Here at WPLift, we love WordPress because it makes it possible for anyone to create the website of their dreams.
But…when you’re just getting started with WordPress, it can be hard to figure out how to unlock that potential and make your website look and function like you want it to.
In our LaunchParty review, we’re going to look at a 100% free WordPress mini-course that aims to help you create a “website in a weekend”.
Because it’s 100% free, that’s already a pretty enticing part of what LaunchParty offers. But beyond that, LaunchParty offers a solid curriculum built on quality tools.
Combine that with detailed video tutorials and summary checklists, and you’ve got a very helpful course to help you create a WordPress website.
LaunchParty Review: What The Course Covers
LaunchParty is a “3-day challenge for beginners” to help you “learn how to create beautiful WordPress websites”.
While LaunchParty uses this 3-day approach to break up its curriculum, there’s nothing enforcing the three-day limit, so you can feel free to move through the course faster or slower depending on your needs.
As far as tools go, LaunchParty teaches you how to build your site using the Elementor page builder. We’re big fans of Elementor and actually use it here at WPLift, so that gets a big thumbs up from us right from the get-go.
Here’s what’s covered over the three days of the course…
Day 1:
How to set up your domain, hosting, WordPress theme, and Elementor
Day 2:
How to build your basic website with Elementor
Day 3:
How to refine your website using Elementor’s many style options
How Do You Learn?
LaunchParty does a few things to make it easier to learn.
First, LaunchParty gives you these really detailed checklists. As you complete each step, you can check it off to keep track of your progress:
For each step, you get a short text description explaining why the step is important, as well as a detailed tutorial video (more on these later). In total, LaunchParty includes over 5 hours of video content across all the lessons.
Most videos are broken into bite-sized 10-15 minute chunks, though there are also some longer ones at certain parts.
In addition to the checklists and videos, you also get access to over 600+ Elementor templates that are integrated into the LaunchParty curriculum (and also help you build your site).
Finally, there’s this neat gamification system that lets you earn badges and points as you go through, which adds some fun to it:
Hands-on With LaunchParty: Exploring the Course
At this point, I hope you have a pretty good idea of what LaunchParty offers. Now, I want to go more hands-on and show you some examples of how the course actually works.
Here’s the basic approach…
First, you’ll choose a day to open the checklist:
Once you go into a step, you’ll see a breakdown of the steps in that tutorial:
For each step, you’ll get an explanation telling you why this step matters, as well as a tutorial video that you can play right in your browser.
The screencast tutorial videos are well produced, have good sound quality, and include English closed captions if you want them:
Below, you’ll get a summary of the key steps in the video, as well as an option to mark that task as done:
When you mark the entire tutorial as complete, you’ll get a celebratory GIF, which I enjoyed very much:
Then, you’ll see your progress for that day and the step that you’re currently on:
So that’s kind of the basic approach to how LaunchParty works.
You can tell that a lot of thought went into the layout. LaunchParty does a great job combining detailed information in the videos with lots of summaries and checklists to keep you focused on the key points and help you understand why you’re taking each step.
How LaunchParty Incorporates The Premade Templates
I won’t show you every single tutorial, but I think another thing that makes LaunchParty unique vs, say, just following YouTube tutorials, is how LaunchParty integrates its 600+ free Elementor templates into the course.
The first step on Day 2 (Create Your Website) is to download and import the Elementor templates.
Once you follow the video tutorial to import those templates, you’ll use them when following the other tutorials to build your site.
For example, you can see that in this video screenshot, you’re editing a template, rather than trying to build something from scratch:
I think this is a great approach to learning how to use Elementor.
When I was teaching myself Elementor, I learned a lot more by importing existing templates and dissecting them than I did by trying to teach myself from scratch.
I think you’ll find the same…
Even if you want to eventually branch off from those 600+ included templates and create your own design, I think the experience of having already seen what a finished section/template looks like will make it a lot easier to create your own designs.
Is LaunchParty A Good Way To Build A Website?
While LaunchParty does a good job with the tutorial videos and interface, the most important thing is the actual techniques that it teaches.
That is – are the methods that LaunchParty teaches actually the best way to build a WordPress website?
I think so.
If I were to tell my friend how to build a website, this is pretty much the exact approach I would recommend.
For most people, using a page builder like Elementor, in combination with a flexible theme like Astra, offers the best way to build a customizable website.
So in terms of what the “method” is, I think LaunchParty has a great approach that will set you up for success.
How Is LaunchParty Free?
As I mentioned a few times, LaunchParty is 100% free. There are no limitations, nor is there any “Pro” content.
To earn money, LaunchParty relies on its affiliate partnerships with the tools mentioned. For example, if you choose the recommended host – SiteGround – LaunchParty will earn a commission.
Similarly, when you purchase your copy of Elementor Pro to follow along with the tutorial, LaunchParty also earns a commission there.
Is there any conflict of interest there? That is, are you being directed to the tools that pay the best commission, rather than the best tools?
Not in our opinion. Both SiteGround and Elementor are our recommended solutions as well, so we feel pretty confident in saying that you’ll be using the best tools for the job.
Final Thoughts On LaunchParty
I should preface this section by saying that it’s really hard to find complaints with a free product. But being “free” is definitely not the only enticing part of LaunchParty.
LaunchParty nails two other very important things:
- The tools – SiteGround, Elementor Pro, and the Astra theme – are the very same tools we use here at WPLift and EasyThemePacks, so we can personally vouch that they’re a great way to build your site.
- The method for applying those tools to build your site is also very similar to how WPLift and EasyThemePacks are constructed. For example, if you head to the WPLift homepage, you’ll see that it’s built with Elementor. So again, we can vouch for the curriculum that’s being taught.
Beyond that, the video tutorials are well-produced and it’s great how there are so many checklists and summaries to help you stay focused and on the right course.
Finally, the integration of the 600+ Elementor templates into the course is a really smart idea to lower the learning curve in Elementor and help you create a good-looking website in as little time as possible.
All in all, if you’ve been wanting to create a website but weren’t sure where to start, LaunchParty is a great resource to get you up and running.
