What’s The Best Software To Use For Your Website and Online Marketing?
Recently, an old friend asked what CMS (Content Management System), email marketing platform, and lead generation platform I would recommend for his new business.
Frankly, it depends on what you’re doing.
For example, although I get a lot of value out of using Infusionsoft in my business – for a lot of businesses, it’s overpowered and unnecessary… Plus it’s a big expense!
The reason why a tradie has a toolbox is because different tools are suited to different jobs.
Using the right tool to solve the right problem can make all the difference to the results you get.
Here’s what software I recommend you get:
High E-commerce Need
This one is simple – it means you’re selling products via an e-commerce shopping cart online.
You need a way to display your products, and make them available to the public for purchase.
Through clients, I’ve used Drupal, Magento, Neto, WooCommerce, Shopify, countless custom systems, and some I’d never heard of before. And, for the most part, they all do the same things in very similar ways.
But I like Shopify because it’s reasonably cheap, well supported, and relatively easy to use. (WooCommerce would be a close second, followed by custom carts developed on Drupal or Magento.)
High Lead Generation Need
If you run a lead generation business, you’re probably going to need highly optimised landing pages to drive ad traffic to.
What I like about LeadPages is that they make it so easy to create fantastic and highly effective landing pages.
High Automation Need
Having a “robot” in the background that supports your marketing can be a huge boon.
It can make marginal business models profitable – add scale to sales teams – and create a competitive advantage by making you more effective than your peers.
Infusionsoft is brilliant for this.
It’s more expensive than Mailchimp, has a steeper learning curve, and isn’t as “polished” in some areas visually. But it is incredibly powerful – particularly when it comes to email marketing and sales process automation.
(Why not Ontraport or similar? Because Infusionsoft makes over $80 million dollars in revenue and has secured over $125 million dollars in venture capital funding – making Infusionsoft an extremely hard product to compete with. So I believe betting on the bigger, stronger Infusionsoft horse is a good bet long term.)
High Revenue
Making good money online means you can afford premium tools – but it can also mean that the needs of your customers are greater.
If you’re doing anything more complicated, intensive, or high-value – a good web developer is worth their weight in caffeinated beverages.
They’re like a ticket that can take your website anywhere you want to take it.
But expect to pay well!
Good devs are in high demand, and earn good money – and poor devs are abundant.
If you’re interested in increasing your influence (as a leader, marketer, or salesperson) using quality, make sure you’re subscribed to receive the next part of this series.