Building a Website the Easy Way

What if I said you could build your own website pages simply by telling an application the colours and style you like? Sounds like science fiction? 

Well, not anymore. GetResponse, my favourite email marketing toolkit, has just launched a website builder.  If email templates ready to go, chat bot, and step-by-step lead magnet funnels wasn’t good enough, they’ve gone and put their user simplicity ideas into a…. Website builder for all of us.

Sure, I started off with the popular Content Management website, WordPress. Doesn’t everybody?  Well, four themes and 10 years later, I wish I hadn’t. I mean, I have 30 plugins to keep track of, just to keep it all running. I pay for Jetpack, Smush Pro, the theme and on occasion, my web developer’s hourly fees.

Compared to setting up a WordPress website in a Website Hosting environment, this is a piece of pound cake. See the first step below.

Once you hit “create”, they give two choices.

If you know your colours and ideal theme when you see it, you’d hit Themes.

If you’re going ‘what the heck is a theme’, you could try the AI (artificial intelligence) option.

So, you answer a few questions about your Industry, website type, functions required, style choices for colours and typefaces, and it presents you with a design option. Alternatively, you can upload your logo for the machine to pick colours. I did this and then when I didn’t like the bright blue, I slid the colour bar to a better navy font, adjusted in Global Settings.  

Such power! Such speed!

Simple Design Customisation

To change the design before you, you won’t need a lick of HTML coding knowledge. You’ll be able to change the menus, colours and fonts for your website with the global design controls. Think of it like a dashboard in a car.

You can even select stock photography from Unsplash without leaving the interface, although might I suggest using some of your own photos for a beautifully personal result.

Naturally, your new website needs to be mobile-friendly. GetResponse built in a mobile-friendly (responsive) website version, one you can preview how it is to appear on desktop or mobile before publishing it.

You can opt for a background image or video of any kind.

The interface itself is similar to how you drag and drop elements in the email marketing builder. It’s also a little bit similar to Elementor, a page builder app, but infinitely easier to load and preview.

Website Pop-ups or Get No Leads

In my book Power Marketing, I say that you need to encourage visitors to subscribe to content in a variety of dynamic ways. Accordingly, the inclusion of a website popups feature of this Website Builder was welcomed.

It can be used to promote your best content, capture leads from purposeful searchers, or simply to feature special offers.

If you want a pop-up or slide-in form after the person has been there for 60 seconds, no problem, the app is fully customisable.

SEO components

It’s important to have a keyword set up for better search discoverability. Most of us know that we have to fill out certain details in the back of our website, called metadata. Other settings (such as the URL slug) also help to get the page found on Google.

All this is built-in too, so you don’t need to acquire a paid plugin to do these rudimentary tasks.

All Website Costs

Look, some of us pay AU$400 just for website hosting. I know, expensive. So if you can keep the performance levels up while running a ‘hosted’ website, you save yourself plenty… Plenty of time and plenty of money.

The pricing of GetResponse suite for Basic level is US15 ($21) per month. That’s all most authors will probably need. Your entire suite costs less than my web hosting.  

Each level includes the Website Builder app, along with Email Marketing, Autoresponders, Landing Pages, unlimited lead funnels and templates, including for content.

The Plus level (US49/62 per month), which includes webinars, automation workflows and 5 sales funnels, i.e. very sophisticated marketing tools for a reasonable cost.

A sales funnel is the complete pathway, from offering a lead incentive to automated emails to buying the product. Tagging is useful for separating product preferences here.

Website Builder Analytics

If you’re normal, you don’t want to spend Friday night every week going into Google Analytics to check web traffic levels and patterns.  GetResponse’s Website Builder has performance analytics available on the website dashboard. So, review traffic, see location of visitors, clicks tracked, page time, and performance of forms while you’re updating your website.   

No Need to Use Integration Apps

I’d pay plenty just to never have to figure out a Zapier zap again, and this is just not necessary if you have an all-in-one website builder. I really HATE the problems run into when trying to integrate marketing tools that should easily join up.

Now I have GetResponse (along with the website plugin for WordPress), I don’t have to see those “error connecting to app” messages ever again.

For the Website Builder to connect to email, that is so easy, since the forms come up with your lists automatically and you simply select the list you want to send form subscribes to.

Read more on GetResponse Website Builder if interested.

Notice: Jennifer Lancaster is an affiliate, and so gets a commission if you click through and decide to buy. Jennifer also uses GetResponse for her own email marketing and funnels.

GetResponse Website Builder – Insider Tips

Don’t forget to save regularly, with the Top Left icon. Undo is the back arrow on Top Left.

Menu is under ‘Manage Pages’: click in each bar to change page names.

To edit other pages, go to the navigation menu, click on page, then go to the Manage Pages to adjust individual page settings.

‘Preview’ by sliding the greyed slider at top right.

Use the Global menu (palette icon) to change fonts everywhere. Make sure it says ‘Global’ up the top.

Too spaced? In Global, go to ‘block settings’ and unlock the Padding 4-way tool to select a different space around the elements on page.

Pretty Social Media icons. Add Element: social media. In ‘social media’: icon settings, you can put the icons vertically, as well as select the colours.

All-in-all, I have enjoyed my two hours setting up a mini website to attract and interest people in my new reader funnel masterclass. Launching 30 June, 4:00 pm!

Easy, even fun, and of course fantastic value all round. That’s GetResponse for you.