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If you’re new around here, you may not know it, but I’m a web developer by trade. And, like many other web developers, I tend to be a little bit (or a lot) critical of website “builders:” graphical interfaces that allow you to create a website much like you would a Word document or a Photoshop design.
Picture things like SquareSpace, ShowIt, Divi, etc. Now, picture me crinkling up my nose and frowning, and you’ve got the right idea. ?
Despite my natural developer’s aversion to page builders, last summer when I relaunched my business website, I decided to integrate one into my new site…even though I’m perfectly capable of coding every page from scratch.
Oh, the horror! Right?!
Not really.
There were a couple of strategic reasons why I went the page builder route, and I’ll lay them out for you in this post.
2 reasons why I chose to build my new WordPress website with the help of a page builder
#1 – Speed of development
Time is money, friend!
I built my new website without taking any time out from my client work. That meant I was working on it alongside a full load of retainer hours and custom projects, so I needed to be really efficient at developing it.
Using a page builder is significantly faster (and more efficient) than hand-coding every page on a site. Page builders help me keep development costs reasonable for my client projects, too, since they allow me to spend less time on the tedious parts of development and more time making sure I really nail the look and feel of a site.
#2 – Outsourcing
The longer I stay in business, the more I plan to outsource. Website content updates are no exception!
A website developed with the aid of a page builder is much easier for someone with little to no code knowledge (like a virtual assistant) to update and change. Can you envision passing off little website tweaks and copy changes to your assistant in the future? I can, and it sounds GLORIOUS.
Ease of editing is one reason why I recommend integrating a page builder in almost all of the sites I build for my clients these days. It’s really frustrating for a client to have a gorgeous, functional site that can’t stay up-to-date with the changes in their business because it’s too complicated for them to edit!
What page builder do I recommend for WordPress?
Hands down, it has to be Beaver Builder. BB is the only builder I use and recommend in my development business, so of course it was the one I chose for my own site.
Here are the top reasons why I love Beaver Builder:
- It plays nicely with Genesis framework.
- It’s fast (as far as builders are concerned)
- It’s not too bloated
- It doesn’t leave behind shortcode soup when you deactivate it since it runs on HTML behind-the-scenes
- It makes proper use of WordPress hooks, so I can modify it any way I need to
It’s been nearly a year since my website relaunch, and every time I have to add new content to my site or update an existing page, I’m reminded of the reasons why I chose to integrate Beaver Builder into my site all over again.
