WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool to a tool that can be used to design all types of pages – direct sales pages, product showcase pages, business pages, etc.
Whatever you can think of, someone is bound to be already building it using WordPress!
This article will help you discover the fastest and easiest to use WYSIWYG content builder for WordPress sites.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Does The Default WordPress Visual Editor Meet All Of Your Content Creation And Editing Needs?
Using the built-in WordPress editor to build or edit complex page layouts can be quite challenging for non-technical web site owners.
(The built-in WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional text and media, but adding complex content elements can be challenging!)
For example, if you look at the screenshot below …
To add the above content to your content would require inserting something that looks like this inside your default WordPress visual editor …
Normally, this is not an issue … unless you want to reconfigure your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the button inside box 1 from dark green to dark red. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code inside the editor.
The WordPress content editor is supposed to give non-technical users an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to edit complex layouts, often what you see on your editor screen may not be the same as what you are going to get when the content is published …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some cases, some people argue that you could even be better off working directly with the source html itself instead of the WYSIWYG editor when trying to create something other than simple page elements …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it hard for non-technical users to have full control of their own content.
The fundamental challenge with using shortcodes and HTML to create content with WordPress can be summarized by asking the following questions:
1) Speed – How long does it take to build a web page using the editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” resemble 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 doesn’t look even remotely similar to what you see in the front end. This means that you need to abstract 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 browser tabs and performing tweaks and updates to see how your content is coming along, which can impact how quickly you can create your content, as you wait for the page to load.
A number of WordPress web developers have come up with a range of solutions aiming to make the visual editor easier. Some of these alternative solutions range from standalone 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 end up requiring so many page design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these editors work fine, but they don’t really seem to address the fundamental issue of 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 to create or edit complex layouts quickly, this can become very frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your page editor to behave?
Now, imagine this …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs to be fixed, just click on the content and start changing it. Your content has been instantly fixed.
- You simply drag and drop items on the page, and see them exactly as they will display on the front end without having to mentally translate any HTML or shortcodes.
- You have an idea for a specific item of content you’d like to add, so you simply start typing, and your page gets built on the fly, without delays, without switching tabs, and without waiting for edits to republish and reload.
Would this not be the perfect way to build content for your WordPress web site? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the page?
(Imagine being able to create complex web pages in real-time for your web content with no technical skills required!)
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 Drag And Drop Front End Visual Content Editor For WordPress Sites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a unique plugin for WordPress that lets users easily create and edit content on their posts and pages using a powerful click-to-edit and drag and drop content editor.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin provides WordPress users with a new and exciting way to set up conversion-focused pages on any WordPress web site.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor and a menu that lets you drag and drop elements to your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual editor to WordPress)
Thrive Content 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.
Let’s take an in-depth a look at each of the above and how all of this powerful functionality works seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your site and create amazing marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder
With this plugin installed easily add content to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your page can be created using simple “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” …
Once elements have been added to the page, you can then customize or edit them without going through multiple steps or opening more option windows …
The built-in functionality of the plugin also lets you create stunning landing pages that can just as easily be edited or customized …
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing web pages with the plugin installed is so effortlessly simple, that the developers guarantee that you’ll never look back once you start using it
To learn more about the plugin go here: 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 for WordPress that we have written about on this site.
Go here to learn more about using this plugin:
Benefits Of Using Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder
Below are just some of the benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of designing pages and creating content for your WordPress website:
Quick And Easy To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In Very Little Time.
Thrive Content Builder is quite easy to install. Simply upload a zip file containing the plugin files to your Plugin folder via your admin login and activate.
Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is very simple and intuitive to use and lets you build and add content to your web pages in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Editor
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “back-end” as you work within the content editor – typefaces, elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see in the front end of your site.
Additional benefits include the following:
- Beautiful Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with intuitive drag and drop functionality.
- Add Customizable Elements With No Shortcodes Required: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get a click-to-edit content builder, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of web design elements that you can customizable and add to your pages without using short codes, like columns, borderless content, section dividers, credit card icons, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to constantly switch tabs as you edit content and then wait for the updates to load frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you build content or click through multiple steps to get what you need done.
(Insert, edit and customize web page elements like testimonial boxes, columns, borderless content, call to action buttons, responsive Google map embeds, etc.)
Thrive Content Builder Features
Thrive Content Builder provides WordPress users many unique features. Here are just a few:
- Regular Content Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have access to all of the regular text editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold formatting, centering text, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” list of multi-style elements available on your post or page screen when creating or editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with a range of eye-catching and customizable elements that will help you increase your sales conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantees. In addition to being customizable, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Mobile-Friendly Design: Add mobile-friendly elements like column layouts, boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will display correctly on devices with differently sized screens.
- Add Animation Events To Web Pages: Thrive Content Builder’s Event Manager feature lets you insert animations, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your 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 provides you with conversion-optimized page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time building professional landing pages for your WordPress web site
- 100% conversion-optimized web pages
- No technical skills required
- 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 beautifully designed, web page templates that are conversion-optimized and fully customizable …
(Landing page sets 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 templates that are currently available, the developers plan to release new templates 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 fully customize a landing page template, you would need to either hire a web site designer to do the work, or learn how to code web pages 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-built web pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change or customize anything on the page template …
The landing page templates included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Change text in all headlines, bullet points, buttons, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other part of your landing page
- Change the background image or background colours
- Edit the color of text, buttons, links, etc.
- Use your own fonts
- Select your own images
- Change content area size
- Rearrange the order of page elements
- Translate pages into a different language
- Add any type of custom content in the pages
- Start with a blank page and create your own templates, or even build a custom landing pages library.
(Change or customize any aspect of your page template)
Transform Your Web Site Into A Powerful Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox
The Thrive package includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully editable two-step opt-in forms and animated objects to your web pages …
(Add lead capture forms and events to your WordPress web site with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Thrive Lighbox 2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process helps to improve your conversion rates. Visitors click on an image or button, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Capture more leads and subscribers with a 2-step opt-in process)
Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make opt-in forms appear when when visitors click or hover 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 attention-getting elements on your web pages, using various animation effects (e.g. zoom in, slide in from top to bottom, roll in, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your WordPress web site with Thrive Lightbox)
Lightboxes and events are created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over your events, triggers and design.
User Testimonials
Below are a few of the testimonials users have submitted regarding Thrive Content Builder:
”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 – 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 using the plugin.
You can add WordPress short codes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will display correctly on your website.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content built with Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder 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 software 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 for WordPress users that just keeps getting better.
Software Cost
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 Licensing – This allows you to use the plugin on a single domain. Price includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This allows you to install the plugin on all web sites that you own. Cost includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – This license allows you to install the plugin on all of your own websites and all client web sites. Pricing includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Cost = $247.00 per year.
Note: The cost to purchase this product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Currently, the software sells for the pricing shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin author when you visit the product site and there may be 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 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 web page elements and template sets that help make designing your pages faster, and on the other hand, you have 100% control over your design process and the ability to edit everything on your page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that allows you to work unhindered by overly complicated options.
For a demo video showing how the plugin works, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive plugins website.
In Conclusion …
If you want to edit something, you just 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, all you need to do is drag it and drop it into its new position. There are no extra steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your website and create awesome sales pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content, Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For complete details, check out the plugin here:
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