Eventually as an Internet Marketer, there comes a time when you want to expand upon your credibility and build your business. To do this, it often means that you must create and market your own information product. This can be video courses, eBooks, membership sites, software, etc.
To sell the product, you typically require:
- A squeeze page to capture the email addresses of prospects.
- a sales page to actually sell your solution to your prospects.
- A launch funnel system to maximise buzz.
- A membership site to provide tutorials, support and other digital products or services.
- The ability to write blog posts to funnel your standard blog visitors through your funnel.
- Integration with membership scripts, autoresponder services and merchant accounts.
This requirement can bring about a series of highly technical challenges such as writing HTML and CSS code to create sales pages, the creation of fancy graphics for your sales pages and assembling it in a slick system that moves prospects through your sales funnel efficiently whether they decide to purchase, not purchase, opt in for further communications or not opt in.
Enter the Solutions
There are two main solutions which are both very affordable to the start-up and intermediate marketers. Both solutions have distinct advantages and disadvantages and roughly solve the same problem.
#1 OptimizePress
The first of our solutions is a premium WordPress theme called OptimizePress which is developed by James Dyson and his team. OptimizePress promises to enable the user to create stunning squeeze pages that actually convert. James and his team spend hours on creating and testing different squeeze pages and sales pages to uncover what works and what doesn’t. They then liaise with the development team to create those designs and include them as part of the solution within the theme.
OptimizePress enables you to create:
- Squeeze pages with a series of templates. These are highly customisable and can be standard squeeze pages, video squeeze pages, fake video squeeze pages. Every element of the design is customisable.
- Sales pages with a series of templates which are again highly customisable.
- Membership site pages. The theme enables you to build a complete membership site using the options within the theme. It integrates very easily with the top membership scripts such as WishList Member or Digital Access Pass.
- Launch funnel pages which enables you to drip feed content to your audience in a timely fashion like you’ve probably seen the gurus do when they launch products. Some of the top american gurus such as Frank Kern, Ryan Deiss and Andy Jenkins often use a system such as Kajabi which is very similar to OptimizePress.
One of the big benefits of Optimize Press is the amazing customer service and support membership they which includes an active forum with many experienced people on hand to answer your questions.
#2 Profits Theme
The next solution on offer is another premium WordPress theme called Profits Theme which is developed by Welly Mulia and his team. Profits Theme enables the user to create web pages such as Squeeze pages, sales pages, membership pages and even blog pages with relative ease.
The real benefit of Profits Theme over Optimize Press is that it uses drag and drop technology to arrange the layout of your pages how you want them. This makes it really easy for even the most technically challenged of marketers.
Profits Theme enables you to:
- Create squeeze pages by dragging and dropping page elements into position.
- Create sales pages by dragging and dropping.
- Create blog pages with advertising blocks, opt in areas and footer widgets.
- Create membership pages which integrates with the top membership scripts such as Wishlist Member and Digital Access Pass.
Conclusion
So, which is the better. Well, they will both be a $97 investment, so the decision is based upon what you’re trying to achieve.
I own both of these themes and have had a lot of experience in using them and dealing with their respective customer service forums. Here are my findings.
Creation of Squeeze Pages
Optimize Press produces the better quality squeeze page but it is easier and faster to create a good looking squeeze page using Profits Theme.
Winner = Profits Theme
Creation of Sales Pages
OptimizePress produces the better quality sales pages with the shortcodes and graphics looking much better than those supplied by Profits Theme.
Winner = OptimizePress
Creation of Membership Sites
Optimize Press produces a better looking membership site and easily integrates with the main membership scripts. The membership pages are 710 pixels wide which is wide enough for the majority of users to fit good sized videos in. The shortcodes enables you to create great looking graphical elements within your membership pages.
Winner = OptimizePress
Creation of Blog Posts
Profits Theme is still a much better theme for creating standard blog posts as OptimizePress was not originally developed as a standard WordPress theme. However, since Profits Theme came to the attention of the OptimizePress team, they have now applied a lot of focus into making it a standard WordPress blog theme too. The race is now on for these themes to become the first all in one WordPress theme.
If I was honest, I would suggest using neither of these themes as your standard WordPress blog theme. I would suggest using WooThemes and selecting a theme of your choice from their amazing collection.
Winner = Profits Theme
My overall recommendation is OptimizePress. It is still the leading theme for the creation of squeeze pages, sales pages, launch funnels and membership sites. I do prefer the drag and drop functionality of Profits Theme for building quick squeeze pages but since I have to choose one or the other as you cannot have more than one WordPress theme on a single WordPress installation, I have opted to use OptimizePress.
Tell us all what you think!? Have you had any experience with these themes? Do you know any alternatives that have not been spoken about?
To Your Online Success,
The Profit Share
The mutt's nuts or the dog's drivel? I double dare you to leave a comment! :-)
Thanks Wayne
I personally use Profits Theme….but was introduced to OptimizePress first. For product sales and product management yes I would say Op is overall better, but I like PT for my normal blog situation. Will check out WooThemes… have seen it with some other blogs… good post like your info… quality stuff!
Thanks
Larrymac
Yes, Profits Theme is better as a standard blog theme. OptimizePress wasn’t really designed with that in mind, although I see both themes competing to become the first “All In One Solution”
I personally prefer to host my blog theme on my main domain and my squeeze/sales pages on another due to visitor behaviour.
By their nature, there is a greater opportunity for a visitor to “bounce” on a squeeze or sales page, therefore I don’t want that bounce against my main domain.
Google uses this as part of their algorithm to determine content relevancy and I don’t want those negative votes.
The theme I used for this blog is a WooTheme which has been customised. I spent a long time investigating the right theme, Thesis, Genesis themes, Socrates, Headway and WooThemes. I believed WooThemes was the best on offer out there, although I did like the look and flexibility that Thesis offered.
My websites are on a joomla system. Is there anything like OptimizePress for joomla users?
Thanks
Sheryl
I’ve no idea to be honest. I only use WordPress.
I’ve been working with ProfitThemes for 3 weeks now and am horribly frustrated. Enough to ask for my money back.
I’m worried OptimizePress is just going to be the same for a different reason that I won’t know til I spend three weeks trying to learn it.
It seems that a WP plugin membership site script would be better than having a whole theme, because if you have to lose the theme, you lose everything.
If the plugin worked on any theme, that makes more sense to me now.
Does this make sense?
John
Hi John,
I’d like to understand better what your objective is because both OptimizePress and Profits Theme are awesome products.
If you’re trying to produce a protected membership site, then you will need a protection script such as Wishlist Member in any case.
Neither of those themes purport to protect your membership site.
My membership site for example is built using OptimizePress, Wishlist Member and Easy Video Player 2 and the combo works really well. The combo only costs about $400 as well, so RESULT!
If you want any specific help with your membership, please hit me up on Skype (wayne.a.lambert) and I’ll chat with you to get it sorted.
Thanks,
Wayne
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>>If you’re trying to produce a protected membership
>>site, then you will need a protection script such as
>>Wishlist Member in any case.
Not sure how up you are on PT but it’s definitely promoted as a protected membership site product. That’s why I bought it.
WL doesn’t drip, so that’s out. It seems that DAP with OpitmizePress is the best recommendation, neither of which I have. at the moment.
PT might have been okay, I just lost the plot finally. It is a new release. You can see what I’ve done perhaps if you try to log in. I wonder how your experience would be since you know the program.
:-)
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Hi John,
Am happy to check this out for you. Connect on Skype and we can discuss what you’re trying to achieve with your membership site and what the best solution for you is.
Connect on Skype and let me know when you’d be available to chat.
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Any news on the PT membership site issue?
PT’s website says clearly “protected membership sites” and “no other plugins required”. I hope the issue is a matter of (mis)configuration. It would be utterly disappointing if they didn’t delivery what they say.
Zoc,
If you are asking me, I say that PT definitely protected memberships but it’s clunky to me and sort of locks you in to the theme since you have to do everything else in PT then as well.
I recommend using DAP as a plug in so you can leave the rest of your site as is.
J
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Hi Zoc,
Although OptimizePress will require you to have a membership script such as Digital Access Pass or Wishlist Member, I believe it is a better solution for memberships.
You will have noted that OptimizePress was my recommendation in the article.
Profits Theme is good to create quick and simple squeeze pages on the fly due to its drag and drop functionality.
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When you say you use Easy Video Player 2 and how does that work? DO you take video from your computer and put them into Easy Video Player2 and host the on your site or do you host the videos on Amazon S3 and use Easy Video Player 2 as a player?
I suspect PT’s drag’n'drop layout construction technique, while an appealing concept, may yield less than perfect results. On their demo site, http://profitstheme.com/demo/, I can see several elements (ex. images, facebook comments) overlapping each other and other page elements – clearly a sign of a suboptimal layout.
Any other experiences?
Sub-optimal might be a good way of putting it. :-)
Tech support was very vanilla and didn’t seem to understand that I’m a experienced WP user and was having all kinds of problems.
They are new and took on a lot of functionality and could have it all working for the right basic project. I just found it exasperating and since I couldn’t get real help I gave up.
If they keep it going, they could have a really good theme but they could also get lost in the details.
I asked for my money back and was promptly obliged.
I didn’t quite understand why they were doing things the way they did,
Bottom line I believe the dripping/membership stuff should be a plugin, not a function of the theme.
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Tried CopyBlogger’s Premise? I was thinking of giving it a try next.
They are a new outfit compared with the more well established OptimizePress theme.
They have gone for the Microsoft method of implementation (which I agree with entrepreneurially by the way).
They have elected to get the product out, then amend the product according to feedback.
I believe they have a good development ethos and the product will become a great theme in the near future.
For now, it’s OptimizePress, Wishlist Member and Easy Video Player 2 for me delivering my membership content.
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Hello Wayne,
Really find your blog quite informative. It is my first time here and will keep returning for more good content.
I find your recommendations very interesting since Im planning to start my own membership site.
You review confirmed my research that OP is better than PT for a membership site. I learned that the OP combined with DAP is more flexible than with Wishlist due to the drip feature.
What do you think about that?
Also your suggestion on Easy Video player is quite interesting and will definitively consider it too.
Thanks,
FJ
Hi FJ,
In my opinion, OptimizePress is the best theme for membership sites.
I cannot comment on Digital Access Pass as I’ve never personally used it.
I have no need or desire to drip feed content. I prefer to give all my content on signup and structure the modules in a logical order for my members.
For simplicity, Wishlist Member does all this. I understand the learning curve for DAP is greater but has more flexibility and options.
Easy Video Player 2 is an awesome bit of kit too, especially if you want to develop your own self branded video and are building your own online brand.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. Please you like the blog.
Wayne
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Thanks Wayne,
I really appreciate your honest review. It’s been hard to find reviews that aren’t just affiliate promotions for these two themes. I also never see examples of sites created with the themes, even on their company sites. It seems weird that they wouldn’t have a portfolio of sites built with the theme.
I already have a brochure/blog site that’s more artistic and personal about my work, and want to create a sales site for a new information product I’m creating. Maybe someday when I’m further along, it can evolve into a membership site.
Do you know if an artistic lady like myself can add customized backgrounds and change general theme/skin colors much with either Optimize Press or Profits Theme? Though I want this info product to be more business and less artsy, If I go totally bland business, it would be out of character for my current branding.
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Hi Jaya,
I appreciate you giving me positive feedback about my review and your kind words.
I only ever promote products as an affiliate that I use myself.
I don’t believe that either of these themes are conducive to adding artistic backgrounds, although I would hope that you’re not having an artistic background for “branding” purposes which would steer your visitors away from what you want them to do (ie. your conversion goal).
You can see my membership site which was built using OptimizePress as the theme. Simply, opt in at:
http://www.turbotrafficexplosion.com
and follow the instructions provided.
It’s a free membership and teaches you how to drive traffic.
If you’re looking for a standard blog theme rather than squeeze pages and sales pages, you would be better off going with something like one of the WooThemes or Thesis.
If you do want to connect on Skype (wayne.a.lambert), I’ll talk you through your options once I understand your needs.
Thanks,
Wayne
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I’m considering one of them and finally got clear decision which one to choose.
Thanks for the review Wayne, and also to everybody that have leaved enlightening comment. Really appreciate it.
Yanty Tan – Baju Anak
Hi Yanty,
I’m pleased that I have helped you make a buying decision.
If you purchase through my affiliate link and forward on your purchase receipt, I will offer you the full membership to this site which includes over 75 videos of traffic training designed to get you a tonne of traffic to your site.
My site receives over 2,000 visits a month from Google alone without considering other search traffic, referral traffic, social media traffic and direct traffic.
I will also offer some consultancy time on Skype to assist you in using the product as you’ll need to plan out a funnel or membership site.
I hope you choose to invest through me. ;-)
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I am a little confused if you opt to install Optimize press on your original blogs what happens to the content that you have there. And the theme.
I don’t want to loose any content or have problems with people that have visited the site before.
Or am i being paranoid and everything will still work just fine all that changes is the theme for the squeeze and sales pages etc
Hi Martin,
Welcome to my blog. :-)
Although OptimizePress can be used as a standard blog theme, it is more geared towards the creation of squeeze pages, sales page, funnel set-ups and membership content pages.
As it is a theme, you can only use one of them (ie. activated) at any one time. The theme is essentially the skin or the look and feel of the site.
You could always install OptimizePress, activate it and see what it looks like. If it doesn’t look that great, then you could always switch back immediately.
I use three WordPress installations to run my business.
1) The main blog (what you’re looking at). This uses a theme called ‘Canvas’ from WooThemes. It is extremely flexible and is basically WooTheme’s answer to Thesis. I prefer it to Thesis actually.
2) The membership installation which is in a folder that follows the root domain which has all the membership content on.
3) Another domain entirely which holds squeeze and sales pages on.
I hope this helps!?
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Thank you
So what you are saying is that the blog i have at present can remain as my main blog and the optimize press would just be for sales squeeze pages etc, But how then do you intergrate it with your domain that is your main blog?
without changing the theme already activated.
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Hi Martin,
Use a separate domain for your squeeze and sales pages. For example, my WordPress installations are as follows:
1) http://www.theprofitshare.com (Canvas WooTheme for standard blog content)
2) http://www.theprofitshare.com/members (OptimizePress for member’s area)
3) http://www.turbotrafficexplosion.com (OptimizePress for squeeze/sales pages)
If you need any further assistance, friend me on Facebook and PM me (www.facebook.com/wayne.a.lambert). We’ll chat on Skype if necessary.
P.S. If you’re looking to purchase OptimizePress, consider my affiliate link as I’ll make you a great offer to buy it through it.
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Wayne,
How do you handle the signups from one domain to another easily? Especially if they are on different machines. Doesn’t there have to be some communications to add a user to the WP content site? (if they sign up at another location or are you assumign this all occurs in “one world”)
The answer may be obvious but I’m at a loss.
Looking to start with DAP and Optimize Press from scratch and the discussion grabbed my eye…
Thanks
Glenn
Wayne, Thanks for a great post, and lot’s of great comments. You’re very generous with your information, and though I was set on getting Profits Theme, I’m now going with OptimizePress through your link. I have a questions. Since you can have only one theme loaded on a domain, how do you have Canvas loaded on your homepage and OP on your members page? Maybe I’m not understanding things correctly, but I thought you could only have one of them on all the pages associated with theprofitshare.com.
Hi David,
Thanks for purchasing through my link – appreciated.
I have two installations of WordPress to handle this. The first is on http://www.theprofitshare.com – with this installation, I use the Canvas theme from WooThemes. The second installation of WordPress is within another folder on my server (called ‘members’) space (www.theprofitshare.com/members). This installation uses OptimizePress as the theme with Easy Video Player 2 as the video player, WishList Member as the membership protection script.
I hope this helps.
Thanx Wayne that is a great help yes when i purchase i will use your link one other question does optimize press also offer thank you pages as well as ?
I am also thinking that i will use the canvas woo theme too i like it and it’s functions.
Hi Martin,
You can create thank you pages or any type of web page using OptimizePress. They are not labelled as ‘Thank You Pages’. You would just use one of the standard sales page templates without a sidebar and then choose whether you want a sales page header.
If you sign in to my list, you’ll see all the pages that I’ve created using OptimizePress. You can naturally opt out of communications if you’re not interested in hearing from me.
Canvas is also one of the great WooThemes – it’s very flexible. My site is just one way it can be used. You could make something that looks totally different.
Again, if you want any tools and get them through my affiliate links, I will support you in using them and give you a premium membership to my site with traffic training.
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Hi Wayne:
Your Blog it is very informative…thank you…..i have a few concerns and questions…..could you please email me in hope you will answer any of my concerns?
Thank you.
Terry
Hi Terry,
Welcome to my blog. :-)
As requested, I have emailed you.
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Hi Wayne,
I’d like to start off by saying… I’m impressed! I’ve been in the IM game for a second now and it’s nice to find a marketer who’s genuine and so transparent (greatly appreciated).
I just became a Bronze member of your Profit Share site. You’re obviously very knowledgeable and I’d like to thank you for sharing the wealth of knowledge.
I noticed that you mentioned in an above post:
“Hi Yanty,
I’m pleased that I have helped you make a buying decision.
If you purchase through my affiliate link and forward on your purchase receipt, I will offer you the full membership to this site which includes over 75 videos of traffic training designed to get you a tonne of traffic to your site….
I will also offer some consultancy time on Skype to assist you in using the product as you’ll need to plan out a funnel or membership site.
I hope you choose to invest through me. ;-)”
The way you’ve setup your membership site is exactly what I’m looking to do, implementing a video sales letter formula (Ryan Deiss). I would love to take you up on your offer and I’ll gladly purchase through your affiliate link.
I know exactly how I want to format the sales funnel and membership site, I’ve just never created a membership site before and I’d greatly appreciate your guidance in that matter.
Thanks in advance.
Ruben
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Hi Ruben,
Thank you. Transparency is important in relationship marketing.
I have dropped you an email with the details to get us started with your project.
Looking forward to it. :-)
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I hope this offer still stands because I will forward my receipt if purchased. Thank you,
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Hi Gresh,
Yes, this offer still stands.
Use the link below to see the Best Internet Marketing Tools page. At the bottom, you’ll see a form where you can select OptimizePress in the drop down box and select the checkbox to confirm that you have forwarded the receipt.
Obviously make sure you forward the purchase receipt and I’ll get you sorted with your premium membership. :-)
Thanks,
Wayne
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Hi Wayne!
Maybe you can help me. I’m looking for exit popups at PT and cannot find the option. As well there is no chance to place sub categories. As I have a bunch of products and links I would like to place in this subcategories I am very disappointed that PT does not support this.
Now to my question: Has Optimized Press these options? Or shall I separate my blog from my sales pages. And if, is the sales funnel creation in Optimized Press more sophisticated in comparison to PT?
Thanks for your help in advance!
Rainer
Hi Rainer,
Here is how I do things:
1) I separate my blog from sales/squeeze pages. By their nature, squeeze and sales pages have high bounce rates and you do not want your domain to be penalised for these.
Buy the product name domain name for sales and squeeze pages and build your online brand using your main domain.
2) Use a popup plugin. I have used PopUp Domination, WP Subscribers and Premium List Magnet. If you have none of these, I recommend WP Subscribers. It is the one I use to create the iFrame popup people get when they visit this site and their cache is clear before the visit (ie. no cookies from my site in their browser cache)
3) OptimizePress is better than Profits Theme in my opinion. For the majority of people, Profits Theme will be OK but if you want the best tools in the business and the extra functionality and flexibility, then OptimizePress is the tool of choice!
You can happily use OptimizePress and WP Subscribers together.
You might want to give my tools page a check to see what tools I use. ;-)
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Hi Wayne!
Thank you for your time and your answer. What WordPress Theme do you use. It’s awesome.
Rainer
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Hi Rainer,
I use a WooTheme called Canvas.
It may be awesome but it’s not just the theme that makes it look like this. It’s the customised social media icons, Digg Digg plugin, CommentLuv Premium, customised graphics and my ability to use the theme to make it look like this.
Canvas is so flexible that someone else could have the same theme and it would look very different.
If you do decide to buy WooThemes, please do consider buying through my affiliate site and get a premium membership to my site to learn about driving traffic for doing so.
You can find details of this offer at the bottom of the page below.
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Hello Wayne,
First of all, this is a great blog you have and very informative as well.
I’m looking into buying the OptimizePress theme for my future site, selling multiple affiliate products.I don’t have any products of my own to promote
Would i be able to have a home page listing the products like blog style design and also be able to click on individual thumbnail?
Also can i have more than one column on the home page being able to “feature” or “showcase” a particular product?
I am new at IM so that’s why i’m asking .
Any input will be greatly appreciated!
Hi Eddie,
Welcome to my blog.
Quick answers are “yes” and “yes”
OptimizePress is great for sales pages, squeeze pages, membership or even just a regular blog.
My preference for a regular blog is WooThemes though.
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There are a couple of things I am disappointed with the use of Profits Theme. The first is that the use of the different theme designs makes it almost imposible to create a child theme that you can customize. You actually have to go into the individual design theme and change the css. I have yet to see what the use of the “custom css’ affects. Now the theme may be fine for a non designer but the first thing I noted is that the landing page templates use different colors from the actual site. You are trying to link you brand to the site’s appearance. I resolved this by creating my own css for one of the predesigned themes and resolved this.
The use of custom theme affects and then reverting back to core WordPress functionality takes a lot of time going back and forth.
The location of menus is dependent upon the design theme you use. Now out the box the design themes are acceptable but I don’t think they were actually made by a designer.
Landing pages are very easy to create but VERY limited. They simply use a header, main content and footer and or sidebar. The drag and drop is easy but not very customizable.
I’ve spent about 20 hours tweaking the theme but in the long run, i’d rather take the loss now and give OptimizePress a shot.
Being a developer, I of course like exact control of my design. Maybe if you are just looking to quickly create something, Profit’s Theme may be a good choice.
With that being said, I still may end up using the tried and true Thesis theme. It just may be easier for me to add functionality than to deal with design restrictions.
I’ve asked for a refund and are just waiting to see how that process goes.
Hi Great reviews and info, I run a Joomla site and I am pretty experienced in Joomla but fairly new to WPress. My dilema is this, I am starting a new membership site for my many customers (they asked for it which is great) Now I like Joomla but WP seems to have far more about it with Optimizepress, DAP ect, the problem I have is that if I totally change to WP now overall I will lose SEO postitions on google so this is not an option. I now have the following ideas,
1) stay with joomla and go with amember, but cant use drip feed and would take time to write all the mods in
2) Use a new domain (I have a wp installed on psychictutor.org) and direct people to it. Downside of this is that it dilutes my brand somewhat and it is another website to market.
3) Go with OP and DAP or Wishlist and install on a sub domain on main site and link via a menu item and maybe wrapper mods in places. Downside of this is I can’t tie in all the various membership levels like I can in Joomla, one hack and it all links together, shop, newsletter etc.
So if you have any ideas around this I would love to hear them, if I do purchase OP I will use your link.
Thanks
Paul
I feel your frustration. I love OptimizePress for creating sales pages, squeeze pages, and I plan to build my membership site in it (using WishList to lock).
OptimizePress isn’t friendly as a blog, and I see no harm (apart from visual consistency) in using another theme for the main blog and a separate WordPress install with something from WooThemes or StudioPress as a theme.
I’ve also just found MaxBlogPress Subscribers Magnet as a plugin to maximise opt-in which looks GREAT. Does anyone have any experience with it?
I personally use that approach too Ben.
I do not have experience with MaxBlogPress Subscribers Magnet. I use a plugin called WP Subscribers which does something very similar.
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It’s been a while since this article was published (7-8 months now). I’m wondering if OP has gotten any better / easier insofar as creating squeeze pages? Can you give us an update, Wayne?
Nice site. I’d also really like to know how much time in customizing you had to put into this site starting from the default woo theme (canvas, I believe?)
I’m interested in learning your opinion, Wayne, of MaxBlogPress Subscribers Magnet plugin, if you have seen it.
Thanks for a great article. I’m looking forward to reading more articles on your site!
Squeeze pages with OptimizePress is a doddle.
Thanks, yes it is the Canvas theme from WooThemes. Someone else could have exactly the same theme and it would look totally different.
I also have some customisations from other themes which I’ve blended into this one.
I do not have any experience with MaxBlogPress Subscribers Magnet. I use WP Subscribers for the lightbox popup that you may see on my blog if you click around the posts and empty your cookies first.
I find it really good!
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So do you still feel that Profit Theme is easier to create squeeze pages with? Or has OP become just as easy to use nowadays.
In your article, you stated:
“Optimize Press produces the better quality squeeze page but it is easier and faster to create a good looking squeeze page using Profits Theme.
Winner = Profits Theme”
Hi Wayne,
I am starting a membership site and I have some of the tools that you are using. I hope to buy more softwares from your affiliate links and I hope that your offer in your previous comments above still stands.
I have just joined your Bronze membership and I would be adding you to my Facebook soon.
I hope you can email me so that I can purchase through your links.
Thank you,
Ardy
I didn’t use either of one before but i’ve heard about them. I may need to try that OptimizePress as many told me it’s better than the Profit theme. I hope everything will go fine as i’ll use them soon.
Hi Wayne, thx for the review…I choose Profit Theme (PT) after looking at one or two reviews …wish your post was up at that time , I might have chosen differently – when I saw the ‘feel and look’ of Optimize Press squeeze page, I was sorry that I did not go for it in the 1st place. However PT is still very convenient for Blogging . I wish there was a bit more finish on PT, such as shadows etc… I have a question in regards to adding social media plugin on PT – which one do you recommend? I installed one plugin that I had to remove as it bugged with PT. I am trying to install Lee Chestnutt Social Tab on PT …but I am a bit stuck on making it work right now..
cheers
The social plugin on the left hand side of my blog is Digg Digg. It works perfectly with Canvas, my Wootheme, however I’m not sure how it will behave with Profits Theme.
Definitely worth testing it though!
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HI Wayne. I am relatively new to this whole membership arena but I am trying to learn. I am currently using Kajabi for a membership site. It was easy to use to get the site up and running. Now I want to transition to Profits Theme or Optimize Press. Which do you recommend and where and how do you recommend hosting video for streaming, download and viewing on Ipad? Sorry for the long and detailed question. Thanks.
Hi Mike,
Here goes…
I recommend using OptimizePress for your membership site. It is what I use for mine. It is a one off cost of $97.
I discuss the advantages to OptimizePress and Profits Theme in this post, so take a look at that.
In terms of the video, the best file format is .m4v format which will play on iPads, iPhones, etc with no problem.
Use a piece of free software called ‘Handbrake’ (which you can search for in Google) to convert video formats.
The video player I use on my membership site is Easy Video Player 2. Although it costs a one off fee of $204, it is worth every cent and much more because of how easy it makes it to use customised video players.
The other thing you might want to consider is buying a content protection plugin. I use a plugin called ‘Wishlist Member’ for my membership site which makes it really easy, especially for non-technical people. It is a one off payment of $97.
If you do decide to go for any of these tools, please email me (using the ‘Contact’ link in top right hand corner of the site) before you buy and I’ll put together an email support package in exchange for you buying the products through my affiliate links.
I often end up steering clients with problems they inevitably get when they build their membership site.
Hope this helps.
Thanks,
Wayne
P.S. Finally, the link below gives you access to a very detailed post about the Best Internet Marketing Tools, so you can read that to help you make your decisions. :-)
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Thanks Wayne. I have Wishlist already. I was thinking Profits Theme would plug in to it and make it easier to manage the site. I will check out
Hey Wayne,
I really liked your comparison for both solutions, however I also saw that you recommended the combination of:
OP + WLM + EVP2
However, don’t you really find super annoying the time that EVP takes to start playing the videos?
Even when they are hosted on Amazon, the problem still remains, I’m on a very fast connection and I always get the same problem with EVP.
If you weren’t to miss the viral functionality of embedded social media into the videos or buy buttons (which nobody uses anyway) wouldn’t something like Vimeo Plus be better?
Sergio
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Hi Sergio,
I don’t have that problem. My videos load pretty efficiently. You can see that by playing one of the videos which I have on this blog area which are all Easy Video Player 2 videos.
My suggestions are:
1) Make sure you have Cloudfront enabled and it is configured correctly.
2) Make sure you have the latest version of Easy Video Player 2 installed on your server, not one of the older versions. The most recent version is 2.3.3 and I think they did something in 2.3 which helped with speed.
I would never recommend Vimeo or any video sharing website to host your videos as you give up your control over the videos. If they deem you in breach of their terms and conditions, they will remove your video from the site. I don’t know if Vimeo Plus offers anything different that just standard Vimeo in that way. I have never needed to do my research on that since I am happy with Easy Video Player 2.
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Awesome, thank you for the fast and detailed response, going to check out EVP again. ;-)
Hi Wayne,
I am trying to set up video drawing and painting teaching membership sites .{streaming not downloadable} I am not a techie so I have been researching software/plugins for over a month ,I want to get it right the first time. I have domains and hosting .{hostgator} 5 videos shot just need to voice over.
I am going to do them fixed term {6 months} They will have the videos ,some free written content ,downloadable pdf ‘s ,also a gallery and forum so They can upload their work and I can review it ,as well as interact with each other. I also want an art related header I have seen a few or create one in Photoshop.
I see you reccommend wishlist I have heard some bad things about their support and stuff not working and them not fixing it for months if at all. And I checked dap it seems good but I dont think I need all the bells and whistles with affiliates and one time offers.
Do you have any simple suggestions as I just want to spend my time adding videos and interacting and teaching art not fixing issues and losing people.
My non-teaching site is {langisart.com} if you want to see a sample of my work.
Any help would be greatly appreciated I have been trying to make money online and retire from my construction job for 2 yrs now Jim daniels the marketer said this would be it when he saw my work.
Thanks again in advance,
Bill Langis
If you’re not a techie, stick with Wishlist Member. It will be far easier for you to maintain and manage.
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Hi Wayne.
This is a very good post. I have already bought OP. I wished I had bought it through your link. Sorry.
After using OP for a few days I find it quite brilliant and easy to use. The tutorials are excellent which is great for non-technical people like me. I suspect the support should be quite good though I haven’t had a chance to use it.
I was also looking at Getpremise. I like the fact that they give tips and text templates on writing the various pages and the fact that they have membership capabilities built in.
I was thinking of asking for a refund from OP but have now decided against it. I can get copywriting help elsewhere and I think OP’s pages look much nicer.
I have also been lurking around simple-promo.com and am very impressed with the look and feel though it’s very hard to find any reviews on it. Do you have any thoughts on that?
Finally I am also looking at membership plugins (because I decided against getting Getpremise). I’ve tried S2Member before and I’m thinking of using that.
Anyway, thanks for the effort in sharing.
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HI Reza,
It’s not about which pages look better… it’s about which pages PERFORM better. Remove your personal biases for page styling, etc and focus on performance.
No thoughts on simple-promo.com as I’ve never heard of it.
The plugin I use for my membership site is Wishlist Member. Really simply to use for non-techies and makes protection of content simple.
I trust that helps. If you do go for Wishlist, you can surely take my offer through my affiliate link which is at the bottom of the page (link to page below). The same offer of membership applies as it did on this page.
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That’s good advice Wayne. I’ve started to develop a membership site based on OptimizePress. I will definitely make it a point to get Wishlist through your link if I decide to use it.
I’ve heard optimizepress is coming up with a new version. Hopefully they will provide the drag and drop functionality, improve their blog template design & functionality and more options for their customers.
I’m using OP and as a web developer, I haven’t had an experience using Profits theme because my clients so far are using OP than Profits theme. Maybe I will give it a try for me to see which is better (theme wise)
As for membership plugins, i like DAP simply because they have a lot to offer compared to any other membership plugins out there however they have poor UI (in my opinion), which really turns me off.
Thus I prefer wishlist on this. Magicmember plugin is good as well.
Hello Wayne:
I am a Google Page-1 Ranking consultant that has decided to transition from offline marketing to CPA/CPS marketing.
Up until now, I have been using Catalyst, however I am ready to purchase Optimize Press v. 2.0 from you to build squeeze pages… largely due to several of your posts:
- “I’ll make you a great offer…”
- “I will support you in using them…”
- “Give a premium membership to my site traffic training”
- “Offer some consultancy time on Skype”
I was prepared to purchase through another OP affiliate who had created an excellent overview video, however your offer will win the day.
For my first project, a CPS software offer, I have completed all the background infrastructure… keyword and LSI research, installed and hardened WP, content is ready, selected appropriate plugins, etc.
Now I’m ready to build-out a high-conversion squeeze page and get things rolling.
Thanks in advance for a prompt email response,
Alan
Hi Alan,
OK sure, please purchase using the link in the post, submit your receipt via email and then ask me questions about OptimizePress when you want to.
You’re better off asking their support team about the technical questions, but you can ask me about your visions for your membership site or squeeze pages and I’ll be well placed to answer those queries for you.
Look forward to working with you soon.
Thanks,
Wayne
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Thanks Wayne
I was looking for an alternative to OP, and Profits Theme seems to be a good one.
I find OP design not so great but i’m going to check if they came up with better ones :-)
Thanks for the comparison!
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Wayne,
Great post.
I have recently purchased OP and longer term want to create membership sites.
It looks like Wishlist and DAP are the 2 contenders to add to OP. However, I have recently discovered posts about PT. Reading the features and watching the video on the PT site it implies that no additional plug-in is required to make a membership site.
I am now very confused as was all set to purchase DAP.
Any thoughts greatly appreciated.
Simon
Wayne,
Awesome post.
So is there any extra benefit to me to buy through your affiliate link for OP?
You mentioned you use two domains, one for your blog and one for your sales page. Do you SEO both of them for the same keywords? (this confuses me)
Lastly, your contact us form is very broken. The input fields are not working correctly for me in Chrome and FF.
Cheers
Razul
Hi,
Yes, you will get the premium access to The Profit Share members area and email assistance from me should you need a steer on how to use OptimizePress. I think it mentions this at the bottom of this post.
I use keywords about my business for the main blog installation and only use keywords relating to what I’m selling on the sales page installation.
To be fair, I get traffic to sign up for the memberships I sell through other means so don’t need to depend on the SEO.
I will check out the contact form later. Thanks for letting me know.
Wayne
hey wayne,
as far as using wp subscribers together with op, is that still possible. I read on the warrior forum people are having problems since an update.
http://www.warriorforum.com/website-design/503440-wp-subscribers-optimizepress-alter-theme-functions-php-how.html
If you have figured it out can you share how? I dont own wp subscribers yet, and if you can get it to work now, then i would like to buy through your link…
Hi David,
I’ve no idea if there are any compatibility issues between the two. I don’t run those two together.
This blog uses WooThemes Canvas theme and WP Subscribers. The membership site runs another installation of WordPress which uses OptimizePress. Of course, since people are already on my list when they use the membership area, I have no need to present popup forms to capture their details there.
You could report the issue to WP Subscribers and they should do their best to make it compatible since OptimizePress is so popular.
Thanks,
Wayne
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Thanks Wayne, great info here!
I’m planning on getting OP via your site here, and have some questions for you:
1- any update on OP 2.0 release?
2- Is Wishlist unnecessary if I can use S2member?
3- What do you think about EVP2 vs the player in OP?
4- Do you have any opinion about content on Amazon S3 being insecure & needing some extra plug-in to keep it secure?
Thanks in advance!
SJ
Hi Shawn,
Welcome to my blog.
Answers to your questions:
1) I have no idea. OptimizePress themselves are the best people to ask. I have found their support team very good, so you could email the question to their support team and they will be able to tell you more accurately.
2) No. Wishlist Member is my preferred solution as it makes the management of membership sites easy.
3) Easy Video Player 2 is my preferred video player. I use it for my member’s area and it plays all the videos on this blog. It makes using video on your site really easy.
4) No extra plugin required in my opinion. I have the best part of 100 videos on my S3 account. I only pay a few dollars per month for them and they have never been hacked yet (as far as I know). I wouldn’t worry about this sort of stuff. Just keep your Amazon S3 keys private and you’ll be fine.
Thanks,
Wayne
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Hi Wayne
Thanks for all the info! Re: WishListMember, do you not find that it slows down the backend of your site? I have a client who uses it and the backend of her site is really slow, so it takes ages to update.
Or is there some kind of problem that her configuration might have?
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
No, I don’t find Wishlist slows down the backend of my site. Could it be something else such as a poorly configured site, no caching in place, a cheap theme or a bad hosting provider?
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I don’t know, I didn’t set up her site. She uses OptimizePress and Hostgator though.
As for the caching, would you recommend a WP plugin that would deal with that?
I have heard elsewhere about WishList slowing someone’s site down but of course they may also have the problems you listed above.
W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache are the main two. You get more options with W3 Total Cache, so if your an advanced user wanting more customisation, I’d go for that. If simple is what you’re after, go for WP Super Cache.
Thanks,
Wayne
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Hey Wayne,
thanks for your great post.
Every ALL french bloggers uses Optimizepress, and i wanted to know if they simply dont Know profitstheme or if OP was still better?
Your article helps me a lot… ;-)
Thanks !
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Hi Wayne, what theme would you suggest for someone just starting out trying to learn how to create a wordpress site – with the least learning curve? I hear about OptimizePress everywhere but you suggest WooThemes. My situation is that currently I’m in consulting so my market is local, however I am currently creating programs too. I will then sell on the site so I’ll need some sales pages I guess. Thanks
Hi Wendy,
For a blog, I recommend WooThemes. This theme is the Canvas theme from WooThemes. It is their signature theme and is the most customisable.
For sales and squeeze pages – I recommend OptimizePress. It’s the theme I use for my sales pages, squeeze pages and my membership site.
I hope this helps.
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Hi Wayne,
This is great information. I was trying to decide if I should buy optimize press and you have convinced me. Do you still offer the support if I buy through your link?
Since I am planning a membership site also, finding your page was doubly helpful.
Thank you so much!
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Hi Patti,
Yeah, it’s a great theme. I use it for my sales pages, opt in pages and membership site.
I do still offer the support.
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Greetings Wayne,
Love your blog. For someone like me, it’s incredibly informative:):) Question; I want to set up a subscription wordpress site that offers a course for a period of two months. The course would be delivered, probably via autoresponder, with an audio MP3 (no video) each week for eight weeks. The billing would be the same fee billed for each of the two months. After two months, I’d offer other similar product. What wordpress plugins would you suggest for something like this ie. optimize press, etc? Thanks much, Robert
Hi Robert,
Burberry PodPress +OptimizePress + Wishlist Member + Aweber.
You could also look into Digital Access Pass which will enable you to drip feed the content but isn’t quite as simple to use as Wishlist.
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