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  • How To Earn Money From Web Design As Beginner?

    How To Earn Money From Web Design As Beginner?

    Are you looking for the best resources to start a web design gig?

    Are you finding for the right answers to “How to earn money from web design as beginner?”

    Maybe and maybe, you have no idea much about coding skills but you still want to start a web design gig.

    So, how do you start?

    In this article, you will discover how you can earn money with web designing even as a beginner.

    How to earn money from web design as a beginner?

    how to become a web designer

    There are several important steps that you need to follow by the ‘T’:

    • Build a portfolio
    • Using the right tools
    • Promote your services
    • Garner and display testimonials

    Step 1: How to build a portfolio as a web designer (even when you are a newbie)

    build a portfolio

    I’ve been a web designer myself (without coding skills – yes, no joke and please don’t hate me for this) J

    Getting clients is the hardest step — it gets worst since you are new and doesn’t have any track record to share. I’ve been through that road and it was pretty.

    I literally begged others to give me a chance and offered dirt cheap way to do so.

    And I was burned down badly. It wasn’t because I did a bad job (for the record, I did an amazing job).

    It was because I throw away all my dignity and decided to go on ‘desperate mode.’ That was the single, biggest mistake I did in my web design life.

    I came across this strategy by accident and it worked like charm.

    Note: It is really cheap and easy to become a freelance web developer. My favorite tool is Divi and you can get Divi discount here.

    How to build a portfolio like a professional?

    You need to have a website and a landing page. If you are in the web designing industry, you should know what I’m trying to tell you.

    You need to be visible to the public. You must be known and allow to be reached on any platform, anytime of the day.

    The process of creating a website is easy. What’s next is tough!

    You need to have a simple website design that showcase who you are and what’s in for the potential client.

    In terms of ratio, you should share 10% of the content on ‘about you’ and the balance 90% about the client. You know, the reasons why they need to even look at your profile.

    Note: You need to understand what the clients are looking for and once you get those, portray yourself as a person who can deliver such requirements. Do this and you will close the sale every single time.

    BONUS: Use a landing page that converts

    Your homepage should be short and powerful. More importantly, it has to have specific call-to-actions (CTA) to move your readers from reading phrase to prospecting.

    In other words, the CTA need to be so powerful that it will convince the potential clients to ‘know more.’

    You don’t need coding skills when creating landing pages because there are plugins such as Thrive Architect that allows you to build a conversion focused landing page within minutes (not days).

    Read my review on Thrive Architect here if you are interested (don’t worry, I guarantee that this will be the best review you have ever read for the year)!

    What should the landing page have on it?

    • Reasons why you should be considered
    • No obligation and free consultation (yes, please don’t charge fee for this … yet)
    • A simple lead-in form that allows readers to leave their name, contact number and email address

    Note: Remember to collect contact number and email address at the same time. Human are prone to mistakes and you wouldn’t want to lose a potential lead for nothing.

    Here’s one great sample of a great landing page

    sample of great landing page

    Do you noticed that each call-to-action (CTA) and elements on the page is created for maximum conversion?

    Step 2: Using the right tools for web design

    How to start web design as a beginner? The trick is by using the right tools.

    A web designer often have a wide range of tools at their disposal but if you are a complete beginner (thinking that web designing can earn you money), then you only need a few tools to start.

    Those tools are:

    • Turnkey and professional themes
    • Page builder
    • Web hosting

    Yes, you only need the above three to get started with web designer as a beginner.

    Choosing the right professional themes

    conversion focused themes

    This is mission-critical. You need to have a wide range of themes to help you kick-start your web design gig.

    Choosing the right themes is important because it will either turn on or turn off your potential clients. So, make sure you are mindful of this.

    When it comes to professional themes, I recommend you to start small — this means that while it is always good to have at least 50 custom themes in your toolbox, you can start with a small figure (anywhere between 5 to 10).

    These professional themes must be easy to configure and it is almost an important requirement to have a drag and drop feature. You don’t have much coding skill, remember?

    Why is it important to choose the right themes?

    For starters, it need to be easy to use because you have limited skills as a fresh web designer. More importantly, you don’t need to get your hands dirty with the coding and all those mind bogging stuffs.

    Secondly, the licence would need to allow you to use it without limit (unlimited usage). You wouldn’t want to buy a theme each time you get a new client because it is going to eat away your earnings.

    What theme should new web designer be using?

    For me, the choice is simple — Thrive Themes.

    It comes with 10 beautifully designed themes that fit for a wide range of industries as well as all other tools to help you design the best web design at minimum cost.

    On top of that, each of these Thrive Themes is highly customizable. This means that you can customize anything and everything in just a few clicks. There are also over 100 pre-made website templates you can import and install to create custom theme for your potential clients.

    Recommendation: I would recommend you to get Thrive Membership for unlimited usage of all its themes and plugins. Read more about Thrive Membership using this link.

    Step 3: Promote your services (as if there is no tomorrow)

    This step is very crucial and important for your success. The process of building a portfolio and using the right tools are just two steps to build a strong base for your new venture in web design. The next critical stage is to promote your services.

    Believe it or not, promoting your services is extremely important because you need to generate as much leads a possible — and fast.

    So, how do you promote your web design services like a professional (and dignity in tact)?

    Crazy and highly effective strategies to promote web design services

    • Offer free web design services for the first 10 clients (and in return, they need to provide you with testimonials)
    • Use social media advertising such as Facebook Ads to reach out to a specific audience or market segments
    • Allow clients to pay you any amount (based on what their thoughts on your level of service)
    • check-circleProvide low cost web design services with several upsell services on the side
    • check-circleBe active on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn, while providing value to your audience (to build trust and followed by potential leads)

    If you are starting web design as a beginner, it will be very tough for you to build strong trust and generating many leads.

    Expect the first few months to be the toughest but rest assured that you need to keep the momentum moving forward.

    Step 4: Don’t be afraid to ask for testimonials

    Most web designing beginners are worried of asking for testimonials — you shouldn’t!

    Displaying testimonials is one of the best strategy to build trust and confidence. Therefore, you should display as much testimonials as possible on your portfolio blog.

    According to VWO, testimonials can boost conversions by 34%, so why are you not using them?

    I would recommend you to have testimonials to be in these critical places:

    • Several testimonials on the homepage
    • A separate testimonial page
    • Automatic rotation on testimonials to build more trust

    In order to achieve such results, I use Thrive Ovation, the only working set-and-forget testimonial plugin for WordPress. This plugin allows you to organize all your testimonials under one roof, and set specific rules on which testimonials to be displayed on specific pages.

    You should not be afraid to ask for testimonials if you are constantly delivering awesome web designs to your clients (or in this case, you know that you can do so).

    Are you ready to make money from web design as a beginner?

    You can start making money from web design as a beginner if you have the right strategies. I certainly hope you find the strategies above useful because they worked like charm for me.

    Find this useful? Share this with your friends today and help them make money from web design even as a beginner!

  • Digital Marketing Strategy 2018: Top 8 Strategies To Elevate Your Business

    Digital Marketing Strategy 2018: Top 8 Strategies To Elevate Your Business

    Today is January 18th, 2018 and by now, you should have a digital marketing strategy for 2018 in place.

    If you have not, don’t worry. In this article, you will discover the top digital marketing strategy for 2018.

    1. Which Device Is The Most Popular?

    The first digital trend is to understand the popular devices which are used by your customers.

    For most websites and online stores, the usage of mobile devices had surged over the last three years — and the figures show that there is no stopping anytime soon.

    popular devices for 2018

    As you can see, the usage of mobile devices had increased dramatically.

    Here are two important takeaways:

    • The usage of mobile devices is evergrowing
    • Laptop and desktop usage are dropping gradually

    Note: While it is important to focus your marketing on mobile devices, you should still focus some efforts on laptop and desktop as they are still holding a large market share.

    2. Social messaging apps will take over communication

    According to the latest Ofcom Communications Market Research more than half of the total mobile audience used Facebook Messenger (61%) and half used WhatsApp (50%).

    social media messaging

    What does this means to you?

    People are finding easier means to reach out to one another — and if you want your business to strive in 2018, then make sure you are available on these platforms.

    The ultimate goal is simple: It has to be easy for your customers to reach out to you.

    If you are not convinced, take a look at Pizza Hut using Messenger to communicate with its customers and IKEA uses social media messaging apps to conduct surveys.

    3. Make video marketing your baby in 2018

    You shouldn’t be shy in front of the camera, and even if you are.

    In 2017, we have seen video marketing went to new heights. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter had given more priority on video when compared to any other media forms.

    Thanks to YouTube, video marketing has taken toll not only on YouTube itself, it has moved over to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

    See the image below that explains the number of unique audience (in millions) on various platforms.

    how important is video marketing in 2018

    MUST READ: Instagram For Business (The Secrets Of Marketing On Instagram)

    4. Search engine marketing will be more important than ever

    With the number of advertisers advertising on a daily basis, stay ahead of the competition will result in more money spend on ads.

    search engine marketing

    Therefore, a good alternative to paid ads is search engine. Make no mistake — search engine marketing will be more important than ever. Search engine marketing is dominant.

    There are two ways you can choose to start doing search engine marketing:

    • Doing it yourself (takes a little bit of time but extremely cost saving)
    • Hiring a search engine agency/consultant to do the job for you

    Either way, search engine marketing is definitely one of the most important digital marketing strategies in 2018.

    If you are planning to do search engine marketing yourself, you need to have these two tools: SEMrush and KWFinder.

    NOTE: SEMrush helps you to monitor the keywords and your competitors and KWFinder allows you to find the most profitable keywords to rank on Google search.

    5. Content marketing will be one of the most talked digital marketing strategy (after SEO)

    We all know the importance of having good content and in 2018, good content marketing strategy is going to skyrocket your business to new heights.

    For me, content marketing is always considered as the ‘engagement’ fuel that powers all digital communications from search to social to email marketing to creating website experiences which convert.

    content marketing strategy 2018

    Content marketing is definitely the top digital marketing strategy for 2018 because you need to have content in any forms of marketing.

    Important discovery: The trend I’m seeing here is that businesses are getting serious about treating content as a strategic resource, that means developing a customer engagement strategy using different media as shown in the lifecycle diagrams above, and at a practical level, developing content for different audiences using techniques like Personas and Content mapping.

    6. Bots will be apart of digital marketing

    Article intelligence or bots will make a huge change in digital marketing strategy 2018. Take a look at Facebook bots. They have flooded the market and influencers (and business owners) are going crazy over them!

    bots

    As technology advances, we longer need to wake up in the middle of the night to answer questions on social media — our bot (when setup correctly) will do it for us efficiently.

    7. Analytics and reports are not going anywhere

    When it comes to digital marketing strategy, analytical skills and having the right reports are going to make differences in your business.

    Through my consultancy business, I’ve seen business owners being more focused on reports they receive and they are getting even more demanding on those.

    analyzing digital marketing strategy 2018

    I totally understand this — we should take our business seriously and the best way is to achieve greatness is through proper information. In this case, reporting and analytics will play huge roles in digital marketing 2018.

    What steps should you be taking?

    • Request for better and more detailed reports
    • Do weekly analytics instead of monthly
    • Compare analytical reports (week over week, month or month) to find for trends
    • check-circleAim to spot small changes that leads to huge jump in revenue, sales etc.

    8. Digital marketing automation will be mission-critical

    If you are not using automation for digital marketing, you need to start doing right now!

    automation process

    With automation, you can save more time on digital marketing and focus on things that matter most to your business.

    Digital marketing automation allows busy influencers and business owners to run tasks without any worries of mistakes or totally forgetting the tasks.

    What are the examples of digital marketing automation?

    • Automatic publishing to social media (for new blog posts)
    • Automatic and recurring automation on social media posting (try this tool)
    • Automation through triggers (imagine IFTTT)
    • arrow-circle-rightSet and forget welcome email (ConvertKit offers one of the easiest welcome email setup)
    • arrow-circle-rightAutomatic email delivery to subscribers when they abandon card (see Drip in action)

    You might be interested with this: MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip – Comparing The Best Email Marketing Automation Software

    Digital Marketing Strategies for 2018

    Are you ready to make 2018 a great year? I hope you find the top 8 digital marketing strategies for 2018 useful.

  • How To Start A Blog Under $30

    How To Start A Blog Under $30

    We all dream of being the next Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income but we are not anywhere nearer to that dream. We dream of living on the Internet and working anywhere in the world with just your laptop.

    Sadly, not many people live up to those dreams. Even with me. 

    Let me tell you why and I strongly encourage you to read this. I’m sure it resonates with you perfectly well.

    I have a dream — to make money online and quit my day job. I like what I’m doing, but I love making money from the Internet (even more). Little did I know, I started blogging in 2004 and soon, it lifted off. I was making thousands of dollars month in, month out and I was happy.

    Soon, I find myself drifting away because I wasn’t blogging anymore. I thought money would flow in that way and I was wrong. Blogging takes time and more importantly, the first step of actually starting a blog (penning down the content).

    In 2017, I took action to grow my email list and started blogging back. Yes, I miss those thousands of dollars I earn monthly and I dearly need it for my financial needs.

    Then I realized something significant. Starting a blog now is way easier than those days. 

    You are reading until here, you should be interested to start a blog. Good for you because I’m a true believer that Internet can drive a lot of people (including you and me) to richness — with the right strategy.

    In this post, you will discover the exact steps I took to start a blog from scratch and start making money online.

    More importantly, I’m going to show you how you can start a blog under $30 investment. Period.

    How To Start A Blog Under $30?

    start a blog under $30

    Starting a blog is actually very simple. The below are what’s needed to start a blog under $30, and with budget in mind.

    What you will need are:

    • Domain name
    • Web hosting
    • WordPress theme
    • check-square-oWordPress plugins
    • check-square-oEmail marketing software

    Step 1: Choosing the right domain name

    choose best domain name

    Do you need the keyword in the domain name? 

    Do you need it to be a .com or a .net?

    How long should a domain name be?

    All these questions, I know — I thought of them myself. The truth simple: It doesn’t matter.

    In today’s world, getting a domain name is just like an address. It doesn’t matter if you have the prime location in town, you will still receive your mails.

    Here are some basic to help you get started on the right foot:

    • Easy to remember domain name > Hard to remember domain name
    • Shorter domain names are always better
    • Having keyword in the domain name is a bonus (but not an absolute need)
    • check-circle-oDomain name with .com should be your first priority (and opt for alternatives if it is not available)
    • check-circle-oEnsure that the exact domain name is available on Facebook and Twitter

    How much does a domain name costs?

    A domain name would costs you under $10. In most cases, you can just head over to GoDaddy, create a new account and purchase your first .com domain for only $1.

    Ladies and gentlemen, a domain name costs as low as $1. So, what’s stopping you?

    Step 2: Purchase a web hosting service

    choose web hosting

    In order to start a blog, you need to have a web hosting service. If a domain name works as your address, a web hosting service will be the electricity to light up your property.

    Web hosting doesn’t cost you a bomb. On average, you can get a decent one under $10 a month.

    If you want to have complete hassle-free process, you should just purchase web hosting from GoDaddy (choose shared web hosting) and bundle up with your domain name purchase. 

    Why?

    More discounts from GoDaddy, of course!

    Are there any other GoDaddy alternatives?

    Yes, there are. As a matter of fact, I highly recommend beginners to get SiteGround hosting instead due to several reasons:

    • checkGreat performance and zero downtime
    • checkExcellent support (the best you can find)
    • checkSimple pricing and 1-click installation

    BONUS:Top 5 Secrets Of Finding The Best Web Hosting Company

    Usually, SiteGround charges $9.95 per month for its web hosting. However, you can get it for only $3.95 per month through this special link (no coupon code required).

    Note: Once you have purchased a web hosting service, you will receive step by step instructions from the web hosting company such as SiteGround on ways to install your domain on the server. This whole process wouldn’t take longer than 10 minutes to complete.  

    Step 3: Choosing a WordPress theme

    how to choose the best wordpress theme

    This is where the tricky part and 99.99% of the bloggers make the same mistake. They opt for free WordPress theme.

    Let me repeat. This. Is. A. Mistake.

    A WordPress theme is like the pain job of your car or bike. You may have a great engine under the hood but if you are not having the right appearance, the vehicle is not going to turn heads.

    MUST READ:Which Are The Best Premium WordPress Themes For 2018?

    What should a good WordPress theme has?

    • Loads the website under 1.5 seconds
    • Easy to customize without coding skills
    • Wide variety of demos to import and use immediately
    • checkConstant updates and undying support from the developers
    • checkAffordable and easy on your wallet

    When it comes to choosing the best WordPress theme, I only recommend one — Thrive Themes.

    Thrive Themes is powerful because it comes with 9 Thrive products along with the theme. I personally call Thrive Themes my all-in-one marketing toolbox.

    When I use Thrive Themes, I am not only able to use beautifully crafted, fast loading and conversion-focused premium WordPress themes, I am able to enjoy unlimited usage of these:

    • All Thrive Themes (10 premium WordPress themes)
    • Thrive Architect (drag and drop builder plugin)
    • Thrive Leads (lead generation plugin)
    • check-square-oThrive Ultimatum (scarcity plugin)
    • check-square-oThrive Comment (comment plugin)
    • check-square-oThrive Ovation (the only functionable testimonial plugin)
    • check-square-oThrive Headline Optimizer (set and forget dozens of titles on automation)
    • check-square-oThrive Clerver Widget (finally, a plugin that allows you to display specific widgets to your audience)
    • check-square-oThrive Quiz Builder (the only quiz builder that helps you generate leads dirrectly from your blog)

    Can you guess how much the above cost? $100, $200 or $500 a month?

    No, it only costs you $19 per month for Thrive Themes Membership (you can read the full review here).

    Again, read the review and decide if Thrive Themes is worth it.

    Step 4: Installing essential WordPress plugins

    uninstall unwanted WordPress plugin

    Stop cracking your head on which plugins you should be installing. To start a blog, you only need to install two WordPress plugins from the WordPress repository:

    Do you know why you only need two plugins? Because when you use Thrive Themes, you have everything inbuilt in it. You have everything at your disposal such as lead generation plugin, comment moderation plugin, quiz builder plugin and many more.

    If you are just starting a blog, this is the best way to start a blog under $30 investment.

    Best WordPress Form Builder?

    If you are looking for a good WordPress form builder, you don’t have to look far. WPForms is one of the best and most intuitive form builders in the market. There is no coding skills needed—just drag and drop elements into the form and anyone can build it from scratch!

    Step 5: Email marketing software

    top 10 email marketing tips 2018

    Another major mistake by many bloggers is that they don’t start collecting emails from their readers.

    You should start collecting emails as soon as you start the blog and with tools such as Thrive Leads, it allows you to collect emails faster due to their high conversion tools and it integrates with major email marketing providers.

    But wait! Email marketing software is expensive, right?

    No, they are affordable and even free for some.

    If you are a starting a blog and affiliate marketing is your main business, do not use MailChimp.

    I repeat — Affiliate marketers need to avoid MailChimp as much as possible.

    While MailChimp is free to use (forever if you have less than 2,000 email subscribers), it serves some major disadvantages for people like — people who makes a living from the Internet.

    MUST READ: 3 Disappointing Truth About MailChimp Email Marketing Solutions

    If you are not doing affiliate marketing, MailChimp is definitely a great choice when you are just starting a blog.

    What is the best MailChimp alternative?

    MailChimp is free and the best alternative to MailChimp for bloggers is Drip. Drip offers free account to everyone (use this link to sign up) and it is free for the first 100 email subscribers.

    Once you hit the 100 email subscriber mark, you should be able to generate at least $50 a month (easy). By then, you have two choices to make — stick to Drip at $49 per month or ConvertKit at $29 per month.

    Personally, ConvertKit will be a better choice when comparing with Drip. You can also read my review here: MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip

    St

    Summary: How to start a blog under $30?

    Starting a blog under $30 is doable — more importantly, it is achieveable only when you follow the above steps. As you progress deeper into the blogging world, you can start considering better options such as premium WordPress hosting and other WordPress options.

  • Top 3 LeadPages Alternative 2018

    Top 3 LeadPages Alternative 2018

    Are you looking for the best LeadPages alternative?

    When it comes to creating landing pages, LeadPages is always known for its popularity in the space.

    Influencers such as Amy Porterfield and Lewis Howes highly recommend LeadPages. While LeadPages is created to serve as many people as possible, LeadPages may not be a good fit for you.

    Don’t worry, you are not alone. I felt that LeadPages isn’t the right tool for me and just like you, I had my times trying to find the best LeadPages alternative.

    In this post, you will discover three of the best LeadPages alternative for 2018. 

    Quick Introduction: What is LeadPages?

    what is leadpages

    LeadPages is an online tool that you can use to collect email subscribers. That is the main function of LeadPages, and they provide tons of purdy templates that you can use for lead magnets, webinars, and landing pages in order to grow your email list.

    LeadPages offers a simple, custom-made solution for you to create landing pages without installing a plugin on your WordPress blog. For beginners and business owners, using LeadPages is a great way to save time and effort.

    Why people are looking for LeadPages alternative?

    While LeadPages is often considered one of the best in the email marketing space, it is not always the best choice for everyone.

    For starters, the pricing structure for LeadPages is way higher than most of the tools in the market space. The lowest pricing structure for LeadPages is the Standard plan which starts at $31 per month (with 12 months upfront payment). The Standard plan gives provides you with basic landing page functions and email support.

    The next tier is Professional plan which starts at $66 per month (again, with 12 months upfront payment). This plan is much better because it comes with A/B testing and advanced LeadPages features such as Leaddigits® Text-to-Opt-in Codes and Leadlinks® 1-Click Signup Links.

    This is why most people start finding for LeadPages alternative. The pricing structure is too steep and it doesn’t cater for everyone. I stop using LeadPages recently because it is no longer worth it. I’m living in Asia and my exchange rate to USD is 4x. This means that the Professional plan will costs me $264 per month ($66 x 4)!

    I am also 100% confident that this is one of the core reasons LeadPages is losing it’s customers because of the pricing structure. My two cents tells me that it is not worth it, even with the Standard plan because the landing page features are all basic with no split testing features.

    Sorry LeadPages, I’m one of those thousands who went looking for LeadPages alternative and found great ones.

    LeadPages Alternative #1: Thrive Architect

    Thrive Architect Review

    Thrive Architect is a content builder plugin from Thrive Themes. Thrive Architect comes with over 220 ready made templates for you to create different landing pages.

    What makes Thrive Architect extremely versatile and better than LeadPages is that each landing page set comes with similar layout. For example, each set may have 3 landing pages and each landing page has similar designs to give you professional landing page design.

    Apart from that, Thrive Architect pricing is only $67 for a year (compared to LeadPages at $31 per month).

    Advantages using Thrive Architect

    • Build for speed
    • Over 220 landing page templates
    • Fully customized elements for you to build the lading page of your choice
    • check-square-oCreate sales pages that makes you look like a professional copywriter
    • check-square-oCreate any type of pages you want quickly (landing page, webinar registration, download page, thank you page etc.)
    • check-square-oAffordable pricing (cost a fraction compared to LeadPages)

    Read The Latest Thrive Architect Review

    LeadPages Alternative #2: Thrive Membership

    thrive themes membership

    I might be a little bias here, but trust me that Thrive Membership is definitely something you need to consider.

    After two years using Thrive Membership alongside with LeadPages, I can safely and fairly say that Thrive Membership worth more than LeadPages.

    And the reason is obvious.

    Thrive Membership is not only cheaper than LeadPages, it offers way more features compared to LeadPages. Thrive Membership is definitely an eye opener for me.

    Advantages using Thrive Membership

    • Full suite of Thrive plugins (all Thrive Themes and Thrive plugins included)
    • Whole year round of updates and support
    • Member’s only content, templates and other downloads

    The best part about Thrive Membership is that it costs only $19 per month (when you subscribe the yearly plan). Again, this is way cheaper than paying LeadPages $31 per month!

    Half the price of LeadPages + 10x more value of LeadPages = Winner

    Try Thrive Membership For 30 Days Now!

    LeadPages Alternatives #3: ClickFunnels

    clickfunnels review leadpages alternative

    This is probably the first time I speak about ClickFunnels on my blog. So, what is ClickFunnels and why is it one of the best LeadPages alternatives?

    ClickFunnels is basically a software that lets you design and create sales pages, landing pages and it lets you manage your entire sales funnel. You can create seven types of funnel with the help of Clickfunnels.

    If you are in the lead generation business, you will understand that generating lead is just one part of the sales process. Using the right sales funnel is the final step to turn email subscribers into paying customers.

    Bonus: ClickFunnels vs LeadPages (click to play).

    Advantages using ClickFunnels

    • Easily create landing pages and sales funnels under one roof
    • Ability to use split testing in all pricing plans
    • Upsell and downsell pages
    • check-square-oDifferent types of landing pages based on your needs
    • check-square-oEmail integration with dozens of email service providers

    The only downside using ClickFunnels is that it is the most expensive LeadPages alternative. However, it certainly comes with more features such as email marketing included into ClickFunnels.

    ClickFunnels costs $97 per month and personally, I think it is worth the money. It also has a strong fan base on Facebook which proves it is one of the most popular LeadPages alternatives in the market.

    Try ClickFunnels For 14 Days Free!

  • How To Get 2,000 Email Subscribers Under 30 Days?

    How To Get 2,000 Email Subscribers Under 30 Days?

    Everyone wish to get more email subscribers because email subscribers are the ones that are mostly likely to convert and buy your products/services.

    However, it is always easier said than done. The competition is tough and building a 2,000-strong fan base on email isn’t a walk in the park.

    In this post, I’m going to share with you how you can get 2,000 email subscribers under 30 days.

    Step 1: Craft a plan to generate email subscribers

    email marketing planning

    You need a plan, especially when you are trying to get 2,000 email subscribers in a short time period.

    What should the plan include?

    Here are a list of considerations you need to ask yourself, during the planning stage.

    • Who are you targeting?
    • What are you offering to the email subscribers?
    • What makes your visitor want to sign up for the newsletter?
    • check-square-oWhat are the perks you are offering them?

    Important note: Most people doesn’t sign up for an email list for nothing. They sign up because it gives them some sort of value/solve their problems.

    Step 2: Setting up the right lead generation forms

    lead generation 2000 email subscribers

    By now, you should have an email marketing service ready to keep track of all your subscribers and if you are not, you should try out ConvertKit (one of the best in the market and used by Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income).

    What is a lead generation form?

    A lead generation form is where interested and potential subscribers will be lead to, in order for you to grab their details. This is where you hope that they will share all their details with you and press the ‘Submit’ button!

    Every email marketing service in the planet offers lead generation forms. So, you don’t need to create one from scratch (unless you insist to do so).

    MUST READ:MailChimp vs ConvertKit vs Drip – Comparing The Best Email Marketing Automation Software 2017

    Step 3:  Install a lead generation plugin

    A lead generation plugin allows you to display more than just the forms. It allows you to create beautiful designs to further attract your readers to leave their email addresses.

    Make no mistake, this is a crucial step for you to get 2,000 email subscribers in 30 days!

    I use Thrive Leads and it works like charm because it doesn’t interfere with cache plugin or CloudFlare. You can click here to see Thrive Leads demo and to understand how it works.

    thrive leads

    Why do I use Thrive Leads to grow my email subscribers?

    • Thrive Leads integrates with dozens of email marketing services (offering zero downtime)
    • Thrive Leads comes with many conversion-focused lead-in form designs that are ready to be imported and use
    • Most importantly, I don’t need to have coding skills to create any forms (thanks to the Thrive Leads inbuilt drag and drop builder)

    See Thrive Leads in action

    Step 4: Solve your reader’s BIGGEST plain

    increase email subscribers

    Do you think that your readers are going to subscribe to your newsletters just because they like you? Probably not.

    Unless you are as famous as Seth Godin or Tim Ferriss, chances are you will not be able to convince them to sign up without offering anything.

    Therefore, give them a reason (or reasons) to sign up. You should offer them something they cannot resist — a proven solution to their biggest problems.

    Here are some samples to give you some ideas:

    • How to lose {x} weight in 30 days?
    • How to be debt-free in 12 months or less?​​​
    • 101 ways you cna take action right now to become a better parent

    Note: A great offer will gives the readers NO OPTION to reject/ignore it.

    Step 5: Test everything

    what is split testing in email marketing

    You should test your email marketing strategy and that’s how you know what works, and what doesn’t.

    Most WordPress lead generation plugins doesn’t offer multiple A/B testing simultaneously but Thrive Leads does. Using Thrive Leads, you can go crazy with the split test. And that’s another reason why I use Thrive plugins.

    For example, you can test floating bar to slide in, or exit intent vs inline forms. The best part? You can test everything at the same time instead of just A vs B. You can opt for A vs B vs C vs D type of testing which is super important and awesome.

    Pro tip: You should also test email subject lines and different sending time to get the best response rate from your email marketing campaigns.

    Step 6: Analyze the results weekly

    analyze results to get more email subscribers

    I analyse my results once a week and 7 days is a decent time to judge if you are generating enough email subscribers.

    For example, I noticed that I get better response rates (sign up rates) when I offer free courses than eBooks and offering downloadable cheatsheets helps with conversion rates but not long lasting email subscribers.

    How to get 2,000 email subscribers in 30 days?

    I hope that you are ready to work on your email marketing strategy now and tell me what you think in the comments below!

  • How To Make WordPress Faster: 5 Simple Steps To Make It Under 2 Seconds

    How To Make WordPress Faster: 5 Simple Steps To Make It Under 2 Seconds

    Is your website taking more than 3 seconds to load? If you are reading this now, you are not happy with your website loading speed and you are constantly thinking “How to make WordPress faster” — and I get it.

    Using WordPress since 2004, I have my good and bad days using this CMS. For starters, WordPress is great by itself and it loads fast.

    What makes your WordPress doesn’t load that fast is because of technology and the competition itself. We are constantly adding new things into our blog and sites to beat the competitors, but this action is going to make our website loads super slow.

    Lucky for you, I’m going to outline some quick fixes to help you make your WordPress faster.

    • Choose the right web hosting company
    • Use only WordPress themes that are well-coded(and free from bloatware)
    • Uninstalled unwanted WordPress plugins
    • check-circle-oReduce the number of elements on a page
    • check-circle-oUse a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

    Now that we’ve covered the top 5 most important ways to make WordPress faster, let’s dive into the details!

    How To Make WordPress Faster? Choose A Better Web Hosting Company

    choosing the right web hosting company

    Web hosting is like the eletrical company for your home. It supplies electricity to power your website and if there is not enough power, your website will be affected dearly.

    A good web host should offer:

    • 99.9% uptime
    • Doesn’t allow spam (email)
    • Doesn’t allow abusive websites

    Does the above sounds familiar to you? I bet!

    Most web hosting companies offer the above on the front end but how many of them actually live up to those? Not many, seriously.

    That’s why I only recommend using web host that doesn’t oversell their servers.

    Note: Overselling server space is considered norm by many web hosting companies. They allocate thousands of websites into one server and often 500% the capacity of what the server could hold. Thus, affected server performance.

    Examples Of Great Web Hosting Companies

    How To Make WordPress Faster? Use WordPress Themes That Are Well Coded

    premium wordpress themes improve website speed

    There are many themes in the market and most of them are free. The single and biggest problem with free WordPress themes is because they are not well coded, no maintenance and codes may be outdated. Plus, there could be tons of codes within the theme that will slow your website down indefinitely.

    So, how to solve this?

    Choose the right WordPress theme for your blog. Be picky and more importantly, choose a WordPress theme that is developed by reputed WordPress developers.

    Examples Of Great WordPress Themes

    MUST READ: The Top 5 Best Premium WordPress Themes 2018

    How To Make WordPress Faster? Uninstall Unwanted Plugins

    uninstall unwanted WordPress plugin

    How many plugins do you have in your WordPress? Unless you are using WordPress hosting like WP Engine, you shouldn’t have more than 15 WordPress plugins installed.

    The more plugins you install = The slower your website loading speed

    QUestion: How do you solve this?

    Answer: Keep track of your plugins and install only the ones you need.

    Examples Of Crucial WordPress Plugins

    • Cache plugin (if you are using premium WordPress hosting like WP Engine and SiteGround, you don’t need any cache plugin)
    • Contact form
    • SEO plugin
    • check-circleDrag and drop content builder plugin (I highly recommend Thrive Architect)
    • check-circleEditorial calendar plugin

    How To Make WordPress Faster? Reduce The Number Of Elements On Pages

    reducing elements to speed up wordpress sites

    This is one of the easiest steps to make WordPress faster — make it a point to reduce the number of items on a page.

    If you have a drag and drop WordPress builder like Thrive Architect or Divi, you can have unlimited addons to a page. However, it doesn’t mean that you got ot go crazy with them.

    Instead, just make sure you install just items or elements you need on a page to ensure that the doesn’t take forever to load.

    How To Make WordPress Faster? Use A Content Delivery Network (CDN)

    content delivery network

    Want to speed up your WordPress website? Use a Content Delivery Network (or “CDN” in short). 

    Question: What is a Content Delivery Network?

    Answer: A content delivery network or content distribution network (CDN) is a geographically distributed network of proxy servers and their data centers. The goal is to distribute service spatially relative to end-users to provide high availability and high performance.

    Examples Of Content Delivery Network Services

    BONUS: How to speed up your website using CloudFlare page rules?

    Ready To Make WordPress Faster?

    I hope you find the above tips to quicken your WordPress site useful. 

    Have a special tip that works for you? Leave a comment and share with me!