WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application into a tool being used to design all types of web pages – landing pages, product showcase pages, business pages, etc.
Whatever you can think of, someone is bound to be already building it using WordPress!
In this article you will discover the simplest, most intuitive visual content builder for WordPress web sites.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The Default WordPress Visual Editor Meeting All Of Your Web Design Needs?
Using the default WordPress WYSIWYG editor to create or edit complex page elements can be challenging for non-technical web site owners.
(The WordPress editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional text and media, but adding complex page elements can be challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the content shown below …
To create the above layout, users would normally have to insert short codes into the content for each element they want to add to their page …
Generally, this is not really an issue … until you need to edit something in your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 1 into box 2, or replace the button in box 2 from green to dark red. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code.
The WordPress visual content editor is supposed to provide non-technical users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to create complex layouts, often what you see in the visual editor may not be the same as what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some cases, users could even be better off working with the source html itself instead of the WordPress visual editor when trying to add complex page elements …
Even though WordPress is very user-friendly, this makes it difficult for non-technical website owners to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental challenge about using shortcodes and HTML to create content in the default WordPress visual editor can be summarized by asking the following questions:
1) Speed – How long will it take to create a web page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the editor resemble 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 looks nothing like what you see in the front end. This means that users need to translate mentally what the 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 updates to see how your content is progressing, which can interrupt the creative process, as you wait for your page to load.
Many WordPress developers have come up with a range of solutions to address this issue. Some of these alternative solutions range from 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 content easier!)
Some solutions require so many page design features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these alternative solutions work, but they don’t really seem to address the fundamental problem with using HTML and shortcodes as described earlier. Creating, adding and editing non-linear content 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 web content to look “just right” quickly, this can start to become very frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your web content editor to work?
Now that you’ve asked this question, imagine the following …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs to be corrected, simply click on the content and start writing. Your content is then instantly edited.
- You can just drag and drop items on the page, and see them exactly as they will display on the front end without having to mentally abstract from shortcodes or HTML.
- You have an idea for some content you’d like to create, so you immediately start typing, and you build your page on the fly, without delays, with no switching tabs, and without having to wait for new web content to resave and reload.
Would that not be the perfect way to create content for your WordPress website? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your page?
(Imagine being able to create complex page layouts quickly 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
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a unique WordPress plugin that gives you complete control over every aspect of your content pages using true click-to-edit and drag and drop simplicity.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin is a new and incredibly easy way to speed up the process of adding content to WordPress web sites.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor and an item menu that lets you drag and drop design elements on your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content builder to WordPress)
Thrive Content And Landing Page Builder is actually a combination of the Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages plugins combined into one, plus an additional plugin feature called Thrive Lightbox.
In this article we’ll take a look at each of the above plugins and how these powerful features work together to help you transform and improve your website and create awesome marketing pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder Plugin
Thrive Content Builder lets you easily build complex web page design layouts using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your page can be built using ”click-to-edit” and “drag and drop” …
Once elements have been added to the page, you can then edit or customize these without going through additional steps or switching screens …
The built-in Thrive Landing Pages also lets you build highly attractive landing pages that can just as easily be edited or customized …
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing pages with Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder installed is so amazingly simple, that the developers warn that once you start using it, it’ll ruin the experience of using all other content editors forever, and you will never look back!
Go here to learn more about this plugin: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another excellent plugin that we have previously reviewed on this site.
See this page for more information about using this plugin:
Benefits
Below are just a few of the benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of creating content for your WordPress web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Implement. Be Up And Running In Minutes.
Thrive Content Builder is very easy to install. Simply upload it to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is is not only really simple to use, it also lets you edit and add content to your web pages in real-time.
What You See Is Exactly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “back end” as you work within the editor – typefaces, visual elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what you get on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Design Stunning Layouts With Drag And Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with intuitive drag and drop functionality.
- Add Customizable Elements Without Short Codes: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get an amazing drag and drop content builder, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of professional web design elements that you can add to your web pages without using shortcodes, for e.g.: tabbed content, star ratings for review pages, buttons, HTML code insert boxes, etc.
- More Enjoyable Content Creation: Not having to constantly switch tabs as you edit content and then wait for your updates to load frees up your attention and allows you to build the pages your business needs, quickly and without having to edit code or click through multiple steps to get what you need done.
(Easily add, edit and customize page elements like testimonials, flat design elements, table of contents builder, buttons, responsive video embeds, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder provides many features to site owners. Here are just a few:
- Built-In Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have access to all of the built-in WordPress text editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold formatting, left-aligned text, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Multi-Style Elements: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” list of elements available on your post or page screen for editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help you 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 column layouts, guarantee boxes, dividers, e.g. which will resize and display correctly on different device screens.
- Add Animation Events To Pages: The Event Manager feature lets you add animation in images, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Templates
Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of 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 easily add conversion-optimized pages to your web site)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time designing beautiful-looking pages
- 100% conversion-optimized page templates
- No coding skills required
- Works with all themes
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages not only can be used to create beautiful-looking content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of professionally designed, conversion optimized page templates and fully customizable …
(Landing page sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are currently over thirty templates available, with more templates scheduled for future release. In addition to the templates shown above, 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 have completely customizable landing page templates, you would need to either pay a web developer to do the work, or learn how to code web pages and figure out how to edit the page code 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 code or use overly complicated 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 creating conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you beautiful pre-designed page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change and edit anything on the page …
The landing page template sets included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Modify text in any button, headline, bullet point, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other element of your landing page
- Replace any background images and edit colour
- Change the color of text, buttons, links, etc.
- Select your own fonts
- Select your own images
- Modify the size of the content area
- Rearrange the order of page elements
- Translate pages into a different language
- Add any kind of custom content anywhere inside the pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own web pages from scratch and save them as new page templates.
(Change or customize any element of the page template)
Transform Your Site Into A Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox Plugin
The Thrive package includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully configurable two-step opt-in forms and animated elements to your web site …
(Add lead capture forms and animation to your sales pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Thrive Lighbox Two-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process can help improve your conversion rates. When visitors click on a button or image they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Capture more leads and subscribers with a 2-step opt-in process)
Thrive Lightbox Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make an opt-in form appear when your visitor clicks or hovers their mouse over a button or graphic elements, or when someone reaches a certain point on the page. You can also use the Event Manager to animate images on your page, using various effects (e.g. fade in, slide in from right to left, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your web pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Lightboxes and events are created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over the events, triggers and design.
User Testimonials
Below are some of the testimonials that plugin users have submitted regarding the Thrive Content Builder plugin:
”Wow! This is just getting better & better. This plugin is making my websites look so professional. Keep up the great work and thank you for the new features. Ladonna Ragalin”
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“I’m blown away by the plugin. Keep up the incredible, WordPress changing work, guys! Dean Phillips”
Plugin Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any theme in WordPress, not just with the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on pages or posts that were not created with the plugin.
You can add WordPress shortcodes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will display correctly on the front end.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content built using Thrive Content Builder.
Product Support
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages provides free updates, new landing templates and upcoming features. The plugin developers are constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive software is really well-supported, and users get lifetime updates, and one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 30 day, full refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that just keeps getting better.
Software Pricing
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 – This option allows you to configure the plugin on one domain only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License – This lets you configure the plugin on all of your personal web sites. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency License Edition – This allows you to set up the plugin on all of your own sites and your client sites. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Please Note: The price of the Thrive Content Builder plugin depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. When we last checked, the plugin is being retailed for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing set by the software developer when you visit the product site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after purchasing.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
The Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin developers repeatedly maintain 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 time-saving features like ready-made page elements and templates that help to make designing your content faster, and on the other hand, you also have complete control over your design process and the freedom to edit everything on your web page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, that lets you see how the content you are working on will look after being published.
For a demo video of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive website.
Download This Plugin …
If you want to edit something, you click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, you can see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, you drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no unnecessary steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your website and create awesome marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For complete details, visit the plugin website:
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