- What is the MailerWave Page Builder?
- Installing the Plugin
- Connecting Your MailerWave Account (API)
- Creating Your First Page
- Understanding the Builder Interface
- Adding and Editing Blocks
- Working with Columns
- Setting Up Your Opt-in Form
- Page Settings
- Saving, Publishing and Viewing Your Page
- All Block Types — Quick Reference
- Tips and Frequently Asked Questions
What is the MailerWave Page Builder?
A drag-and-drop landing page builder that lives inside your WordPress admin. No shortcodes, no page-builder conflicts, no coding required.
The plugin lets you build professional landing pages — opt-in pages, sales pages, webinar registration pages, lead magnet pages — directly in your WordPress site. Pages are published as clean, fast-loading WordPress pages at your own domain URL.
It connects directly to your MailerWave account via API, so when someone fills in your opt-in form they are added to the mailing list of your choice automatically — no third-party form embed needed.
Installing the Plugin
Standard WordPress plugin installation. Takes less than two minutes.
You should have a file called mw-page-builder.zip. Keep it as a ZIP — do not extract it.
In your WordPress admin sidebar, click Plugins, then Add New, then the Upload Plugin button at the top of the page.
Click Choose File, select the mw-page-builder.zip file, then click Install Now.
After installation completes, click Activate Plugin. You will now see MW Builder in your WordPress admin sidebar.
Connecting Your MailerWave Account (API)
This step connects the builder to your MailerWave account so opt-in forms can subscribe contacts to your lists automatically.
Log in to your MailerWave account. Go to My Profile → API & Authentication. Copy your API token.
In your WordPress admin sidebar, click MW Builder, then API Settings.
This is your MailerWave installation URL — for example https://app.mailerwave.com. Do not add a trailing slash or include /api/v1 — the plugin adds that automatically.
Paste the token you copied from MailerWave into the API Key field, then click Save Settings.
Click the Test Connection button. If everything is correct you will see a green message showing how many lists were found in your account.
Creating Your First Page
There are three ways to create a new page. All three open the same full-screen builder.
| Method | How | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| From the pages list | Go to MW Builder → New Page in the sidebar | Starting a brand new page from scratch |
| From WP Pages | Go to Pages, hover any page, click Build with MW | Turning an existing WordPress page into a builder page |
| From a template | Open the builder, click 🧩 Templates in the toolbar | Getting started quickly with a pre-designed layout |
Understanding the Builder Interface
The builder opens as a full-screen editor. Your WordPress admin is hidden. Here is what each area does.
Contains the brand name, device preview switcher (desktop/tablet/mobile), your page name, and action buttons. Save saves as draft. Publish makes the page live. Other buttons: Templates, Undo, Redo, Settings, Preview, Export, Back to Pages.
A scrollable list of all available blocks grouped by category — Sections and Elements. Drag any item from here onto the canvas, or click it to add it to the bottom of the page. Use the search box to find a block quickly.
Your live page preview. Every block you add appears here immediately. Click any block to select it and edit its properties. The canvas switches between desktop, tablet and mobile view using the toolbar buttons.
Shows all settings for the currently selected block — colours, text, images, padding, and more. The panel scrolls — if you cannot see a setting, scroll down inside this panel. Click the × button at the top to deselect the current block.
Adding and Editing Blocks
Blocks are the building pieces of your page. Each block is a self-contained section you can add, move, edit and delete independently.
Click and hold any block in the left panel, drag it onto the canvas, and release it where you want it to appear. A blue highlighted zone appears between existing blocks to show you where it will drop.
Simply click any block in the left panel — it is added to the bottom of your page instantly.
Click anywhere on a block in the canvas (not on the control buttons). The block gets a blue outline and its settings appear in the Properties panel on the right.
In the Properties panel, change text, colours, images, padding — whatever that block supports. Changes apply to the canvas as you type. Scroll down inside the Properties panel to see all available settings for that block.
Hover over any block on the canvas — a blue control bar appears at the top with ↑ and ↓ arrows. Click them to reorder. You can also drag the ⠿ handle on the left edge of the block to drag it to a new position.
Hover over the block to see the control bar. Click ⧉ to duplicate it, or ✕ to delete it. You can also delete a selected block by pressing the Delete key on your keyboard.
Ctrl+Z Undo | Ctrl+Y Redo | Ctrl+S Save | Delete Remove selected block | Ctrl+D Duplicate selected blockWorking with Columns
Column blocks let you place elements side by side — text next to an image, a video next to a bullet list, and so on.
Choose from 2-Column Row (50/50), 3-Column Row, or 70/30 Row. Drag or click it to add it to the canvas. You will see empty column slots appear.
Drag any element from the left panel and drop it directly into one of the column slots. Each column slot shows a “Drop element here” target when you hover over it with a dragged element.
Click any block inside a column — it selects that block and opens its Properties in the right panel just like any other block. Every element type is fully editable inside columns.
Click the outer Columns block (not the blocks inside it) — its Properties panel lets you change the column width ratio (50/50, 66/33, 25/75, etc.) and the gap between columns.
Setting Up Your Opt-in Form
The Opt-in Form block has three modes. Choose the one that fits your setup.
| Mode | What it does | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in Form | A styled form rendered by the plugin. No API connection required. Collects name and email but does not connect to any email system automatically. | Mockups, pages without email system integration |
| MailerWave API | Connects directly to your MailerWave account. When someone submits the form, they are added to your chosen list. Redirect to a thank-you page after submission. | Live opt-in pages — the recommended mode |
| Custom HTML | Paste any embed code — Mailchimp, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, or any plain HTML form. It is rendered exactly as-is inside the styled section. | Using a different email provider or existing form code |
To set up MailerWave API mode:
Complete Section 3 of this guide first. You must have a successful API connection before the list selector will work.
Drag the Opt-in Form block onto the canvas and click it to open the Properties panel.
In the Properties panel, under Form Type, select MailerWave API. The panel updates to show the list selector.
A dropdown loads your MailerWave lists automatically. Choose the list you want subscribers added to.
In the Thank-You Page URL field, enter the full URL of the page you want visitors redirected to after they subscribe — for example https://yoursite.com/thank-you.
Scroll down in the Properties panel to change the headline text, sub-line, button label, button colour, card background and section background.
Page Settings
Click the ⚙ Settings button in the toolbar to open Page Settings. These apply to the entire page.
The page name appears in the Pages list. The slug is the URL path — for example a slug of free-guide means your page lives at yoursite.com/free-guide/.
The browser tab title and the description shown in Google search results. Keep the description under 160 characters.
The colour of any gap between your blocks. Most pages set this to white or leave it as the default.
Add any custom CSS that applies to the entire published page. This is for advanced users — most users do not need this.
Saving, Publishing and Viewing Your Page
There are two states for a page — Draft and Published. Only Published pages are visible to visitors.
Click the 💾 Save button. If this is your first save, a dialogue will ask for the page name and URL slug. Drafts are only visible to logged-in WordPress users.
Click 👁 Preview in the toolbar to see a full-screen preview of your page in its current state without publishing it. Use the device toggle buttons to check it on mobile and tablet too.
Click the 🚀 Publish button. The page becomes live at its URL immediately. The plugin creates a WordPress page behind the scenes and uses a clean template that bypasses your theme.
Go to MW Builder → All Pages to see all your pages. From there you can Edit, Duplicate, View (opens the live page in a new tab), or Delete any page.
All Block Types — Quick Reference
The builder has 17 block types across two categories.
Sections
Elements
Tips and Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions and things to know.
Click the tablet or mobile icons in the toolbar to preview your page at those screen sizes. The canvas shrinks to simulate the device. Always check mobile before publishing.
No — builder pages use a clean full-page template with no theme wrapper. This is intentional. Landing pages convert better without navigation menus and footers distracting visitors.
Click Publish again after making changes. Saving as draft does not update the live page — you must publish to push changes live.
The Properties panel scrolls independently. Click inside the right panel and scroll down with your mouse wheel or trackpad to see all settings for the selected block.
Yes — go to MW Builder → All Pages, find the page, and click Duplicate. A copy is created as a draft with “(Copy)” added to the name.
Yes — click ⬇ Export in the toolbar to download a .mwpb.json design file. On the other site, go to MW Builder → Import Page and upload that file.
Deleting a page from MW Builder → All Pages removes it from the builder database and also permanently deletes the underlying WordPress page. This cannot be undone. Use Duplicate first if you are unsure.