WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging application into a tool that is now being used to design all types of web pages – direct sales pages, product showcase pages, business pages, etc.
Whatever you can think of, somewhere around the world someone is most likely already building it using WordPress!
This article will help you discover the simplest visual content editor for WordPress.
Drag And Drop Content Editors For WordPress
The WordPress Editor – Is There A Smarter Way To Create And Edit Content In WordPress?
Using the built-in WordPress WYSIWYG content editor to create or edit sophisticated page elements can be challenging.
(The WordPress WYSIWYG content editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” text and images, but adding complex layouts can be quite challenging!)
For example, let’s say you want to create something like the layout shown below …
To create the above layout, users would normally need to insert shortcodes into the content for each of the page elements they would like to display to visitors …
Generally, this is not an issue … unless you have to change your layout (for example, move some of the content from box 3 into box 2, or change the background color inside box 1 from bright red to gold. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with page code or html.
The WordPress content editor is supposed to give non-technical users an easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to add complex layouts, often what you see in the visual editor is not exactly what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some instances, some people argue that users could even be better off working directly inside the text editor tab instead of the WordPress visual editor when trying to build complex layouts …
Even though WordPress is very user-friendly, this makes it difficult for non-technical website owners to have full control of their own content.
The fundamental issue with having to use shortcodes and HTML to create content with WordPress can be summarized by asking the following questions:
1) Speed – How long does it take to create a 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 in the content editor does not look even remotely similar to what you see in the front end. This means that users need to mentally translate what the content will look like when working with complex layouts. Other solutions require multiple steps before you can begin configuring your page layout, or endlessly switching tabs and performing tweaks and updates to see how your content is coming along, which can affect how fast you can create your content, as you wait for the content to refresh.
Many WordPress web developers have come up with various solutions with the objective of making content editing more intuitive. Some of these solutions range from WordPress 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 content creation 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. 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 page content quickly, this can start to become very frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like your page editor to function?
Now that you’ve asked this question, imagine this …
- You see something in the content that needs changing so you, just click on the content and start typing. Your content is then instantly fixed.
- You just drag and drop elements around the page, and see them exactly as they will appear on the front end without having to mentally visualize code.
- You have an idea for an item of content you’d like to add, so you just begin typing, and you build your page as you go, without delays, with no switching of tab browsers, and without having to wait for new web content to refresh.
Would this not be the perfect way to build content for your web site? Just click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your pages and posts?
(Imagine being able to create complex web page layouts 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 – The Simplest, Most Intuitive WYSIWYG Content Builder For WordPress Web Sites
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a ground-breaking plugin for WordPress that gives you total control over every aspect of your web page design using a true WYSIWYG click-to-edit and drag and drop content editor.
Thrive Content Builder provides you with a new and exciting way to speed up the process of adding content to your WordPress website.
Once installed, the plugin adds a visual content editor with a sidebar menu that lets you click, then drag and drop design elements on your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new editor to WordPress)
The 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.
Let’s examine each of the above plugins and how these powerful features work seamlessly together to help you easily transform and improve your web presence and create amazing sales pages and content.
Thrive Content Builder Plugin For WordPress
This plugin lets you easily add complex design layouts to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Every aspect of your web page can be configured, changed and repositioned with ”click-to-edit” and “drag and drop” ease …
Once elements have been positioned on a page, you can then continue to edit or customize them without going through multiple steps or opening more configuration screens …
You can also create highly attractive landing pages and easily customize these …
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder is simple, easy to use, and ideal for all WordPress users at all levels. In fact, designing pages with Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages installed is so amazingly easy, that the developers guarantee that once you start using it, it will ruin the experience of using all other content editors forever, and you will never look back!
Learn more here: Thrive Content Builder
Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages were created by the same team that developed Thrive Leads, another fantastic plugin for WordPress we’ve previously recommended on this site.
To read about this plugin, see this post:
Benefits Of Using Thrive Content Builder And Landing Pages
Below are just a few of the benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up the process of designing pages and creating content for your WordPress web site:
Quick And Simple To Install And Set Up. Be Up And Running In No Time.
Thrive Content Builder is quite easy to install. Simply upload the plugin file to your Plugins folder via your dashboard and activate.
Edit & Build Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is is not only very simple and intuitive to use, it also lets you create and edit content in real-time.
What You See Is Exactly What You Get
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “backend” as you work within the content editor – fonts, visual elements, page layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits and advantages include:
- Stunning Web Page 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 a visually exciting 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 flat design elements, feature grids, testimonials, HTML code insert boxes, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to constantly switch tabs as you edit content and then wait for pages to refresh frees up your attention and allows you to build the pages your business needs, quickly and without having to mess with code or click through multiple layers of menus to get what you want done.
(Thrive Content Builder lets you easily insert, edit and customize web page elements like testimonials, pricing tables, gradient boxes, section dividers, responsive Google map embeds, etc.)
Thrive Content Builder Features
Thrive Content Builder provides a number of features to web site owners. Here are just some:
- Built-In WordPress Content Functionality Is Still Available: You have all of the regular WordPress text editing options that you are used to (e.g. underline, centering text, font sizes, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Elements Menu: The plugin makes a “drag and drop” table of elements available on your post or page screen when editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin provides you with various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help increase your sales conversions, including buttons and call-to-action elements, testimonial boxes, and guarantees. In addition to being customizable, various elements also offer multiple design options.
- Responsive Element Design: Add mobile-friendly columns, boxes, content section dividers, e.g. which will display correctly on different screens.
- Add Animation Events To Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you insert animated content elements, 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 signup to purchase, product download and more.
(Thrive Landing Pages gives you access to conversion-optimized page templates)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time designing web pages
- 100% conversion-optimized pages
- No web coding skills needed
- Works with any WordPress theme
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages 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 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 30 templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the templates shown above, expect to see new templates in the future for email lead generation, sales pages, course pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Completely Customizable And Flexible Landing Page Template Sets
Typically, in order to have a completely customizable landing page template, you would need to either pay 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 creating conversion-optimized web pages.”
Thrive Landing Pages gives you stunning pre-designed web page templates that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change and customize any element of your page template …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you can:
- Change text in any bullet point, button, headline, etc.
- Delete text, images or any other part of your landing page
- Change any background images and edit color
- Edit the color of text, buttons, links, etc.
- Use your own fonts
- Select your own images and graphics
- Edit content area size
- Rearrange the order of elements on the page
- Translate pages into different languages
- Add custom content in your pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own from scratch and save them as new web page templates.
(Change and edit any aspect of the page templates)
Transform Your Site Into A Marketing Machine With Thrive Lightbox
The Thrive plugin combo also includes Thrive Lightbox, which lets you add fully editable two-step opt-in forms and events to your content pages …
(Add opt-in forms and animation to your WordPress web site with Thrive Lightbox)
2-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-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 …
(Visitors click on a button and are presented with an opt-in form)
Event Manager
An “event” consists of a trigger and an action. You can make an opt-in form appear when your visitor clicks or hovers 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 attention-getting elements on your pages, using a range of animation effects (e.g. fade in, slide in from bottom to top, roll in, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your pages 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.
Feedback From Users
Here are a couple of the testimonials plugin users have provided for 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”
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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”
Thrive Content Builder – 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 existing pages or posts that were not created with the plugin.
You can add WordPress shortcodes inside Thrive Content Builder or Thrive Landing Pages and they will display correctly on on your site.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder Plugin provides free updates, new landing pages and upcoming features. The plugin developers are constantly working on adding new features and improving existing ones.
Thrive products are very well-supported, and users get lifetime updates, and one year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 30 day, complete refund guarantee.
This is an exciting product for WordPress users that just keeps getting better.
Plugin 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 Edition – This license lets you install the plugin on one website only. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This option lets you install the plugin on unlimited websites that you personally own. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Cost = $87.00.
- Agency License – This license option enables you to run the plugin on all of your own domains and any client sites. Includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Please Note: The cost of purchasing Thrive Content Builder can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time specials being offered. Presently, the software is being retailed for the prices shown above. This may not be the actual pricing set by the plugin developer when you visit the site and there may be additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Information
The developers of the Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder plugin repeatedly 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 time-saving features like ready-made page elements and conversion-optimized template sets that help to make designing your content faster, and on the other hand, you have complete control over the design process and the ability to edit everything on your web page, using the plugin’s click-to-edit and drag and drop features, that lets you work unhindered by overly complicated steps.
For a demo video of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, support help desk, contact details and more, visit the plugin website.
We Recommend …
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, all you need to do is simply drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no overly complicated steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your web site 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 more details, check out the plugin here:
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