New WordPress layout builder tool

What is a WordPress website layout builder? And how can it help your business?

Many of the bespoke websites we develop are built using WordPress, which is great if you need a reliable, secure site that’s easy to update. WordPress originally started off as a blogging platform, so the main focus was words. However, as the use of WordPress as a CMS has grown exponentially, one thing that’s always baffled clients are the limitations to adding content to a page. They’ve always felt a little restricted when needing to add pictures, galleries, video, PDFs, slideshows, sound clips, and the multiple types of content that visitors look for.

Fortunately, the biggest advantage of WordPress is that you are not restricted to the out-of-the-box settings and you can quickly and easily build unique looking web pages using different page builder plugins. Beaver Builder, Divi Builder, Elementor and Visual Composer are examples that allow you complete flexibility to alter the look of each and every page.

Many clients are used to being publishers now – regularly sharing new content – and are eager to be a bit more hands-on with their websites. It could be that they have a particular service or product they’d like to promote, an event, special offer, need to showcase their expertise for a specific audience, or just want to keep things fresh. We’ve had so many clients who have insisted on content manageable websites but have then rarely edited their website because the prospect of doing it was just too daunting. As more of us become publishers and content creators, having a powerful, easy to use system encourages clients to use their website and keep it updated.

However, there are drawbacks to the page builder tools we mentioned above. These are powerful tools and allow lots of customising, but are often tricky to use and quickly lead website administrators off-brand and can create a bit of a jumbled page. Having lots of different page layouts using different sized fonts and spacing can leave a visitor confused and disengaged, not to mention damaging for the brand. These themes can be much slower because they are bloated with features and functions that are never used. Additionally, the content is often tied into a slow system, which may not be supported a few months or years down the line.

Increasingly we’ve noticed that clients need the additional functionality to create new pages outside of the normal constraints of a template, quickly and easily. That’s why, many years ago, we set off on a journey to build our own tool that would allow website editors to build new web pages using predefined blocks that are all designed and set within the brand guidelines.

The Preface Studios Layout Builder for WordPress

We have developed our own flexible layout builder and now incorporate this functionality into all the websites we build, because it gives clients easy and simple tools to use and, in turn, has a positive effect on the growth of their business.

Our page building tool in WordPress

Our layout builder tool allows clients to create and construct pages using pre-defined branded blocks, such as banners, text, images or testimonials in very little time. There is a menu of different elements to build a page, all set within the brand guidelines. It helps clients keep things fresh and on-brand, but without being restricted by standard templates. For clients like Mary Frances Trust and CityStore, we’ve added many more styling options for sections, including padding, SEO and header tags. Additionally, our bespoke section builder is much faster and better for Google SEO and load speeds.

Mary Francis Trust, Citystore, Allport Cargo Services, EPIC Minds, Oktra and Defend 2020 all have our layout builder tools within their CMS and find it easy to use and quickly invaluable

“After some training, I can now create a new page and populate it in a really short timeframe. All the different elements are easy to pull together and drag into place. Not only does this save time, it also means I can quickly share links to the new page in marketing emailers, as well as link to the new pages throughout my site, which enhances the user experience and boosts SEO.”
Marketing Manager

Our WordPress website for MFT – a mental health charity

This is great for companies who are keen to climb up the ranks of Google by publishing high-quality content to engage, educate and encourage visitors who ultimately turn into paying customers. After all, we’re not adding content for the sake of it. We’re doing it to make our customers understand our offering, learn more about how we operate and trust we will deliver them the best possible service or products to match or exceed expectations.

If you’d like to find out more about our layout builder for WordPress please get in touch.