[Updated: January 16th 2023 – updates are marked in the text below
You can now get my free 2-hour Thrive Architect Live Workshop recording here.
You don’t have to have purchased through my affiliate link, although I greatly appreciate it if you do!]
Last week saw one of the most anticipated product launches of the year – OptimizePress 2.0
If you’ve been a subscriber of mine for a while you’ll know I absolutely LOVE the first version of this software.
The websites and pages I’ve built with it over the last year or two have racked up well over 6-figures in net profit for me.
So, as you can imagine I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the new version and I was also looking forward to reviewing and recommending it as well.
So I purchased my unlimited site license for OP 2.0 ($297 + VAT tax as I’m in the UK) and started experimenting with it on some test blogs I have.
If you’re in a rush then my overall conclusion is that on balance I just can’t really see myself using it going forward and therefore I won’t make a recommendation for you to do so either. The reasons for this and the alternatives that I use instead are discussed below…
What’s the difference between OptimizePress 1.0 and OptimizePress 2.0?
If you’ve read this far and are wondering what OptimizePress actually is then basically it allows you to create squeeze pages, sales pages, membership sites, blogs and launch funnels with WordPress.
OP 1.0 was a WordPress theme which gave you a the ability to create these things very quickly.
When it came out (I think around the same time I got started online approx. 3 years ago or so) it was a true “game changer” – especially given the price of just $97.
OP 2.0 which, as I mentioned above, was released last week comes in both a Theme and Plugin form.
The first thing to say is that a lot of work and development has gone into OP 2.0 and there’s no doubt that it will be considered a great product by many people out there.
…And I’m fully respectful of these views.
Perhaps the biggest difference between 1.0 and 2.0 is that the latter uses a wizard-like interface to design your pages.
So instead of adding items (shortcodes) to the standard WordPress editor you instead use something called the “LiveEditor”. When you click to fire this up it opens in a light box (a wizard drag and drop window which pops up over the standard WordPress panel).
Now this as a concept is a great idea.
However, after using it for some time last week I found it to be rather cumbersome and a bit slow.
For example, to make small adjustments to your site you might have to click on 3 or more buttons, change the information and then preview your page again. Then go back and do it all again when you decide on a further minor adjustment.
It can be argued that this is much nicer than using the shortcodes in the WordPress editor (OP 1.0) but personally I had no problems in adjusting these, hitting the WordPress Preview button and checking out the adjusted page. Waiting each time for it to bring up the relevant options panel.
There are a lot of pre-defined templates that come with OP 2.0 which you can use as they are or modify them.
The templates are very attractive but straight away I could see things that were missing or that I would have to do a lot of editing to get right.
There is an optional monthly payment upsell option when you purchase OP 2.0 which includes additional templates but to be honest I think this is a little much overall in terms of pricing when compared to competitors.
And another thing…!
When I started creating some test membership site pages it seems like there is a lack of global options. For example, if I want to change the font size of the menu items then I need to do this in each individual page, one by one. This is not the case in OP 1.0 or indeed, virtually any of the other themes that are out there.
OP 2.0 also comes with a blog (which was always the weakest part of the product and in my view that’s still the case) and also a membership site plugin which you can use to secure the pages of a site so only customers can get access.
The latter of these is potentially a good thing (and I haven’t tested this in OP 2.0 myself) but for me I’m so happy with Wishlist Member that I can’t see myself switching to another solution (I have the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” attitude here).
VERY Important…
I could go on but what really matters here is personal preference.
As I said above, for me, I just can’t see myself working with OP 2.0.
You, however, might feel totally different and that is totally fine. By all means try it out and see what you think.
OP 2.0 might also evolve into something that I personally like going forward as well. I won’t be requesting a refund and who knows maybe I will use it at some point – although I can’t see that as it stands.
But right now, despite all the nice advantages and features (and many things are extremely good) I just don’t like it overall, mainly because of the LiveEditor set up.
What are the alternatives to OptimizePress 2.0?
[LAST UPDATED: January 16th 2023 – I still use Thrive Architect and love it! Click here to get my bonus]
Right now my personal preferences are…
1. Thrive Architect (Also Available As Part Of Thrive Suite)
Thrive Architect is a WordPress plugin which is a fraction of the cost of many alternatives yet, in my opinion, it’s the most user-friendly and versatile web page builder out there.
I use Architect to create all my web pages for lead generation, webinar optins, sales, downloads, membership content and more.
It’s also compatible with any WordPress theme you have installed: you just click a button to activate it on any page you want and start designing, or load one of the pre-made templates.
In the past few years I’ve used it there have been almost continuous enhancements, Thrive’s support is excellent and the product itself is great fun to use.
I’m also using it for all of my current and future products going forward because for me it’s simply now become the best drag and drop page builder on the market – easier/faster than OP and more flexible in design than LeadPages or Clickfunnels.
In terms of costs, do a comparison with alternatives yourself and I think you’ll find Thrive Suite to be extremely attractive, especially if you’re on a tight budget.
Here’s a 4 minute video on how I used it to create my Traffic Matrix product:
(When I get some spare time I’ll replace this video demonstrating the enhanced Thrive Architect features.)
As mentioned in the video I’d recommend at least checking it out and especially if you are on a budget given the value for money angle.
The video on the product page gives a really nice overview and should answer most of your questions.
Additionally, it also comes from a good “stable” with an excellent track record (IMImpact/Thrive Themes) – regular updates/enhancements and good customer response times whenever I’ve contacted them. Something else to consider given the mediocre/poor support provided by many outfits.
2. LeadPages
My disappointment with OP 2.0 led me to sign up for this (I went for the annual option).
LeadPages has been an absolute game changer for me.
Rather like OP 2.0 it uses a graphical editor and although it certainly lacks some of the flexibility that OP has I really don’t mind that at all because the pages simply convert so well. Plus you can get brilliant looking pages up in a matter of seconds once you get used to the controls.
Part of the reason for the high conversions is basically what I’d call “crowd-sourced split testing”. In other words LeadPages gets to see the stats on all user accounts so their designs are influenced by what is working right now.
As this changes, they add new template designs and features to reflect this so we can all benefit – a unique and major advantage over any other system that is out there. On squeeze pages in particular I’ve never experienced such high conversions.
Highly recommended – and in my opinion superb value.
Others…
There are many other tools out there you can look into as well of course but I am not the kind of person who is keen on constantly trying out brand new tools.
Yes, it’s great to have good looking pages but the real benefit for customers and yourself is in the value you can provide.
That’s because the more value you create, the more profits you’ll make and the better results customers will get.
So for me, Thrive Architect and LeadPages are excellent options.
As I mentioned before I’ll also continue to use Wishlist Member for securing my product download/membership areas together with other themes for nice clean site layouts (I’ve particularly enjoyed using Canvas from Woothemes for this).
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts and to reiterate all views are welcome. It’s a matter of personal preference and in this post you’ve heard mine, nothing more, nothing less… Cheers, Rob 🙂
Well hello Rob
Thanks for the honest appraisal, having switched back to Wishlist member and started to use OP1 alongside it, I was curious to know whether OP2 would be worth it, the online live development nature of it made me instantly nervous.
Your review confirms my fears. OP1 put together some code, stick it in the right boxes and hey presto a great page is born, as you point out in OP2 its all about lightbox and load speeds which having spent the weekend uploading a single file at 98Kbps remains a major issue in many parts of the world, UK included.
I will stick with OP1 and Wishlist which is now a stable and reliable combination and one that I understand well enough to actually put into use.
igor
Hi Igor,
The funny thing is I really still like OP 1.0. If they could just update the templates and add a couple more features I’d be very happy (I know this isn’t what they had in mind though and that doesn’t match what the new version is capable of!).
As and when you wish to move on from OP 1.0 it will still be worth looking at the new version and also the alternatives. After all it is early days!
Thanks for your thoughts 🙂
Rob
Hi Rob
Following our very recent communications and having just sent an mail I had to have a quiet laugh as I mentioned I have OP2 (automatically upgraded FOC from OP1) although not used in earnest as yet. Content Builder becomes a serious contender.
Best regards
Allan
Hi Allan,
It does.
But as I said in my email reply to you don’t worry too much: Content Builder just my preference and you can do extremely well online with most of these tools. So if you find you like OP2.0 then that’s fine!
Good to see you here on the blog – thanks for commenting 🙂
Kind regards,
Rob.
Hi Alan
I read your post about upgrading to OP2 and noted you mentioned that you had upgraded from OP1 free of charge. I had OP1 too, but only received an email from the vendor offering me a discount to upgrade.
May I ask how you obtained a free upgrade, as I wasn’t aware such a thing existed?
Walter
Hi Rob
A very interesting review Rob, you’ve given me a lot to think about. Thanks for shedding some more light on this matter.
Gordon
Hi Gordon,
Thanks for your feedback, much appreciated.
Hope it helps you make the right choice that works for you 🙂
Cheers, Rob.
Hello Rob
Thank you for a good honest review of OP 2.0, I’m sure like myself many others may have been sitting on the fence and wondering if they should buy it.
I appreciate that the new version does have some good points, but as with other things in life, sometimes it’s best to leave well alone if it’s working. I believe this may be the case for OP 2.0 and like you I’m delighted with my original OP version one.
Hopefully your review will help folk to decide and that they won’t be disappointed if they go ahead and buy OP 2.0, only to find you were right.
Take care!
Walter
You’re welcome Walter and it makes sense what you say. Always important for people to make up their own minds of course and I’m sure a lot of people will love OP 2.0. It’s just I’m not one of them – not at the present time at least!
Cheers, Rob
Thanks, Rob, for your very honest review of OptimizePress 2.0. It is so refreshing to know that there are successful honest marketers like you who will only promote products which they really believe in.
I had received many promotional emails about this product, decided not to buy at present, but wondered if my decision was right. Now I am happy to know that there are alternative tools which I will definitely look at.
Thanks again-I really appreciate your helpful blog.
All best wishes
Abbas Baba
Much appreciated Abbas, thank you. I just believe the best way forward is to make solid recommendations and stay “real”. Everyone benefits that way in my book.
Great to see you here on the blog too 🙂
Cheers, Rob
Hi Rob,
Thank you for the review of OP 2.0. I was on the fence too, whether to make the purchase. I have another recommendation which Sales Engine which is an amazing product.
I won’t be upgrading to OP 2.0 because of the same reasons you described, the pop up and no short-codes.
Thanks again for your recommendation.
Nina
Hi Nina, Thanks for your feedback. There are actually shortcodes in OptimizePress but really it seems that you have to use the LiveEditor to unlock it’s real power and for me that’s the main bit I dislike. Thanks for the tip on Sales Engine too – I haven’t used it but it just goes to show if you are happy then why change? Cheers, Rob
Hi Nina
I believe you may have WordPress Sales Engine? I have a copy too and some of the templates supplied are first class. It’s easy to use and I refer to it alongside my OP 1.0 if I’m thinking of creating a sales/squeeze page. However, please take note of a message received from the creator. I’ve copied it from the email received regarding updates. In addition, Sales Engine is not being updated to the latest WordPress version.
Walter
By the way there will be no new versions of WPSE, as reported to all its users per e-mail in December 2012. The backstory is that WP Sales Engine has recently been licensed by Jason Fladlien and Wilson Mattos from Rapid Crush, Inc. to be released under a new name “WP Enlighten”. WP Enlighten has been modified compared to WP Sales Engine to build sales pages and landing pages that have been specifically tested and proven by Jason Fladlien
Speed is essential, both in producing a page and having it load quickly. No doubt OP2 needs both. I haven’t heard others voice your concerns as yet, but if this is a universal issue I would expect OP to address it.
The only reason the live editor became a major selling point is that it was promoted as being faster than the standard page building experience in WordPress.
“On paper” they have leapfrogged their competitors on a feature-by-feature basis. Now OP has to make that work, and I suspect that they will.
Thanks for the post.
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I hope they will too. It’s certainly good right now and a matter of preference whether you like it or not but for me I just don’t. They are an excellent outfit overall and James Dyson is a brilliant designer so it will be very interesting to see what happens….
Cheers,
Rob
Yep… 2 years+ later, the live editor is still just as slow as when it came up. Really bad piece of software in my opinion, and you’ve got to pay for it every year if you want it to be kept up to date.
Hi Rob,
Like you, I’ve been using OP1 for some time now and purchased OP2 with the discount. It’s been now day 5 since I purchased OP2 and still haven’t been able to login due to that they only sent me a username and no password. I’ve admitted a ticket to their support and sent James Dyson personally an email and up to today haven’t heard anything.
I know that they have a lot of requests coming in but if you plan an big launch be prepared with your support desk and hire in additional help.
I will wait one more day and will consider in asking for a refund and go for the alternative options your mentioned.
Thanks for your review as I know now it doesn’t make it easier or faster.
– Frank Claassen
Hi Frank,
I’m sure they’ve been overun with orders and I notice they have temporarily closed the doors today so I’d definitely sit tight for the time being. My experience of their support has been very good in the past and I’m sure it will be again once they manage to catch up. When you get up and running see what you think – you may disagree with my view and really like it! You never know…
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here – great to hear them!
Cheers,
Rob.
An honest review without an affiliate link to buy, citing both the pro and cons as you see it, from an experienced user… what a concept, ty!
Thanks Bill 😉
Cheers, Rob
Uhhh…. are you dense? His affiliate links are for the “alternatives”. I can’t say I can trust an “honest” review that is negative to the product claiming to be reviewed but promotes alternatives via affiliate links. C’mon. If you can’t make out the fish, you are the fish.
awaiting moderation, hmmm. Keeps getting more honest by the minute.
Hi Rick,
Thank you for your comment.
1) All comments are put into an approval folder on this blog. I’m sure you realise that this is standard practice and is really necessary these days because of the level of bots and spammers that we see out there. Your second comment about awaiting moderation was posted 1 minute after your initial comment – I try to approve comments as soon as I can but I hope you’ll understand that I’m simply not as quick as that!
2) In terms of affiliate links you are absolutely right: I have used affiliate links for the alternative products that I personally use and recommend. But because I don’t personally use or recommend OP2.0 I have not used an affiliate link for that. Also, you might notice that I mention ProfitsTheme which I have heard is good but haven’t tested myself so again I don’t use an affiliate link for that. If you consider this again, isn’t it exactly what you’d expect for a fair and ethical review? If not then perhaps the alternatives would be:
a) Use an affiliate link for OP2.0
I do have one and you might know the commission from this is far greater than the cheaper alternatives I have suggested in this post. However, I personally don’t feel it’s right to attempt to make affiliate commissions on a product you personally don’t like. This explains why there isn’t an affiliate link for OP2.0 in this article or anywhere else in my marketing. Although I have used an affiliate link many times for OP1.0 which I did like, use and recommend in the past.
b) Don’t use any affiliate links at all anywhere
In this case your objection is with the multi-billion dollar global affiliate marketing industry and not just this page here on my blog. This is a completely valid view of course, to which you are entitled, and you can argue that all reviews, price comparison sites, JV deals and so on are illegitimate. If that’s the case then this blog won’t be for you as we talk about how to make money from creating your own products and promoting other peoples products (i.e., affiliate marketing).
I also hope you’ll consider my wording in the article and comments where I repeatedly state this is just my opinion and I encourage people to make their own minds up. In short this is my blog with my opinions which again, is something that most visitors expect and it is also the reason for them to come here.
Kind regards,
Rob.
Hi
I too anticipated OP2 as a game changer
My criteria is time to market for my clients and ease of use
Being a IM software addict I have bought many of the current crop of ‘kitchen sink’ software packages to speed up my productivity and the look/ feel of my client sites.
The price of OP2 was a wake up call.
Why would I buy a product that produced sites that looked like the rest of the
IM village produces.
At about the same time I saw a YouTube Hangout by 22social that said WordPress is dead and Facebook/the cloud is the way forward.
For this reason I will not be following the herd and buying OP2
Tony
Hi Tony,
Not sure about the WordPress is dead call. It’s grow continues massively: http://en.wordpress.com/stats/
I know what your saying though with the rest. Perhaps sensible to let the dust settle on the launch and revisit the whole thing again in a few weeks/months…
Thanks for commenting!
Cheers,
Rob
Hi Rob,
Like you I was a great fan of OP1 and eagerly awaiting OP2. However, when I saw the pricing, I was a bit dismayed so I have hung back for a few days. Like you I have plenty of alternatives and I use a great membership plugin called Membersonic. Having read your assessment of OP2 and, because I respect your opinion, I am going to re-examine carefully whether I really need OP2 (and the imposition of VAT for UK buyers just adds insult to injury!)
kind regards
Mark Salmon
Hi Mark,
I hear you and that sounds like a very sensible approach to me.
Thank you for your input 🙂
Cheers,
Rob
Hi Rob, Great honest review. Thanks was really helpful, but I’m still struggling to get my head around it all. I have been looking for a simple solution to secure my product download page before payment. It needs to look professional and work with any upsells I have in place. For example, If I used Jvzoo or Warrior plus how do you manage your upsells using Whishlist member. This is really baffling me and I was wondering if you had a video or knew of a resource that helps just with setting up the upsells. This maybe a great video to put on your blog;)
Thanks,
JJ
Hi JJ,
What I do is simply have 2 membership levels in Wishlist. E.g.,
Standard Member
Plus Member
The Plus Member has access to an extra page in the members area which contains access to the upsell. Very easy to do in Wishlist and for Standard Members they just don’t see this page (even if they know the URL they are locked out).
Then in the affiliate network/payment system you are using (e..g, W+, JVZoo, straight PayPal or whatever). Just send people to the correct Wishlist registration page. So if they purchase your upsell then send them to the Plus Member registration page and if they decline just send them to the Standard Member registration page.
I hope this makes sense!
Cheers,
Rob
Thanks for the review Rob. It appears that existing users of OP 1 may be best sticking with it and saving themselves some cash. Will it be possible to still purchase the OP1 version? I would guess not.
Hi Malcolm,
Glad you found it useful and great to see you here on the blog 🙂
I would doubt they will support OP 1.0 going forward but of course I can’t speak for them.
Cheers, Rob.
Thanks for the blog post Rob. It covers a very vital aspect of ‘getting the business flying’. Your critique of OP2 is very interesting especially as you have used, and become a fan of, OP1. The fact you have identified some issues in OP2 that could make life more tricky for newcomers especially does help to arrive at a decision as to what tool(s) we should consider for developing blogs.
You have kindly outlined some alternatives which should be looked at to assess their functionality and viability. In a bid to limit costs at an early stage especially for newbies, the lowest priced tool may seem the best to go for. The trouble with this approach is that we may find the limitations which weren’t obvious at the beginning come to fruition and then you have to spend again on the ‘next one up’. So careful analysis is recommended.
The more you get into this business the more resources seem to spring up and it is so easy to get bogged down. Are we spoilt for choice? Probably not : you have to be selective.
You say Rob that you not the kind of person who is keen on constantly trying out brand new tools. When you start out there is the temptation to try out new stuff which is important to become knowledgeable but the trick is to stop when you have a reasonable selection.
I am looking forward to discovering your next product, Rob, if it is permitted of course!
Best Wishes – Mike
Hey Rob, thanks for the transparent and honest review of OP 2.0
I currently use OP 1.0 and I’ve been so happy with it, I was thinking to upgrade in the next days but this already raises a few red flags for me.
Being an IT myself, I like doing things FAST (even if this means going straight to code or shortcodes) so the points you mentioned about the live editor and all the extra clicks just to see a modification is a no go for me.
I’d like to give this the benefit of the doubt so I may upgrade at a later time even if that means paying a bit “extra” for missing out on the discounted time offer for previous customers.
I was really attracted when you mentioned using “Canvas” from WooThemes to create membership sites, I’ve never tried that before (I own it) was it difficult for you to implement WLM on Canvas and secure the membership or did you outsource that part?
Thanks in advance!
Sergio
Hi Sergio,
Thanks for your thoughts on this 🙂
That makes a lot of sense and if you do try OP 2.0 I’d love to hear your feedback and whether you agree/disagree with my opinion.
I haven’t integrated Canvas with WL but instead used Canvas for standard niche blogs. However, I can’t image there would be any kind of problem and that’s exactly what I intend to do in the future. Basically, WL simple controls access to the pages you set up in whatever theme you are running so it’s not really that bothered which theme you do run. Famous last words of course but seriously I think it will be very straight forward.
Cheers,
Rob
hi Rob
I feel you, and I admire your courage to tell it as it is; other affiliates will simply promote this as the next big thing since sliced bread just to get their commission…. LOL
In my opinion, Wishlist Member rocks, and there’s no other solution on the market like it at the present… I like the fact you also give OptimizePress 2.0 alternatives haven’t tried any of them yet, so cannot comment on them…
Talk soon!
Hi John,
Thank you for that much appreciated and agreed on Wishlist!
Cheers, Rob
Hi Rob,
In my book that’s a pretty fair appraisal of OP2.
I’ve used the first version on a couple of sites, and it works well, except for the blog option.
After drooling over all the bells and whistles of OP2 I decided to give it a miss.
Hi John,
Make sense and thanks for sharing your feedback – it’s always welcome here 🙂
Cheers,
Rob
Hi Rob,
I was a user of OP1 and thought I would go for the OP2 as I wanted it more as plugin than a theme and also wanted to try out the Membership and Blog elements.
I purchased on launch day BUT to date, have not been able to try it!!!
I cannot upload the file to my host – I have increased the upload limit and have done everything that OP support wanted me to do but to date – no success. Yesterday they said they would try to upload it themselves but at the time of writing this I haven’t heard anything. Granted the upload file is a large one but that should not be my problem and if it means that every time I want to use it on a new site I have to ask them for help, then I am not interested. I have already missed one deadline waiting to get OP2 operational but I am not prepared to wait any longer. I will be requesting a refund later this evening.
I do feel a bit annoyed that effectively OP1 is now redundant and therefore was questionably a waste of money (I am not a whizz kid at these things and need the support of the videos, which have now disappeared!)
I am currently on a trial with Authority Pro 3 which seems to have a lot of layout and widgets similar to OP2 (although I haven’t seen OP2’s offering yet!)
I just thought I would add my comment.
Hi John,
On the uploading adjusting the upload limits didn’t work for me so I had to use FTP (which took about 20 minutes as OP 2.0 is very large). This worked fine though so you may wish to try that. I would give it a shot, you never know you may have a different opinion to me and like it!
That’s interesting on Authority Pro 3 – haven’t tried it myself but thanks for sharing the tip. I’m sure some people readin this will want to give it a try 🙂
Cheers, Rob.
I appreciate your comments and thoughts so much Rob. You have an ability to cut to the chase and I trust what you say. Thanks!
Hi Deb,
You’re very welcome and thanks for posting!
Cheers,
Rob
Surely the main reason to change is that OP1 is useless for mobile and tablets….and I believe OP2 cures that? Is that true?
Hi David,
Yes, that is true but also most of the alternatives offer mobile friendly design as well so for me it’s not really a massive unique selling point any more.
Thanks for taking the time to comment 🙂
cheers, Rob
Thanks Rob for your honest review of OP2, I have OP1 and was seriously thinking about purchasing OP2, thinking I was missing out on something, but having read your review I’m thinking I can do without another ‘learning curve’, at the moment – I have enough to worry about at present!
I’ll stick to OP1 for the time being and see how things go.
Thank you for taking the time to review this for your readers.
Hi Stephanie,
Makes sense and sounds sensible. Perhaps take a look yourself at some point though to see what you think – but certainly no need to rush in, there’s plenty other things that will make you more money right now!
Cheers, Rob.
Hey Rob, thankyou for your straight up review… like many others in this post, I also considered OP2, but [a] the price was put me off, even though I own OP1 and [b] I have those other options you mentioned, such as Instabuilder and Profits Theme and they are very, very good, so will stay with these – both Instabuilder and Profits Theme upgrade also.
To John, regarding Authority Pro 3, it’s not as good as Instabuilder or Profits Theme as it doesn’t have as many features etc.
Rob, I also own Hybrid Connect and that is one of the better optin based software options going and the guy who produced this software [Shane Melaugh] is similarly one of the good guys currently operating in IM and he has just completed a review of OP2 and many, many others – Instabuilder is very high on his ‘should get’ list.
Hi Graeme,
Very valuable information – Thank you for taking the time to comment and make these points 🙂
Cheers,
Rob
Hi Rob,
Thank you for being over the Hype of the Launch for OP2.
I was offered a discount for the new version – But being that I am trying to kick my Shiny Object Addiction and become a marketer instead of a customer I resisted.
Secondly – being a recovering Shiny Object Addict – I am ashamed to admit I never got around to learning and using the OP1 I have.
BTW – Question – Do you know if the OP1 still works or is the creator going to pull it some time soon in order to sell the new version?
Thank you for your honest opinion.
Robert
Hi Robert,
I’m not sure what the plans are for OP 1.0 – it’s a shame if it dies in my opinion. I’ll definitely miss it a lot!
Well said on the Shiny Object Syndrome. In my mind I usually associate that phrase with fly-by-night information products that never really give you results and of course OptimizePress 2.0 is definitely not that – it is a very solid product. However, it’s certainly not necessary to distract yourself from the core business – our time is usually better spent creating a product, driving traffic, etc than upgrading software.
Cheers, Rob
Thanks for the review Rob
I have jumped in and am actually enjoying the experience.
I had a lot of difficulty getting OP1 to work but because I like the style of sites produced have persevered.
The plugin for OP 2 works for OP 1 sites and therefore gives OP 1 users that extra flexibility.
Change is inevitable and rarely does anyone like the “new version” until they have come to terms with it. I hated Windows 8 but now having been forced to use it am beginning to like it. I suspect OP 2 will be the same. Based on James Dysons record and the clean product he produced in OP 1 I suspect InstaBuilder and others may have competition – I also bought InstaBuilder and I don’t really like it at all.
My hope is the wizard will work for me.
Horses for courses and will be interesting to see where this is in 12 months.
Cheers Chris
Hi Chris,
Great to hear your experiences there and get another angle on this. Think you’re right that time will tell. No doubt loads of people will like OP 2.0 as well, will be interesting to see how many sites spring up around the internet that are built using it.
Cheers, Rob
Hi Rob,
I wish I read your review before I purchased OP2. I never had OP1 but I heard so many good things about it I just had to have OP2. I was so excited to finally get a look at the product ( and this took sometime, between waiting for log in details and license keys), but last night I made my first attempt at building a squeeze page and I have to say I was not impressed. I found the live editor slow and a bit difficult to use and the templates a bit boring. But I have made the investment now so will try to get to grips with it.
Tsahai
Hi Tsahai,
Thank you for your sharing your experience here – It sounds very similar to mine.
I think you are right in persisting with it. You never know you might start to love it after a while!
Cheers,
Rob
Rob – As usual, you have answered the questions I had over this new OP2 launch.
I have been using OP1 for years and I still like it. I was also considering changing to Leadpages, as I saw some features I liked the look of and then… OP2 was on the horizon.
One this OP2 gives you that Leadpages and similar systems do not is complete control. It is hosted on your own site and servers, so you are not relying on third parties. That is a worry for me about Leadpages. If they change the rules or disappear then all my sites would go too!
However, I was not convinced until I had seen some other reviews whether to take the OP2 option either.
You have added some interesting stuff for me to consider!
Thanks,
Paul
Hi Paul,
Makes sense and thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I know what you mean about hosting on 3rd party servers. I would not be keen on doing this for say a membership site but as it is only squeeze pages (with LeadPages for example) I’m pretty relaxed.
Cheers,
Rob
Just another thing Rob – I use and love DAP (Digital Access Pass) for membership sites. I know there are very much two camps on this one, but I preferred it to Wishlist. Did you ever look at it?
Hi Paul,
I’ve heard great things about DAP but as I said in the article, I’m that happy with Wishlist there is no reason for me to change!
Cheers,
Rob
Hi Rob,
I am very pleased to see this blog out there. I thought I was the only one struggling with the ‘live editor.’ I completely agree with your assessment and will stick with OP1.
Cheers,
Kevin
Hi Kevin,
Thanks for taking the time to post your feedback 🙂
Cheers,
Rob.
Hi Rob,
Good Article. I agree. I bought this in good faith, and then asked for a refund when problems using it became obvious. The refund seems to be hard to get out of them. DId you have problems?
The product was not ready to launch in my opinion.
It was clunky to build a page, and I bought this to use as an authority blog, something they featured. THis is not the product to use.
Now I have just written my third email to try to get a refund. This is a first for me. You offer a 30 day guarantee, and they say they have issues getting the money back to me?
So I would say to your readers. If you want to build a sales page, they might be a good product once the bugs are out.
But not to use as a blog.
Hope this helps.
Hi Rick,
Thank you for your post and sharing your thoughts.
Obviously I can’t comment on your specific situation regarding the refund except to say in my previous experience of dealing with the team at OptimizePress in the past they have been very good customer support wise. Maybe it might be that they are just overloaded at the moment and although it’s obviously up to you, personally I would give them the benefit of the doubt – at least for a few days. As I mentioned in the post, I won’t be requesting a refund myself.
Although I dislike OP2.0 and won’t be using or recommending it I won’t ever forget how great the old version was and I am very grateful to them for their hard work on that as it was just so helpful and profitable to use in my business (I’m almost getting nostalgic!).
All points noted though and thanks again for sharing them 🙂
Cheers,
Rob.
Hello Rob, and others…
One word – RESPONSIVE. The big deal now is being “Responsive”. And upon reading OP2.0 sales letter it says they have gone “Responsive”.
Now that you have thrown a wrench in the clockwork, tell me how do I EASILY achieve “responsiveness” with OP1?
Thanks
Best to check with OptimizePress themselves on this Darr but as far as I know OP1 isn’t responsive.
Thank you for your comment.
Kind regards,
Rob.
Hello Rob,
You are very true with your review. I must say I like OP1 better than OP2.0. I’ve personally get my hands on the new version because of my client who recently bought it and I must say, if you’re not techie enough, you could get days working on your pages.
The only good thing about the new version which I really would want to have in OP1 is there new elements/shortcodes which is very popular on themeforest themes. For me, that’s the new themes advantage. But if you talk about being user friendly and the license pricing. I’d stick to OP1 and would go for your other cheaper recommendations.
And to add more, OP 2.0 doesn’t work well with Events Calendar Pro, so for marketers out there who’s very much into creating events and you’re already using Events Calendar Pro, don’t switch to OP2 because your event calendar won’t show up on your events page.
Cheers,
Jerico
Hi Jerico,
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Cheers, Rob.
Right now I am developing OP2.0 based sites and yes there are some bugs especially from OP2.0 to 2.0.4 but they solved some issues in the latest update.
Hopefully they will solve the issue in the LIVE EDITOR as it is one of the slowest part to load as the libraries are loaded everytime you launch it.
Thanks for sharing your experience Patrick 🙂 Kind regards, Rob
Rob
I am setting up my first membership site and have been looking at OP2 and Wishlist Member, but just wondered what you thought of say Paid Membership Pro to start with for a beginner.
Hi Noel, I have no experience of that I’m afraid so I can’t comment there, sorry about that! Kind regards, Rob
I totally agree with Rob. The LiveEditor annoys the … out of me.
It takes so infinitely much more time just to change a comma!
Forget about OP 2.0
PS: I didn’t ask for a refund either. OP1 made me so much money for a low 97$ investment that the extra 197$ felt like a “thank you anyway, James Dyson. Keep your OP2 and the money, too.”
Hi Tim,
Thanks for your thoughts!
Yes, I know what you mean – I don’t begrudge the money side of it and am eternally gratefully for their work on OP1.0. They are a fantastic team and a solid company in my view. Just for me they’ve not quite got it right with OP2.0. I hope they come back with OP3.0 in due course and really blow the doors off though!
Cheers, Rob.
I have been using OP2 for a launch and to say it has been a total nightmare would be an understatement. The product itself is glitchy and the membership plugin seems half-done so I had to buy Wishlist. The support is AWFUL. I’m talking no response for days, sometimes a week. Thanks for these recommendations, I’m looking to get far far away from OptimizePress.
Thank you for sharing your experience Heidi – really helpful 🙂
I certainly wouldn’t like to use it for a launch myself and can imagine the struggle you had. As I’ve mentioned previously my personal experience with their support has been pretty good and I also do still have big respect for their company. The way I’m viewing this now is that OP2.0 is a blip in an otherwise great track record. Maybe a little like Windows Vista? I’m sure they’ll bounce back in the future with a better product – I sure hope so.
Your comments are duly noted though and I know they’ll be very helpful for others reading this thread so thanks again.
Cheers! Rob
Unfortunately I’ve also had a bad experience with OP2. It was not easy to use the product, and I spent much more time than I needed to doing simple things. Customer support were very slow to respond, then were not able to help when they did.
Sorry to hear that Chris but thank you for sharing. On and up! Cheers, Rob
Hi Rob,
I wish I’d read your email before I rushed in and purchased it. I really, really don’t like the new version.
You’re right about it being cumbersome. I have spent most of my day trying to build a page and have achieved very little, when I have easily and quickly built well over 300 pages in my site with version 1.0. Plus certain elements just aren’t working and formatting properly and I have had to redo them over and over to get the result I wanted.
Also, I was very disappointed to find that if I wanted to upgrade my pages from the old version, I would have to rebuild them from scratch!
And, I have had to deactivate some of my most useful plugins because they aren’t compatible with 2.0.
This is a dud if you ask me and really doesn’t even come close to expectations. I doubt I will be using it going forward either. What a waste!
Marguerita
Hi Marguerita,
That does sound like a pain. To be honest I almost wish they’d bring back the old version and just update it with new fresh templates and options!
Cheers, Rob.
Nice to see such a well thought out review. When I search for reviews, I’m most often disappointed in finding nothing but 5 star reviews. I’d rather see some 3 stars, or 4 stars. Everything has good points and bad points.
And that is especially true when it comes to WP plugins.
I”m using OP 2.0 at the moment, but had a hard time with the theme version, and also using it along side another flowplayer plugin I had. It seemed that in order for OP to work I had to deactivate a lot of plug ins. It just doesn’t play nicely with other plug ins.
Now I’m trying to just use the plug in version for my blog and I think (fingers crossed) I have it stabilized. But this sort of thing is why I am always reluctant to even check out new plugins.
Kudos again for the great review, it was very helpful.
Felix
Hi Felix,
I know what you mean about 5 star “reviews” – just an excuse for an affiliate link!
I didn’t have any problems with other plugins myself but thank you for sharing. Hopefully that’ll be something the developers will take on board for future versions.
Thanks for your comment 🙂
Cheers, Rob
Hi
I see that the comments about OP2 keep coming and that many good folk are annoyed and frustrated if they’ve upgraded. I’m sad to read so many and that in some cases money has been wasted.
I avoided buying OP2, as like many others I felt OP1 was a lot better. However, I’m now wondering how many of you have actually aired your grievances with Mr Dyson and told him directly how you feel? If so, have you had any kind of response?
If he is aware of so many complaints, then maybe he’s gone back to the drawing board to make amends. We could possibly see an OP3 very soon that does please us.
Walter
Hi Walter,
Yes, there are a lot of comments and in fact I might shut off the comments on this post soon as I don’t want this to become purely a bashing ground for OP (I know nobody has done that yet including yourself but I sense it could go in that direction!).
I’m sure they are aware and based on their track record I expect them to come back fighting in future – they are still a great company in my view. Hopefully just a temporary loss of form with OP2.0!!!
Thanks for your comment 🙂
Cheers, Rob.
Hey Rob,
I have a different view on your comment about shutting this down as I believe these comments on your forum can be of great use to everyone associated including the developers of this software. I’m sensing that maybe you’re getting a little anxious that this thread is attracting mostly negative comments relating to James and OP2, but this is healthy, so long as they are constructive and not biased – don’t you think?
I’m of the belief that if you buy something, anything based on a criteria that it works a certain way and it’s promoted as being better than the previous version then there is an expectation that it should be so.
This hasn’t been the case to this point overall with OP2 and the bottom line here is that James and his team need to make some decisive decisions about there next move as it could damage his brand irrevocably.
Rob, I applaud you for showing a good deal of loyalty to James and OP, but at the end of the day we’re all held accountable for what we put our name to and one needs to take responsibility for that, end of story!
I don’t believe anyone on this forum has been James Dyson/OP2 bashing, it has just been a case of a general consensus of statements about a product that to this point has lived up to the hype nor the price.
Regards, Graeme
Hi Graeme,
Thank you for your thoughts – comments are duly noted 🙂
Cheers,
Rob.
Hybrid Connect is pretty awesome and not only because of the wizard you mentioned, but the unlimited version testing that automatically terminates the poor performers from showing. I’ve experienced some excellent conversion rates also using the templates included.
As for landing pages and squeeze pages, I use Instabuilder. They look more elegant imo than anything else, and I believe it’s good to appear less “salesy” these days.
Excellent point Mike! I love that feature as well actually 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Cheers – Rob
Thank you for this information. I glanced over it while deciding to get OP-2, but didn’t want to “hear” negative info on it. Guess I was just wishing it weren’t true. But alas…this article is spot on. OP-2 is not as good in my opinion as OP-1. I’m sure for those veterans out there than love to learn powerful software. I believe that most just sell the latest and greatest without considering the “newbies” out here doing this for the very first time. “Buy this…blah blah blah…it’s so great…blah blah blah…” Sales for sales sake, forsaking truth and honestly for the almighty dollar. But hey, maybe I’m just salty cuz of the frustration of trying to believe OP-2 would be better than OP-1.
I got OP-1 about 11 months ago…but due to money issues and not having really made money online ever…had to return it at the time. But said to myself that when I do “come back”….Optimize-Press for the money was where I’m gonna go. $97 works great for my budget…and when OP-2 was announced, I was hopeful. Well….like I stated, hope blinded by ignorance is still ignorance. But here I am and I’ve made a request just 10 minutes ago for a refund for OP-2 in order to get OP-1. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing Bobby – great to get your opinions & views 🙂
Cheers, Rob.
Hi Rob,
I just found your site and already own OP2. The reason I found your site is that I was searching for ‘sidebars on optimize press 2.0.’ To me it seems so far that you cannot create multiple sidebars that can be assigned to pages individually. Did you also find this to be the case, or am I just not doing something right?
Thanks!
Nelson
Hi Nelson, Not sure about this one I’m afraid! Probably best submit a support ticket to OP themselves I think 🙂 Cheers, Rob.
Thanks
Nice review man.
Appreciate your straightforward style.
Best,
Etienne
It’s a pleasure Etienne, glad you found it useful 🙂 Cheers, Rob.
Thanks Rob, great review and to the point. I have been battling with a client
site who went to OP2. It is cumbersome, it is very hard to get anything done quickly. Also the blog layouts provided are horrible.
It does not in my opinion represent value.
Thanks for your view John – much appreciated!
Cheers, Rob.
Great Post ! I for one am glad however, that I didn’t read it before purchasing OP2. I have been using (and love) OP1 and like many was excited to hear about OP2. I purchased OP2 without really researching and at first was very displeased for many of the reasons already mentioned. I quickly uninstalled the OP2 theme and went back to OP2. I then uploaded the OP2 plugin and am now using that with the OP1 theme.
The Plugin really enhances OP1 and gives you so much more functionality. Right now, I am just using the “add elements” features and have not bothered with the live editor, as I found it to be to slow and cumbersome…..but the add elements tab has added so many new features that are really easy to insert that I’ve decided it was well worth the money and I’m really happy with the OP2 plugin.
The OP2 theme itself…….not so much (at least not yet). OP1 theme with OP2 plugin seems to be the ticket!!
Hi Rod,
Excellent! Thank you for taking the time on this, very interesting indeed and a top tip. I’m sure that will be very helpful for others reading this comments thread.
Hope to see you again on the blog soon 🙂
Cheers, Rob
We did a launch with OP2 and my biggest issues with it revolve around it’s limited payment options. We found it quite difficult to configure for “one off” launches with single pay or multiple pay options (3 pay in our case). It seems more geared towards a membership site with an ongoing monthly payment. We were also disappointed in the clunky upsell option. I was hoping to use OP2 as an all-in-one solution for our launch and membership site but DAP is a much easier and more flexible membership site option.
Hi Rob,
I did test about page speed using OP 2 and its slow, for me it is important to have a website witch load pretty fast,
I use premise plugin from copyblogger for landing pages, and memberships site and km so happy, taking about WordPress theme I highly recommended Genesis framework…
Hi Byron,
Great information – thank you very much for sharing 🙂
That’s very interesting on the speed side of things and I totally agree on Genesis – I’ve used this myself a little and really like it (although personally sway more towards Canvas right now but that’s purely personal preference!).
Kind regards,
Rob.
Hey Rob,
I know you’ve said “if it ain’t broke…” when it comes to the membership plugin that you’re currently using :-).
But if you ever outgrow it, or ever feel the need to explore other options, then we are happy to hook you up with a free copy of DAP 🙂
Thanks for the opportunity to comment here on your blog.
Cheers!
– Ravi Jayagopal
Hi Ravi,
Thank you very much, you are very kind 🙂
I shall keep this in mind going forward.
Kind regards,
Rob.
No problem. You’re welcome! 🙂
Cheers!
– Ravi Jayagopal
Good article. I like your point of view.
I have one question:
How can you solve the Responsive property with OptimizePress 1.x (look on mobile devices)?
Best regards!.
Fernando
Hi Fernando,
Thanks for your comment – please see my response to Darr above in these comments for that 🙂
Cheers, Rob.
Hi there.
I’m looking at releasing multiple products that all support a niche market. I’d like to build a site with multiple product pages (each part of the menu), have purchasing integrated in, then membership functionality post-purchase. I think it would be best to get a theme to handle everything, rather than a basic theme and a bunch of plugins.
Can you recommend a product for this situation?
Excellent post and learned a lot from the comments! Thanks.
Donovan
Hi Donovan,
Thanks for your feedback 🙂
I would go with Wishlist Member and a premium theme (such as Canvas) for this. However, if you do like OptimizePress 2.0 it can certainly do all of this for you in one system!
Kind regards,
Rob.
This post is how I found your site. Great review site. And a great post for learning something new for me anyhow. I checked out Instabuilder and I’m really impressed especially for the cost. Thanks for the tips. And yes I have opted in to your site.
Thanks again,
Tim
Hi Tim,
Great to hear from you and thanks for your feedback on the post – glad it helped 🙂
Hope to see you here back on the blog soon!
Cheers,
Rob
Rob, thanks for the review, I am in the process of starting a site, with a membership area and forum, so was looking at OP2, but after your review a bit unsure, could I achieve the same thing with lead pages and wishlist member, what are your thoughts, Regards, Mick.
Hi Mick,
Thanks for your comment and great to see you here on the blog 🙂
For a membership site I would recommend the Canvas theme and Wishlist. LeadPages would struggle with a full blown members site at this moment in time in my view. Equally you can use OP2.0 for members sites and it has a built in members plugin (so you wouldn’t need Wishlist) but again, you know my views on OP2.0 so personally, I’d go for Canvas+Wishlist.
Hope this helps and good luck with the project 🙂
Cheers,
Rob
Thankyou so much Rob, thats the route I will take, Regards, Mick
Hi Rob – I’ve loving OP2 especially after the recent fixes and upgrades.
Really love to know what you feel is missing from the templates when you said.
“The templates are very attractive but straight away I could see things that were missing or that I would have to do a lot of editing to get right.”
Biggest thing I found is the lack of templates outside squeeze page, webinar signups, email confirmation pages and some basic sales pages. No good examples of lesson pages, webinar reply pages for example.
Hi Rob,
That’s great to hear. I know a few updates have happened since I wrote this post so I appreciate you stopping by with the latest feedback. My original concerns about the templates seem to have been addressed well from what I can see.
Also, as I mentioned in the post the OP team have an amazing track record (I’m thinking of OP1.0 obviously) and I’ve no doubt they’ll continue to improve and bring out some amazing stuff in the future. I’ll certainly be one of the first to test out any future products they bring out 🙂
Cheers, Rob.
Thank you for you honest opinion and other suggestions! I just purchased op2 and hate it!! I’m looking into which one I should switch to and I think I’ll go with instabuilder 🙂
Hi Lindsay,
Thank you for your feedback. Instabuilder is a good low cost alternative and I’d also recommend keeping an eye on the output of Shane and Paul (creators of Hybrid Connect): http://imimpact.com/ They have some new themes coming along which look really good (although I haven’t tested them yet myself as a type!).
Cheers,
Rob
Thanks, I will keep my eye out for that! What about PT Instant? Do you have any thoughts on that one?
Hey Rob, thanks for sharing. I just got OP2 myself and having lots of issues with it. It literally deletes 50% of my content from the live editor every time I save. Really frustrated and looking for something different. I will look into this Instabuilder program. Thanks!
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I refer you to my answer to Lindsay above especially the bit about keeping an eye on Shane and Paul’s work at IM Impact 🙂
Cheers,
Rob
Hi Patrick, I was wondering if you installed it via cpanel or in your wordpress dashboard? I installed it in WP and was thinking maybe if I try to reinstall it through cpanel it might work better. I just downloaded Instabuilder and don’t care for it that much either. It’s ok, but I do like the live editor in OP, if it would just work right! And haven’t heard back from OP support, so we’ll see!
Typically I am getting about a 1-2 day turn around on OP Support – Make sure it is a proper support ticket not on the community forum which never gets answered. OP2 is big… a couple of times I’ve had to use FTP to install it as the hosting has timed out and not finished the install properly.
Instabuilder is ok but basic in look and feel. It works but isn’t pretty.
With a good host I’ve not had any game stopping issues for past two months on the OP2 live editor and I’m hammering it.
Well hopefully they will get back to me tomorrow then. I just tried to reinstall it and still not working. Everything looks good with it, but when I try to change the text, it just disappears and doesn’t show up. I wonder if I have a plugin that is incompatible or something. Tried to deactivate a few that I heard could cause problems, but still didn’t help. Anyway, thanks for the info and help!! 🙂
Hi Rob
I really appreciate the info on OP2.
As a relative newbie I have been looking for a site to help create Landing Pages and really thought that OP2 might be the one. It still might but you have really given me food for thought and I will now look at the alternatives that you have suggested.
Thanks a lot.
Rob, really found this helpful. I’ve been creating a products for a while but fairly new to Internet Marketing in some ways. Was looking at Thesis, but LeadPages looks great. I am essentially looking at one-page sales letters, and am setting up some WordPress sites. I have a bunch of products already but some new ones I am developing. Do you have any thoughts about where you would start. I’d like to invest say $200 to $300 and am wondering whether you would recommend opting for Thesis or LeadPages?
Thanks again for a cool article. Really helpful. Great content.
Rich
Hi Rich,
For your budget you should have quite a choice available for you. Thesis and Leadpages are complements rather than substitutes I would say: The former is excellent for blogs and LeadPages great for squeeze and sales pages. I’d also recommend WooThemes (especially Canvas which I like to use a fair bit). If you are put off by the cost of LeadPages then perhaps consider something like ProfitsTheme or Instabuilder (not perfect but fairly good for the price). Finally, although my views on OptimizePress 2.0 still hold, many other people disgaree with me and use it very effectively so do consider that too – you may come to like it, you never know!
It’s really a personal choice so consider the options and remember above all that the average visitor won’t care about which theme you are using, as long as the page is presented well then it should do the job and convert.
Hope this helps a bit 🙂
Rob
Thesis can be used for a lot more than blogs. Integrate with Woocommerce = ecommerce site.
Thanks for the review, I was looking into this for a client.
Pleasure Neil, all just my opinion of course but I still can’t deal with the live editor myself, just too many popup modal windows. Thanks for stopping by here on the blog 🙂
I actually ended up sticking with op2 after trying some others. The features are just really good for the price. Once I got the bugs smoothed out, works pretty good now!
Hi Lindsay,
Thanks for coming back and letting us know as it helps to make this more of a balanced discussion. You’ve shown it definitely comes down to personal preference and if it works for you then that’s great 🙂
Kind regards, Rob.
I found your review a good one. I wish more reviews were as honest.
However, if I understood correctly, your reason for disliking OP2 (which I do not use or own) is due to the slow speed between your computer and your web host and the new OP editor’s reliance on that rather than the easier and faster short code method.
If this is your only or primary reason for not wanting to use it, perhaps there is a workaround that would allow you to have the speed necessary for a better experience. Have you tried developing a WordPress site where your computer is the webhost? ServerPress is a great solution for this. It doesn’t really require much technical experience and there is a free version.
Also, if you’re more of a tech person, you can try running a WordPress server in a “virtual machine” on your computer. For example, use VMWare Player and Turnkey Linux’s WordPress virtual machine. Both are free.
The theory here is that your OP2 development would be greatly sped up and then when you’re happy with the outcome, export your design to a file, import it to your live website, and you’re done.
All the best,
Mark C
Thank for the review! I’ve been going back and forth on deciding which way to go and your review has definitely helped me. I almost pulled the plug and bought OP.2 (297.00), been looking at Studio press too, but after reading your post I’ve decided that Thrive Landing pages will work much better for me. It’s kind of funny landing on Thrives website being that they are using the same theme I’m already using and membership software. I know this will be a great fit for me!
Thank again,
Aaron Jones
Hi Aaron, Thanks for your comment. Thrive Themes are great in my book – I hope they work well for you 🙂
Rob
Hi Rob,
I have come back to your article, because I knew you would have updated it since it first posted. At the time, I followed your advice and did not buy OP2. I stuck with OP1 actually (and I use it for my blog and my sales pages, plus one of my products which is locked via DAP). The problem is now that OP1 is not supported anymore, and WP has updated so many times that some of the shortcode features on OP1 no longer work. I am therefore stuck.
I have three questions for you.
1. What do you recommend now for the best blogging theme inside WP?
2. I note that you use Leadpages, but this is hosted by them. Have you found anything as good recently which still hosts on your own site within WP?
3. This is something I have not done, hence my question… If I switch theme on my existing blog (away from OP1), what happens to all my content and formatting etc.? Do I lose it all?
Thanks, as always, for your helpful comments.
Paul
Hi Paul,
Thanks for your comment, I hope you are well 🙂
Answers:
1. My personal preference is Canvas by WooThemes but there are MANY others which are great!
2. You can download your LeadPages creations and host them yourself. I notice a few more products coming out now which may be worth checking out (I haven’t tried them) ClickFunnels and ProfitBuilder are a couple. Whatever you do though, do check out ContentBuilder from IMIMPact (drag and drop sales page builder). Or even a simplier way is to build your sales page in Word/OpenOffice and hire someone on odesk/elance to transfer it to an HTML page for you!
3. Your content will be retained. If you switch to Canvas or another theme then you will just need to rebuild the menus and OptimizePress1.0 specific features (E.g., page templates) that will be lost. Best thing to do is to try it on a test blog to see for yourself.
Cheers, Rob.
I am getting ready to re-brand myself and taking some training for doing my blog more efficiently. With that said, the recommendation was for OptimizePress and when researching found you 🙂 I have not started building it yet, but have a question. One of the reasons I thought this was cool was because I could make landing pages, etc with it, besides building my blog, so please clarify, do I need both? Plan on starting the process today because I see these are plug ins so I still need the theme right? Yes, I am a bit of a newbie in this arena. Thank you.
Hi Gail, you probably will want to have both yes – a blog for relationship building and landing pages for lead capture and making sales. But of course this is ultimately up to you and depends upon what you would like to achieve. Kind regards, Rob
Hi guys,
I did buy the OP2 when it launched. I wouldn’t recommend it either (whereas I loved OP1). But if I’m writing here, it’s to share another huge disappointment…
Here it is:
=> When you buy OP2, you get UPDATES and support for only ONE YEAR.
It’s ok for the support. I mean, this takes ressources to fullfil.
But what the hack about this updates licence! It’s a WP theme: if you don’t udapte it, you’ll have a time-bomb on your site.
So just to have your site running properly (and most of all, securely), you have to pay every year!
I didn’t pay attention to that when I bought it. As I’m sure, not many did.
But it must be said: when you purchase OP2, you’ll have to pay every year to keep the theme up-to-date. That’s messed up.
I believe you should speak of that in your article.
And for others who face the same disappointment, what do you plan to do? Continue to give your money to OptimizePress? Or find an alternative?
Hi to all,
I’m a total newbie in web site building, and an older guy. Never thought I’d be doing this but a really unique web site idea that recently hit me compelled me to find tools that can help me build it, or at least try to.
I stumbled across this page and you folks sound pretty experienced, so I’m wondering if I can tell you what I need to have on my web site and maybe you wouldn’t mind advising me what I can use to build it, hopefully in the least expensive way. I heard a lot of WordPress, OP, etc, but I’ve never used any of those. I’ve tried to use Google Sites a couple times but can’t really say I know it.
These are what I need in my web site idea:
. New Member Register, create profiles, including adding photo, video
. Member Log in
. Client payment page (so online security needed)
. Area accessible only by members with membership
. Accept adverts (both still ad and video ad) and display them on site, like Youtube
. A search engine to search other members based on different criteria
(I don’t know if the following are even possible)
. Member A logs in, goes to Member B’s profile, clicking on a button in Member B’s profile, then a new screen opens up on which shows Member B’s image in real time. Member A then asks Member B to call Member C by using Member C’s user name. After Member C picks up, all three members begin a 3-way conversation.
. Tracking every member’s length of time of being logged-in on the site, e.g. 9 hours 10 minutes 19 seconds.
. Last, helping publishing the web site to the world.
Heartfelt gratitude to all input, guidance, or referral.
Mike
Hi Mike,
Welcome to the site and thank you for your comment 🙂
In terms of controlling member registration and general access take a look at Wishlist Member.
For the sales page, profiles and general site structure you could look at various themes that are around including OptimizePress. I would definitely check out Thrive Themes though – these are getting seriously good now and the Content Builder plugin which they also do can create your sales page.
For the conversations I would consider interfacing with something like Skype maybe. If that’s not what you had in mind and you actually would like to build a proprietary system then you’ll need a software developer to create this (hire them on oDesk/Elance). And probably a custom web designer too because WordPress might not suffice.
Hope this helps a bit 🙂
Cheers, Rob
Hi Rob,
Thanks for the input. I really appreciate that.
Regarding hiring people on oDesk/Elance, how does that work? If I really go that route for a proprietary system, do I pay them a one-time fee and then I own the software?
And can I also hire people there to create the entire web site? If I can, how do they deliver the final product to me? And how can I know they won’t end up taking my idea for their own use? Thank you.
Mike
Mike
Hi Mike,
1. Yes, you own to the copyright to any work you get outsourced including web/software development.
2. It’s extremely rare that outsourcers steal ideas because they are almost never marketers or entrepreneurs plus if they did they would earn such a bad reputation they would probably never work again on sites like oDesk or Elance. Given that these sites often make up the majority of their income there is a strong incentive not to steal.
3. Delivery depends upon what you want but for a website they would probably build privately and once you approve it they would make it “live” on the internet.
If you have further questions then you may like to consider joining our members area – email and forum support is included plus a lot of training and tutorials which will help you with this kind of thing.
Cheers, Rob.
Hi Rob,
Thanks a lot again. I’ll check out oDesk or Elance and also try to digest all the tools you graciously referred me to, then decide if I’ll sign up for the membership.
Best regards,
Mike
Worth mentioning that OP2 absolutely does not work with Thesis 2.
I use Leadpages in conjunction with Thesis.
i.e. Leadpages, inside Thesis, use Adwords to drive traffic to the page
Tim
Thanks Tim, good point.
Kind regards, Rob
Hi Rob – I really like your review – thank you very much. Great to have a site like yours! I own OP1 and am finally about to be ready to launch my membership site. However, with OP1 no longer updated, I feel reluctant to set up the whole site only to face problems with WP updates. And I am reluctant to go with OP2 with the limited support of 1 year. What do you think is the best theme to use for a membership website now and do you have any recommendations for a blog and marketing website theme?
Dan
I forgot to add, I have already planned the OP1 3 intro video approach before the final sales goes through, not sure if other themes have the same structure or not!?
Hi Dan,
Thanks for your comment and feedback.
I would go with Thrive Content Builder for your project. In fact that’s exactly that I’ve done for my latest product. I’ve used TCB together with Thrive’s Ignition theme (but really any theme will do and I also like Canvas from Woo Themes).
It should be a fairly easy task moving from OP1 to Thrive. You’ll have to learn it of course but it’s pretty intuitive and after playing for around 2-3 hours I was pretty much up to speed.
On your second comment regarding the 3 prelaunch pages, yes you can do this easily. Create one page first and then clone it and change the video for the others.
Hope this helps and good luck with your project!
Cheers, Rob
Thanks so much for your reply and advice Rob! 🙂
Sorry to clarify, but I wasn’t clear when looking at those products. OP1 seems to have a clear layout with modules etc. I hoped to create a website that has several columns for different ‘sections’ with modules under those that are released on a day by day basis (I think the wishlist plugin allows that).
So people can see the menu page with this matrix layout and then access whatever days they have access to so far.
I wasn’t sure how/if the ignition theme allows that!?
Also, it seems that many products now only give you 12 months worth of updates instead of unlimited, which means we basically have to pay an ongoing membership or risk problems when upgrading WP. I see Wishlist is like that as well as OP2.
Is that the case for all the membership plugins?
I appreciate your thoughts and quick response – 🙂
Buying a product without a support/update fee is really asking for trouble.
It is very hard for a company to have the resources to properly support the product forever without any income ongoing.
WordPress upgrades 8 or 9 times a year and can break things. New Browsers and New Phones arrived and need to work still.
Without a reasonable ongoing yearly upgrade charge you can expect a company to either provide poor support or just disappear after taking your initial purchase.
For anything complex like OP2 or thrive themes or wishlist I would feel very nervous trusting my business to a business that doesn’t make a charge.
It is a two way street you want continued support which has a cost to the company and you need to be prepared to cover that cost.
If it is a simpler program with little need to change or upgrade there might be a case to have a lifetime purchase price.
Other things that mark out good companies include a good knowledge base, well organised support system, easy to find changelog – so you know the changes made and great documentation.
It is hard to tell with a lot of launch whether they are in it for the big hit of cash or for the long term.
Depending on whether you are depending on the software or not you need to take more care.
Hi Dan,
I use Thrive Themes too. I moved from OP1 for the reasons you state here. The biggest issue is that OP1 is not updated to work with the latest versions of WP and they will not support it anymore. A non-starter.
Thrive themes are themes, not membership plugins. However, rather like OP1 had the membership site builder option, four of the Thrive Themes have ‘Apprentice’ which is their own version of a membership site structure. It is really intuitive and beautiful to use.
http://thrivethemes.com/introducing-thrive-apprentice/
In terms of locking the content and drip feeding it (plus taking payments), you will need to use a plugin for that. I know that Rob likes WishlistMember. I use DAP (Digital Access Pass), which is more powerful, but a bit harder to use at the start.
All membership plugins (that are worth having) are either monthly or annual subscriptions in terms of support and updates.
Hope this helps.
Paul
Thanks Paul – now I see why Rob recommended Ignition, that feature just wasn’t obvious to me!
Yes, I will definitely go with the annual subscription option as per your advice – it makes sense to pay for quality support!
It strikes me that apprentice is very much set up as being sequential in terms of how we set it up.
I had envisigaged 5 areas of education and moving from one to the other from day to day as the course progresses. Hence having all the different days laid out on one page in a matrix format with the columns being the 5 areas and the different days listed under each, becoming available as wishlist member allows. I think OP1 allowed me to do this quite well, but obviously I am steering away from that now for the reasons that you and Rob have put forward!
Can Ignite and apprentice also show the lessons in such a homepage?
Also, what is the support like? OP1 had lessons that showed how everything can be set up.
And lastly, have you ever looked at profitbuilder, what is your opinion on that?
The pages and layout are pretty customisable, so you can do most things.
Support is FIRST CLASS. I have never known support so good actually. Not only are the tutorials good, the support team answer forum questions really fast with amazing help.
Yes – you can reveal all the lessons, even with a small excerpt. You would then use DAP/Wishlist to lock them until the right time or when they have upgraded.
Do look at DAP. It all comes as one, whereas Wishlist requires additional money to get the extra features.
I have never looked at profit builder. Sorry.
Thanks Paul – yes, I heard DAP is very good, but also very advanced and a bit hard for a newbie. That’s why I am also looking at Member Press – thought this was a good review here:
http://chrislema.com/best-wordpress-membership-plugin-2014/
Good to know about the support! It’s hard to know what’s best when you hear such mixed things on the net! 🙂
Hi Guys,
I have had a closer look at Thrive – it seems really excellent for general website and lead page creation.
But the membership site part doesn’t seem to work that well or have much support. buggy and not working and lots of people in the forum wiht similar problems)
OP is very easy and has excellent explanation videos, but as discussed, not my option of choice.
I wonder if there is another alternative theme to use as a membership site theme??
Any thoughts?
Hi Dan,
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere I really like Canvas from Woothemes. Not quite sure about your comments on the “membership part” or having much support. I’ve always found stacks of support from them. Are you thinking of any bugs in particular?
Cheers, Rob.
Hi Rob,
Well, they are quick to respond, I give them them that – very impressive. In fact, I like the whole Thrive themes and the TCB plugin.
But I initially had problems with working the lessons which resolved when I deleted everything and started again.
My comments may have been a bit premature, I should wait for the issues to get resolved first. I just wonder how I will go with the integration with the member plugin, some people seem to have given up in the forum – time will tell – did you have any problems with wishlist member and apprentice?
One frustration I have is that I can only number the lessons along the categories/modules. My lesson jump between categories. So one lesson per day, with different categories as the course progresses. In OP1 you can order the lessons using a plugin that orders the pages, but this doesn’t work with the lessons in apprentice.
So when you click next lesson, instead of going to the next lesson which is in another category, it will go to the next lesson in the same category.
There doesn’t seem to be many blogs about how to structure online courses either. Perhaps my approach isn’t that common, but it seems logical!
Thanks for clarifying Dan – My mistake as I didn’t realize you were referring to their “Apprentice” product/feature. I haven’t actually used this myself so thanks for pointing out these issues. I do know it’s a pretty new system so hopefully they’ll solve them and improve it generally over time.
Happy New Year!
Rob
I am using Apprentice, although I have not launched it yet. I will also be setting it up with DAP.
What I can say is that Apprentice is at least as user friendly as OP1 for memberships, and in many ways, even easier. What I love about thrive themes is that they respond, code, adjust and take on comments REALLY quickly. If your method of moving to ‘next lesson’ is something that others would also like, then they will build it in as an option.
For my part – I have made each category a module. For this reason, each lesson follows on within each module.
Hope that helps.
Paul
Thanks for the input Paul – much appreciated 🙂
Kind regards,
Rob
HI Paul
How are you going with Apprentice and DAP.
Apprentice doesn’t seem quite ready yet to me with lots of challenges to get a full site running! I am about 3 weeks from building the site and still feel not fully confident it’s up to scratch.
Didy you manage to get the site up and running?
By the way, your advice about thrive content builder is really great – the pages seem to look not so salesy – much friendlier than OP1!!!
To be honest, I have taken a break from it. I am working on a different product at the moment. However, it is next on my list Sinai will feed back as soon as I get to it.
Paul
Yes, I imagine it’s a lot of coding work, what you say makes sense. I chose wishlist because it seems to allow the daily drip feeding of the content – would you recommend another alternative for this?
Hi
I was also a happy OP1 user. But my host was not pleased. Due to a bug there was a lot of spam to this server. I moved that site, upgrade to newust version. I still have my membership site running with this host since I had new clients starting and did not want to move it yet.
I figured to move the memerbship and starting with OP2, but noticed it was to much different, that since building sites is not my core business I asked some one to do it for me. She mentioned the same remarks as was posted in this review.
So I now paid for OP2 and rebuilding my membership site. And still haven’t what I want.
I figured “lets stay with OP1 and Wishlist in combo”, but recently my video and audio aren’t showing any more. I use s3 flowshield for my s3 content with Amazon and flowplayer.
Since last weeks I have been running into problems. Not have changed a thing myself.
And not knowing whether it is the combination of it all.
I am desperate now since I have my new clients in my membership and they can’t play the materials.
On top of that OP does not reply to my request.
And with S3 flowshield en flowplayer I can not find what is wrong, The suggestions they have given me do not help.
I’d like to rebuild the whole thing but am afraid to purchase something not knowing what is the best solution.
Hope you have a suggestion what works best.
The context is that I have wishlist member content at Amazon s3.
Looking forward to your reply
Dittavv
Hi Dittavv,
On the hacking side exactly the same thing happened to me. In fact if you search online you’ll see one of the older version of OP1.0 had a security flaw in it which allow malicious scripts to upload to the server. This loophole was closed by OP but obviously it caused a lot of headaches for people running that particular version. These things happen and I don’t think it’s representative of wide poor standards by OP who are generally very clued up.
As for your current difficulties I would recommend:
Wishlist Member
Thrive Content Builder (and Canvas or Ignition theme)
Easy Video Suite
Amazon S3
That’s a rock solid combination that shouldn’t let you down. Whatever you decide I wish you well though as I have had similar problems myself in the past. As bad as it seems at the time it does get better eventually, so stick with it!
Finally, in terms of your users I’m sure you are anyway but if you are proactive in informing them of problems the vast majority will understand and be patient.
Good luck and thanks for taking the time to post here 🙂
Kind regards,
Rob.
Dear Rob,
A really useful blog. Thanks for taking time to put this together.
I am new to all of this exciting online working and invested time, money and sweat (if I am allowed to say this) working with Optimize Press. Although it has some benefits getting a few content pages up and running here and there , I know regret having invested in this as I ran into a couple of bugs and crashes when working with the Live Editor. A sales page creation took me almost over 2 days and I had the written content and graphics in place before hand..The only work around is to disable other plug ins etc…and a lot other tech stuff I have no clue about.
I definitely look into Thrive and I should have taken your invitation to go for that product in Nov 2015 when the promotion was on.
Thanks
Marcus
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences Marcus, much appreciated. Thrive is still worth every single penny and even after the modest price increase it still comes out a lot cheaper (and better value overall) than many of the alternatives. I use it 2-3 days per week and it just gets better and better in my opinion.
Whichever way you decide to go, best wishes with your projects going forward 🙂
Cheers, Rob.
Funny. I adore OptimizePress 2.0. And I really hate LeadPages. (Although there are some features of LeadPages that OptimizePress really needs to incorporate. ) You can make global changes to OptimizePress, by the way. I prefer to use it as a plugin with a different theme, and any CSS modifications made to the main theme will carry through to OP pages. You can of course change it on a page-by-page basis if you wish to.
It does have its glitches though, which is how I landed upon this blog post because it popped up in my search. The glitches seem to have more to do with one’s hosting plan than with OP itself. I can say this because having worked with many different clients who have many different hosting plans and other variables, the same problems do not arise across the board with the same versions or even identical setups of OP.
Hi Kim,
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, very much appreciated 🙂
All the best,
Rob.
I am now totally done with Optimize press. They are incredibly glitchy, and their ‘Live Editor’ is constantly clashing with different plugins, and even some versions of WordPress! Their page builder is so non-intuitive as to be stressful, and their customer service is terrible.
The last straw for me is I cannot update a page that I have changed the Buy it Now link to my ‘money’ product, and have gone through all of their troubleshooting, and it still will not update. This happened on a Saturday night, so I didn’t get customer service until Monday morning when they wrote me asking me a question.
I responded at 6 am PST and didn’t hear from them all day. Come to find out they are on London time, so i now won’t hear from them until tomorrow, and my ‘money’ page will have been down for 2 1/2 days… if they fix the problem tomorrow morning.
They have no phone number to call, and no other way to get hold of them for something urgent… like your money page going down because of a glitch in their system. Plus, unless you want to re-create all of your pages with a new pagebuilder, getting rid of them is dang hard, and you’ll always have to renew because the pages will not work with updated wordpress versions. So, once you use their non-intuitive glitchy page builder and bad customer service, you’ll be stuck with them forever.
I have never tried OptimizePress, so I am not aware of it. For creating landing pages, I have always used my Divi Plugin. Thrive Architect and Lead Pages seem to be a bit costlier than Divi.
I will give these two options a try soon.
Thanks for your thoughts Nirmal, much appreciated.