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Which is the best WordPress signup plugin? (2018): OptinMonster vs LeadPages vs Sumo vs Thrive Leads
WordPress Email Subscription Plugins. When it comes to this topic, the top four plugins are OptinMonster, LeadPages, Sumo and Thrive Leads. This may be the third or forth post you read about WordPress email subscription plugins and I’m pretty sure you came across (multiple times) the plugins above more than once.

But I get you. You are confused and undecided on which is the best WordPress email subscription plugins you should be using. I am not publishing this post just to rank on Google, but because I know exactly how it felt like. I have been through the same route some months back – I was searching for the best landing page builder and a WordPress email subscription plugin.

Without much delay, let’s start our discussing which is the best WordPress newsletter plugin – OptinMonster vs LeadPages vs Sumo vs Thrive Leads.

But why should I care?

I know many of you want to know the answer straight, and I’m happy to share them with you right after this. However, I recommend you to go through each and every one to really understand what each of these WordPress newsletter plugin offers. By doing so, you are also potentially saving more money in the coming months as well as doubling your chance of building a larger email list (faster).

As you requested, here is the summary for the best WordPress email subscription plugin.

1

Thrive Leads

My first choice will always be Thrive Leads and the reasons are simple. Affordability, rich in feature, drag and drop visual builder, hundreds of ready-made templates to download (1-click installation) and unlimited access towards each feature (regardless of the plans I’m subscribing to). Check out Thrive Leads here.

2

OptinMonster

OptinMonster came close to the first spot but the recent change in their pricing structure made them much fitted to the second spot. OptinMonster provides one of the most robust features for a WordPress email subscription plugin and is able to help you grow your email list fast and efficient. Check out OptinMonster here.

3

LeadPages

Yes, LeadPages is firmly on the third spot. There is no denial that LeadPages is a great responsive landing page tool (not to forget feature rich one too). The biggest downside is the price tag which can be very steep especially for beginners. Check out LeadPages here.

4

Sumo

Last but not least, Sumo is ranked fourth in when comparing OptinMonster vs LeadPages vs Sumo vs Thrive Leads. While this WordPress email subscription plugin is powerful, I felt that it still don’t offer much features when compared to the rest. Plus, you are required to subscribe for a higher plan to unlock more features is not a good attraction point. Check out Sumo here.

Undecided which is the best WordPress email plugin you should be using? Take a quiz below to find out!

This article is long, therefore, here’s a quick summary of what you will find today.

OptinMonster vs LeadPages vs Sumo vs Thrive Leads Comparison – What will we cover today?

There are a few things we will compare to make this comparison post as detailed as possible. They include:
- Overall features
- Ease of use
- Customer support/Knowledge base
- Check CirclePricing
Let’s get started!

OptinMonster Review

OptinMonster is created by Syed Balkhi (founder of WPBeginner.com). When OptinMonster was first launched, it was revolutionary with the first of its kind, Exit Intent Technology. Using this feature, you can easily turn exiting visitors into email subscribers with timely popup.
- Want to know more about OptinMonster?
- Is OptinMonster the best conversion optimization software for WordPress?
Let’s take a serious look into OptinMonster.

OptinMonster is more than a WordPress email subscription plugin. It is very much a full-fledged lead generation product that helps business owners to get more leads, converting leads into email subscribers and ultimately, turning them into paying customers.

Part 1: What are the OptinMonster features?
- MonsterLinks™ 2-Step Optins. This feature allows you toconvert any link or image into an optin form. The best part? It is proven to boost conversions by 785%.
- Geo-Location Targeting. With geo-location targeting, you can improve the overall conversions by personalizing campaigns based on visitor’s location.
- Exit-Intent® Technology. OptinMonster’s most popular feature allows automatic detection of the user’s mouse behavior and show them a targeted message as they are leaving. Thus, converting them into leads right before they leave your site.
- Check CircleIntuitive Drag and Drop Builder. OptinMonster’s powerful drag & drop builder allows you to create visually stunning optin forms that are optimized for the highest conversion rates.
- Check CircleCampaign Types. Instead of just running a single campaign, you can now choose the perfect campaign type to display the most attention-grabbing offers to your visitors for maximum engagement. Want more? Split test them to find the best results!
- Check CircleCampaign Triggers. Tired of low conversion rate? OptinMonster helps you to detect your visitors’ behavior and use smart triggers to always display the right campaign to the right person at the right time.
- Check CircleTargeted Campaigns. Instead of creating one campaign for everyone (which is not effective), OptinMonster allows you to use precision targeting to create campaigns that generate more leads, attract more subscribers, and make more sales.
- Check CircleSeamless Integrations. OptinMonster integrates with a wide range of third party applications. Indirectly, you can create campaigns that react and adapt in real time so you can easily personalize, segment, and target for incredible conversions.
- Check CircleActionable Insights. Last but not least, OptinMonster inbuilt analytics feature will provide you with detailed information and the tools you need to take action to improve your lead-generation strategy.
Part 2: How to use OptinMonster?

I’ve tried many WordPress email subscription plugins and OptinMonster is one of the easiest to use. The biggest advantage using OptinMonster is the backend system.

Take a look at the image below (screenshot taken from OptinMonster backend).

It is really easy to create an opt-in lead generation campaign. All you have to do is to click and select.

Editor’s Note

When it comes to ease of usage and learning curve, OptinMonster delivers what it promises. It is extremely easy to navigate and it also comes with an awesome knowledge base where users can find more information of the product.

Part 3: OptinMonster Support

Getting support for OptinMonster is fairly easy as well. OptinMonster support work based on ticketing system and while I certainly wish they have a forum or live chat for help, OptinMonster support team is still able to respond for any concerns within several hours of submitting the ticket.

Part 4: How much is OptinMonster?

Interested with OptinMonster and want see the pricing instead? Scroll down for more information about this WordPress subscribe plugin.

For the record, you are seeing the OptinMonster discounted pricing because they are currently running a special promo (last a few hours only).

Overall, OptinMonster is very affordable (based on the service level) and I will recommend OptinMonster if you are searching for the best WordPress newsletter plugin.

Click here to try OptinMonster now.

Why should you choose OptinMonster?

OptinMonster is a great conversion optimization software for WordPress (and several other CMS too). OptinMonster is easy to use and you can use it in just three steps; create a visually stunning offer (using the drag and drop visual editor), target and personalize offers with behavior automation, and finally test and adjust in real time.

LeadPages Review

Do you know that LeadPages is one of the best optin plugin for WordPress? For many marketers, LeadPages is the number one landing page builder.

But do you know that it also integrates perfectly well with major CMS such as WordPress?

Here is a list of top marketers who uses WordPress and LeadPages at the same time:
- Pat Flynn (Smart Passive Income)
- Amy Porterfield
- John Lee Dumas (Entrepreneur On Fire)
If you are looking for an all-in-one WordPress plugin to help you build an email list, LeadPages might just be the right tool for you.

Part 1: LeadPages Features

LeadPages calls themselves more than just a landing page builder. And yes, they are right. Take a look at this video (pretty old one but it will give you an idea of what LeadPages is).
- Publish in Minutes with 150+ Free Page Templates. LeadPages professional landing page designs allows you to easily build and customize. Plus, you can perform unlimited publishing for lead pages, squeeze pages, pop ups, splash pages, and thank you pages. With LeadPages drag and drop editor, no coding skill is required … ever.
- Acquire your dream leads—up to 2 billion of them. LeadPages allows you to drive the best of Facebook’s 2 billion users right to your landing pages and squeeze pages with the new and integrated Facebook Ad Builder (by LeadPages). Easily select your target audience, publish your ad, track performance in real time, and watch your business bloom with quality business leads.
- Check CircleOptimize With Confidence. You no longer need to do the guesswork with LeadPages as you can confidently optimize every aspect of your marketing campaigns with the help of the inbuilt human-friendly analytics. Right inside LeadPages landing page software, you can also decipher page performance, ad spend, and traffic so that you can make quick optimizations to capture more qualified leads.
- Integrate with your favorite marketing apps. LeadPages will transform you into a true marketing pro (with the help of LeadPages seamless integrations) that connect your lead generation tools and marketing automation. Now, you can create landing pages, capture email addresses inside segmented lists, and nurture your new leads with email marketing that’s better than any sales team.
Part 2: How easy is LeadPages?

Fairly easy in most cases. As LeadPages is a standalone addon, it is much different from most of the WordPress mailing list plugins.

You would need to work on LeadPages backend and integrate it with your WordPress CMS.

If you are fond of coding, there’s a LeadPages plugin that you can install directly to your WordPress.

Part 3: LeadPages Support

Support is critical and I can’t stress (enough) the importance of having a good support. With LeadPages, support is just one click away.

The knowledge base is very up to date and you can also email them. There’re many unofficial LeadPages support Facebook groups as well that you can join for immediate support.

Part 4: How much does LeadPages costs?

LeadPages comes in several pricings, namely Standard, Pro and Advanced. If you are looking for LeadPages discount, I recommend you to go for Annual or 2-year plans for more savings.

LeadPages pricing table as below.

Personally, $25 per month for an excellent WordPress landing page plugin is definitely worth the money. Imagine the amount of leads you can generate from as well as the time saved from building a landing page from scratch.

Sumo Review

Previously known as SumoMe, Sumo calls themselves as the easiest way to turn visitors into eCommerce customers. Sumo primarily integrates with WordPress and before they went with the paid pricing model, Sumo was one of the most used email subscribe WordPress plugin for bloggers.

With the recent upgrade with the paid Sumo plans, it has attracted some of the biggest names including:
- Airbnb
- Tony Robbins
- Entrepreneur Magazine
- The 4-Hour Work Week
If you take a deeper look at the list above, all of these are eCommerce companies which sells products/services online. Yes, Sumome plugins are created mainly to convert typical website visitors into paying customers (hint: take a look at Sumo’s slogan).

Part 1: Sumo features
- Reduce Cart Abandonment. Sumo’s Reduce Cart Abandonment allows you to reduce cart abandons (and increases your sales conversion).
- Grow Email Lists. Fact: 98% of your website visitors won’t buy on their first visit, and 55% will leave within the first 15 seconds. Sumo’s Grow Email List will transform your one-time visitors into email subscribers before they exit your website.
- Increase Order Value. Thinking of upselling but not sure where to start? Sumo’s Increase Order Value feature will help you turn small orders into bigger ones (without hassle).
According to Noah Kagan (founder of Sumo), all these tools are based on proven marketing strategies. They are also bold enough to provide free (unlimited usage) for 14 days and if they don’t work, you don’t have to pay a cent!

Important Note: Sumo plugins are all easily available in the cloud and website owners would need to either install the plugin or insert the code in the theme file. Sumo is created with simple codings and thus, it doesn’t slow down your website.

Part 2: Is Sumo easy to use?

Sumo is crazily easy to use. Period.

It’s one of the easiest tool I have used in the past and I have no issues in recommending it to anyone who is finding for a WordPress opt in plugin.

Sumo works entirely on the cloud. Therefore, there is no plugin required to install or backend system hosted on your website. You are only required to install the plugin if you don’t want to install the codes manually.

Part 3: How good is Sumo support team?

Among all the four WordPress email plugin I’m reviewing, Sumo has the coolest support team … ever!

Here’s the Sumo knowledge base (as seen below).

At this point of time, I do not see any live chat option for Sumo support. It would be great if they have one though!

Part 4: How much does Sumo plugins cost?

Sumo comes with free and paid plans. The free plan comes with very basic features but are sufficient especially for new businesses and bloggers who doesn’t have much money to spend on.

Take a look below for the complete pricing structure for Sumo plugins.

If you are looking for Sumome discount codes, you don’t have to look far. You will get an automatic 20% discount when you opt for yearly plans.

Click here to try Sumo now!

Thrive Leads Review

You have guess it right. Thrive Leads is one of the core plugins for the popular Thrive Themes. When it comes to finding the best WordPress landing page plugin or best WordPress newsletter plugin, you will find Thrive Leads being mentioned in nearly every blog post and reviews.

So, what is Thrive Leads?

Thrive Leads is a WordPress opt in plugin that helps build your mailing list at supersonic speed.

When it comes to Thrive Leads, it has a wide range of influencers recommending it including:
- John Lee Dumas (Entrepreneur On Fire)
- David Coleman
If you are looking for OptinMonster alternative, Sumo alternative or LeadPages alternative, Thrive Leads is here to serve you.

rocket

Thrive Leads is the list building solution that’s created by a team of people who are obsessed with conversion optimization. A lot of time and effort is put into Thrive Leads to include the most cutting edge conversion tactics used by smart businesses and growth hackers and for the first time ever, those tactics are easy as pie for you to use on your own site (1-click implementation using Thrive Leads). Click here to the full list of Thrive Leads features.

Part 1: Why is Thrive Leads worth it?
- Design & Deploy. Thrive Leads combines every type of opt-in form you need in one single plugin and gives you a simple drag-and-drop editor to create the perfect design every time. Therefore, you don’t have to know coding skills to create high conversion-focused landing pages/opt in forms.
- Advanced Targeting. Get a massive conversion boost by showing relevant, highly targeted offers to your visitors based on posts, categories, tags and more. Thrive Leads allows you to build multiple hyper-targeted and profitable lists (and not just a single list).
- A/B Testing Engine. Thrive Leads comes with a highly advanced but very easy to use A/B testing feature. The features allows you to easily increase the conversions rate through simple but highly 1-click options.
- Check CircleActionable Reporting & Insights. Thrive Leads gives you a simple overview over the most important metrics. Therefore, you can see exactly how the opt-in forms are performing over time and where your most valuable traffic comes from.
- Check CircleMultiple Form Designs. Using Thrive Leads, you no longer have to rely on just one way to generate leads and you no longer need multiple plugins (that probably conflict with each other). It’s the all-in-one list-building solution you’ve been waiting for. To be exact, Thrive Leads comes with 10 different opt-in forms for you to choose from.
- Check CircleBoost Conversions with SmartLinks & SmartExit. Show different offers to your existing subscribers and take your conversion rates to the next level with Smart features.
- Check CircleBeautifully Pre-Designed Templates. Choose from dozens of templates to create eye-catching, effective list building forms & display them anywhere on your site.
- Check CircleTarget Your Opt-In Forms with Surgical Precision. Determine exactly on where on your site which forms are shown. Set them triggers, scroll triggers, on-click forms and more.
Part 2: How to use Thrive Leads?

When it comes to comparing the best WordPress list building plugin, Thrive Leads is one of the easiest to use.

Watch this video for a quick introduction to Thrive Leads (and discover how easy it is to use Thrive Leads even for complete beginners).

Part 3: Thrive Leads Support

When it comes to reviewing a WordPress product such as the best WordPress mailing list plugin, the level of support offered is critical. After all, why would you want to pay for a service that doesn’t offer anything help when you need it, right?

I like Thrive Leads because there are many ways to get support under an hour (in most cases). For example, you can reach out for support via ticketing (email), Thrive Leads knowledge base and the support forum.

This is how the Thrive Leads support forum looks like.

Get 24/7 support on Thrive support forum

Thrive Leads support forum is supported by Thrive support staffs round the clock and even members who don’t mind chipping in to help (huge bonus here). The community is very engaging and supportive with one another which gave more value to this WordPress list building tool.

Part 4: How much does Thrive Leads costs?

Thrive Leads comes with several pricing structures and here’s what they look like:

A single license for Thrive Leads costs $67 per year and there are also $97 for 5 licenses and $147 for 15 licenses.

Looking for Thrive Leads discount?

Sign up for Thrive Membership for only $19 per month and get unlimited access to not only Thrive Leads but all Thrive Themes and Thrive plugins (along with unlimited support and website usages). Click here for more information or to grab the offer now.

Undecided if Thrive Leads is worth it?

Personally, I have been using Thrive Leads since it first launch (over 3 years at this time of writing) and it has generated me thousands of email subscribers just from my WordPress blogs.

Thrive Leads is definitely one of the best WordPress lead generation plugins for 2018 and 2019!

Why don’t take Thrive Leads for a test run?

Read this review post is NOT sufficient if you don’t try Thrive Leads for yourself. How about giving it a full test run for 30 days?

OptinMonster vs LeadPages vs Sumo vs Thrive Leads: Which is the best WordPress mailing list builder?

Through the four WordPress list building plugins above, it is clear that they are all equally great WordPress landing page creator and WordPress lead generation plugin.

For me, my personal favorite when it comes to the best email subscribe plugin for WordPress is Thrive Leads. The reasons for my choice are simple – Thrive Leads comes with many email opt in forms/templates, features to increase conversion and more importantly, it is extremely affordable (either $67 for a year license or $19 per month for unlimited usage of all Thrive plugins and themes).

I’m interested with your thoughts. Which is your favorite tool when it comes to OptinMonster vs LeadPages vs Sumo vs Thrive Leads? Leave a comment below and tell me about it!

Editor’s note: Still undecided on which WordPress email subscription plugin you should be using? Take the quiz below to find out (I highly recommend it)!
June 18, 2024
How To Do Keyword Research Fast (And Find Many Profitable Long Tail Keywords)?
How do you do keyword research fast? In this article, I’m going to show you how you can find long tail keywords and at the same time, perform the right keyword research fast. To be exact, you will be able to find low difficulty keywords under 45 minutes.

Are you ready to dive in?

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is the process of finding the right keywords that are easy to rank. The concept of keyword research is finding long tail keywords, medium to high volume searches and having low competition.

One of the most common mistakes done by freelance SEO consultants are (solely) finding for profitable keywords without taking into consideration factors such as search volume, difficulty and keyword length.

Why is keyword research important?

Keyword research is a process and it takes time to master this process. Anyone can do keyword research but only a few can do it right. And when you do the right keyword research, you are going to find the right keywords to rank a website.

Allow me to repeat myself. Keyword research is NOT complicated. It takes time to understand the process and the tools to be effective.

Always remember that having the best keyword research software is not going to help you if you have no idea how to use it correctly.

The best keyword research software is … ?

This is a tough question to answer because it depends on personal needs. When it comes to the best keyword research software, there are both free and paid keyword research tool that you can choose from.

For this post, I’m going to share with you two tools which I believe they are the best keyword research software in the market today.

Best Keyword Research Software #1: Rank Tracker by Link-Assistant

Rank Tracker is free to use and by far, one of the most powerful keyword research tools I had used. Before you throw rotten tomato at me, hear me out. There is also a paid plan for Rank Tracker which allows you to export data, save your projects and a few more cool features. Check out the features here.

Rank Tracker is powerful only if you know how to use it. Rank Tracker is not an easy keyword research software for ease of usage. To be honest, it is one of the most complicated ones in the market.

The only reason why I still use Rank Tracker (aside from knowing how to use it) is the pricing. It’s free for Christ’s sake. Yes, yes and yes. Rank Tracker is free to use (forever)! So, there is no way in hell (or heaven) that anyone can complain about a free keyword research tool!

Let’s dive more into Rank Tracker and how to use Rank Tracker to do keyword research fast.

How to use Rank Tracker to do keyword research fast?

The first step is to download and install Rank Tracker. You can download for free here.

After installing Rank Tracker, fire it up to start doing keyword research. This is what you will see (below). In step 1, key in your domain name to get started.

Once that is done, you will be prompted with the step 2 which is to sign in to your Google account. I recommend you to sign in for both Google Analytics and Google Adwords.

Once you have completed step 2, you will find a long list of keywords in step 3. These keywords are taken directly from your Google Analytics (top performing ones only). Delete all of them and enter the keyword of your choice to start keyword research.

In step 4, you will need to choose the search engine to start the keyword research and ranking results. I recommend focusing on the top three search engines which are Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Pro Tip: You can focus on local SEO instead of just focusing on US geolocation.

Next, head over to Keyword Research > Keyword Suggestions and start searching for the seed keyword.

While doing this sample keyword research, this SEO keyword research software takes around 8 seconds to come up with 1,102 related keywords. Now, it’s time to get your hand dirty and dive into the advanced keyword research strategy.

Remember that you are looking for:
- Medium to high search volume
- Low keyword difficulty
- High Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) score (KEI is an internal ranking factor by Rank Tracker)
KEI score is calculated based on the following:

By default, KEI is not activated on Rank Tracker. Therefore, you need to activate it and here’s how.

After activating KEI score, this is what you will see. You should sort the keywords based on KEI score (higher to lower).

1,102 keywords is a lot and therefore, use the filter to find only relevant keywords based on your choice. I call this process, “find valuable long tail keywords.”

Out of the 121 long tail keywords, I choose a few which I believe have the best chance of ranking (and making money).

Right click and choose the first option, “Move Selected Keywords To Rank Tacking.” Rank Tracker will ask you to to create a group for this and you can use any name for this purpose. This is what you will see.

The last step is to check on the keyword difficulty for each keyword you had chosen earlier. This is how you check for keyword difficulty using Rank Tracker.

Among all the keywords, I have found one of the keywords having the lowest keyword difficulty. By changing the visible column, I can easily sort the different long tail keywords using Rank Tracker in just a few clicks. You can also enable Yahoo and Bing keyword difficulty feature to reconfirm your findings or simply want to rank on different search engines apart from Google.

How long it takes to find long tail keywords using Rank Tracker?

The above search took me 10 minutes. Yes, 10 minutes and just a few clicks of the mouse.

So, what do you learned from this?

With the (right or) best SEO keyword research software, you will be able to do keyword research fast and find profitable long tail keywords without spending your entire day it.

All you have to do is to learn how to do keyword research correctly. And the above is the only keyword research guide you ever need (no pun intended).

Click here to try Rank Tracker for free now.

Best Keyword Research Software #2: KWFinder

KWFinder is powerful and very efficient at finding profitable long tail keywords. If you are looking for the best keyword research tool, KWFinder might just be the right tool for you.

Click here to read more about KWFinder.

KWFinder comes with both free and paid SEO plans. Creating a free KWFinder account allows you to perform up to 5 SEO keyword research daily.

KWFinder is often considered a great alternative to Rank Tracker because it is a cloud based system. Therefore, there is no installation required and you can access KWFinder anywhere, anytime as you wished. More importantly, KWFinder is beginner friendly and the learning curve is very small.

On a personal front, I prefer Rank Tracker because it is more versatile and provides better functionality. KWFinder is more towards my secondary free keyword generator because I can access it anytime on my smartphone or tablet. Thus, it is excellent for brainstorming and a handy keyword analysis tool on the go.

How to do SEO keyword research using KWFinder?

KWFinder is pretty much a free keyword suggestion tool. The first step is to head over to the main website, KWFinder.com. Once you have registered, key in the search the seed keyword in the search column.

Register for a free KWFinder account by clicking on the register button

Let’s assume we search for “dog training” keyword. KWFinder will take about few seconds to come back with a list of results.

As you can see below, the keyword “dog training” is highly competitive with 58/100 in keyword difficulty. KWFinder keyword difficulty is also based on colours; green as easy, orange as challenging and red as hard.

Scroll down the keywords and you will find “german shepherd training” which is only 39/100 in keyword difficulty. Now, that’s way easier to rank for compared to “dog training.”

Click on the selected long tail keyword and take a look at the screen on the right. It will list down the trends over time and the top 10 results with more data (to help you rank for the specific keyword).

Let’s say yo don’t like “german shepherd training” and looking for another keyword, “dog collar.” KWFinder will give you a list of related long tail keywords for you to use. Take a look at the image below for more information.

Here’s another sample I did with KWFinder. I’m searching for “healthy breakfast ideas for toddlers” which is a super long and profitable long tail keyword. It’s easy to rank for this keyword with only 23/100in keyword difficulty.

Now that you have found a long tail keyword, use SERPChecker (another feature by KWFinder) to go into the details of the keyword. The information found (refer image below) will give you an idea on how to rank for the given keyword.

SERPChecker gives you detailed information on the top 10 results

As you can see, the top 4 rankings on Google is extremely easy to rank and this is how you use KWFinder to do keyword research fast.

How long it takes to find long tail keywords using KWFinder?

The entire process took me less than 10 minutes to complete. If you are constantly on the rush, is not willing to spend hours in finding for keywords and want to do keyword research fast, KWFinder is a great keyword research tool.

KWFinder is a free keyword tool that helps you find profitable long tail keywords fast. A free KWFinder account allows you to do limited keyword research daily andif you require more firepower, there is paid KWFinder plans. Here’s the pricing structure.

KWFinder pricing and features that are included

For $29 per month (KWFinder Basic), this is definitely a worthwhile investment for any SEO consultants or SEO freelancers.

Click here to try KWFinder today (free trial included).

How To Do Keyword Research Fast And Effective?

Keyword research is an important process for you to rank high on search engine result pages. Without proper keyword research, using the best keyword research software is not going to provide much results.

I hope this guide helps you to do keyword research fast especially in finding profitable long tail keywords.
June 18, 2024
Compare Thrive Themes To StudioPress: Which is the BEAST?

June 18, 2024
SEO Freelance Career: 3 Reasons Why You Are Afraid Of Starting
SEO Freelance Career. If I had ever read one of these “how to become a SEO freelancer” guides, I would have probably dropped the idea before even trying.

For beginners, the first thought of starting an SEO freelance career may sound very tempting especially with the freelance earning (SEO mogul, Neil Patel charges anywhere between $10,000 to $30,000 per hour just on SEO consultations) but when reality kicks in, most of us get cold feet.

At this point of time, you might have thought of starting your career as a freelance SEO consultant, or might even put aside the ideas for months. I get you and I know exactly how it felt like.

When I was offered my first SEO project, I was NOT even doing SEO. I was a nobody in SEO and starting a career in search marketing was never in my thought.

Boy oh boy, jumping into the SEO industry was probably the best thing ever happened to me. I might even call it the best decision in my life (if I have not met my wife)!

Let’s get serious and get started by facing some real questions when it comes to freelancing and search engine optimization.
- Do I have enough knowledge in SEO?
- What type of SEO services should I offer?
- Can I make a living being a full time SEO consultant?
My goal in this post is to address all of these concerns and ultimately, helping you to kick start your soon-to-be amazing SEO freelance career.

Should you work 9 to 5 or go the freelance path?

There are a whopping 53 million freelancers working in the United States (alone). This means that over 34% of the national workforce are either full time, or part time freelancing. Source: Freelance Statistics 2015.

These 34% of people are lucky because:
- They acquired professional expertise(s) which can be offered remotely
- They found their niche and products which others are willing to pay for
- They probably have workflows and repeated clients to ensure the money keep rolling in
Does any of the above are stopping you from starting a freelance SEO career?

Let me tell you that the ‘massive’ problems above are least of your concerns. Here are the major ones which will hamper your SEO career.

1. Do I have enough knowledge in SEO?

Here’s the cold hard truth you should know before starting a freelance SEO career.

People who will hire you are most likely business owners who paid some guy (or agency) to create a simple website for their business. You know, those 5 to 10 pages websites without blog posts, type-of-thing.

After asking around why they don’t get any orders, they have been told (or advised in any manner) that their website is not optimized for Google and that they need to invest in SEO.

Those people (business owners) don’t want to learn about SEO more than enough to ask the right questions during the hiring process. Well, being a business owner, the goal is to make sure they get sales and not the technical aspect of getting a sale such as sales funnel, backlinks, Google rankings and all those crazy stuffs.

And if you know your ways around On Site, Technical, and Off Site SEO, you will for sure generate enough value to justify your paycheck.

The other type of people who will most likely employ you, are online marketing agencies.

Those are in general providing new hires with information and education, plus, depending on your skills they assign you a fitting work position. Which means, the question “Am I skilled enough?” is sorted for you by the agency.

If you want a better understanding where you stand at with your current skills in the job market, visit UpWork (or any other freelance platform) and check other SEO professionals.

So, the moral of the story is simple. If you want to stand out and start your journey in the freelance SEO career, learn as much as possible about SEO techniques right now.

Need some crazy resources to help you get started?
- Your Complete Guide To Freelance SEO Success (Beginner Friendly). Written by me and recently published, this is the only guide to help you get started in the SEO freelance career.
- Backlinko by Brian Dean. His team spends an average of 80 hours per article, focusing on actionable SEO content.
- Moz Blog + Whiteboard Friday. If you are new to SEO (and want to start an SEO career,the blog posts and discussions here could easily help you in many ways. Bear in mind that these are very advanced SEO discussion especially for beginners.
- Check CircleAhrefs Blog. When it comes to search engine optimization (tips and tricks), Ahrefs is one of the best in town as the editorial team is great in transforming complicated information into really simple ones.
- Check CircleSearch Engine Journal. Last but not least, my favorite (go-to) portal for all SEO related news. More information are shared in a timely manner here compared to anywhere else in the Internet.
Now that we have completed your first concern starting a career as a freelance SEO, let’s head over to the second part.

2. What type of SEO services should I offer?

There’s a huge list on the type of SEO services you can offer. Here are some of them:
- Manual link building
- On site SEO optimization
- Off site SEO optimization
- Check CircleForum profile creation (and management)
- Check CircleSEO training and consulting
- Check CircleSEO content creation
- Check CircleFull website audit
- Check CircleBacklink profile audit
- Check CircleLead generation through SEO
- Check CircleRemoving website from Google Sandbox (penalty)
- Check CircleBlack hat SEO
When it comes to SEO freelance career, you should think out of the box and do not limit yourself with any form of limitation.

What does this mean?

English is not the only language that require SEO. If you can speak different languages such as German and Chinese (Mandarin), you can make way a lot of money compared to a typical freelance SEO consultant.

You can also sell SEO services through creating highly shareable applications or infographics which are extremely in demand now.

Mean time, here’s a quick bonus for you!

Help! I don’t know what I’m good at.

You might know some stuffs about SEO but not too much in detail – and that could be a problem, right?

Don’t worry!

Here’s how you can solve this part:
- Read. Start reading SEO blogs and watch “how to” videos.
- Try to replicate what you had learn and get some results.
- Send direct emails (yes, emails are not dead) to anyone who shared that post/guide on social media as they might be interested in the service.
Phew, that was easy, right?

3. Can I make a living being a full time SEO consultant?

When it comes to business, there will be good and bad times.

During good times, you may many leads and life seems to be all good and figured out.

But during the bad times, you may run dry several times.

Fret not. This is exactly the path of a freelance SEO consultant (or someone who sells SEO services).

The best way to start a freelance SEO career is through freelancing. Start as a part time gig, probably a couple of hours over the weekend, or several hours after your 9 to 5 job. Plus, this is also a solid choice to determine if SEO is your passion.

When you are just starting out, be frugal and be really (and I mean r-e-a-l-l-y) stingy. For example, choose the tools that you really need and focus on maximizing the effectiveness of each tool you use. After all, the more you save now, the easier your freelancing SEO career will be in the future.

When you are absolutely ready to be a full time SEO consultant, always have a plan B in mind. A well-thought plan B is going to save you (oftentimes) in the financial part.

You see, you can be 100% certain of your capabilities and even your existing clients. However, there will be bad times and there will be some good times.

Having plan B will keep you saint (and relaxed) especially during the hard times.

Getting clients is one thing – keeping your existing clients happy is another. Therefore, focus on what matters most in your business (which is the 70%).

Recap: Starting A Freelance SEO Career

It is tough to admit that freelance SEO career is not for everyone. It can be very challenging and it can seriously make you go nuts (or bankrupt).

If you are interested to become a freelance SEO consultant, start doing it small by working as a part time gig before moving to bigger, more time consuming projects. Ultimately, take the leap once you are really confident of making money from freelance SEO career.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.
June 18, 2024
Complete Guide In Becoming A Freelance SEO Consultant
Freelance SEO Consultant. My first (ever) consultancy work is related to search engine optimization. Happened around 6 years back and back then, SEO was much simplier. The client that engaged with me wanted me to increase website ranking by doing black hat SEO for his business which back then, was easy to do. I remember fire-ing up ScrapeBox, loaded some custom scripts I did and boom – it was the easiest $200 (work from home gig) I ever got for 12 months. For the record, the client knew exactly what I was doing and he has no issues with it.

You might be interested to bookmark this

Want to start a freelance SEO consultancy but afraid of failure? Read this guide: 3 Reasons Why You Are Not Starting A SEO Freelance Career (And How To Solve Them)

From my first freelance consulting gig, I started to fall in love with SEO and soon, I was messing my head around GSA SER, Ultimate Demo, Magic Submitter, Money Robot, FCR Networker, XRumer and recently, RankerX. I have tried literally every SEO tool in the market and spend thousands of dollars doing so (and happily).

After some years, let me tell you think. The ecosystem for SEO had changed over the years, but the basic remains the same. Quality comes first – no matter it is for backlinks, keyword research, publishing content on blogs or even guest postings.

I’ve learned a lot being a freelance SEO consultant and I hope that you will find these tips useful.

1. Keyword research is king

If you want to become a freelance SEO consultant, you got to be a master in keyword research. You may have the best SEO link building tool but if you are not good in keyword research, you are not going to be able to rank any keywords or terms.

Must read: The best keyword research tool and steps to do keyword research fast.

What is keyword research?

Before that, it is important to go into details as in what keyword research really is. In this case, keyword research is a process where you find the best keywords to rank for your (or your client’s) website. A good keyword research is not about finding the most popular keyword but instead, to find keywords with high search volume, medium to low competition and has high conversion power.

So, how do you conduct proper keyword research? Here are some steps to follow:
- Define a niche or main keyword (just one)
- From the main keyword, list down 5 to 10 related/seed keywords
- Use tools such as KWFinder to find related keywords from the seed keywords (along with competition, search volume etc.)
I use KWFinder for keyword research and this is one tool I recommend to everyone who wants to become a freelance SEO consultant. Try KWFinder for free here.

As you can see below, I am able to determine different keywords with opportunities to rank on first page of Google.

KWFinder is an affordable and efficient SEO tool for freelancers

While KWFinder is good at keyword research, it is worthy to mention Ahrefs as it is one of the most used keyword research tool by SEO consultants. Here’s how it looks like on the backend.

Ahrefs keyword research feature is more in depth

Every freelance SEO consultant should focus in learning the basics of keyword research. Always remember that SEO tools are only there to help in your daily SEO work. Therefore, the foundation in SEO (such as keyword research) is extremely vital for your success.

2. Checking on competitors

Want to run a successful SEO consultancy project? Take time to understand your competitors and what they are ranking for is critical.

This is another long step but is extremely important if you can to become a freelance SEO consultant.

There are many tools you can use to spy on your competitors and for this example, I’ll use SERPChecker by KWFinder (read the review here).

SERPChecker gives you detailed information on the top 10 results

Why this spying on your competitors important for every freelance SEO consultant?

The answer is simple. You want to know exactly what’s working for them (and you replicate the actions from there). More on this below.

Now that you have a list of the top 10 websites that are ranking for a specific keyword. Head over to Screaming Frog to get more details of the page.

Screaming Frog is a free SEO tool for freelance SEO consultants

Screaming Frog is not only used by freelancers, small and large digital marketing agencies also use it as it is really effective.

Aside from Screaming Frog, Ahrefs is also one of the top favorites for many professional SEO consultants around the world because it is extremely powerful and accurate (yes, more accurate and feature rich compared to Screaming Frog).

Ahrefs SEO tool allow freelance SEO consultants to spy on competitors more effectively

3. Analyze your own website (or websites of your clients’)

No, you are not jumping into creating link building (at least for now). The third step is to analyze your website or websites of your clients’.

Generally speaking, it is really easy to rank a website and if the website is not ranking well on Google result pages, then something is really wrong. It is your job as a freelance SEO consultant to figure that out and you can figure it out by doing a full SEO audit.

Wait, what? An SEO audit instead?

Yes, I admit that SEO audit is time consuming and takes up a lot of resources. However, if you want to start ranking your client’s website to the first page of Google, this is beyond important. This is also why SEO consultants earn big bucks from a single SEO project!

How to do a full SEO audit?
- Conduct an extensive keyword analysis (if you have done this in step 1, you can skip this now)
- Search business in Google and other search engines (local SEO)
- Scan the Google+ Local Page to access page health
- Clipboard CheckAudit the company website or blog for duplicate content (now we are talking)
- Clipboard CheckBuild a citation check for link building opportunities
- Clipboard CheckConduct a backlink/penalty analysis
Do you know how long it takes to complete all the tasks above? 45 minutes.

Do you know how much you can charge for a full SEO audit? At least $200.

Now, are you still having cold feet of becoming a freelance SEO consultant?

4. Presenting your findings

By now, you should know exactly what’s lacking to rank on the first page of Google. This is where you showcase your expertise as a freelance SEO consultant.

With the three steps you had taken above, you can now meet up with the client and share the findings with confidence.

Hard work + data + action = Win

Doing keyword research, analyzing and reporting are tedious jobs. Therefore, go out there and showcase your reports to the clients. With the amount of work you had done, they will be impressed to say the very least. Of course, the only thing you need now is confidence in yourself (even if this is your first SEO project)!

5. Take action

Being a freelance SEO consultant is not just about sharing your findings and analysis. You need to help clients to rank their website on the first page of Google.

Right after sharing your proposal or action plans, you need to kick start and get to work. In this case, you got to have a plan or SEO framework.

What is an SEO framework?
- An SEO framework tells you exactly what to do, and when to do
- It gives you a good understanding on what to expect
- It gives you timeline for completing an SEO project
I wanted to make this freelance SEO guide as complete as possible. Therefore, for a limited time only, I’m opening up the Pandora’s box for you and sharing with you one of my most effective advanced link building strategy (white hat SEO) which you can download for free.

This is how much time you had left before I stop sharing this SEO framework.

Disclaimer: Do note that I have NEVER and WILL NOT share this advanced link building strategy on any of my blog. Therefore, grab a copy of it before I turn it off!

6. Keep track of the results (daily)

Last but not least, being a freelance SEO consultant requires daily tracking of the results. Through past experiences, we all know that what works yesterday will not work today. And, what works today might not work for tomorrow.

Tweaks are constantly required when it comes to SEO and search optimization. For starters, keep track of the results based on your actions.

After sometime, you will notice certain patterns which will lead to higher ranking, higher conversion and ultimately, more traffic.

There are many ways (and tools) you can use to track and record the progress. For me, my favorite is still Evernote as it allows me to jot down everything. While Evernote Premium is a great asset for a freelance SEO consultant like me, Evernote Basic (which is free) is sufficient for many.

Create an Evernote account here.

When it comes to tracking SEO performance, it is not that easy to be honest. As search engine algorithm changes every day, it can be really challenging to track each project (especially when you have more than 10 SEO projects at the same time).

For keyword tracking, my favorite tools are SEMrush and SERPstat.

This is what it looks like using SEMrush.

SEMrush offers detailed keyword monitoring

This is what it looks like using SERPstat.

SERPstat is also a great SEO tool to monitor keywords ranking

Summary: The Complete Guide In Becoming A Freelance SEO Consultant

With today’s technology, everyone can become a freelance SEO consultant but only a few can be really good. Being the best as an SEO consultant allows you to earn thousands of dollars for every project (while feeling good and satisfied about it).

Before I end, I hope that you find this guide in becoming a freelance SEO consultant useful. If you need help getting started, leave a comment below and let’s talk!
June 18, 2024
RankerX Review: Should I Get RankerX?

RankerX Review. What is RankerX and is it worth it? Before that, you can call this black hat, grey hat or white hat SEO. But the SEO world is always changing. Those days, black hat SEO was simply black hat SEO. Nowadays, it often considered grey hat SEO.

It has been sometime since I wrote about black hat SEO tool. The last was pretty much ScrapeBox which was like written five years ago. You can even take a look at post here (it’s really outdated by the way).

IMPORTANT:RankerX is only useful if proper keyword research is conducted. Read more about LSI keywords and keyword research here. When team up with tools such as KWFinder, you will be able to rank on the first page of Google fast.

What is RankerX?

RankerX is an SEO tool that helps you to build backlinks fast. In today’s competitive SEO world, the more backlinks pointing to you means that you have more credibility, which you will also rank much higher on Google search engine result pages (SERPs).

I’ve used many SEO tools including GSA SER, ScrapeBox, FCR Networker, SENuke and Ultimate Demon (which is no longer available). On the surface, RankerX solves the biggest problem in the SEO industry, allowing SEO agency and freelancers to build backlinks fast with extremely high success rate.

RankerX attracted my attention because it has one of the highest success rates in the market. Yes, not even with GSA SER with private proxies, scraped URLs and custom email servers.

Personal opinion: I really wish RankerX had changed their logo. Their logo looks ‘odd!’ No offense 🙂

How To Use RankerX?

You can get your hands on RankerX with their free 7 days trial. It’s pretty cool since you don’t have to pay a single cent for it and yet having full access to the SEO tool. You can register for a free account here.

Love video instead? Hit the play button for a quick overview on RankerX.

Unlike other SEO tools in the market, RankerX operates in the cloud. This means that you don’t need a VPS to create backlinks and help your website rank higher on Google.

This is what the homepage looks like:

Once you have registered, you have immediate access to the back-end which can be some sort confusing.

On the left panel, you have 12 options to configure RankerX. If you are not using any manual or tutorials, navigating these will be a little tough.

RankerX Tutorial: Turbo Wizard Module

This RankerX review is not complete without discussing about RankerX Turbo Wizard feature.

rocket

RankerX Turbo Wizard allows you to create highly success SEO campaigns without hassle. It’s pretty much like a one-click setup option for beginners.

On the left panel, click on Turbo Wizard to open up the option. This SEO software will prompt you to create a name for the campaign. In this case, I use Demo Turbo Wizard.

Now, this is where RankerX is one of the best SEO software in the market today. Turbo Wizard allows you to create very specific SEO campaigns in just a few clicks.

You are required to fill up all the columns/boxes above (except for the ones tagged ‘optional’) and pay extra attention to the bottom part, Schedule and Project Linking (Select Template).

Turbo Wizard allows you to create SEO mapping and strategy using the pre-defined SEO strategies (as seen above). Of course, you are free to select and use your own ones.

Having a pre-made SEO template allows beginners to get started using RankerX without any challenges and unwanted delays.

Click here to see RankerX SEO templates.

RankerX Review: Wizard Module

RankerX Wizard allows SEO-ers to have more control over their SEO and backlinking strategy. Here are a few samples for you to take a look at:

Simple SEO Campaign Using RankerX

Advanced SEO Campaign Using RankerX

Complicated SEO Campaign Using RankerX

As you can see, the Wizard module on RankerX allows you to create both simpleand super complicated modules to help your website to rank well on Google.

RankerX Review: Drip Feed Module

Another great feature on RankerX is the drip feed module. Instead of blasting out 1,000 links in just one day, you can now schedule the drip feed based on days. Therefore, you can easily set 7, 14, 30 or even 120 days (you can go crazy with the numbers) for drip feeding the SEO campaign.

Do you know?

Drip feed allows you to create a very deep and complicated SEO campaign to help you rank higher. In other words, you can create an evergreen SEO campaign using RankerX drip feed.

RankerX Review: Tiered Link Building Software

As a recap, RankerX is a powerful link building software which is easier to used (not to mention more effective) compared to GSA SER. Don’t get me wrong as I love GSA SER but its extremely complex for beginners. Therefore, RankerX allows beginners to get started with safe link building method with many inbuilt features in it.

Question: Can RankerX helps me to rank on Google?

The answer is yes. RankerX, along with other SEO tools require time and planning. Spamming your way with backlinks is not going to help you in your rankings.

But if done correctly, you can increase your ranking rather fast on Google. Here’s a snapshot taken from SEMrush.

I created several RankerX SEO campaigns on 6th October and after 6 days of working around the clock, take a look at the visibility trend now.

From a 2.5% to 10% in just 6 days.

Does RankerX works? The answer is yes, with the right SEO strategy!

How Much Does RankerX Costs?

RankerX comes in two pricing structures. The first one is monthly subscription of $49.99 per month or $899 (one-time payment) for a lifetime license.

Looking for RankerX discount? Click on this link and enter “BHW25” for an instant 25% discount on RankerX!

Summary: Is RankerX worth it?

As of my usage with RankerX for the past 6 months, RankerX had served me well in many cases. I’m very happy with the results and I can’t help but to recommend everyone (yes, including you) to give it a try with the 7 days trial usage.

June 18, 2024