WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application into a tool being used to create all types of sites.
Whatever you can imagine, someone is probably already building it with WordPress!
This article will help you discover the simplest WYSIWYG content builder for your WordPress web site.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
Is The WordPress Visual Editor Meeting All Of Your Content Creation And Editing Needs?
With so many developments that WordPress has undergone in recent years, many WordPress developers feel that using the built-in WordPress editor to create or edit complex layouts can sometimes be quite difficult.
(The built-in WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” content, but adding more complex content elements can be challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the content shown below …
Adding the above to a page would require inserting something that looks like this into your default WordPress visual content editor …
Generally, this is not an issue … unless you have to reconfigure your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 1 into box 2, or replace the background color in a box from red to gold. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code.
The WordPress editor is supposed to provide users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor, but as you can see, if you are working with complex content elements, what you see on your editor screen is not what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some instances, users could be better off working directly with the html source itself instead of the WordPress WYSIWYG editor when trying to add non-linear page elements …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it hard for WordPress users with no knowledge of HTML or CSS to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental issue about using HTML and shortcodes to create content with WordPress can be summarized by asking two questions:
1) Speed – How long will it take to build a web page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” resemble the content in the “front end” when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above, what you see when working in the back end does not look at all like what you see in the front end. This means that you have to mentally translate what your content will look like when working with sophisticated layouts. Other solutions require a number of steps before you can start 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 fast you can create your content, as you wait for your new content to load.
A number of WordPress web developers have tried to come up with different solutions with the objective of addressing this issue. These range from 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 creating complex layouts easier!)
Some solutions end up combining so many page-building features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these editors work, but they 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 your content to look ”perfect” quickly, this can become quite frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your web page builder to work?
Now, visualize this …
- You look at your content and if you spot something that needs to be fixed, simply click on the content and start changing it. Your content is then instantly edited.
- You just drag and drop items on the page, and see them exactly as they will appear on the front end without having to mentally visualize any code.
- You have an idea for a specific item of content you’d like to create, so you immediately begin typing, and your web page gets built on the fly, without delays, with no switching tabs, and no waiting for new content to refresh.
Would that not be the perfect way to create content for your website? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex web pages in real-time 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 And Landing Pages – WordPress Click-To-Edit Drag And Drop Content And Page Editing Plugin
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive click-to-edit drag and drop content and landing page editor for WordPress.
Thrive Content Builder provides WordPress users with a new and exciting way to speed up the process of adding content to WordPress sites.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor and a sidebar menu that lets you select, then drag and drop elements on your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual content editor to WordPress)
The Thrive Content And Page Builder plugin 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.
We’ll cover each of the above and how all of this exciting functionality works seamlessly together to help you easily transform and improve your web site and create amazing marketing pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder – Click-To-Edit Drag & Drop Content Creator And Editor For WordPress
Thrive Content Builder lets you easily add content to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your web page can be built with ”click-to-edit” and “drag and drop” ease …
Once you have placed your elements on the page, you can continue to further customize these without having to go through multiple steps or switching screens …
The built-in Thrive Landing Pages also lets you create stunning landing pages that can also be easily customized …
Thrive Content and Landing Page Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing web pages and working on content with the plugin installed is so amazingly simple, that the developers guarantee that once you start using it, you’ll never look back!
Go here to learn more: 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 previously recommended on this site.
See this post for more information about using this plugin:
Benefits
Here we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Quick & Easy Installation
Thrive Content Builder installs just like any plugin. Simply upload a zip file that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your WP administrator section and activate.
Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is very simple to use and lets you edit and build content in real-time.
What You See Is Exactly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the content editor – fonts, elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see in the front end of your site.
Some additional plugin benefits include:
- Beautiful Web Page Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease: Create any layout you can imagine with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality.
- Add Customizable Elements With No Shortcodes Involved: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get an exciting and simple-to-use click-to-edit WordPress content builder, but the plugin also includes an impressive collection of professional web design elements that you can insert into your layouts without using shortcodes, like content toggle, content reveal feature, section dividers, responsive maps, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to wait for the content to reload 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 want done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily add, edit and customize web page elements like testimonials, content toggle, styled lists, buttons, responsive videos, etc.)
Features
Thrive Content Builder provides many unique features to WordPress users. Here are just a few:
- Built-In WordPress Content Functionality Is Preserved: You have all of the regular WordPress content editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold, 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 when creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with a range of eye-catching and customizable elements that will help increase your sales conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantees. In addition to being customizable, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Responsive Element Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, guarantee boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will display great on all different kinds of devices.
- Add Animation To Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you create animations, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Templates
Landing page template 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 initial signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages lets you add conversion-optimized web pages to your web site)
Thrive Landing Pages – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time creating and customizing web pages
- 100% conversion-optimized page templates
- No technical skills needed
- Works with all themes
Thrive Content and Page Builder 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 template sets that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are currently 30+ templates available, with more templates scheduled for 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.
Fully Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template
Typically, to be able to have completely customizable landing page templates, you would need to either pay a web site developer to do the work, or learn web coding languages like HTML and CSS 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 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 customize any element of your page templates …
The landing page template sets included with this plugin let you do the following:
- Change text in any button, bullet point, headline, etc.
- Delete text, images or any other component of the landing page
- Change all background images and background colours
- Edit the color of buttons, links, text, etc.
- Select your own fonts
- Use your own images and graphics
- Edit the size of the content area
- Change the order of page elements
- Translate pages into different languages
- Add any type of custom content in any of the pages
- Start with a blank page and create your own templates, or even build your own custom landing page templates library.
(Change or customize anything on the page)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your Web Site Into A Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin package also includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully configurable two-step opt-in forms and animated elements to your website …
(Add lead capture forms and animation to your web pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Two-Step Opt-in Forms
A 2-step opt-in process can increase your conversion rates. Visitors click on a button or image, and then they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Opt-in forms help to increase your conversion rates.)
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 reaches a certain point on the page. You can also use the Event Manager to animate images on your web pages, using various animation effects (e.g. fade in, slide in from top to bottom, 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 events, triggers and design.
User Testimonials
Here are some of the testimonials that users have provided for 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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”Your stuff is beautifully designed, fast and has great options for marketers that you just don’t see with other themes. Great, great job! Absolutely love Thrive! David Coleman”
Plugin Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any WordPress theme, not just with the Thrive Landing Pages plugin. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on existing pages or posts that were not created using the plugin.
You can add shortcodes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will display correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content built with Thrive Content Builder.
Plugin Support
Thrive Content Builder provides free updates, new landing templates and upcoming features. The Thrive team is constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive software is well-supported, and users get unlimited updates, plus one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, 30 day, full refund 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 license option lets you set up the plugin on 1 domain only. Cost includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites Licensing – This enables you to use the plugin on all of your personal domains. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency License – Use on your domains and on all your client sites. It includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Note: The cost to purchase the Thrive Content Builder plugin can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. When we last checked, the product retails for the amounts shown above. This may or may not be the actual price charged by the product developer when you visit the plugin 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 developers of the Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin 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 the time-saving benefits of ready-made web page elements and conversion-optimized templates that help to speed up your content creation, and on the other hand, you also have 100% control over your design process and the ability to edit and customize anything and everything on your web page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that allows you to work unhindered by overly complicated options.
For ”how to” videos of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive plugins website.
Get This 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, all you need to do is simply drag it and drop it into its new position. There are no overly complicated 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 full details, visit the plugin website:
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