WordPress has evolved from being just a simple blogging tool to a tool being used to design all types of pages – marketing pages, portfolio pages, business pages, etc.
Whatever you can imagine, somewhere around the world someone is bound to be already building it using WordPress!
This article will help you discover the most intuitive visual content builder for WordPress.
Drag & Drop Content Editors For WordPress
The WordPress Visual Content Editor – Is There An Easier Way For Creating Content In WordPress?
With so many improvements that the WordPress platform has undergone in recent years, many WordPress users feel that the WordPress content editor is not flexible enough for creating and editing sophisticated web page layouts.
(The WordPress editor is great for adding, formatting and editing “linear” content, but adding more complex layouts can be challenging!)
For example, if you look at the image below …
To create the above boxes with text and buttons, you would normally need to add short codes to the content for every element you want to create …
Typically, this is not an issue … unless you decide to change some part of your layout (for example, move part of the content from box 1 into box 2, or replace the background colour in box 2 from red to maroon. Then, you’re stuck having to mess around with code inside the content editor.
The WordPress content editor is supposed to provide users with an easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) content editor, but as you can see, if you are trying to edit more complex page elements, what you see on your screen may not be what you get …
(“What You See” isn’t always “What You Get” … unless you can visualize code!)
In some situations, some people argue that you would probably be better off working inside the WordPress html editor tab instead of the WordPress WYSIWYG editor when trying to build non-linear page elements …
Even though WordPress is extremely easy to use, this makes it difficult for users with no knowledge of HTML or CSS to have full control of their own content.
The fundamental problem with using HTML and shortcodes to create content in the default WordPress WYSIWYG editor can be summarized by asking the following questions:
1) Speed – How long will it take to create a page using this editor?
2) Abstraction – How closely does the content in the ”back end” match the “front end” content when you are creating or editing a page?
As you can see from the above screenshot, what you see in the editor does not look anything like 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 taking 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 affect how fast you can create your content, as you wait for your content to reload.
Many WordPress developers have come up with different solutions aiming to address this issue. Some of these alternative solutions range from WordPress plugins you can add to your site that add new functionality to the editor, to WordPress themes that provide built-in features like drag and drop editing …
(WordPress “drag and drop” editors aim to make creating complex page layouts easier!)
Some solutions end up requiring so many page design features, that users need to learn how to work with complicated-looking front end editors …
Many of these editors work, but they don’t really address the fundamental challenge of using HTML and shortcodes as described earlier. Creating, 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 pages to look “just right” quickly, this can start to become really frustrating.
Ask yourself this …
If there were no technical constraints, how would you like to build and edit your web content?
Now, visualize the following scenario …
- You look at your content and if you see something that needs fixing, simply click on the content and start writing. Your content has been instantly changed.
- You just drag and drop elements on the page, and the page looks exactly as it will display on the front end without having to mentally visualize any HTML or shortcodes.
- You have an idea for an item of content that you’d like to create, so you simply start typing, and you build your page as you go, with no delays, without switching tabs, and no waiting for new pages to refresh.
Would that not be the ideal way to build content for your WordPress site? A true visual content editor where all you have to do is click-to-edit and drag and drop elements around your page?
(Imagine being able to create complex web 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 – The Fastest And Easiest To Use WYSIWYG Content Editor For WordPress
Plugin Description
Thrive Content Builder is a ground-breaking plugin for WordPress that gives you complete control over every aspect of your web page design with true click-to-edit and drag and drop simplicity.
The Thrive Content Builder plugin is 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 and an item menu that lets you click, then drag and drop design elements on your page …
(Thrive Content Builder adds a new content editing option to WordPress)
The Thrive Landing Pages And Content Builder plugin is actually a combination of the Thrive Content Builder and Thrive Landing Pages plugins merged into one, plus an additional plugin feature called Thrive Lightbox.
Let’s examine all of the above plugins and how all of this functionality works seamlessly together to help you transform and improve your website and create amazing sales pages, streamlined landing pages and engaging content.
Thrive Content Builder
This plugin lets you easily add content to your web pages using drag and drop elements …
Every element on your web page can be built using simple “drag and drop” and “click-to-edit” …
Once elements have been added to your page, you can then further customize or edit them without going through additional steps or switching tabs …
The built-in Thrive Landing Pages also lets you create highly attractive landing pages and easily edit these …
Thrive Content and 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 Thrive Content Builder installed is so effortlessly easy, that the developers warn that you will never look at creating and adding content the same way once you start using it
For more details, visit the plugin site 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 previously reviewed on this site.
See this page to learn more about using the plugin:
Benefits
Below we have listed just a few of the benefits of using Thrive Content Builder to speed up your page design and content creation process:
Ready To Go To Work In No Time
Thrive Content Builder installs just like every plugin. Just upload a zip folder that contains the plugin files to your Plugins folder via your admin user area and activate.
Add And Edit Content In Real Time
Thrive Content Builder is simple to use and lets you edit and build content in real-time.
A Truly Visual Content Builder
With Thrive Content Builder installed, what you see on the “back end” as you work within the editor – fonts, elements, layouts, etc. is exactly what your visitors will see on the front end of your site.
Some additional benefits include the following:
- Add Stunning Layouts With Drag-And-Drop Ease: Create any layout you can imagine with drag and drop ease.
- Design Elements Included: With Thrive Content Builder you not only get a drag and drop WordPress content builder, but the plugin also includes a collection of professional design elements that you can customizable and insert into your pages without using shortcodes, like tabbed content, feature grids, dividers, responsive Google maps, etc.
- Ideal For Non-Technical Users: Not having to deal with technical stuff, or having to wait for for your updated content 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.
(Insert, edit and customize page elements like testimonial boxes, content toggle, feature grids, dividers, countdown timers, etc.)
Plugin Features
Thrive Content Builder provides website owners many powerful features. Below we have listed just a few of these:
- Built-In Content Editor Functionality Is Preserved: You have access to all of the built-in content editing options that you are used to (e.g. bold formatting, centering text, font styles, etc.),
- Drag And Drop Multi-Style Elements Menu: The plugin adds a “drag and drop” table of multi-style elements to your post or page screen for editing content.
- Conversion-Boosting Elements: The plugin comes with various eye-catching and customizable elements that will help you increase the effectiveness of your sales pages, 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, guarantee boxes, content dividers, e.g. which will display correctly on different-sized screens.
- Add Animation Events To Web Pages: The plugin’s Event Manager feature lets you create animation in buttons, trigger lightboxes and more!
(Add Animated Elements To Your Web Pages)
Thrive Landing Pages – Landing Page Template Sets
Landing page sets are web 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 lets you easily add conversion-optimized web pages to your website)
Thrive Landing Pages Plugin – Benefits
- Hosted on your own WordPress site
- Save time building gorgeous-looking pages
- 100% conversion-optimized pages
- No coding skills required
- Works with all WordPress themes
Thrive Content Builder and Landing Pages 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, landing page templates that are conversion-optimized and fully customizable …
(Thrive Landing Pages provides sets of templates that work together logically and use the same conversion-optimized design language)
There are 30+ templates available, with more templates being worked on. In addition to the existing templates, expect to see new templates in the future for email lead generation, sales pages, lesson pages, personal branding pages, webinar pages and more.
Customizable Landing Page Template
Typically, in order to have fully customizable landing page templates, you would need to either hire a web site designer 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 mess around with 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-built pages that are fully optimized and ready to go, and complete design freedom that allows you to change and customize anything on the page templates …
With the landing page template sets included with this plugin, you can:
- Edit text in all headlines, bullet points, buttons, etc.
- Delete text, images or any other part of your landing page
- Change any background images or colours
- Change the color of links, text, buttons, etc.
- Choose your own fonts
- Select your own images and graphics
- Change the size of the content area
- Change the order of elements on the pages
- Translate pages into different languages
- Add any kind of custom content anywhere inside your pages
- Use pre-designed, customized pages, or create your own pages from scratch and save them as new page templates.
(Change or edit any aspect of your page)
Thrive Lightbox Plugin – Transform Your Web Site Into A Powerful Marketing Machine
The Thrive plugin package also includes the Thrive Lightbox plugin, which lets you add fully customizable two-step opt-in forms and events to your content pages …
(Add lead capture forms and animated elements to your web pages with Thrive Lightbox)
Two-Step Opt-in Forms
A two-step opt-in process helps increase your conversion rates. When visitors click on a button or image they are presented with your opt-in form …
(Capture more leads and subscribers with a 2-step opt-in process)
Thrive Lightbox 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 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 various animation effects (e.g. fade in, slide in from right to left, roll in, etc.
(Set up and manage events on your web pages with the Thrive Lightbox plugin)
Lightboxes and events are created automatically for your landing pages, but you also have complete control over your events, triggers and design.
Feedback From Users
Here are a few of the testimonials that plugin customers have submitted regarding 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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”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 theme in WordPress, not just with Thrive Landing Pages. Note, however, that you cannot use Thrive Content Builder to edit content that was not created with the plugin installed.
You can add short codes inside the Content Builder or Landing Pages plugin and they will display correctly when published.
Thrive Lightbox works with any content you build with Thrive Content Builder.
Thrive Content Builder Support
Thrive Landing Pages and Content Builder Plugin 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 software is well-supported, and users get lifetime software updates, plus 1 year unlimited support with their purchase, backed by a risk-free, 30 day, 100% 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 Edition – This allows you to activate the plugin on a single domain. Pricing includes full feature set, unlimited updates and 1 year of unlimited support. Cost = $59.00.
- Unlimited Sites License Edition – This license option allows you to run the plugin on unlimited domains that you personally own. Includes full feature set, unlimited updates and one year of unlimited support. Price = $87.00.
- Agency Edition – Use on all your sites and on all your client sites. Pricing includes access to Thrive Content Builder, plus all Thrive Themes & Thrive Plugins. Price = $247.00 per year.
Please Note: Pricing for Thrive Content Builder can vary, depending on whether there are any promotions or limited-time special offers. Presently, the software is selling for the pricing shown above. This may not be the actual price charged by the plugin developer when you visit the site and you may be shown additional upsells or one-time offers after your purchase.
Check the plugin’s website for current pricing details:
Additional Info
The Thrive Content Builder plugin developers 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 time-saving features like ready-made web page elements and beautiful, pre-designed template sets that help to make designing your content faster, and on the other hand, you have complete control over your design process and the freedom to change and customize everything on your web page, using the plugin’s visual content editor, which lets you get things done without having to keep switching tabs or going through multiple steps.
For a demo video of the plugin in action, including help documentation and tutorials, FAQs, customer helpdesk, contact details and more, visit the Thrive website.
Install This Plugin …
If you want to edit something, just click on the element and start editing. If you want to change something, you will see the change happen immediately. If you want to move something, simply drag it and drop it into its new location. There are no extra steps involved.
If you want to transform and improve your web site and create amazing marketing pages and content, Thrive Content and Page Builder delivers an incredible conversion-boosting package with a single, inexpensive plugin.
To learn more, check out the plugin here:
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