Pagebuilders in WordPress are a great way to design & layout pages beyond what your current theme allows. I picked Beaver Builder, a front end vidual drag & drop pagebuilder because they have great reviews, a free plugin on WordPress.org so you can try before you buy, frequent updates and feature additons, a great community on Facebook and value pricing.

1. Why Beaver Builder is a Great Tool for
WordPress Beginners
Rich Plakas
@RichP on Twitter
www.RichPlakas.com

2. A Little Bit About Me
IT Background going back to the days of DOS & Novell
Began “messing” with WordPress in 2007.
Switched my focus from IT to WordPress in 2011
I was tired of doing Windoze Updates & changing
Printer Toners :-)
Joined the Austin WordPress Meetup Group In 2012.
I love BBQ & Craft Beer.
I run the #25 rated beer blog: www.CraftBeerAustin.com

3. A Little Bit About Me
I run a WordPress Agency called Connected Systems.
We help businesses with all aspects of their Digital Assets
including:
SEO/SEM
Analytics and Website Optimization
Pay-per-Click Ads(Google Adwords & Facebook Ads)
Social Media
Ecommerce (WooCommerce)
Email Newsletters

4. What is a Page Builder?
A Page Builder in WordPress is a plugin that allows you
to build and layout pages based on content “widgets” via
adjustable rows & columns.
Some of the more recent page builders allow you to drag
and drop sections and also “see” the changes as you
make them!
This allows you to change a page layout beyond what
your theme offers. The most common page people
change is the home page.
Some themes include a page builder within the theme
backend.

5. Examples of Page Builders
Backend Page Builder which is part of a theme

6. Examples of Page Builders
Thrive Content Builder - Front End Drag and Drop

7. Examples of Page Builders
Beaver Builder Pro Front End Visual Drag and Drop

8. Why Use a Page Builder?
Traditionally in WordPress, your Home Page layout
was limited by the particular theme you were using.
In the last few years, some themes started offering
widgetized home pages giving you more (but not
complete) flexibility on your home page layout.
What if you needed to add another row of content to
a page? At that point (without a page builder) you
would have needed to edit the theme itself and this
gets too complicated for most WordPress beginners.

9. Widgetized Home Page

11. Why I Chose Beaver Builder
When I am choosing a plugin that I will potentially use on many
client sites I look for several things beyond the feature set:
How frequently do they update the plugin and add features?
Are other developers using it and are there good reviews?
Is there a community around it?
What is the cost?
For me, Beaver Builder checked all the boxes so I went ahead a
purchased the Pro Version for $199.
They offer a free version on WordPress.org so you can “try
before buy”.

12. Why I Chose Beaver Builder

13. Why I Chose Beaver Builder
https://www.facebook.com/groups/beaverbuilders/

14. Free Beaver Builder version on WordPress.org

15. Free Beaver Builder version on WordPress.org

16. Working With Genesis Themes
https://wordpress.org/plugins/genesis-dambuster/

17. Free Beaver Builder version on WordPress.org

18. Free Beaver Builder version on WordPress.org

19. Free Beaver Builder version on WordPress.org

20. Free Beaver Builder version on WordPress.org

21. Beaver Builder
Lite Demo

22. Beaver Builder Paid versions

23. What Do Beaver Builder Standard and Pro Add?
Standard:
Advanced Modules
Pre-Defined Layout Templates
Pro:
Beaver Builder Theme
Multisite Capable

24. What Do Beaver Builder Standard and Pro Add?

25. What Do Beaver Builder Standard and Pro Add?

26. What Do Beaver Builder Standard and Pro Add?
Standard and Pro include the following Icon Sets:
Font Awesome
Foundation Icons
WordPress Dashicons
You can add more icon sets.

27. What Do Beaver Builder Standard and Pro Add?

28. What Do Beaver Builder Standard and Pro Add?
Layout Templates

29. What Do Beaver Builder Standard and Pro Add?
Global Rows
Global Rows allow you reuse a row on multiple pages and only have
to make changes in one place!

30. Beaver Builder
Pro Demo

31. Beaver Builder Pro Includes a Theme

32. Beaver Builder Pro Includes a Theme
All of the Theme Settings are accessed in the WordPress Customizer.

33. Beaver Builder
Theme Live Demo

34. Responsive and Adaptive Web Design with Beaver Builder
Beaver Builder makes it super easy to display or hide certain
modules based on device width.
A fancy parallax background picture may work well on the
desktop but can be too busy or distracting on mobile devices.

35. Responsive and Adaptive Web Design with Beaver Builder

36. Responsive and Adaptive Web Design with Beaver Builder

37. Sounds to Good to be True - What are the Cons?
If the Beaver Builder plugin “breaks” your site will go from this

38. Sounds to Good to be True - What are the Cons?
To this:

39. Sounds to Good to be True - What are the Cons?
Most of your content will remain, but custom Beaver Builder modules such as
buttons will become text only.

40. $10 Discount for the Austin WordPress Meetup
https://www.wpbeaverbuilder.com/wp_austin_meetup *
Anyone that visits the site through this URL will get
$10 off on the checkout page.
*This discount is good until April 20 2016.
This is an affiliate link and I will receive a commission if you purchase through it.

41. Why Beaver Builder is a Great Tool for
WordPress Beginners
Rich Plakas
@RichP on Twitter
www.RichPlakas.com
Q&A