for those without coding skills. We’ll dive deeper into using Elementor in the next section.
Installing Elementor and WordPress
Installing WordPress and Elementor is a quick and straightforward process that takes just a few minutes. With WordPress powering over 43% of all websites, it has become the world’s most popular CMS thanks to its user-friendly interface and extensive capabilities.
To get started with WordPress, first purchase a domain name and web hosting plan from a provider like Bluehost, SiteGround or WP Engine. Shared hosting plans start at around $2.75 per month and are suitable for most basic WordPress sites. Once you have hosting set up, installing WordPress takes less than 5 minutes. Simply log into your hosting account, access your control panel and look for the one-click install option for WordPress. Enter a few details like your site title and admin credentials and WordPress will automatically install.
With WordPress installed, adding Elementor is even faster. In under 1 minute, you can have the #1 page builder for WordPress up and running. Go to Plugins > Add New within your WordPress dashboard and search for ‘Elementor’. Hit install, activate the plugin, and you’re all set! No additional configuration or settings are needed.
Elementor is fully compatible with WordPress 5.0 or higher, as well as PHP 7.0+. It’s also tested with all major browsers including Chrome, Firefox, Edge and Safari so you can have confidence it will function smoothly.
As for pricing, Elementor offers both a free version and paid pro version. The free plugin supplies you with plenty to get started including basic widgets, templates and responsive editing. To unlock additional pro features like motion effects, pop ups and form integrations, pricing starts at $49 per year. More advanced capabilities can be gained through Elementor’s Pro Plus and Expert packages that scale up to the enterprise level at $999 per year.
With WordPress and Elementor installed in under 5 minutes, you’re ready to start building professional websites. Next we’ll cover how to use Elementor’s intuitive page builder to create your first page.
Creating Your First Page
Getting started with designing your first page in Elementor is quick and easy. With access to over 300 free templates, you can have a professional looking WordPress site up and running in no time.
Browse the Template Library
After installing Elementor, your next step is to browse the template library and choose a pre-made design to use as a starting point. The template library can be accessed by going to Pages > Add New in your WordPress dashboard. This will open the template library where you can filter by theme, topic, layout and more to find the perfect template.
For example, if you want to use Elementor for your small business homepage, you may filter to the “Business” category and scan through those options. The template library makes it easy to find a design that matches your needs.
Use a Template for Your Homepage
Once you’ve selected a template, you can use it to create a new page that will serve as your website’s homepage. Simply choose your preferred template and click “Select”. This will create a new page using that template’s layout and content.
From there, you can edit everything on that page using Elementor’s intuitive drag and drop builder. For now, the key is getting your initial homepage set up quickly. Later, we’ll get into customizations.
Edit Your Template
Now you have a homepage starting point designed in Elementor. The live page builder makes editing incredibly simple.
To start modifying your template, scroll down and click “Edit with Elementor”. This will launch the page builder experience where you can easily drag and drop new elements onto your page.
For example, your template likely already has sections for things like headers, featured images and calls-to-action. But you may want to customize the text, colors images and more to match your brand. Elementor’s editor lets you do this visually.
Add and Customize Widgets
The building blocks of Elementor are widgets. These allow you to add elements like text, buttons, images and more to your page. The left panel shows all the widget options. Simply drag onto your page and then edit its content and design right on the spot.
For example, your homepage may have a section with a headline, paragraph text and button. You can quickly edit each widget to say exactly what you want. Change the headline to your brand name or value proposition. Update the text to speak to your audience. Edit the button’s text, link and visual style.
The key is using Elementor’s intuitive interface to customize every aspect until it uniquely represents your brand. This is just the beginning of the design process which we’ll get into more in the next sections. But already, creating and editing your homepage is quick and painless.
Extra Customization and Resources
Elementor offers ample opportunities to take your WordPress site to the next level through customizations and integrations. With over 300 addons available, you can expand Elementor’s capabilities to achieve unique designs and enhanced functionality.
Elementor Pro
For advanced customization options, Elementor Pro is a valuable upgrade. Pricing starts at $49 per year for the Personal plan which allows you to remove the “Made by Elementor” footer link. Higher tiers add features like motion effects, pop ups, forms, and dynamic content. The Pro plan also includes over 200 pre-made templates to kickstart projects.
Elementor supports integration with popular WordPress plugins like WooCommerce, allowing you to build complete ecommerce sites. The template kit library offers tailored templates for WooCommerce to simplify store design.
Tutorials and Community Support
Even after initial setup, there are great opportunities to continue learning. Elementor Academy provides a wealth of tutorials and guides to help you master Elementor. Topics range from animations to theme development to troubleshooting.
With over 4 million active installs globally, Elementor also has an extensive community supporting users. The Elementor Facebook Group and SubReddit are active forums to access tips from advanced users. The worldwide community makes it easy to find solutions to website design problems.
Whether just starting out or looking to take your Elementor skills up a notch, the customization options, integrations, tutorials and community support available make it possible to build unique, professional WordPress sites tailored to any vision or project needs. The resources are at your fingertips – all that’s left is to tap into your creativity and bring your website dreams to life!
Conclusion: Start Building Your Website with WordPress and Elementor
After going through the key steps to get started with WordPress and Elementor in this post, it’s clear that this combination provides an incredibly powerful yet user-friendly way to create professional websites.
With WordPress being used by over 43% of all websites, you can trust that it is a robust, reliable, and future-proof foundation for your online presence. Pairing it with Elementor’s intuitive drag-and-drop page builder gives you the flexibility to easily customize and design beautiful pages with no coding skills required.
The template library offers over 300 mobile-friendly design templates to kickstart your website build in minutes. And with responsive editing features, you can tweak your site in real-time across desktop and mobile.
As your needs grow, Elementor Pro and the wide range of add-ons provide advanced capabilities like pop-ups, forms, WooCommerce integration, and more. Backed by comprehensive resources like Elementor Academy and an active community forum, help is never far away.
In summary, WordPress and Elementor make website building achievable for anyone. The powerful features, ease of use, and abundance of support resources give you everything you need to create a professional online presence with minimum hassle.
So don’t wait any longer – it’s time to get started on building your own website with this amazing combination! Check out Elementor’s plans and take the first step towards an effective online presence.
As head SEO sorcerer, I specialize in wielding search engine optimization wizardry through technical masterstrokes laser focused on lifting rankings. My superpowers? Plan migration paths leveraging long-term strategies, then optimize speed by meticulously refining site architecture. And that’s just Act One! I also continuously test and learn, taking websites on never-ending visibility adventures. My role takes equal parts creativity in problem solving as analytics-driven discipline.