WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool into a tool being used to design all types of web pages – marketing pages, portfolio 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 most intuitive way to build stunning content in WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The WordPress Editor Still Meeting All Of Your Page Design Needs?
Using the built-in WordPress WYSIWYG content editor to build or edit sophisticated content elements can sometimes be quite difficult.
(The WordPress editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” text and media, but adding complex content elements can be quite challenging!)
For example, if you look at the image below …
Creating the above content in your content would require typing something like this inside the default WordPress editor …
Generally, this is not an issue … unless you choose to reconfigure the layout (for example, move some of the content from box 1 into box 2, or change the background color in box 2 from red to orange. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code or html.
The WordPress content editor is supposed to give users an easy-to-use WYSIWYG content editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to add more complex content elements, often what you see on your editor screen may not be what you are going to get when the web page gets published …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, some people argue that users could be better off working inside the html (text) editor tab instead of the WordPress visual editor when trying to create non-linear layouts …
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 challenge with having to use HTML and shortcodes to create content in WordPress can be summarized by asking the following questions:
1) Speed – How long will it take to build a page using this 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, what you see in the editor doesn’t look anything like what you see in the front end. This means that you need to translate mentally what the content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require a number of steps before you can begin configuring your page layout, or endlessly going back and forth between tabs and performing tweaks and updates to see how your content is progressing, which can interrupt the creative process, as you wait for the new content to refresh.
A number of WordPress web developers have tried to come up with various solutions with the objective of making content editing easier. Some of these alternative solutions range from stand alone plugins you can install on 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 page layouts easier!)
Some solutions include so many complex page design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end editors …
Many of these editors work, but they still fail to address the fundamental challenge of using shortcodes and HTML as described earlier. 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 to create or edit complex page layouts quickly, this can start to become really frustrating after a while.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your content builder to function?
Now that you’ve asked this question, visualize this …
- You see something in your content that needs correction so you, just click on the content and start typing. Your content is then instantly edited.
- You simply drag and drop elements around the page, and the page looks exactly as it will display on the front end without having to mentally translate shortcodes or HTML.
- You have an idea for a specific item of content you would like to add, so you simply start typing, and you build your page as you go, without delays, no switching of tab browsers, and no waiting for new content to refresh.
Would that not be the ideal way to create content for your WordPress site? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your page?
(Imagine being able to create complex pages ”on the fly” for your web content with no 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 – Create Beautiful Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease In WordPress Websites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a revolutionary plugin for WordPress that gives you total control over every aspect of your web page design with a click-to-edit and drag and drop content editor.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin is a new and incredibly easy way to set up conversion-focused pages on your WordPress website.
Once installed, Thrive Content Builder adds a visual content editor and an item menu that lets you click, then drag and drop elements to your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new editor to your WordPress site)
The 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 examine all of the above and how these exciting features work seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your website and create amazing sales pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder Plugin
You can easily build complex web page design layouts using drag and drop elements …
Every aspect of your web page can be configured using ”click-to-edit” and “drag and drop” …
Once you have placed your elements on your page, you can then continue to customize them without going through multiple steps or opening new configuration windows …
You can also build beautiful landing pages that can just as easily be edited or customized …
Thrive Content and 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 warn that you’ll never look back once you start using it
For more details about this plugin go here: Thrive Content Builder
Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages were created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another excellent plugin we’ve written about on this site.
To learn more about using the plugin, go here:
Plugin Benefits
Below are just some of the many benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up content creation:
Quick And Easy To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In No Time.
Thrive Content Builder installs like every plugin. Just upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your WP admin user area and activate.
Real-Time Content Building And Editing
Thrive Content Builder is is not only simple to use, it also lets you build content in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Builder
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the content editor – fonts, elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits include:
- Eye-Catching Page Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any type of layout you can imagine with drag and drop ease.
- Add Customizable Elements With No Short Codes Required: With the Thrive Content Builder plugin you not only get an exciting and simple-to-use drag and drop content editor, but the plugin also includes a very decent collection of customizable web design elements that you can customizable and add to your content layouts without using short codes, like pricing tables, content reveal feature, call to action buttons, responsive videos, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to constantly switch tabs as you edit your content and then wait for your updates to load frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you build content or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you need done.
(Easily insert, edit and customize page elements like testimonial boxes, content toggle, styled lists, page section dividers, responsive videos, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder offers a number of features to website owners. Below we have listed just some of those features:
- Built-In Content Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have all of the regular text editing options that you are used to (e.g. underlines, paragraph formatting, font styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Multi-Style Elements: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” list of multi-style elements to your post or page screen for creating or editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you with a range of attention-grabbing and customizable elements that will help you increase your conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonial boxes, and guarantee forms. In addition to being customizable, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, boxes, content section dividers, e.g. which will adjust to display great on different device screens.
- Add Animation Events To Web Pages: The Event Manager feature lets you add animations, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Landing Page Templates
Landing page sets are web page templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language to take your visitors all the way from signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages plugin provides you with conversion-optimized web page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time and money creating and customizing web pages
- 100% conversion-optimized landing pages
- No coding skills needed
- Works with all WordPress themes
Thrive Content and Page Builder not only lets you create beautiful-looking content in your WordPress posts and pages, but you can also choose from dozens of beautifully 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 release. In addition to the templates shown above, the developers plan to release new web page templates for email lead generation, sales pages, training pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Customize Your Landing Page Template Sets
Typically, to be able to fully customize landing page templates, you would need to either hire a web developer 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 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 stunning pre-designed pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change and edit any element of the page templates …
The landing page templates included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Edit text in all buttons, bullet points, headlines, etc.
- Remove text, images or any other element of the landing page
- Change any background images or colors
- Edit the color of text, buttons, links, etc.
- Select your own fonts
- Select your own images and graphics
- Modify the size of the content area
- Change the order of web page elements
- Translate pages into different languages
- Add any kind of custom content inside the pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own pages from scratch and save them as new page templates.
(Change and edit any aspect of the page)
Transform Your Website Into A Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox
The Thrive plugin combo also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully configurable 2-step opt-in forms and events to your site …
(Add lead capture forms and events to your marketing pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
2-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process can improve your conversion rates. When visitors click on an image or button 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 an opt-in form appear when when visitors click or hover over a button or an image, or when someone scrolls down to a certain point on the page. You can also use the Event Manager to animate images on your pages, using various effects (e.g. fade in, slide in from bottom to top, roll out, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your web pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
A lightbox and event is created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over all events, triggers and design.
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials that users have published about the Thrive Content Builder plugin:
“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”
***
“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 the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. Note, however, that you cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on pages or posts that were not created with the plugin installed.
You can add WordPress short codes 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.
Product Support
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages Plugin comes with free updates, new landing pages and upcoming features. The Thrive team is constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive software is very well-supported, and users get unlimited updates, and one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, thirty day, 100% refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that just keeps getting better.
Plugin 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 Licensing – This allows you to run the plugin on 1 domain only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This allows you to install the plugin on unlimited web sites that you own. Cost includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency Edition – This edition allows you to activate the plugin on all of your own domains and your client sites. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Note: Pricing details of the product can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the plugin is selling for the prices shown above. This may or may not be the actual pricing charged by the plugin seller when you visit the 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 developers of the Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin 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 templates that help to speed up your content creation, and on the other hand, you have complete control over your design process and the freedom to change everything on your page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that lets you see exactly how the content you are working on will appear to visitors when published.
For a demo video showing plugin usage, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive website.
Install The Plugin …
If you want to edit something, you just click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, you will see the change happen instantly. 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 business online and create amazing sales pages and content, this plugin delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For more information, check out the plugin here:
***