If you opt for ConvertKit, you will get access to almost all features no matter what plan you choose. The only feature lacking in the lower tiers is free platform migration. By purchasing a plan for more than 5,000 contacts, your lists will be migrated into their system without any effort from your end. The only thing you have to worry about is the number of subscribers you have, according to which you will be able to decide what plan you should opt for in the first place.
Now, if you are looking into ConvertKit, there are numerous factors that need to be taken into consideration so you can make an informed decision. To learn everything about it, read on.
Pros
Landing Page Editor
Even if you don’t have your own website, you can create simple landing pages in no time. This is especially great for those that wish to create campaigns for social media platforms.
Responsive Customer Support
The customer support is not only helpful and quick, but they know how to tackle problems to offer effective solutions.
Flexible User Subscription Management
You can easily add or remove subscribers from workflows via the tagging system.
Cons
Not an Affordable Option
There are far more advanced tools that are comparatively cheaper. ConvertKit does not justify the price of admission.
Reporting lacks Depth
Here, you will only get the basics i.e. unsubscribers, click through rates and open rates. What is surprising is they do not give an option for bounce rate.
Templates with Poor Designs
When it comes to templates, you only get 3 to work with, which are text-based by the way. ConvertKit needs to deliver on design options with better visuals sooner rather than later.
Is ConvertKit Right for You?
+Great for Ultra-Targeted Campaigns
ConvertKit has a flexible segmentation and tagging system, meaning you can run focused automated campaigns to very specific groups of people. The built-in landing page editor does give you the ability to manage end-to-end campaigns within the tool itself.
-Not for People on a Budget
ConvertKit is aimed at bloggers and creators, but their prices are incredibly steep. The pricing is more suited for businesses. There are far better affordable options out there, with similar if not better features.
-Not for Visual Email Campaigns
As mentioned earlier, here, you only get access to 3 email templates, which are text-based. They are not limited, but you do not get the option to select your own email templates. For this reason, you would be better off with another email marketing tool.
ConvertKit works rather well in quite a few areas. It is friendly, effective and quick, so you can’t really complain much about here. The flexibility being offered to manage subscribers is great too. There is definitely something here for bloggers and digital marketers to work with to communicate with their target audience.
You do get a landing page editor with ConvertKit, allowing you to grow your subscribers despite the fact you may not even have a website. It is specifically for social media campaigns. However, it lacks greatly in the email designs department. Other tools offer much more at an affordable cost, which is not the case with this email marketing tool.
To top it all, ConvertKit is really expensive, which is becomes more apparent when comparing its offerings with its competition. For this reason alone, it would be better if you opt for another email marketing tool instead.
Mailigen is an easy to use yet powerful email marketing tool that comes with some interesting features. If you opt for this platform, you will be able to send unlimited emails, build a list of contacts, import email addresses and run tests for different campaigns. But is all of this enough to warrant purchasing a subscription? If you wish to learn more about the marketing tool and its usefulness in general, then read on.
Pros
30-dayt free trial without the need for payment information.
Flexible and scalable premium plans.
Integration of email marketing and SMS.
Can be used to create online surveys.
Allows customers to partake in its affiliate program.
Duplicate emails are deleted automatically.
A/B split testing capabilities and Google analytics available at no additional cost.
The email tool can be used to create responsive templates, while their HTML code remains editable.
Integration with over 100 CRM and social media applications.
Cons
Built-in reporting tools do not provide valuable insight about customer behavior.
No pre-designed sign-up forms or email templates. The email editor does not come with a spam checker or the ability to preview messages before they are sent.
List segmentation lacks functionality.
Is Mailigen Right for You?
As mentioned earlier, with Mailigen, you can send as many messages as you want. This applies to all its list-based plans, which is specifically handy for companies that need to reach their target audience frequently.
Mailigen is incredibly easy-to-use due to its automation features. For instance, the auto-responder can schedule messages that need to be sent at a later time or date. Additionally, you can auto-post campaigns or add RSS feeds to your email campaign. Once everything is scheduled and set up, the RSS-to-Email newsletter automation feature will alert subscribers on your list to receive updates about new blog posts.
Unlike most email marketing tools out there, Mailigen does not offer pre-designed template forms. Fortunately, the form creation process is not all that complicated. All you need to do is to specify design elements for your signup form. Said aspects include button position, title, and background colors and so on.
If you are more concerned about managing and growing your email list, you feel right at home with Mailigen. The tool makes it incredibly easy to do so. You can add email addresses via signup forms, individually, or by importing .XLS, .TXT and .CSV files. List segmentation features are basic, as you can only segment them based on their activities, opens, opt-ins, clicks and contact information.
Apart from email, phone and live chat, Mailigen has a useful resource center for marketers to sink their teeth into. The resource center acts as a hub of knowledge with white papers, marketing planning tools, video tutorials, how-to-guides and data sheets. This feature will be particularly useful for small business owners that wish to learn and grow.
The reporting tools are quite limited too. You can use the application to generate reports on forwarded emails, number of unsubscribers, opened emails, bounce rates and link clicks. The reports can be downloaded in PDF format or Excel spreadsheets. But the good news is it can be integrated with Google Analytics, which will allow you to gather more detailed stats than what you could have extracted from the built-in reporting tools.
Mailigen’s auto-responder is easy-to-use and comes with plenty of features. You can send unlimited emails, build a list of contact, and schedule automated message delivery of the same campaign for different audiences. The platform can be integrated into Google Analytics and mobile marketing for you email campaigns, while the email creator is intuitive despite having drawbacks. All of these features make Mailigen a great email marketing system which can cater to businesses of varying sizes.
To be able to drive traffic to your website is no easy feat. It takes endurance and a lot of effort to achieve that goal. Agree?
Most of all, it is the task of getting to know what your competitors are doing. In an online business, your competition is only a few clicks away, literally.
So how can you stay ahead of the curve? You do so by way of SEMrush – a versatile SEO and PPC tool. If you know how to use it then nothing can stop you to fast track your site’s success.
What Is So Great About SEMrush?
Think of SEMrush as a person who feeds you intel on your competitor as if he were present at their floor office. What’s left for you is to capitalize and enact a strategy in place to win.
Through SEMrush you gain access to the most comprehensive keyword research tool providing you with rankings, backlink profiles and ad copies.
If you are worried about increasing search engine traffic to your website, well, with SEMrush you are in safe hands.
Without further ado, let’s find out how you can beat the competition and etch your name in the history with SEMrush.
1. Search Engine Optimization
SEMrush provides an organic search function that helps you explore the wide field of SEO. Here you get to mine for possibly the best ranking keywords in your niche. In other words, these will be the keywords that your target market is actually searching for when they Google, Bing etc.
The tool lets you dig deep letting you analyze a particular keyword based on its competitive density, CPC, search volume, traffic, and trend. Furthermore, you are able to see which other domains are taking advantage of this keyword.
Additionally, you can take advantage of their Keyword Magic Tool, which can come in handy. Not only it will list down the most searched keyword driven questions but will also point out the impact they have had over SERP elements.
You can also equip yourself with keyword difficulty and organize various keywords into groups. On the technical front such as hreflang attributes and link building, SEMrush carries out a site audit.
Its crawler will scan your website thoroughly like an antivirus would your system and display the findings. It can take into account up to 120 different errors that might be affecting your site’s performance in search engine rankings.
If a problem is identified you will be promptly asked to resolve the matter. SEMrush goes a step further by suggesting you possible solutions. So yeah, there’s that.
This is not a one-time process though. On a periodic basis, SEMrush will scan your website for possible errors to let you know if you are doing well online. Audit reports are subsequently generated to give you in-depth analysis or findings.
With tracking function of SEMrush, you can keep tabs on both your desktop site as well as mobile site. You can even compare this with your competitors to check how they are faring in this aspect.
Any drop in site ranking or gain, for that matter – the owner is immediately intimated.
2. Content Marketing
‘Content is King’ – we have all heard that but the distribution of that content is equally essential. SEMrush can help you with your content marketing practices. Read on.
There is Topic Research feature which will help you figure out issues your target market is facing. All you are required is to enter a phrase or a keyword you are trying to look into and SEMrush will generate a list of topics on that subject for you to ponder.
It will also suggest headings with attention grabbing hooks to entice your readers. Of course the piece shouldn’t be a clickbait or else both, your business and authority will become questionable.
Moving on, you can refine your searches and can search for actual questions people are asking concerning a specific subject. Combine all these, and you have an adequately prepared blog at your disposal.
Once published, you can further count on SEMrush to help you monitor blog’s performance and that it reaches the right audience by way of its Brand Monitoring tool.
What does it do?
This will highlight distribution opportunities that are relevant to your keyword, in addition to locating brand mentions on varying channels across the web.
If you find any channel’s authority as dubious, SEMrush displays a score for you to gauge its trustworthiness. In the case where a channel does not meet your standards, at least you can report that mention or request for it to be taken down.
Oh, and SEMrush helps you choose the right backlinking partner for boosting your promotion strategy. The idea here is to connect you with (potential) partner(s) who are already linking to your competitors.
Social media marketing is another branch of content marketing. The tool at your disposal this time is SEMrush’s Social Media Tracker. It serves as a mole by bringing you latest on your rivals such as the type of content they are using to capture the target market or what is their posting frequency etc.
The information above is no short of a gem. If used correctly you can learn of about your competition’s best engagement posts. Coupled with the hashtag tracking you can have your hands full with the social media strategy that can outrun your competitors.
When ready, strike by employing the Social Media Poster for distributing your posts on Twitter and Facebook etcetera.
The tool tends to align all your social media platforms whereby you can post simultaneously with a single click. Moreover, you can schedule your posts and integrate interesting bits into your articles (from third parties) via RSS feed.
And that’s not all. To see if your social media posts yield desired outcome, SEMrush tracks progress with its analytics feature. The reports can be accessed in PDF.
3. Paid Advertising Analysis
Organic results, according to one study, drives 70-80% of the website search traffic but wait, what about the remaining 20-30%? Well, that is why we have paid advertising.
Paid ads rank at the top of the SERPs and are marked as such. 65% of those with the intent to buy click on paid ads. To fully capitalize on this, SEMrush offers its paid functionality whereby you can create a stellar marketing strategy.
An ad builder comes in as part of its paid functionality. You can draft catchy ads related to your products. Not just any, but ads laden with keywords and are thus, optimized to rake in traffic. With some expert editing skills your ads will be created in no time!
The same ad builder keeps an eye out for ads which are similar in nature (especially of competitors) so you have a better grasp of what works. Ads from your rivals are saved as templates enabling you to craft ads with only minor tweaking. Interesting, eh?
And if you thought, this process is a cumbersome job? Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. On the contrary, it is quite easy. The ad builder has a sleek interface and design, meaning you can view the options clearly without them ever becoming cluttered.
SEMrush also has PPC Keyword Tool which very much like site audit tool (refer to point 1), analyzes your website for paid ads shortcomings (if any). It is important to learn whether or not you are on track or has deviated from the plan.
For example, it will help you identify if your keyword based ads are cannibalizing each other as that would adversely affect your online presence.
In addition to eliminating any underperforming keywords, PPC Keyword Tool will ensure only the most bankable keywords are up for grabs – in turn, minimizing your marketing budget.
It will list down recommendations for you to polish your keyword(s) selection. Consider it a little icing on the cake.
What of Google Product Listings Ads?
Good question but did you honestly think, SEMrush will leave you high and dry in that department? Of course not! Its PLA Research feature is meant for figuring out which advertisements can hamper your reach on the internet.
Therefore, it spies for you and brings in information comprising how ads from competitors look like, their corresponding positions, keywords used – you name it.
4. Competitive Intelligence
If it is the details on your rivals’ traffic you desire, look no further since here too, SEMrush has got you covered.
Through its Traffic Analytics function you can monitor different domains on the basis of their respective paid searches, link building, and social media as well as SEO game plan.
As a result, you can set a reference point that whether or not your website is ranking higher or lower in relation to the competition. These metrics could be bounce rate, pages per visit, average site duration and the likes thereof.
All in all, SEMrush’s tools are your eyes and ears for staying two-steps ahead of your rivals in terms of keywords, trends and PPC advertising.
What MORE can a site owner ask?!?
Plan and Pricing
Ah, to the question if SEMrush falls within the affordability bracket or that if it’s pocket-friendly? Its plans and pricing structure vary as per the need of a particular user and/ or business. Take a look at the table below and pick one which suits you best.
Final word
To sum up, SEMrush can prove to be a costly affair for small businesses. But, a cost-benefit analysis tells that benefits will outweigh the cost – every time. Several tools are available under SEMrush umbrella which is a plus. Although, can become overwhelming for users and trickier to navigate with so many features imbued in it.
Advanced marketers may be the only ones who can leverage its potential to the maximum. Complaints by users, so far have been far and few. SEMrush offers a 14-day free trial so if you are not impressed by the end of it, you can always switch to whatever your heart desires.
Constant Contact is not new to the industry, and has been around since 1995! Since its inception, the service has established itself as one of the premiere email tools provider, serving over 650,000 customers.
What is really interesting about this service is that it boasts several great features, the kind that its competitors have failed to deliver. This includes features like social campaigns, surveys and an event management tool. These features add value to an already diverse email service. If that it is not enough, it also boasts an elaborate marketplace featuring 400 integrations and apps. Despite these flash features and numbers, Constant Contact’s popularity is on a decline, as evident from Google Trends.
If you were wondering whether Constant Contact is worth your money and time, then you are at the right place. This review will aim to answer all your questions, so read on to learn more.
Pros
Niche Features
There are some interesting features that here, like event management, that will come in handy for businesses in particular.
Exceptional Deliverability Rates
Based on deliverability test results, Constant Contact offers exceptional deliverability rates.
Cons
Poor Price to Performance Ratio
The price for the newsletter tool is too high compared to what is being offered.
Limited Automation
When it comes to automation, you will get the basics. It misses the mark by failing to provide flexible and sophisticated workflows.
Is Constant Contact Right for You?
+ For Individuals and Businesses that Run Events
Constant Contact is unique in terms of how it is one of the few email marketing tools that gives you the ability to manage registration, tickets and invitations. Although you will need to opt for the Email Plus Plan.
– For those that Require Advanced Automation
Even though Constant Contact charges a premium, it does not offer the kind of automation you would expect from such a service. They do offer abandoned cart campaigns, autoresponders and triggered campaigns, but you will find cheaper tools offering the same kind of automation.
If you take a look at Constant Contact’s website, you will realize it is a tool for small businesses, for which reason it should be evaluated as such. As already mentioned earlier, the service does cover the basics, which is great for small businesses only.
The problem these days is that there are dozens of email tools that offer a lot more than what Constant Contact brings to the table, and they are quite cheap as well. If you are willing to pay for this email tool, you will fare better sticking to more powerful tools like GetResponse and ActiveCamapign.
The email tool does score a few points for its deliverability rates, social media integrations and giving users varying levels of access. But with recent enhancement to marketing reporting and automation, it does not seem as though the team behind Constant Contact is determined or willing to put in the effort required to improve the product. Considering the price point, Constant Contact is not easy to recommend.
It is worth noting Aweber Communication first started operations in 1998. It was founded by Tom Kulzer, and since then it has grown into a company with 110 employees. When it comes to AWeber itself, it is a modern and robust program for businesses that want to send their subscribers the same message. Basically, it is an autoresponder, which is easy to setup by the way. It is well explained and intuitive, giving users a ton of options to play around with.
If you are wondering whether Aweber is perfect for your business and its requirements, then this review will provide you the valuable insight needed to make an informed decision with ease.
Pros
Easy-to-use
Numerous templates
Customizable set of features
Excellent customer support
Cons
Expensive
Poor user interface
Is AWeber Right for your Business?
If you want to give AWeber a test run, you will be pleased to know they do offer a 30-day free trial. The trial is restricted to 500 subscribers though. Once the trial is over, you will have to pay up. If you pay for 3 months, you will save $8. If you opt the yearly plan, you will end up saving $34.
AWeber is cloud based, and support all popular browsers and operating systems. The service is easy-to-use. In fact, it finds a great balance between robust functionality and ease-of-use. There are some great features, more specifically in the autoresponder department. The navigation is intuitive enough so that carrying out basic tasks will be a breeze. If there is ever a time when assistance is required, AWeber does not disappoint with the amount of guidance it provides online.
As for its offerings, there is a plain text editor, drag-and-drop WYSIWYG editor and an HTML editor. There are 700+ templates to choose from, some of which are customizable. Before sending emails, they can be previewed, but it lacks options to see how it will look on various mobile devices or email clients.
Once you have started a mailing campaign, you will have to wait a while before you can get your hands on your stats. An hour after mailing, the results will start pouring in, enough to provide Quick Stats.
The customer support team is very helpful, they are friendly and prompt at solving queries. The response time can vary anywhere between 20 minutes to six hours. Support resources to look out for include phone, chat, email and live support.
Overall, AWeber has plenty to offer. It is particularly useful to companies that use autoresponders quite often. The autoresponder series set up is the simplest and most intuitive out of them all. Once it is running in the background, no further human interaction is required to keep the ball rolling.
The main weaknesses of AWeber is that it is not great for big companies. Small companies that can do without the bells and whistles should do without them and not pay for them. Also, while cancelling an account, make sure the account is not being temporarily suspended.
When it comes to email marketing, MailerLite is new to the industry. But that is not necessarily a bad thing, as its youth reflect throughout its features and design. It is not fun, crazy or young in any way, but is more simple, clean and modern. This could be one of the biggest reasons why it has made quite the impression, and continues to do so for office going individuals.
MailerLite’s staff and values make it out to be an international tool than other options out there. The interface comes with support for 8 languages, which is more than any other email marketing tool out there.
Despite MailerLite’s simplicity, they still manage to deliver a myriad of options for things like form options and newsletters. If that is not all, it also features a simple and fast editor, which is really a steal if you opt for their “Free Forever” plan. Even though everything looks hunky dory, let’s take a closer look at whether or not MailerLite will meet your expectations let alone exceed them.
Pros
Free Plan
You will be pleased to know the free plan has a lot of features to keep you coming back for more, not excluding marketing automation. It does lack some useful features though, like newsletter templates for instance.
Ease-of-Use
One of the best things about this service is its simple and clean interface. It works well for advanced and new users alike.
Landing Page Editor
The landing page editor is a unique feature, it allows users to design and create their own landing pages on your own domain hosted by MailerLite.
Cons
Lacks Pro Features
The prices may be great, but MailerLite does lack a few pro features, such as advanced automations, design/spam testing and full reporting.
Is MailerLite Right for You?
+ Perfect for Freelancers and Small Businesses
MailerLite is perfect for those that are on a budget, and it manages to do more than just newsletters. Features to expect include contact tagging, automation workflows and segmentation. As mentioned earlier, there is even a landing page editor, so you can run the most sophisticated of campaigns imaginable.
+ For Bloggers and Creatives
Apart from its reasonable pricing plans, MailerLite comes packed with features specifically designed for bloggers, including video marketing, WordPress integration and RSS campaigns.
+ New to the Scene
The interface is simple, the navigation is intuitive, and the email editor is easy-to-use. Basically, MailerLite is a great choice for anyone who is getting started with email marketing for their very first time.
– Lacks Comprehensive Reporting
When it comes to reports, don’t go expecting something out of the ordinary. You will get the standard reports you would expect from just about any email marketing tool i.e. stats for clicks, opens etc. and purchase tracking for WooCommerce and Shopify. It does not offer social tracking, though.
– Automations is a Requirement
Automate workflows can be set up based on a few triggers, but it lacks automatons for advanced triggers, which is essential in this day and age.
When it comes to user experience, MailerLite shines through and through. It is perfect for small business needs, and is a lot cheaper than other tools out there. It does have its drawbacks though, as automations are not as many as they should be. The “Forever Free” plan was a favorite, not anymore though as they have limited some of their features.
All in all, MailerLite is simpler than most tools available out there, and if that is all you are looking for, then you need not look any further.
Building an optimized landing page is not exactly a piece of cake. As a designer, you will need to review the page time and time again, and make changes even if necessary. Things do not have to be this way anymore, as there are numerous tools online that will help you create a great landing page, that too without having any knowledge about coding at all. One of those tools is Instapage, which lets you build landing pages with amazing optimization features and useful integrations.
If you are wondering how Instapage works, and if it is worth your time and money, then read on to learn more about it.
Instapage Offerings
First and foremost, it is important you find out everything there is to know about Instapage and its offerings, which are:
Drag and Drop Landing Page Builder
The drag and drop landing page builder is not the same as WordPress’ builders – it is not grid-based. But the tool will help you drag and drop each element precisely where you want it.
Widgets
With the help of widgets, you can insert elements like countdown timers, CTA buttons, and much more.
Customizable Templates
With 200+ customizable templates, you will not need to start from scratch.
Access to Bigstock Images
Since you have access to a staggering 33 million Bigstock images, you can insert these images as you desire. Do keep in mind though; you will need to pay for each image individually.
Useful Analytics
If you want to track your progress based on numbers, you will feel right at home with Instapage. You will get everything from Google Tag Manager, A/B Testing, Heatmaps, and more.
Detailed Asset Delivery and Form Builder
No matter what type of form you want to create, you can create them all, not excluding multi-step forms. You can connect them to a number of different integrations as well.
AMP Support
With the help of the drag and drop feature mentioned above, design Google AMP landing pages with ease.
Highly Detailed Attribution Data
Apart from analytics, you can connect Instapage to Google AdWords and other similar services for integration attribution data like price data or AdWords campaigns.
Instapage Benefits
Seeing how integrations are important for websites these days, you will get numerous integration options with Instapage. This way, you can stay connected to all your customers through all possible venues. You can integrate over 20 marketing tools, which may be more than you actually need.
With Instapage, you will have designs that will respond well to mobile devices. This is important because a huge portion of internet users use smartphones and tablets than desktop computers or laptops. Due to this, you will see your conversion rates increase considerably in a short amount of time, because your customers will get a better online experience while browsing your website after all.
To work with a particular template, you can import it from any landing page you find interesting within minutes. Instapage will automatically replicate the design for you, but in a way that you can customize it as you see fit. If you dish out limited time offers every now and then, you can even add countdown timers. This is a great marketing strategy to ensure customers make the most of the limited time offer before they lose out on the unique opportunity for good.
By opting for Instapage, you will not be limited to a certain number of visitors that can visit your website on a monthly basis. Once your website starts doing well, and you gain more visitors, you will not be limited in any way.
In case you do run across a problem, Instapage’s customer support team will be more than willing to help you out. You can get your queries sorted so that your website does not have to suffer in the long run.
Instapage Pricing & Plans
Before you check out what pricing plans Instapage has to offer, it is worth noting that you can take advantage of its 14-day free trial before you actually commit to them for a longer duration. Only when you are satisfied, you can opt for either of Instapage’s four enterprise and SMB plans, which are:
1. Core – $69 or $79 per month
Collaboration in real time
20+ integrations
Mobile-responsive landing page builder
2. Optimizer – $99 or $129 per month
Includes all Core Features
Heatmaps
Dynamic Text Replacement
Advertising Attribution
Unlimited A/B Testing
3. Team & Agency – $179 or $229 per month
Includes all Optimizer Features
Branded Lead Notifications
Audit Log
15 Private Sub-Accounts
4. Enterprise – Contact Instapage for a Quote
All Team & Agency Features
Advanced Publishing
Professional Services
Migration Services
Customer Success Manager
Is Instapage Worth It?
There is no doubt Instapage is a powerful tool. In fact, it is even better than most WordPress page builders that you will come across.
Instapage is not only powerful, accessible and easy-to-use, but it is especially great for beginners. With this tool, you actually have the power to place things where you desire.
The tool is by far not the cheapest one out there, but you will not be disappointed if you wanted an optimization-oriented and high-powered landing page builder.
