WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool to a tool being used to create all types of web sites.
Whatever you can think of, someone is probably already building it using WordPress!
In this article you will discover how to create stunning content with drag & drop ease in WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The WordPress Editor Meeting All Of Your Content Creation Needs?
Using the WordPress visual content editor to build or edit complex content elements can sometimes be quite difficult.
(The WordPress editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” content, but adding more complex layouts can be quite challenging!)
For example, if you look at the image below …
Creating the above in a page would require inserting something like this into the default WordPress editor …
Normally, this is not an issue … until you want to edit a fundamental aspect of the layout (for example, move part of the content from box 3 into box 2, or change the button inside box 1 from green to gray. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code.
The WordPress content editor is supposed to provide users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, when working with complex layouts, what you see in the WordPress visual content editor may not be what you are getting when your content is published …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some instances, users could even be better off working inside the html (text) editor tab instead of the visual editor when trying to build something other than simple page elements …
Even though WordPress is the most user-friendly CMS platform available, this makes it difficult for non-technical website owners to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental issue about using shortcodes and HTML to create content in the default WordPress visual editor can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long does it take to build a page using the editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the editor match the “front end” content when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above image, what you see when working in the back end doesn’t look at all like what you see in the front end. This means that you have to abstract what your content will look like when working with complex layouts. Other solutions require taking multiple steps before you can begin configuring your page layout, or endlessly switching browser tabs and performing tweaks and updates to see how your content is progressing, which then impacts how quickly you can create your content, as you wait for the new content to reload.
A number of WordPress web developers have come up with a range of solutions with the aim of addressing this issue. Some of these range from standalone WP plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to themes that come with built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make creating complex layouts easier!)
Some solutions include so many complex page design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these solutions work, but they fail to address the fundamental problem with using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. Creating, adding and editing sophisticated content elements on a web page becomes overly complicated, involves multiple steps and doesn’t match what users expect to see on the “front end.”
If you want your page content to look “just right” quickly, this can start to become really frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like to build and edit your pages?
Now that you’ve asked this question, visualize the following scenario …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs changing, just click on the content and start changing it. Your content has been instantly changed.
- You can drag and drop items around the page, and see them exactly as they will appear on the front end without having to mentally translate shortcodes or HTML.
- You have an idea for some content that you’d like to create, so you simply begin typing, and your web page gets built on the fly, with no delays, no switching of tab browsers, and without having to wait for edits to refresh and reload.
Would this not be the perfect way to build content for your WordPress web site? A true WYSIWYG content editor where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your pages and posts?
(Imagine being able to create complex pages ”on the fly” for your web content without technical constraints!)
If you are ready to change the way you create content in WordPress site, then here is a plugin that you may want to consider using …
Thrive Content Builder And Landing Pages – WordPress Click-To-Edit Drag And Drop Content And Landing Page Editing Plugin
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a unique WordPress plugin that lets you easily create amazing content pages using true click-to-edit and drag and drop simplicity.
Thrive Content Builder is a new and exciting way to set up conversion-focused pages on any WordPress website.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor and a sidebar menu that lets you drag and drop design elements to your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content builder to WordPress)
Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder is actually a combination of the Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages plugins merged into one, plus an additional plugin feature called Thrive Lightbox.
We’ll take a look at each of the above plugins and how all of this functionality works seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your site and create awesome marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – WordPress Click-To-Edit Drag & Drop Content Creation Tool
You can easily add content to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Every element on your page can be created with “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” ease …
Once elements have been added to a page, you can continue to further customize them without having to go through additional steps or complicated settings screens …
You can also build beautiful landing pages that can just as easily be edited or customized …
Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, working on content with Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder installed is so amazingly simple, that the developers guarantee that you’ll never look back once you start using it
Go here to learn more about this plugin: Thrive Content Builder
Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages were created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another excellent plugin that we have previously recommended on this site.
See this article for more information about using this plugin:
Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up content creation:
Ready To Start Using In Minutes
Thrive Content Builder installs just like any other WP plugin. Just upload it to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Real-Time Content Content Editing
Thrive Content Builder is very simple to use and lets you edit and build content in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Editor
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “backend” as you work within the editor – typefaces, visual elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see in the front end of your site.
Additional plugin benefits include the following:
- Eye-Catching Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with drag-and-drop ease.
- Customizable Elements Included: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get an exciting and simple-to-use drag and drop WordPress content editor, but the plugin also includes an impressive collection of web design elements that you can insert into your content layouts without using shortcodes, such as pricing tables, content reveal feature, call to action buttons, countdown timers, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to wait for the updates to refresh frees up your attention and allows you to build the content your business needs, quickly and without having to edit code or click through multiple steps to get what you want done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily create, edit and customize page elements like testimonials, flat design elements, gradient boxes, section dividers, responsive maps, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder offers many great features to site owners. Below we have listed just some:
- Built-In WordPress Editor Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to all of the built-in WordPress editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold formatting, paragraph formatting, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” list of elements available on your post or page screen for creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you with various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help increase the effectiveness of your sales pages, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantee forms. In addition to being customizable, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Element Design: Add mobile-friendly elements like columns, boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will display great on different screens.
- Add Animation To Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you insert animation in buttons, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Landing Page Sets
Landing page sets are templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language to take your visitors from initial signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages plugin lets you add conversion-optimized web pages to your web site)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money building landing pages for your web site
- 100% conversion-optimized landing pages
- No tech skills required
- Works with any WordPress theme
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only can be used to create beautiful content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully designed, web page templates that are conversion-optimized and fully customizable …
(Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are over thirty templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the existing templates, expect to see new templates in the future for email lead generation, sales pages, training pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Customizable Landing Page Template Sets
Normally, to be able to fully customize a landing page template, you would need to either pay a web site designer to do the work, or learn web coding languages like HTML and CSS and figure out what to do yourself.
As Shane Melaugh, co-founder of Thrive Themes says …
“There are many ways to get a pre-designed page published quickly, but the problem comes with customization. Total design freedom requires either hiring web developers to do the work for you, or learn how to do it yourself, which involves learning how to mess around with code or use complex editors. Customizable usually means complicated, expensive or time-consuming. So, you can either have something that is fast and easy to set up, or something that is customizable and flexible. But you couldn’t have both … until now! With Thrive Landing Pages you get the best of both worlds for building conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you beautiful pre-designed pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change and customize any aspect of your page template …
With the landing page templates included with this plugin, you can do the following:
- Edit text in any headline, button, bullet point, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other component of the landing page
- Replace all background images or background color
- Change the color of links, buttons, text, etc.
- Select your own fonts
- Select your own images and graphics
- Modify content area size
- Rearrange the order of page elements
- Translate everything on the page into a different language
- Add any kind of custom content in your pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own landing pages from scratch and save them as new page templates.
(Change or edit anything on the page templates)
Transform Your WordPress Website Into A Powerful Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox Plugin
The Thrive package also includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully configurable two-step opt-in forms and events to your WordPress site …
(Add opt-in forms and animated objects to your pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Thrive Lighbox 2-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process helps improve your conversion rates. Visitors click on a button or image, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(2-step opt-in forms help to increase your conversion rates.)
Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make opt-in forms appear when when visitors click or hover their mouse over a button or graphic elements, or when someone scrolls down to a certain point on the page. You can also use the Event Manager to animate images on your page, using various effects (e.g. zoom in, slide in from bottom to top, roll in, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your marketing pages with Thrive Lightbox)
A lightbox and event is created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over your events, triggers and design.
User Testimonials
Here are just a few of the testimonials and feedback plugin users have written about Thrive Content Builder:
“I have had nothing but the best experience imaginable with this tool since I purchased it. This is by far one of, if not the best plug-in I have purchase to date and it has definitely made working with WordPress a whole new experience. Jim Bond”
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“I’m blown away by the plugin. Keep up the incredible, WordPress changing work, guys! Dean Phillips”
Useful Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any theme in WordPress, not just with Thrive Landing Pages. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content that was not created with the plugin installed.
You can add shortcodes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will be displayed correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Thrive Content Builder Plugin Support
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages Plugin comes with free updates, new landing pages and upcoming features. The plugin developers are constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive plugins are well-supported, and users get lifetime upgrades, plus one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, thirty day, full money-back guarantee.
This is an exciting product that just keeps getting better.
Plugin Price
At the time of writing, the pricing information shown below includes all three components described above (Thrive Content Builder, Thrive Landing Pages & Thrive Lightbox):
- Single Site License Edition – This edition lets you run the plugin on a single web site. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This lets you run the plugin on all of your personal sites. It includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency License – Use on all your sites and on client sites. Cost includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Note: Price details for this product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the pricing when this article was written. This may not be the actual pricing set by the product author when you visit the product website and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
The Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder plugin developers emphatically assert that the plugin’s architecture gives you the “best of both worlds,” and help bring back the “joy of creating content.”
On the one hand, you have the time-saving benefits of ready-made page elements and beautiful, pre-designed templates that help speed up page design and content creation, and on the other hand, you also have complete control over the design process and the freedom to change everything on your web page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, that lets you see exactly how the content you are working on will appear after publishing.
For a demo video of the plugin, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the plugin website.
The Bottom Line …
If you want to edit something, you just click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, do it, and you can see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, you drag it and drop it into its new position. There are no additional steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your web presence and create amazing sales pages and content, Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
To learn more, check out the plugin here:
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