WordPress Page Builders are simple drag and drop tools that allow you to build professional web pages.
You need no or very limited coding knowledge to use them
Use them to build pages with written content, pictures, slide shows, videos, tables, animated countdowns and many other elements that professional websites, costing thousands of pounds to design, use.
Once you've chosen and installed your theme hover over the plug-ins tab on your dashboard and click on "add new", when the page loads type "page builder" in the search box and a list will appear.
To see what each does click the " More Details" link.
Some WordPress page builders are very good, some work well for very basic page building but lack the tools for to create professional quality webpages and some can be problematic, causing issues with other plug-ins and major headaches if you decide to change themes. Some may even delete your content if deactivated!
For ease of use,reliability and support we recommend choosing one of these 4 WordPress page builders. 2 free and 2 paid for (premium).
The Mekatrig mission is to get you online as quickly, easily and cheaply as possible and we will always recommend the best free options first.
Free:
- Page builder by Site origin. With over 1 million active installs this is the most popular drag & drop page building plug-in for WordPress.
Powerful enough to do everything you need and easy to use, it has a range of companion plug-ins which boosts its capabilities to manage written content, images and videos, animated graphics and some pretty impressive effects.
Here's an intro:
- Tailor Page Builder. Quite new and extremely well crafted to work seamlessly with WordPress.
Not as feature rich as Site Origin but the developer's are extending it and regularly adding powerful new features see it in action here:
The premium Page Builders have free 'lite' versions which give some tools to give a feel of how they work but you find the tools you really need are the ones you only get if you get the paid version.
- Beaver builder:- Is considered to be the best premium WordPress builder, (at $99 plus yearly renewals for the basic version it should be!).
It is powerful and incredibly easy to use. If you have the budget and want quick professional results with the minimum of fuss then this is the one to go for.
You can try using it before you buy on their hosted demo site, even if you don't want their product we recommend going and having a play around with it, it's fun and helps with learning how to design web pages.
There is a very limited free 'lite version'. But after using the full version it is very disappointing.
- Elementor:- Offered as a free plug-in with the option to have a premium upgrade.
The free version is good enough to build a basic website and there are free plug-ins you can use to boost its features.
If you really like it and have the budget we would recommend getting the premium version instead of loading up your website with more plug-ins.
Once released the pro features make this website builder brilliant with a lot of unique features, a little tricky to use at first but once mastered it can give some stunning results.
Once you've got your WordPress theme and page builder installed your ready to create your website. See our article 5 steps to building a world class website to see how to get the very best from your new website.