Home » WordPress 101 » The Best WordPress Themes for Beginners [2020] » Divi 3.0 Review [2020] How it Became the Best
Divi 3.0 Review 2019
Divi 4 is Here
*Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.
I’m no web developer. In fact, I don’t even have basic knowledge of CSS and barely any in html.
So, this Divi theme review is going to largely be from the perspective of somebody with no coding experience.
Having said that, my background is in marketing, specifically SEO. I build and rank websites (close to 40 this year alone). Some for my clients but mostly my own online properties.
So, it’s important for me to work with WordPress themes that:
- Are easy to use
- Don’t negatively affect Google rankings (SEO)
- Are versatile enough to create websites that serve different markets and industries
- Can create beautiful websites for even the most picky client
- Can be easily customized
What is Divi?
Divi is truly a multipurpose WordPress theme that can be used to create almost any kind of website.The first time I used WordPress to build a website, I thought it would be extremely easy. And to be fair, it wasn’t too difficult getting a basic website up and running. However, I didn’t know that customizing a WordPress site and getting it to look exactly how I want would be a different story entirely.You see, I wasn’t told that when customizing a WordPress website, you are restricted in how much customizing you can actually do according to the theme you are using. Unless of course, you know html and CSS.Getting content up and a website live is easy, changing the layout isn’t.That was until I started using Divi.Divi is a page builder in the backend and a WYSIWYG editor (Visual Editor) in front.The page builder allows you to drag and drop different elements to easily design the look and feel of your web pages in a more structured approach.And the Visual Editor lets you build your pages and posts with point and click ease. The Visual Editor is the closest I’ve seen to a true WYSIWYG builder in WordPress. It feels as easy as creating a PowerPoint slide.I will go into greater detail with the Divi Builder and Visual Editor a bit further into this Divi review. But for now, let’s discuss what types of websites can be built using Divi.What types of websites can be built with Divi 3.0?
The short answer? Almost any kind of website can be built with Divi.I’ve built large e-commerce sites, affiliate sites, simple blogs, information sites and local business websites all with Divi.Quite a few clients have switched from other themes to Divi, and having nothing but good things to say about the change.I’ve also seen the Divi theme used for:- Restaurants
- Photography
- Magazines
- Real Estate
- And more…
Who will benefit most from using the Divi theme?
So, you can see, Divi is very versatile and allows you to create websites to suit almost any industry without having any knowledge in coding.This is why it’s excellent for non-coders like me and for beginners who’ve never built a website before.You really can create beautiful and functional websites easily without having to mess with any code and without a background in web development.However, Divi is great for web developers too, as it will allow you to drastically reduce your development time by giving you access to powerful tools and features.It’s not like you will be losing the ability to make custom changes with Divi. In fact, every element has a section for you to add custom CSS

Security
For any website built on WordPress, security is big deal.A lot of WordPress websites deal with daily hack attempts, and one of the major causes of a website being hacked is through poorly coded or outdated themes and plugins.To ensure maximum safety for users, the creators of Divi, Elegant Themes, partnered up with Sucuri (a leading company in the website security industry) to make sure their theme is as secure as possible.Teaming up with a website security company like Sucuri goes a long way to relieving a lot of the fears of website owners.This is a great pro-active step taken by Elegant Themes to ensure the safety of their customers.Elegant Themes
No need for a boring a history lesson.I’ll just point out a few things to give you confidence that Elegant Themes will be around for a long time, and will continue to support and improve Divi.Elegant Themes have:- Been around for over 8 years
- Developed 87 premium themes and 7 plugins
- Have over 400,000 customers



How much does Divi cost?
There’s two pricing options with Divi 3.0- The lifetime option (one-time payment) at $249 Once-Off
- Or the Yearly Access (yearly payment) at $89 per year

And Divi is packed full of powerful features.It would take more than just this article to discuss them all so, I will go into detail about the features and benefits which I use and love the most and then cover some of the other main features which may be of interest to you.
What I love most about Divi 3.0
Design
First, and probably most importantly, Divi lets me build a website that looks exactly how I want it to look.Usually you have to look through different themes to find one that would be a good fit. And then you would need to work within the layout and customization restrictions of the theme (assuming of course, like me, you don’t have any coding skills).With Divi, these restrictions are lifted. Instead of being confined to a certain layout, you can go about designing almost any layout you wish, from simple to complex.With previous themes I would often wish I could make small adjustments to the design without needing to hire a developer.For instance, something as simple as increasing or decreasing the padding between elements.Now with Divi, I can do it by just clicking and dragging in the Visual Editor.The Visual Editor
The Visual Editor is awesome.Usually when you create a page or post, you would have to click “Preview” to see how it would look when it’s live. Then you’d return to the back-end to make additional changes and constantly have to go back and forth until your web page is complete, and you’re satisfied with the end result.The Visual Editor puts an end to this back and forth.With the Visual Editor, you can build your entire page in the front end, in real time. Think of it as building your pages in “Preview” mode, no need for you to ever have to keep switching to the back-end.
Responsive Design
This is one of my favorite features of the Visual Editor (it can also be done from the back end). You can quickly switch between PC, tablet and mobile views and make adjustments to your layout, formatting and design for each device specifically.




The Divi Builder
The Divi Builder is a backend page builder. Everything you do in the Visual Editor can be done with the Divi Builder.Page builders allow you to create pages and posts with drag and drop ease. You simply pick and choose different sections and modules to get your ideal layout.


Ease of Use
Once you get the hang of it, Divi is extremely simple to use even if you are completely new to building a website on WordPress. Yes, as with most things, it takes a while to get used to, but once you know the basics of Divi and where to find everything, building your website is easy.With the Visual Editor and Divi Builder, how you go about designing your website will come down to your personal preference. Do you prefer the structured drag and drop approach to designing your layout? Then using the back-end Divi Builder is right for you.Or if you are more of a point and click person who prefers to instantly see and make changes on the fly then the Visual Editor is perfect for your needs.I like to use both. I usually create a page or post using the Divi Builder then switch to the Visual Editor to improve the formatting and layout.Saving Layouts and Elements for Easy Duplication and Global Updates
If you ever need to create a website where you need to keep a consistent layout across multiple pages and only change out the content, you can easily do so with Divi’s ‘Save to Library’ feature.This feature lets you save entire pages, sections and even single modules to the library to reuse later on.The ‘Save to Library’ feature even has an option to save as a global item. This means that no matter where or on how many pages you add the saved item to, whenever you make a change or update it, the changes will instantly reflect “globally” throughout your website on every page it’s used. You won’t need to ever go through the tedious task of updating every page manually.For exampleLet’s say you want to create a custom tabbed menu to be displayed at the bottom of every post on your blog.All you need to do is simply create and style the tab module




The 37 modules
Like all good page builders, Divi comes with an assortment of useful modules, so you aren’t stuck with just adding text, images and videos to your pages.Without needing to hire a developer or add more plugins, you can easily implement and customize the modules below to really liven up your pages and increase engagement.
SEO: Do sites built with Divi rank well?
I’m not suggesting that a theme will have a major impact on how well your website ranks in the search engines considering how many factors are used to determine whether you show up on the first page of Google.When it comes to SEO, I think the main factor to take into consideration when choosing a theme is how well search engine bots will be able to properly crawl your website. As this is probably the most likely theme related factor that could have a negative impact on rankings.As mentioned at the start of this Divi 3 review, all my most important websites are using Divi, and all of them are ranking extremely well.I’m not saying these first page rankings are a direct result of using Divi. Not at all. I’m saying that through my own results, it’s conclusive enough for me to confidently say that Divi has no negative SEO effect on my results.And of course, ranking well in search engine rankings results in a lot of visitors coming to your site. Which brings me to another one of my favorite Divi features. The built-in A/B Testing.A/B Testing
Whether you’re getting visitors to your website from SEO, paid advertising or social media, you need to make sure that your website is optimized to convert as many visitors as possible (buying your product, clicking a link, calling your business, signing up to your email list, etc.).Unfortunately, most website owners don’t know how to do this or aren’t even aware that they should be constantly looking to improve their conversions with A/B testing.With A/B testing, you are taking one of your webpages or even a single element on your webpage (text, button, header etc.) and comparing it to a variation of that page or element. 50% of your visitors will see one variation and 50% will see the other to see which performs better and leads to higher conversions.For example:Let’s say you owned an online store selling shoes and you have a blue “Buy Now” button on your product pages. When running an A/B test you could use the blue “Buy Now” button as Variation A and then using an orange “Buy Now” button as Variation B, you could run an A/B test.









A quick summary of my favorite features:
Customizing layouts – Not having any coding skills, it’s such a relief to be able to customize a website and get it to look exactly how I want.The Visual Editor is the closest I’ve seen to a point and click WYSIWYG editor for WordPressThe Divi Builder is easy to use and fast. No sluggish performance and frustrating delays as is the case with some of the other page builders.SEO – The fact that I use Divi on all my important and high ranking websites says it all.A/B Testing – Makes it easy to test and improve a website’s conversions with measurable results. After all, better conversions = a better ROI and being able to do so without an added cost is huge.Responsive Design – Building mobile friendly websites has become almost mandatory, and with Divi, it’s now simple to make device specific adjustments to ensure that your website looks great on any screen size.Saving Layouts Sections and Modules – Saving whole layouts, sections and modules to reuse on other pages and websites and being able to update them globally is a really efficient way to build websites and the development time saved is priceless.37 modules – The sheer number and variety of available modules and the ease at which you can customize them to suit your website makes building unique websites that really stand-out a breezeThese are the features I love most about Divi, and I’ve barely scratched the surface of all that’s available. So, I’m going to quickly talk about some of the other features available.
Any adjustments you make appear almost instantly and any site-wide settings not in the Customize tab, will almost certainly be found in the Divi Theme Settings.
Other Features
Customizing your website through the WP customizer
I often get frustrated with a lot of themes when I’m trying to customize site-wide settings for a website. On a good day, it’s usually a matter of having to constantly switch between the specific theme’s settings and the WordPress Customize tab to find the option I want to change. On bad days, it’s impossible, and I’m resigned to accepting that there is no way to change a certain option.This can be something as simple as changing the color and typography of headers or making more detailed changes to the design of the navigational menus.When using the WordPress Customize tab in Divi, you will find a fairly comprehensive list of settings that you can customize.
Divi Theme Settings
The Divi Theme Settings lets you quickly enable and disable different settings, upload logos and favicons and manage your social media links.
- Additional customization of blog posts, like what information is displayed and whether you want comments enabled or disabled
- Easy adding of tracking and analytics codes, <head> and <body> codes and even sections to easily add code to the top and bottom of posts.
- There’s even a built-in SEO integration. But I’ve never used it, so can’t tell you how good it is. I’m just used to using the Yoast SEO plugin.
Premade layouts
If you’re struggling to decide on a layout for a page or don’t even know where to begin, Divi got you covered with 30 premade layouts for you to choose from.Here’s a few screenshots of some of the layouts.You can use their pre-made layouts as is and just swap in your content or you can customize them to get your page looking perfect.
Undo/Redo
Another great feature of Divi 3.0 is the extensive Undo/Redo functionality.With the Undo/Redo feature you are never at risk of losing any work done on your website and making a mistake can be undone with just a click of a button.In addition, you can instantly change a page to any previous iteration and switch back and forth at will.
User Permissions
With a few clicks, you can set specific user permissions for the different available roles.This is great especially if you ever have a click-happy client, as you can easily limit the accidental ‘damage’ they can do to their websites by restricting their ability to edit specific modules or sections.This is also an invaluable feature when you have multiple contributors working on a website.
Support and Tutorials
Fortunately, I’ve never needed specific one on one support with Divi, but I have recently heard good things from others regarding the speed and efficiency of the Divi support team.One of the reasons why I’ve never needed to contact their support is because of easy to understand documentation that will get you going fairly quickly no matter your experience level.On top of the documentation, the Divi team releases daily tutorials and tips. The sheer volume of helpful content being released is very impressive.Not only is it great for beginners who want to learn how to use Divi to create stunning websites, it’s also extremely useful for experienced developers as well who want to fully utilize the power of Divi.To show you just how committed the Divi team is, here’s a screenshot of their blog. As you can see, daily posts and thousands of tips and tutorials for us to get the most benefit of their themes and plugins.
Premium Plugin and Theme Freebies
I know this is a Divi theme review, and I should focus only on the theme itself. However, it’s important to let you know about the extras you get when you buy Divi.You get full access to 87 themes and 7 plugins. To be honest, since using Divi, I don’t really have a need to look at any other theme but there are still some great ones which you will now be able to use.Extremely popular premium themes like Extra are now yours to use, free.And of the plugins, Bloom and Monarch are my favorite. I use them on almost every website.Bloom
Bloom is a complete email opt-in plugin. Giving you everything you need to easily collect email addresses from your visitors and turn them into loyal subscribers.


Monarch
Monarch is my favorite social media sharing plugin.

Divi Builder Plugin
And for those who want to use a different theme, but still harness the power of Divi, there is the Divi Builder plugin which lets you use Divi on any other theme, even the ones not made by Elegant Themes.One Minor Irritation
This wouldn’t be a complete review if I didn’t mention at least one bad thing about Divi.So, here it is…The one thing that I found to be slightly annoying is when I wanted to get content up quickly by only using the backed Divi Builder, sometimes the spacing between text elements would be slightly off.This is easily fixed by using the Visual Editor to adjust the spacing. Hardly an issue worth complaining about, but it’s honestly the only negative experience I’ve had with using Divi.Divi Theme Review: Final Verdict
In Divi, Elegant Themes have created the ultimate titanium plated, bullet proof basket to hold your precious eggs. I trust Divi with mine, which is why I can confidently recommend that you give it a try.This theme is awesome, it does everything it claims and more. If you liked this Divi 3.0 review, please feel free to share it with your friends.And if you are ready to enjoy the power of Divi, you can get it here.
Related Articles:

Divi vs X Theme [2020] Winner Inside
Divi Vs. X Theme – which is better? I’m sure you’re all here to find out which of these behemoths prevail. And spoiler alert! There’s a clear winner in this contest. Hey everyone. I’m a full-time digital marketer who loves to tinker with website designing. I must say, I don’t ...
Read More
Read More

Divi VS Avada [2020] Comparison
Divi vs Avada 2020 In this article I’ll be doing a quick Divi vs Avada theme comparison, arguably the two most popular premium WordPress themes in the world. For those in a rush... You can see the winner here *Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are "affiliate links." ...
Read More
Read More