There was a time when I thought WordPress was more robust than any other platform, HubSpot Apps included, to accomplish all of my online marketing goals, including the need for a CRM, Digital Marketing, and Automation. For nearly 12 years, WordPress had me by the heartstrings, and I refused to build with anything else.

Back in the early 2000s, websites were built with static HTML/CSS and they were clunky. When I started using themes by elite authors, my work was beautiful and function, incorporating countless plugins, integrations, ecommerce and inbound tactics. But then something odd happened, there were some newcomers. At first I refused all of them, especially Drupal and Magento. Those, perhaps, were for the devs who were not designers. When WooCommerce first came on the scene, the integrations worked but were also limited in what they could accomplish. Then, as time progressed, more and more developers started writing plugin integrations. Unfortunately though, these computer science engineers did not understand digital marketing. The systems were quite simply, ugly. The form integrations were not beautiful, and creative agencies began capitalizing on the fact that regular folks couldn’t accomplish both the design, development, and digital marketing integrations seamlessly without the help of the agency. I should know, I worked in corporate and agency marketing for 14 years. A great impression is about both first impressions as well as functionality and just because the form functions does not make it stand out from the crowd. Likewise, just because a website is beautiful does not mean it functions. After all, what good is a beautiful website if you can’t generate any traffic?

What most small business owners and solopreneurs don’t realize about the claim of WordPress being “Free” is that in order to take advantage of all the free and open source code, you’ve got to know WHAT TO DO with that code. It’s totally do-able, but it’s not as easy as one would think.

What is Clickfunnels? It’s an easy to use and COST EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE to a WordPress website for ultra-small business owners because it offers the ability to integrate your digital marketing automation along with an extremely intuitive platform for building a website. I have 12 years of experience building with WordPress, including countless plugins & integrations, Elite Themes, Visual Composer, WooCommerce, and I’ve even built out frameworks for online courses using WishList, Optimize Press and Leadpages. I think there are benefits of all 3 of these big platforms, but in terms of ease of use for beginners and speed with which you can get your online presence up and running….Clickfunnels wins big kudos.

What about WordPress vs HubSpot vs Clickfunnels? I’m an expert on all three, and each has a place depending upon your unique need.

I’ve connected email marketing automatons systems, including MailChimp, Constant Contact, Aweber, InfusionSoft and Hubspot. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I’ve been directly involved in the implementation and development these systems….the down and dirty, in other words, I wasn’t the Project Manager or the Executive who heard of these systems but never actually used them.

From 2006 until 2018, I thought WordPress was more robust than any other platform to accomplish all of my online marketing goals. And for many years, it was the best choice. But technology has evolved, and it’s no longer the superstar for beginners. In fact, I truly think WordPress is better for larger companies…or at least ones who can afford to hire one or more digital marketers or full-time website administrators with the knowledge to maintain the website. With the addition of Gutenberg, it’s kind of like the Ugly Stepmother. Being a “Small” business owner, when I discovered Clickfunnels…I literally ended my love affair with WordPress. I still have a WordPress website, but I use Clickfunnels for online marketing because it simply works better.

WordPress is marketed as the free, open source platform, but the reality is, it’s only FREE if you know what to do, and if you’re not a web designer or developer…learning what to do takes time and patience.

Over the years, as I made my way through connecting all of the integrations that go along with WordPress for the digital agency that I worked for, I found more and more that it wasn’t the right solution for smaller business owners who needed a streamlined package to accomplish all of their goals on a smaller budget. Enter the best alternative for small businesses I have EVER seen. Whether you are a small business owner yourself or whether you implement digital strategy for small businesses, Clickfunnels will be worth it’s weight in gold. Perhaps most salient, everything is efficiently integrated together for a seamless connection.

I’ve included some links below so that you can do the research yourself, or, if you have questions, feel free to contact me. I truly believe in transparency in digital marketing, and you deserve to know all the facts before making a decision on the best way to grow and scale your business.

PS: I would never share Affiliate Links to products or services that I do not actually use myself. I am NOT an affiliate marketer. I actually use these in my own business.

Clickfunnels Free Trial: https://bit.ly/2E8lkQe

HubSpot Free Trial: http://hubs.to/qbMVL

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Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate partner links.