Building and editing your website visually can be quite a tricky business especially if you have no prior experience with graphic design. You not only need to consider the aesthetic aspect of the design, but also make sure that where you place every element would make the user's experience more practical and intuitive. Add to this the fact that hiring a professional designer can really burn out your budget.
It doesn't have to be so difficult, though, since there are many visual editors that are specially designed for website operators who are not masters of design nor have the resources to hire a professional. Some of these editors are even used by major websites that do have the resources, yet use these plugins because they are simply way more efficient and are capable of producing top-notch designs with very little effort. These are 8 of the top visual editor plugins that you can use to design your WordPress website.
Thrive Architect
- https://thrivethemes.com/architect/?idev_id=356
- Price: Single License ($67) – 5 License Pack ($97) – 15 License Pack ($147)
Thrive Architect's interface is so intuitive that you will feel like a master designer even if you have never done this before.
Of all the visual editor plugins especially designed for WordPress, Thrive Architect is by far the most advanced and user-friendly. Thrive Architect is particularly dedicated to business websites, and that is because it brings together a set of features that are aimed at raising your website's conversion rates, interactions, etc. The best thing about this plugin is that it operates on a drag-and-drop builder that makes you feel like the screen is directly connected to your brain. As you picture the idea that you want to implement, you would have it enacted on the screen right on the spot with a single click. That means that you can put together a page from scratch within a few minutes.
The plugin even comes with 256 design templates that can make the job easier for you. Each of these templates has its precise function (ex: landing page, webinar page, sales page, etc.). Besides the templates, the plugin supports various elements that you can incorporate into your pages, most of which are focused on conversion. These include buttons, testimonials, timers, forms, and much more. The layouts here are extremely flexible, too. All that you need to do is drop elements next to each other and organize them however you like.
Thrive Architect also has a number of features that will enable you to create some eye-catching visual content for your website. You can easily combine images with text, and with access to over 700 custom fonts, you will be able to give your website that appealing glossy look that magazines and posters tend to have. Basically, the plugin lets you control every visual detail about your website and view these changes in real time without having to know the least thing about coding or graphic design.
Visual Composer
- https://visualcomposer.io/
- Price: Single Website ($59) – 3 Websites ($149) – Developers ($349)
Thousands of WordPress websites and plugins rely on Visual Composer in their visual editing.
If you've been using WordPress for long enough then you'll know that Visual Composer is probably one of the most popular visual editors in the WP community. A lot of the premium plugins have it integrated, too. That's because, right after Thrive Architect, it is really the most practical option in this category for someone who is not exactly a professional designer or a coder, yet who still wants to polish up their website. Visual Composer works on a drag-and-drop interface that virtually anyone would find quite simple and easy to use. The editor allows you to work on a blank slate from scratch, providing you with all the elements that you might need to make it both visually appealing and functional. All of Visual Composer's designs are automatically made mobile-friendly.
To avoid comprehensive errors and confusion, Visual Composer works using tree view which is similar to the layers system that you find in Photoshop. Generally, visual editing here is done on the frontend and the changes can be seen as they get implemented. If you know anything about CSS and JavaScript, you can add your own code through Visual Composer as a supplement to the plugin's frontend editor. There are countless templates that you can use as well. Each Visual Composer template has its own function, in terms of both niche and website section. For example, there are templates for landing pages, single product pages, and product catalogs. There are also templates for blog articles, startup business pages, photography and portfolios, personal pages, and wedding pages. That's just to name a few.
WPBakery
- https://wpbakery.com/
- Price: Regular ($45) – Extended ($245)
Using WPBakery, you can customize your web pages on both the frontend and the backend with ultimate simplicity.
Another massively popular visual editor plugin, WPBakery is used by over 2 million websites. WPBakery has a frontend editor and a backend editor, both of which are fully compatible with WordPress and which you will find pretty practical. The frontend inline editor is a WYSIWYG, which means that you will get to see the designs you make in real time as they accumulate. The backend editor will help you build pages, posts, and custom post types using flexible layouts that can support large amounts of content.
All of the designs created using WPBakery can be fit into any WordPress theme, and there are countless templates that you can download from the plugin template library instead of having to create the designs from scratch. Among the things that make WPBakery so practical are the content elements that it supports. You will find all sorts of buttons, grids, tabs, and much more, all of which will help you enhance your website's utility.
In addition to WordPress, WPBakery is also compatible with WooCommerce and SEO by Yoast. Moreover, the plugin has over 250 add-ons, which include integrations with major tools like MailChimp, Google Maps, Telegram, Ninja Forms, and much more. That is not to mention that the plugin's API makes it possible for developers to extend its functionality. With all of these possibilities and functions, WPBakery will help you get things done at a rate that you can never achieve with anything else. That's what makes a website as large as Forbes' trust the plugin with its visual editing.
Divi
- https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/
- Price: Yearly ($89/year) – Lifetime ($249/one time)
With countless modules covering a wide range of functions, Divi can help you create web pages that are truly practical and useful.
Besides its highly aesthetic interface which will be quite soothing to your eyes as you work on Divi, the plugin is actually very high in practicality. Divi enables you to work within 3 section types and 20 row types using more than 40 different content modules. You can shape the layouts as you wish, making use of infinite possibilities, all of which can fit into any WordPress theme that you're using for your website. The editor allows you to control all of the aspects related to your website's layout, from spacing to padding, margins, widths, etc. You can also activate, deactivate, and delete elements on the frontend instantaneously.
The feature that beats all of the other plugins in this category, though, is the Divi Builder Library. Using this feature, you can create an unlimited number of designs and layouts, save them to your library, and activate them whenever you want with a single click. That way you can experiment without boundaries. The last part I will mention here is related to the content elements. Because various forms of content require different settings, the Divi Builder has over 40 different elements for that. These include images, audio players, buttons, email opt-ins, login, portfolio, pricing table, person, and various other elements. That way you will only have to configure the content's advanced settings, leaving the basic settings to the default content element you're using. Content can be duplicated, locked, or hidden with the same degree of simplicity that you will find using any of the plugin's other features.
Elementor
- https://elementor.com/pro/?ref=1143
- Price: Personal ($49) – Business ($99) – Unlimited ($199)
Besides its incredible visual editor, Elementor comes with hundreds of templates that cover everything that you can possibly need on your website.
Elementor is a comprehensive visual editor that can help you build pages and themes with ultimate effectiveness and ease. The plugin's editor works with a drag-and-drop interface, which supports inline editing and widgets of various types from headlines to forms, buttons, and much more. There are over 300 templates that you can choose from here, and then you can use the plugin's editor to adjust them to your website. Every element in these templates can be adjusted, from layout to background to typography. You can modify the layout's dimensions, including section width, column width, full width, column gap, section height, and margin & padding, in addition to content position.
There are various ways by which you can decorate your website's background. You can add background gradient colors, background overlay, images, or even a background video. As for the text, there are hundreds of fonts that you can use out of the Google Fonts and TypeKit libraries, and you can also add your own custom fonts. All of these elements are made 100% responsive to various devices and screen types.
As I already mentioned, Elementor's functions extend to creating themes, not just building pages. There are features that will help you customize your header and footer, archive pages, 404 pages, search result pages, landing pages, single posts, and various other theme elements. There are also widgets that you can add for extra functionality. Over and above that, Elementor includes features that will help you design your contact, login, and subscription forms, as well as your custom messages and emails. In addition to these forms, the plugin is integrated with a number of mailing list tools like MailChimp, GetResponse, and ActiveCampaign.
Brizy
- https://brizy.io/
- Price: Free – Pro ($199)
Brizy provides tools that can help you produce some elegant designs for your website's pages. It's interface is pretty elegant as well.
Brizy's visual editor works on a drag-and-drop interface that provides you with all the tools you need to create functional pages for your website. If you go on their website you can try out a demo of the Brizy drag-and-drop builder. The features that come with the editor are all intended to make your job substantially more efficient. First off, the editor supports global styling, which means that you can control, for example, every element that appears in a specific color simultaneously. There are many ready-made design elements that you can use in your web pages, and the plugin comes with over 150 premade blocks that can help you organize your pages. Blocks are basically section templates for your web pages, each dedicated to a certain function.
Editing text is extremely easy thanks to the plugin's smart text editor which covers everything from typography to styling. You can also add images quite comfortably and there are over 4000 icons that you can decorate your web pages with. Backgrounds can carry images or videos, and the layouts are pretty flexible and can be adjusted to fit your needs.
That's only the free version, though. The pro version adds some extra features to that package. It supports dynamic content, and soon the pro version will be integrated with tools like Pods, ACF, and Toolset. It also comes with some extra templates that are simply alluring. Using this version, you can customize your website's headers and footers, forms, user roles, and pop-ups. Finally, you can use the pro version's A/B testing feature to experiment with different designs.
Beaver Builder
- https://www.wpbeaverbuilder.com/?fla=172
- Price: Standard ($99) – Pro ($199) – Agency ($399)
Beaver Builder is equipped with designs of every taste that can fit into all sorts of websites.
Beaver Builder is one of WordPress' most popular visual editors with over 100,000 websites using it to design their pages. The reason is that it allows its users full control over their content, lets them maintain their original themes, and helps make the content fully responsive. The plugin comes with dozens of premade templates with various designs and functions, which means that you will find designs that fit your website regardless of what your website is focused on.
The plugin's visual editor allows you to easily organize your web pages using column-based layouts that you can fully customize through the Beaver Builder drag-and-drop interface. The plugin also lets you to run everything from inside the WordPress dashboard, and it allows you to separate the page builder from the website's themes so that when you switch from one theme to another, the content remains unchanged. Finally, Beaver Builder is fully compatible with WooCommerce, enabling you to customize your online store using its interface.
Themify
- https://themify.me/builder
- Price: Builder Lite (Free) – Builder Plugin ($39) – Builder Bundle ($59)
Themify can really help you transform your website, making it substantially more catchy and aesthetic.
Themify's drag-and-drop builder works wonders with WordPress themes. The plugin has a frontend editor which allows you to preview your designs in real time, as well as a backend editor where you can manage the pages' components and modules. Modules and rows can be copied from one page and pasted to another without affecting the layouts. The plugin comes with over 40 layout designs serving various functions. That allows you to duplicate or clone the content when needed without having to recreate it.
What sets Themify apart is its animation features. Using Themify, you can add various effects to your content, including bounce, shake, flash, swing, pulse, tada, and flip effects. The plugin also gives you full control over the content's styling. If you buy the plugin's add-on package, you will get to add more dynamic and diverse content to your website like slideshows, infinite posts, BG video sliders, audio, pricing tables, countdown pages, and bar charts.
What About Traffic & Conversions?
Plugins are great when they solve specific problems in an elegant way. They can make your website work better, engage your audience, and build your brand.
A plugin won't autogenerate traffic or guarantee conversions though. It won't magically turn your website into a thriving, cash-generating online business
Get trained on how to start your affiliate marketing business. Build organic search engine traffic, and start converting visitors into money in your pocket!
Nathaniell
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