WordPress page builders are so hot. Some days, the way people talk, it seems like your business would shrivel up and die if you didn’t have one. You’ve already spent more than you’d like and end the year with some healthy profits to show. Are they necessary?

I realize the answer would vary depending who you ask. My take is, necessary, maybe not. Helpful, yes. Here’s why.

Before page builders became popular, people were already making money without them. It was harder to create landing pages, but not impossible either. If budget is super tight, all you need is a page template for your theme. Some themes like StudioPress come with landing pages without the sidebars and regular headers.

If your theme doesn’t support it, you can get someone to create a page template. This would be a one-time fee could be more cost effective.

My point here is,

Drag and drop tools are nice. I love it because it means less coding but oh! If only our businesses automatically grew by the number of glitzy tools we buy. We all know that isn’t the case.

The important thing is to focus on a message that your audience relates to, and lead them to do what you want them to do.

The second most important thing is, a working landing page is more profitable than one that isn’t published. Push it out fast. Tweak for later.

Having said that, I do use page builders and generally, recommend them. Why? Because they let you try different types of layouts without needing a designer.

And since you don’t need a designer, you can change things to improve conversions quickly.

At the end of the day, if it comes down to a tight budget, create a simple page first. Publish it, let it gather your leads, help you make money. Make your business earn the money for that page builder first.

Are conversions important? Yes! But remember this. In order to boost conversions, you have to have something out there to improve upon, to begin with.