Tag Archives: Alternatives

4 Quality ClickFunnels Alternatives to Help You Build Better Sales Funnels

[ad_1] While running a website doesn’t require too much need for complex growth strategies, ‘sales funnels’ are something you should investigate. ClickFunnels is a market leader for creating targeted pages to drive users through your funnel. However, it’s not the only solution. There are a number of ClickFunnels alternatives available that are worth considering. Of course, different solutions have specific focuses, although all generally let you create targeted landing pages. They let you push your site’s visitors through the sales funnel without affecting your ‘bounce rate’. In this post, we’ll look at the concept of sales funnels, then introduce you to ClickFunnels. Finally, we’ll look at a number of ClickFunnels alternatives and discuss what makes them viable. A Primer on Sales Funnels For the unaware, sales funnels are where your website’s visitors go through a number of steps before becoming a paying customer. Usually, you’ll find three or four steps consisting of Awareness, Interest, Desire, and Action (AIDA). While a sales funnel is usually part of a defined conversion strategy, practically every business that sells products and services will use one. For example, take the following: Awareness. You put out a social media ad, which some users click through. Interest. Once they get to the page you specified in the ad, they check out the product. Desire. The copy on that page causes them to add the product to their cart. Action. The visitor becomes a paying customer once they checkout. Here, you have distinct phases. The ‘top’ of the funnel is where potential customers enter, based on their reaction to your ads, content marketing, and other promotional tactics. At this point, they’re ‘qualified’. In other words, they’ve expressed at least some interest in buying your wares. Once they’re on the site, you funnel them through one or more pages designed to pitch your product and convince them to sell. The ‘bottom’ of the funnel is where a paying customer exits after checking out. However, the goal of a good sales funnel is to prevent ‘leaks’. In other words, each part of the funnel needs to keep users within it. There have been numerous products to help you with this. Introducing ClickFunnels ClickFunnels uses the term “marketing funnel”, but it’s essentially the same thing as a sales funnel. The goal is still to take the unqualified masses, filter them into qualified leads, and push them through the funnel to become paying customers. The product is essentially an all-in-one solution for creating a website and sales funnel. There are also elements of aftercare, called ‘Follow-Up Funnels’. Overall, the process is simple. Create a website based around landing pages using the built-in drag-and-drop editor; Connect payment gateways so that customers can buy your products and services; Use Follow-Up Funnels to capture any users who leak from the funnel. However, while this seems solid on paper (and it is – ClickFunnels has a lot of happy users), it’s not the whole story. Why You’d Want a ClickFunnels Alternative ClickFunnels has definitely found a market that’s lucrative. However, there’s room for competition, and it’s not a perfect offering. For starters, ClickFunnels often comes across like stock photography, in that you know when you’re in a funnel: Huge font sizes, mammoth copy, and myriad success stories on every page are the order of the day. This can be tiring to wade through, although we admit that it’s a successful approach. While you don’t have to use this approach, much of the ClickFunnels methodology is based around it. What’s more, the price is astronomical. The entry tier is $97 per month, which is nearly $1,200 per year. This doesn’t give you access to Follow-Up Funnels either. For that, you have to opt for the $297 per month Platinum plan. High-rolling businesses can stump up $2,497 per month for the top-tier Two Comma Club plan. If we’re judging this, we’d wonder what business has up to $30,000 a year spare to spend, yet still needs help capturing customers. Finally, you’re going to be locked into the ClickFunnels ecosystem, which is going to sting if you ever want to change your approach. Coupled with the pricing and methodology, there are other avenues for you to consider. What You Should Look for In a ClickFunnels Alternative Fortunately, we’ve already distilled the elements required to build a sales or marketing funnel. These are essentially the same elements you need to look for in a ClickFunnels alternative: The ability to build a website to host your funnel. A way to create landing pages, add payment gateways, and capture forms. Drag-and-drop editing that’s flexible and powerful enough to cater to non-coders and web designers. Functionality to reconnect with users who have leaked from the funnel. In addition to this, you’re going to want competitive pricing. Being honest, most solutions are going to be closer to your budget compared to ClickFunnels. Still, your chosen alternative has to be cost-effective. There are plenty of solutions available that could tick all of these boxes. Let’s discuss them next. 4 Quality ClickFunnels Alternatives to Help You Build Better Sales Funnels Below, we’re going to look at four alternatives to ClickFunnels. Let’s quickly show you what we’re going to feature: Systeme. This is a direct ClickFunnels alternative, with a competitive price and comparable functionality. Elementor. WordPress’ most popular page builder plugin has enough grunt to help you build stellar sales funnels on the platform. OptimizePress. This is a dedicated WordPress landing page plugin with strong functionality and great pricing. CartFlows. A WordPress-based solution that combined with tools such as Elementor, can give you immense power and flexibility. However, there are many more solutions too. We could have featured Unbounce, Thrive Architect, Leadpages, and umpteen other ClickFunnels alternatives. Even so, these four cover a lot of ground. Let’s take a look, starting with a direct competitor to ClickFunnels. 1. Systeme First up, Systeme is a solution we’ve talked about before on the blog. It bills itself as a ClickFunnels alternative, although we believe its user base is

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10 Wix Alternatives for 2021 (Cheaper, Better, More Flexible)

[ad_1] Wix is one of the most popular website builders worldwide and powers a staggering 160 million websites. Most people choose Wix because it’s easy to use, has lots of features, and there’s a huge collection of templates to choose from. But if you’re thinking about creating a website, you should consider using one of these Wix alternatives instead. What’s wrong with Wix? Well, nothing if you just want to get a website up quickly and you don’t mind paying a monthly fee for it. However, if you want to grow your website, add advanced functionality, improve its SEO, and have full control over your data and content, there are many better alternatives. Bonus: several of these Wix alternatives are a cheaper option too. We recommend these alternatives: For General Websites WordPress (flexible and powerful CMS for creating any kind of site) Gator by HostGator (affordable and easy website creation for small businesses) Divi Theme (adds visual drag-and-drop functionality to WordPress) Webflow (advanced website builder for web designers and agencies) Weebly (simpler and cheaper alternative to Wix) For eCommerce Sites & Online Stores WooCommerce (flexible free eCommerce platform for WordPress) BigCommerce (powerful hosted eCommerce solution) Shopify (Easy-to-use online store builder with lots of tools to maximize sales) For Photography & Art Portfolios SmugMug (Secure and unlimited photo storage and portfolio builder with sales tools for photographers) Format (Stylish online portfolios for photographers with in-built business tools) Advantages of Wix We’re not claiming that Wix is all bad. Certainly, there are millions of people who seem to be happy with using it for their website. So let’s start by taking a look at what makes Wix such a popular choice. Easy to Use Wix’s main selling point has always been how easy it is to use for beginners and that’s certainly true. With its basic site wizard, you can have a site up within minutes. The drag-and-drop builder is very easy to use too, and it’s simple to make customizations to the templates and create your own designs. Great Selection of Templates If you’re not naturally skilled with design or don’t want to spend hours making your website look good, Wix has you covered with over 800 professionally designed templates for pretty much any kind of site. We can’t fault the Wix templates. They really are beautiful and modern designs and there’s something for everyone. Your site certainly won’t look DIY unless you start messing around with them. All-in-one Platform Another big selling point of Wix is that they take care of everything for you including hosting, security, backups, eCommerce tools, marketing, analytics, and so on. You don’t need to sign up for or learn how to use lots of different tools and services. Everything is provided on a single platform. Create a Free Website Of course, a big reason why Wix hosts millions of websites is because you can build a website without paying anything with their free account. This is a good option for small personal sites but doesn’t work for most people because the free sites have a Wix domain address and display Wix ads. There are also significant limits on storage, bandwidth, and features. However, Wix was very clever to offer this free option, as I’m sure many users started out on the free plan and then upgraded when they realized its limitations. If you want to build a website but don’t have much money, there are other options. Wix Vs. WordPress Wix has mainly aimed its product at beginners and creatives to date, highlighting the platform’s ease of use and the fact you don’t need any coding skills to create a professional-looking website. However, the brand has since expanded its focus and is now targeting agencies, developers, and those more experienced in building websites. Wix recently launched a bizarre advertising campaign taking a swipe at WordPress. They sent high-profile tech influencers and WordPress users Bose noise-canceling headphones in a box with a “Top Secret” and a note signed from “WP”. Recipients of the headphones were instructed to scan a QR code, which took them to a video of a man calling himself “WordPress” and complaining that Wix was spreading lies and fake news. The campaign left most of the recipients feeling confused about what they were trying to achieve, especially as there was no indication that the headphones were from Wix apart from the shipping label. Wix later uploaded a series of videos identified as part of their “You Deserve Better” campaign, which criticized WordPress as being a target for hackers, needing regular updates, and generating constant errors. While Wix claimed that the purpose of the campaign was to reach an audience that “doesn’t think or know that Wix applies to their needs,” it attracted ridicule from the WordPress and tech community, with users on Twitter calling out the brand for being “unethical” and “tacky”. So why exactly is the idea of switching to Wix such a ridiculous idea for most WordPress users? Let’s take a deeper look at some of the negatives of the platform. Wix Cons – Why You Should Not Use Wix While Wix has some advantages, particularly for those new to creating websites, there are also many downsides. These negatives are the reason why you’ll rarely see a serious business website built on Wix and why most people move away from the platform once their website grows or they’re updating it regularly. Lack of Data Portability Wix is the only CMS to our knowledge that does not allow you to export your content. While there are some limited export functions for products and other data types, the Wix support database states “Currently, it is not possible to transfer blog posts from one site to another.” In basic terms, this means that once you start building a site on Wix, you’re stuck with it. Of course, you can make local backups of your blog posts and website content in a spreadsheet or word documents, but there’s no easy way to export your

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4 Top GoDaddy Hosting Alternatives and Competitors for 2021

[ad_1] Hosting is a perennial topic among site owners. The conversation can get fanatic and fervent at times too. GoDaddy is one of the more popular hosts on the market. Even so, it’s not the only option. In fact, there are a lot of GoDaddy alternatives available that may suit you better. For example, you may not need GoDaddy’s collaboration tools. It could be that you need more when it comes to server specifications. Regardless, each provider has a different approach – and one could be better for your needs. Given this, we’ll look at some of the best GoDaddy alternatives, and discuss why they could do a more effective job. First, let’s give you some background on GoDaddy. A Quick Introduction to GoDaddy In short, GoDaddy is a monster-sized hosting provider. In fact, it covers many bases with its services, but hosting is a primary offering. The target user is small and medium business owners, which is why you’ve likely come across GoDaddy in the past. As such, the product lines and feature sets are all geared around running a business. Team-based solutions are also front and center too. GoDaddy is also a domain registrar, which means you can buy your domain and hosting from the same place. While this isn’t always recommended, it is convenient and in some cases can save you money. On paper, GoDaddy can cater to lots of different users and business. Even so, some users are looking elsewhere for hosting. Let’s take some time to find out why. Why You’d Want to Find GoDaddy Alternatives to Host Your Website Of course, GoDaddy is not the only host on the market. As the saying goes, “variety is the spice of life”. As such, there are lots of general reasons why you might want a GoDaddy alternative: The feature set doesn’t align with your site’s goals. There are too many features you’re not using. You’ve found third-party solutions for some of the built-in offerings. It could even be that none of the above is true. If you take a look at a site such as Review Signal, you’ll notice that GoDaddy is not in the top ten for any category. In fact, it’s struggling to remain in the top 20 hosting providers: This is down to a few reasons: Customer support can be poor, and the process to resolve simple queries is made into a complex number of steps. There have been user reports of poor server stability and speed over the years. The price can be cheap if you’re only using hosting. Though, if you’re buying more services from GoDaddy, the cost could spiral out of control. Despite this, GoDaddy can be a solid host for you, if everything hits the mark. More often than not though, you can find higher quality at a cheaper price point. 4 Top GoDaddy Alternatives and Competitors Let’s get down to the ‘nitty-gritty’, and look at some top-quality GoDaddy alternatives. Here are the providers we’ll feature: A2 Hosting. This cost-effective host has all the power of GoDaddy, but none of the ‘fluff’. WP Engine. If you’re after a dedicated WordPress host, WP Engine is a top-tier solution. Kinsta. For ‘hall of fame’ class hosting, Kinsta offers iron-clad dependability and functionality. DreamHost. A WordPress-approved host that offers value for money, and platform-specific servers. First off, we’ll look at the cheapest option on our list. Though, it’s not the worst performer by a long shot. 1. A2 Hosting First off, we have A2 Hosting. This provider has grown to become one of the major players over the past few years, and for good reason. It provides a number of plans for hosting your site, such as shared and dedicated plans, and a Virtual Private Server (VPS) if you need one. It also offers shared and managed WordPress hosting, which might have pricked up your ears. From the four dedicated plans, all but the lowest tier offers an unlimited number of websites. While all plans offer at least Solid State Drive storage, higher tiers give you Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) drives for blazing speed and reliability. The more expensive plans also give you A2 Hosting’s ‘Turbo Boost’ servers. This lets you handle more traffic, reduce your page load speeds, work with a higher-powered processor, and get access to stellar caching. As for support, there’s a comprehensive knowledge base for all types of hosting. If you’re after a more personal experience, A2 Hosting also as a wealth of options to access the support team. Compared to GoDaddy, A2 Hosting offers less on the whole. Though, this isn’t a knock on the latter. What’s here is focused on solid, stable hosting – especially if you’re a WordPress user. If you’re after good all-around hosting without the bells and whistle that come attached to GoDaddy, this is a top-notch option. 💲 Use our A2Hosting Coupon to get up to 51 % off Get A2Hosting 2. WP Engine Next up, WP Engine is a perennial host within any discussion on the topic. Even so, it more than matches up to GoDaddy in a number of ways. WP Engine bills itself as a ‘Digital Experience Platform (DXP)’. Rather than focus only on hosting, WP Engine looks to provide an all-around solution for managing your online presence. The idea behind a DXP is that your brand can be where your users are, through homogenized social media and other branding channels. This is in contrast to the traditional passive approach. Given this, its no surprise that WP Engine offers solutions catered to marketers and developers. It’s a fully-managed host with three different options for your site. Each of these has five tiers. It can be confusing, but no more so than other hosts. Though, the price for using WP Engine is clear. It’s more expensive than most other competitors, including GoDaddy. This isn’t always a negative, though. There’s a lot packed into each tier. If you have everything you need to run your site, it’s money well spent.

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