WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application to a tool being used to create all types of sites.
Whatever you can imagine, someone is bound to be already building it with WordPress!
This article will help you discover the simplest and most intuitive visual content builder for WordPress web sites.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
The WordPress Content Editor – Is There An Easier Way For Designing Great-Looking Web Site Pages In WordPress?
Using the built-in WordPress WYSIWYG content editor to build or edit complex page layouts can be quite challenging for non-technical WordPress users.
(The built-in WordPress visual content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing conventional content, but adding complex content elements can be challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the content shown below …
To add the above content to your content would require inserting something that looks like this inside your WordPress content editor …
Generally, this is not an issue … until you need to reconfigure your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 1 into box 2, or replace the button inside box 3 from dark green to blue. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code.
The WordPress visual content editor is supposed to be an easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, but as you can see, when working with complex page elements, what you see in the WordPress visual content 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 users may even be better off working with the html source itself instead of the WordPress visual editor when trying to add complex layouts …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it difficult for non-technical website owners to fully manage their own content.
The fundamental problem of having to use HTML and shortcodes to create content with WordPress can be summarized by asking the following questions:
1) Speed – How long does it take to build a page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the editor match the content in the “front end” when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above screenshot, what you see when working in the editor doesn’t look anything like what you see in the front end. This means that you need to translate mentally what your content will look like when working with complex layouts. Other solutions require 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 progressing, which then affects how quickly you can create your content, as you wait for your new content to load.
A number of WordPress web developers have come up with various solutions with the objective of addressing this issue. Some of these solutions range from WP plugins you can add to 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 content easier!)
Some solutions combine so many complex page design features, that users end up with complicated-looking front end content editors …
Many of these alternative solutions work, but they still fail to address the fundamental issue of using HTML and shortcodes as described earlier. Adding and editing non-linear content 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 your web content to look ”perfect” quickly, this can become quite frustrating after a while.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your web page editor to behave?
Now that you’ve asked this question, visualize this …
- You spot something in the content that needs to be corrected so you, simply click on the content and start changing it. Your content has been instantly fixed.
- You can just drag and drop elements around the page, and the page looks exactly as it will appear on the front end without having to mentally visualize any code.
- You have an idea for an item of content that you would like to create, so you just start typing, and your page gets built as you go, without delays, no switching tabs, and without having to wait for edits to refresh.
Would that not be the ideal way to build content for your WordPress web site? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around the posts and pages?
(Imagine being able to create complex web 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 Plugin – The Simplest, Most Intuitive WYSIWYG Content Builder For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a truly intuitive click-to-edit drag and drop content and page builder plugin for WordPress.
Thrive Content Builder provides you with a new and incredibly easy way to speed up the process of creating amazing content on your WordPress website.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor and a menu that lets you select, then drag and drop design elements to your web page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new visual content editor to your WordPress site)
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.
Let’s take a look at all of the above plugins and how these exciting features work seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your site and create awesome sales pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder – WordPress Plugin
This plugin lets you easily add complex design layouts to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Everything on your web page can be built by ”clicking-to-edit” and “dragging and dropping” things around the page …
Once elements have been added to the page, you can then further edit these without having to go through multiple steps or switching screens …
You can also create beautiful landing pages that can just as easily be edited or customized …
Thrive Content Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, working on content with the Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin installed is so effortlessly easy, that the developers guarantee that once you start using it, you’ll never look back!
Learn more here: Thrive Content Builder
The integrated Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages plugin was created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another great plugin we’ve previously recommended on this site.
To read about this plugin, go here:
Plugin Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits and advantages of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Be Up And Running In Minutes
Thrive Content Builder is very easy to install. Simply upload a zip folder that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your administrator area and activate.
Real-Time Content Content Creation
Thrive Content Builder is simple and intuitive to use and lets you create, edit and add content to your pages in real-time.
What You See Is Truly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see as you work within the editor – typefaces, elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what you get on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Eye-Catching Layouts With Drag & Drop Ease: Create any kind of layout you can imagine with drag and drop ease.
- Customizable Elements Included: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get an amazing click-to-edit content builder, but the plugin also includes a jaw-dropping collection of customizable design elements that you can customizable and use on your layouts without using shortcodes, such as content toggle, borderless content, page section dividers, countdown timers, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to wait for your updated content to refresh frees up your attention and allows you to be more focused while you build or edit your content or click through multiple steps to get what you want done.
(Easily create, edit and customize page elements like testimonials, columns, feature grids, page section dividers, responsive videos, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder offers WP users many features. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Built-In WordPress Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have all of the regular content editing options that you are used to (e.g. underlines, paragraph centering, heading styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements to your post or page screen when creating and editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin includes a range of attention-grabbing and customizable elements that will help you increase the effectiveness of your sales pages, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonials, and guarantees. In addition to being customizable, multiple design options are also available for various elements.
- Mobile-Friendly Design: Add responsive elements like column layouts, text boxes, section dividers, e.g. which will display correctly on devices with differently sized screens.
- Add Animation Events To Web Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you add animation in buttons, 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 from initial signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages plugin lets you add conversion-optimized pages to your web site)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Benefits
- Everything is hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time designing landing pages for your website
- 100% conversion-optimized web page templates
- No web coding skills needed
- Works with any theme
Thrive Content and Page Builder not only lets you 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 currently 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 web page templates for email lead generation, sales pages, training pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Fully Customizable Landing Page Template
Typically, in order to have a fully customizable landing page template, you would need to either hire 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 building conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you attractive pre-designed page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change or edit any aspect of your page …
With the landing page templates included with this plugin, you are able to:
- Modify text in all headlines, buttons, bullet points, etc.
- Delete text, images or any other part of the landing page
- Replace the background image or background colour
- Change the color of buttons, links, text, etc.
- Select your own fonts
- Use your own images
- Change content area size
- Rearrange the order of web page elements
- Translate pages into a different language
- Add any kind of custom content inside your pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own landing pages from scratch and save them as new web page templates.
(Change or customize anything on your page template)
Transform Your Site Into A Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox
The Thrive package also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully customizable 2-step opt-in forms and animated elements to your web pages …
(Add lead capture forms and animation to your pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Two-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 …
(2-step opt-in forms help to increase your conversion rates.)
Thrive Lightbox Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make opt-in forms appear when when visitors click or hover their mouse 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 a range of animation effects (e.g. zoom out, slide in from right to left, rotate, 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 your events, triggers and design.
User Testimonials
Below are a couple of the testimonials and comments that plugin users have written about the Thrive Content Builder plugin:
”You guys are simply awesome I am loving everything you are doing at the moment. Keep up the great work you really are making such a big difference in this field. Jule Fuller”
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”Great stuff! I am really impressed by all the new additions. You guys have shown a true commitment to making these themes and the Content Builder awesome. Michael Johnson”
Plugin Tips
Thrive Content Builder works with any WordPress theme, not just with Thrive Landing Pages. You cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content on pages or posts that were not created using the plugin.
You can add WordPress short codes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will be displayed correctly on on your web site.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder comes with free updates, new landing templates and upcoming features. The plugin developers are constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive plugins are really well-supported, and users get lifetime software upgrades, and 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a no-risk, thirty day, complete 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 – This option allows you to run the plugin on a single site. It includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This allows you to set up the plugin on all of your personal websites. Price includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency Licensing – This option lets you activate the plugin on all of your own sites and all client domains. 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 product depends on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the software sells for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the product developer when you visit the plugin website and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after you’ve purchased.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Plugin Info
The Thrive Landing Pages and Content 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 the time-saving benefits of ready-made page elements and beautiful, pre-designed template sets that help to speed up content creation, and on the other hand, you have complete control over your design process and the ability to edit everything on your web page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, that lets you see exactly how the content you are working on will look on the “front end” after publishing.
For a demo video of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive Content Builder website.
Our Recommendation …
If you want to edit something, you just click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, do it, and you’ll see the change happen instantly. If you want to move something, you drag it and drop it into its new position. There are no extra steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your web site and create awesome sales pages and content, Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
For more details, visit the plugin website:
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