WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool to a tool that is now used to design all types of pages – direct sales pages, portfolio pages, business pages, etc.
Whatever you can imagine, someone is most likely already building it using WordPress!
This article will help you discover the fastest way to build stunning content in WordPress.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Does The Default WordPress Editor Meet All Of Your Content Creation Needs?
Using the built-in WordPress WYSIWYG content editor to create or edit complex page elements can be difficult for non-technical users.
(The WordPress content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” text and images, but adding more complex content elements can be quite challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the layout shown below …
To create the above boxes with text and buttons, you would normally need to add shortcodes to your content for each page element you want to add to your page …
Typically, this is not an issue … unless you choose to change your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 3 into box 2, or change the button inside a box from bright red to gray. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code or html.
The WordPress visual content editor is supposed to be an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are working with more complex page elements, 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 situations, some people argue that you would probably be better off working directly inside the WordPress html editor tab instead of the visual editor when trying to create non-linear page elements …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it hard for non-technical users to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental problem with having to use HTML and shortcodes to create content in the default WordPress editor can be summarized as follows:
1) Speed – How long will it take to create a page using the editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” match the “front end” content when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above, what you see when working in the content editor looks nothing like what you see in the front end. This means that users have to translate mentally what the content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require taking a number of steps before you can begin configuring your page layout, or endlessly switching tabs and performing updates to see how your content is coming along, which then impacts how quickly you can create your content, as you wait for your updated content to refresh.
Many WordPress web developers have tried to come up with various solutions to try to make the visual editor easier. Some of these solutions range from WP plugins you can install on your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WP themes that provide built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make content creation easier!)
Some solutions end up combining so many complex page design features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these alternative editors work, but they don’t address the fundamental challenge of using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. Creating and adding sophisticated content elements on a page becomes overly complicated, involves multiple steps and doesn’t match what users expect to see on the “front end.”
If you want to create or edit complex page content 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 behave?
Now, imagine this …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs to be corrected, just click on the content and start writing. Your content has been instantly changed.
- You can drag and drop elements around the page, and the page looks exactly as it will display on the front end without having to mentally abstract from HTML or shortcodes.
- You have an idea for some content you would like to add, so you simply start typing, and your web page gets built as you go, without delays, with no switching tabs, and without waiting for edits to republish and reload.
Would this not be the perfect way to build content for your WordPress website? A true WYSIWYG content builder where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your pages?
(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 – The Ultimate Click-To-Edit Front End Content Editor For WordPress Websites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive WordPress click-to-edit drag and drop content editing plugin.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin is a new and incredibly easy way to set up conversion-focused pages on any WordPress site.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor with a menu that lets you select, then drag and drop design elements on your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual content editing option to WordPress)
The Thrive Content Builder plugin is actually a combination of the Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages plugins rolled into one, plus an additional plugin feature called Thrive Lightbox.
Let’s review each of the above and how all of this exciting functionality works seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your business online and create amazing marketing pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder – Click-To-Edit Drag And Drop Content Building Plugin For WordPress
This plugin lets you easily add content to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your web page can be created and changed with “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” ease …
Once you have positioned elements on your page, you can then easily edit them without having to go through additional steps or complicated configuration windows …
The built-in Landing Pages editor also lets you work inside stunning landing pages that can also be easily edited …
Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing pages with the Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers guarantee that you will never look back once you start using it
For more details, visit the plugin site here: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another terrific plugin we’ve reviewed on this site.
For more information about using this plugin, see this article:
Benefits Of Using Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder
Below are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Fast And Simple To Install And Implement. Ready To Go To Work In Very Little Time.
Thrive Content Builder is really easy to install. Simply upload a zip folder containing the plugin to your Plugins folder via your WP dashboard and activate.
Edit & Build Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is really simple and intuitive to use and lets you edit and add content to your web pages in real-time.
A Truly Visual Editor
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the content editor – typefaces, visual elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what you get in the front end of your site.
Additional benefits and advantages include the following:
- Attractive Web Page Layouts With Drag And Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with drag-and-drop ease.
- Design Elements Included: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get a drag and drop content editor, but the plugin also includes a collection of professional design elements that you can add to your content layouts without using shortcodes, such as columns, table of contents builder, section dividers, responsive Google maps, etc.
- Distraction-Free Content Creation: Not having to deal with technical stuff for your updated content to load frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you work or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you need done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily insert, edit and customize web page elements like testimonials, content toggle, table of contents builder, call to action buttons, custom HTML and CSS, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder provides website owners a number of features. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Built-In WordPress Content Functionality Is Still Available: You have access to all of the regular WordPress content editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold, centering text, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” list of multi-style elements to your post or page screen when editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with a range of eye-catching and customizable elements that will help increase the effectiveness of your sales pages, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonial boxes, and guarantee forms. In addition to customization options, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Responsive Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, guarantee boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will adjust to display correctly on different device screens.
- Add Animation Events To Pages: Thrive Content Builder’s Event Manager feature lets you insert animated page elements, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Template Sets
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 lets you easily add conversion-optimized web pages to your site)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money building web pages for your WordPress web site
- 100% conversion-optimized web pages
- No coding skills needed
- Works with all themes
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder not only can be used to create beautiful content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of professionally designed, conversion optimized web page templates and fully customizable …
(Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are 30+ templates available, with more templates scheduled for future release. In addition to the templates that are currently available, expect to see new templates in the future for email lead generation, sales pages, lesson pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Completely Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template
Typically, to be able to have a completely customizable landing page template, you would need to either hire a web developer 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 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 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 lets you change and edit anything on your page …
With the landing page templates included with this plugin, you can do the following:
- Modify text in all buttons, headlines, bullet points, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other element of the landing page
- Replace the background image or colour
- Change the color of text, links, buttons, etc.
- Use your own fonts
- Select your own images
- Edit the size of the content area
- Change the order of page elements
- Translate pages into different languages
- Add custom content anywhere in your pages
- Start with a blank page and create your own templates, or even build a custom landing pages library.
(Change or edit any aspect of your page templates)
Transform Your Web Site Into A Powerful Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox
The Thrive plugin combo also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully configurable two-step opt-in forms and events to your website …
(Add opt-in forms and animated elements to your WordPress site with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Thrive Lighbox 2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process can improve your conversion rates. Visitors click on a button or image, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Capture more leads and subscribers with a two-step opt-in process)
Thrive Lightbox Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make opt-in forms appear when your visitor clicks or hovers 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 web pages, using various effects (e.g. zoom in from the page center, slide in from top to bottom, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your WordPress site 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 Feedback
Below are a couple of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have written about 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”
Thrive Content Builder Plugin – Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any theme in WordPress, not just with Thrive Landing Pages. Note, however, that you cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on pages or posts that were not created with the plugin.
You can add shortcodes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will be displayed correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build using Thrive Content Builder.
Thrive Content Builder Support
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages Plugin provides free updates, new landing templates and upcoming features. The Thrive team is constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive plugins are very well-supported, and users get lifetime updates, and 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, thirty day, full refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product that will just keep 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 license option enables you to activate the plugin on a single domain. It includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This enables you to configure the plugin on unlimited web sites that you own. Cost includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency License Edition – This license lets you configure the plugin on all of your own domains and all client sites. Cost includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Note: The cost of purchasing the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. The above reflects the current price at the time this article was written. This may not be the actual price set by the plugin seller when you visit the plugin site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
The Thrive Content and Page Builder plugin developers emphatically 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 make designing your pages faster, and on the other hand, you have complete control over the design process and the freedom to edit anything and everything on your page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that lets you get things done without having to open multiple dialog boxes.
For a demo video of the plugin, including installation instructions and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive plugins website.
Get The Plugin …
If you want to edit something, simply click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, you’ll see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, all you have to do is drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no unnecessary steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your site and create amazing marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For full details, check out the plugin here:
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