Recently, Webdirexion has been working on various projects for a variety of clients. A few of our website Divi Elegant Theme projects include Camp Wa-Ri-Ki and Coffee Nut Hut. Skill building continues, even after years of special work, since technologies evolve and we always learn more about content strategy and marketing for each client. Currently, we are applying our new-found knowledge to new client websites and future websites to come. Check out 4 lessons learned from our recent projects and how we will continue to use what we are learning to our clients’ benefit.
1) Use New Strengths in the Divi Builder with WordPress 5.0
Compared to earlier versions, using the Divi Builder with WordPress 5.0 is a little different. Divi, made by Elegant Themes, has streamlined its builder interface. Meanwhile, in WordPress, the design of the post editor has changed, and when you create new pages, you can choose between the standard WordPress editor and the Divi Builder. We find it convenient to switch between the two anytime you want.
WordPress 5.0 replaces the Classic Editor with a brand new editing process. After you update to WordPress 5.0, the Classic Editor will no longer be available unless you install the Classic Editor Plugin. The plugin will allow you to use the Classic Divi Builder once more. For most of our clients, we have turned on the Classic Editor for now, though WordPress’s Core Team reports it will be gone for good in 2020.
We asked longtime WordPress user and developer Scott Frangos, our Chief Optimizer at Webdirexion, what he thought of the Divi updates and which features he likes the most. Scott observes, “First, I like the fact that the Divi people are always innovating and updating. Specifically, I really like how they have made it more streamlined to find and use the UI — user interface — element we need. For example, I can type in “Text” and instantly call the Text module into use out of about 30 other choices. Likewise, if I want to edit spacing in the Text module, I can type in “padding” or “margin” and call those settings into play very quickly now.” Scott made a short comparison video showing Gutenberg versus Divi, when Gutenberg was first released. It’s on our Webdirexion YouTube channel — we’re making more videos, so subscribe today (free).
2) Make Smart Use of Divi Sections and Modules
If you’re not familiar with Divi (which is fine because we’re here to help!), sections are the most prominent building blocks while you’re creating pages in Divi. They are essentially horizontal stacking blocks you use to group your content into specific areas. Everything you build begins with a section and using this content wrapper can help you create some incredible things.
Under a section “building block” is a row, and under the row, another building block you can add is a text module. Text modules are essential to any page design because they make it easy to display text in both a stunning and straightforward way.
We asked Briana Turcin, one of our content strategists, to discuss how we put Divi to work with our clients. She said of the process,
“For one of our latest clients, Camp Wa-Ri-Ki, we started with a fullwidth section, and within the section, we built out the content in a 3 column row. Each column has different modules that allow us to lay out the content exactly as we want it. The far left column has a text module and a button module, the middle column has a few image modules along with a button module, and the far right column has a testimonial module and button module. It is incredibly easy to switch modules, add new ones, or to change how many columns you want. By using the Divi Visual Builder, we can map out content quickly and determine what the best combination of rows and modules will be to bring our design to life.”
3) Use Nelio Content Plugin for Social Media Marketing & Content Planning
Nelio Content is a WordPress plugin that comes with a content assistant and editorial calendar. We use it to seamlessly help you schedule, create, and promote blog content and other links you’d like to support via various social sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Other social platforms include LinkedIn and Pinterest. Nelio also has built-in analytics, and that allows us to see what types of articles are getting the most clicks and how we can replicate the same actions in the future.
Sierra Greenman, another one of our content strategists, finds Nelio ideal to use when working with clients:
“I find Nelio a simple and easy-to-use plugin that can make you more productive and organize everything in a timely manner. This plugin is super friendly and I love that it is integrated with a blog. Its calendar feature makes it easy to organize and schedule content daily and even days or months ahead if you choose. Nelio makes it simple to share content automatically on Facebook, Twitter, and even Pinterest once articles are published.”
Are you looking for website development and other digital marketing services? We work with a variety of clients based on their marketing goals. We offer many services: content marketing, sales funnel campaigns, Google Adwords, and many more.
4) eCommerce & Shopping Carts for Businesses and Non-Profits
Having an eStore is essential for many of our clients, and the WooCommerce plugin — a popular and worldwide-used WordPress plugin — allows site owners to sell a range of products. It’s built to integrate with WordPress seamlessly. We specialize in WooCommerce and have helped clients such as Camp Wa-Ri-Ki (store integrates with Printful for non-profit fundraising) and BlueStar HonorCare (custom streamlined shopping setup for this national medical products company) set up their online store.
As we mentioned above, WooCommerce is a well-known plugin, and it powers many online stores due to its unlimited flexibility. It also has access to hundreds of premium and free WordPress extensions. If you are familiar with WordPress and want to get a store setup, allow us to help you set one up. We can quickly get it running, and you’ll see why WooCommerce is an ideal shop platform.
We asked Serhii, our Programming Ninja, what he has been learning about WooCommerce and how he’s been helping clients as of late:
“Recently we faced a problem on WooCommerce that we solved. The initial issue was that the checkout and cart pages default layout of the Woocommerce Shopping Cart plugin was not visually optimized. Sometimes this issue frustrates potential clients who have a large number of fields that must be filled before the actual purchase. Plus, while customers are trying to purchase something they have to scroll down a lot to get to the ‘Proceed’ button. The Webdirexion team is now working on improving the visual appearance of the checkout and cart default pages and are also brainstorming other possible solutions. We desire to have the usage of a single product page checkout option.”
We look forward to helping you convert visitors into leads!
A 670% split test win producing that much “lift” — in this case more leads — is pretty good, so I wanted to tell you about how we achieved this for a client this Summer. Split testing is part of smart Conversion Rate optimization (CRO) and so a key to the R.A.C.E. strategic marketing framework we use (the “C” stands for Convert).
