This article was written by WebDevStudios Account Manager Jen Miller, MBA, MSML. A WP engine Agency partnerWebDevStudios is a WordPress website design and development company that creates quality-driven digital experiences that fuel customer success.
According to W3 Techs, 43.2% of websites worldwide are powered by WordPress, with 62.8% using WordPress as their content management system (CMS). Of these WordPress sites, 23% use Elementor.
The popularity of Elementor’s drag and drop interface is due to the ease of use of the builder. Historically, before the arrival of the WordPress Block Editor, Elementor made it simpler for non-technical users to build a website. Unfortunately, a simple test using Google’s PageSpeed Insights shows that sites built with page builders rank lower than those built in the block editor.
Testing indicates that page load speed is affected by Elementor as the page builder makes page sizes larger than average and prompts the need to migrate as these issues affect search engine optimization (SEO). Often, problems like these are discovered during a regular website audit.
“Testing is one of the most critical parts of the discovery process, as it helps set our foundation for improvement,” says WebDevStudios Director of Engineering Mitch Canter.
“Therefore, 99% of the projects we take on here at WebDevStudios start with performance, code quality and security testing.”
Because of this, clients look to WebDevStudios to migrate their existing WordPress site from Elementor to a block-based theme.
“We’ve seen an uptick in new customers interested in migrating away from Elementor,” says WebDevStudios CEO Brad Williams.
“While the site design the team produced may look great, they end up choosing a no-code or low-code solution like Elementor because they don’t have the experts on staff to actually develop a modern block-based WordPress theme.”
Migrating from a Page Builder – A common WordPress challenge
If you haven’t tried to migrate from Elementor yet, you probably don’t know the challenge it presents.
Websites usually export and import relatively easily. However, page builders present unique challenges in this area.
For example, Elementor layouts become a solid block on import, which removes the original design elements and can lead to missing content and unauthorized designs. Widget areas also become a block, adding to the migration challenge. When there are transition challenges, more hours are required, increasing the customer’s costs.
Until recently, migrating a page builder site to blocks required a manual migration. However, this was not the most efficient solution. WebDevStudios Chief Operations Officer Lisa Sabin-Wilson explains it in detail:
“Traditionally, migrating site data from a WordPress installation using the Elementor page builder to one leveraging the Block Editor has been a cumbersome and time-consuming task,” he says.
“It required significant manual effort, was prone to errors and often resulted in increased project schedules and costs. Understanding these challenges, we developed this Elemetor-to-Block migration script that automates the conversion of Elementor-designed pages to Block Editor format, essentially eliminating the manual work that was once a staple of these types of data migration projects. Due to the volume of requests, our engineering team decided to design an Elementor to Block Editor solution.”
WebDevStudios develops migration solution that saves time and cost
WebDevStudios engineers analyzed why this issue occurred and developed a framework to address the issue. Our specialized framework converts Elementor blocks and widget content into the WordPress block editor via its custom command line interface. This results in faster system line integration for engineers, enabling automated conversion of Elementor pages into basic WordPress blocks when using a traditional theme, saving companies and clients time and money.
“It’s important that our customers can take their data with them no matter where they go on the web, ensuring that their content remains intact and accessible regardless of platform,” says Sabin-Wilson.
“Our script supports data portability, facilitating smooth transitions without the risk of data loss, embodying our commitment to provide flexible and future-proof web solutions. Whether it’s a facelift or a complete re-platform, it’s vital that your data is ready to move when you are.”
“Operationally, the Elementor-to-Block migration scenario helped us realize efficiency gains, reduced costs, improved project quality, and confirmed our commitment to innovation in this space and our ability to meet and overcome the challenges of modern development WordPress,” Sabin – adds Wilson.
“The right technology can make our work better, not just faster, and adding this script to our toolbox means we spend less time on the drudgery and more time on the creative side of web development and helps us reduce the cost of us and our customers.”
The process is simple, it requires deactivating the Elementor plugin and activating a new theme like the default WP 2024 theme as shown in the demo video. Once loaded, the website content remains unstyled and laid out as a block in both the Elementor interface and editor.
However, when the WebDevStudios block editor is run in the custom CLI, this one block becomes a series of blocks, as intended. The WordPress editor can now access Elementor widgets and elements found in previous layouts, as all Elementor widgets are now WordPress blocks. From here, our team at WebDevStudios updates the block designs and styles to match the design of the Elementor home pages, resulting in a more performing site.
To learn more about this innovative Elementor migration solution, contact WebDevStudios or call us at 1.855.932.3380. Let us know if you have a different problem we need to solve! We love creating innovative enterprise website solutions that create value.
