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Rajeev Bagra

GoDaddy Website Builder versus WooCommerce for your online store

Blog, Brand (WordPress), Brands, GoDaddy, Web Development & Internet Marketing, WooCommerce, WordPress

GoDaddy Website Builder is a proprietary software by GoDaddy. Creating a website/e-store is as easy as operating your Facebook/Instagram account. With simple drag and drop, you end up launching a complete website/e-store within an hour.

Here is our website fincosec.co.uk built with Godaddy Website Builder software. With a few clicks, I was able to connect our Stripe account for accepting payments.

I would suggest making use of the free trial to see if your needs are met by GoDaddy Website Builder. At times, a few tweaks might work for pain points.

Create a free website with GoDaddy!

For instance, GoDaddy Store allows having variants of a product.

While putting for sale a digital product, I needed three variants:

(1) Domain for sale: The buyer will buy only the domain name and not the connected website.

(2) Website for sale: The buyer will buy only the connected website without domain name. While the ownership of the website will be transferred to the buyer, the domain will not be transferred. The seller will still have the ownership of the domain name that he will disconnect from the sold website.

(3) Domain + Website for sale:

The accurate working should have a feature if the domain is sold, there is still a listing of the website for sale while removing the domain + website for sale variant. Similarly, if the website is sold, the domain listing is active while removing the domain + website variant. If the third variant (Domain + Websiite for sale) is purchased, the first two should be inactivated. Also, free shipping if not quantity (set to 1 as part of tweaking) is not relevant.

GoDaddy Community Forum

All such tweaks are not possible with GoDaddy Website Builder. At most, I could set the quantity equal to 1 for all the three variants. Now, this is faulty. If someone buys a domain (first variant), the website (second variant) and domain + website (third variant) will still be available for sale. Of course, once it comes to my notice that the domain sold, I can remove the two variants manually. In case indeed payment is made, arranging a refund is only a matter of a few clicks. Yet, this is not perfect and might even not be acceptable. Open source CMS WordPress plugin WooCommerce can meet such customized needs. You might need to hire a developer in case available readymade features of the plugin or its addon fail to meet your needs. The problem with GoDaddy Website Builder is that you are out of options very fast if available drag and drop features do not meet your specific needs. With WooCommerce, you can change the underlying codes, something GoDaddy Website Builder will not allow.

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Demo of client reports feature with Flywheel’s Growth Suite while putting LivePlan and Semrush in context

Blog, Brand (WordPress), Brands, Flywheel, Web Development & Internet Marketing, WordPress, WP Engine

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you choose to click through and make a purchase, we will receive a small commission at no cost to you. We were also compensated to create this post, though all opinions are our own.

For this post, we take a look at three popular software that primarily belong to different niches but some of their functions overlap.

Position Tracking Tool

1. LivePlan

Primarily a business plan tool. Main reasons why LIvePlan used:

  • Create a business plan that can be submitted to potential investors, business partners, and get funding.
  • Prepare a sales forecast.
  • Test a new business idea.

LivePlan is relevant for both offline and online businesses.

When your business has an online element, Semrush and Flywheel will enter into your consideration. Even in case you do not have an in-house website/app, Semrush will be handy for social media optimization.

2. Semrush

With Semrush, you get SEO tools including keyword research, competitive research, rank tracking, link building, on page & tech SEO. You can integrate Semrush for on page optimization of your websites (say hosted on Flywheel). Zero in which keywords your content should target for getting your website on the first page of Google. And then keep a track of rankings with Semrush website tracking tool.

3. Flywheel

At some point, every business of today finds their identity in owning a website, irrespective of say leads coming from Amazon marketplace/Facebook. Once you choose WordPress as your platform of choice to build the website, Flywheel has managed WordPress hosting.

Financial forecasting

With LivePlan, you ask where do you get your revenue? Add major products, services, or other sources of revenue. Organize them into sensible higher-level groups. With a fitness center, for example, you might have group memberships, individuals, personal training, and counter sales. Direct costs, Personnel, Expenses, Assets, Taxes, Dividends, Cash Flow Assumptions, Financing are part of your Financial Tables. LivePlan helps prepare projected Profit & Loss, projected Balance Sheet, and projected Cash Flow for the next 3 to 5 years. For a web hosting service provider/web agency, Growth Suite can replace the need to have LivePlan for financial forecasting.

In other words, while LivePlan can be used for financial forecasting of any business, Growth Suite by Flywheel can well take care of financial forecasting of your business if you operate in the web hosting niche.

LivePlan, Semrush, and Flywheel for clients

For freelancers/consultants/developers/agencies/web hosting service providers, there are products that help deliver the core offerings by LivePlan, Semrush, Flywheel from a context of you as a service provider to your clients. For accountants, consultants, there is LivePlan for Strategic Advisors. A parallel can be drawn with Growth Suite by Flywheel and Semrush for Agencies.

All the 3 – LivePlan for Strategic Advisors, Semrush for agencies, Growth Suite by Flywheel – have client management and client reporting features. Lead generation tool in the form of a directory listing.

Demo of client reports feature with Flywheel’s Growth Suite

Flywheel’s all-in-one solution to grow your agency combines managed WordPress web hosting and client management in one dashboard. In case you use Semrush for keyword research, you can include your findings with the client reports generated through Growth Suite.

Flywheel’s all-in-one solution to grow your agency combines managed WordPress web hosting and client management in one dashboard under your own brand (white label). Know more and sign up here.

Leverage machine learning capabilities of Amazon Polly with AWS for WordPress plugin

AWS

For a WordPress website, one of the the easiest yet effective ways to leverage machine learning capabilities of AWS is by leveraging Amazon Polly services bundled for WordPress users as AWS for WordPress plugin.

https://aws.amazon.com/polly/
https://wordpress.org/plugins/amazon-polly/

Activated this plugin for WebOStOp.com blog section that now has a audio version of each post.

From My Security Credentials of your AWS account, copy Access Key details.

Paste the same on fields under AWS, General.

AWS

Now go to each published post and enable Text-To-Speech feature.

Now, AWS for WordPress plugin is also activated for this site. I chose to add the Hindi and Bengali translation options. At the time of this writing, while the translation feature is working, the audio version not working despite being enabled. This might be due to a conflict with a plugin, theme, or any latest updates.

Plesk Obsidian on Ubuntu (Web Admin Edition SE – FREE): Lightsail performance appears better than EC2

AWS, AWS LightSail, Blog, Brands, EC2, Plesk, Web Development & Internet Marketing

Initially, launched a couple of instances on AWS Lightsail of Plesk Obsidian on Ubuntu (Web Admin Edition SE – FREE). The results were satisfactory. If there is an issue with the scarcity of memory resources manifesting in the slow loading of websites, you can upgrade. This is unlike on EC2 wherein you suddenly lose access to Plesk admin dashboard as well as WordPress admin dashboard.

When the 3 sites were of small sizes with less than 10 blog posts, I lose access apparently because of lack of free space.

The same outcome followed despite the content of the websites remaining the same while upgrading instance types from t3.small to t3a.medium and finally m5a.large in the course of few days.

To be fair, it is clearly mentioned in the catalog:

Note: Plesk runs smoothly on a t3.micro instance for not more than 3 websites or domains with a small load. Note: In case you need the full Plesk functionality and/or larger instance types and/or more available AWS regions, please refer to the commercial Plesk AMIs on the AWS Marketplace (Web Host Editions).

If you have AWS credits and do not intend to pay a subscription fee to Plesk, going with this same Plesk Obsidian on Ubuntu (Web Admin Edition SE – FREE) on Lightsail instead of EC2 works better by my experience.

Cloud computing technologies for startups: Tips based on our experience as a startup from India

AWS, Blog, Brands, Cloud Computing/Startup Resource, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, Microsoft, News, Offers, Oracle Cloud, Partner News, Web Development & Internet Marketing, WordPress, WordPress.org, WP Engine

Given the promising outlook of cloud computing, start building expertise around cloud computing technologies by choosing one or more of the leading brands: Amazon Web Service (AWS), Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Digital Ocean, Alibaba Cloud. All of them have special packages for startups with liberal credits to learn, try new ideas. Even if you do not join or not approved for their startup or partner programs, you can register as a customer and chances are you still get free perks/credits.

  1. AWS
  2. WP Engine
  3. Microsoft
  4. IBM Cloud
  5. Oracle Cloud
  6. Google Cloud
  7. Hitachi Vantara
  8. OVH Cloud
1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)

If AWS, follow the course roadmap prescribed as part of AWS certifications while joining as AWS Partner. As a Registered AWS Partner (free tier), you will learn about cloud technologies while nurturing your skills as a consultant/developer. We are a Registered Consulting Partner. As AWS Partner, you can align to Software (ISV), Hardware, Services (Consulting), Training, or Distribution path.

APN Consulting Partner

For India, a great way to avail of free credit from AWS (5000$) and DigitalOcean (1000$) is to signup for the StartupIndia program and get DPIIT (also called DIPP) recognition.

AWS credit for Startup India

Point taken that DIPP recognition has its own criterion of being incorporated as a private limited company or registered as a partnership firm or a limited liability partnership. This might not be suitable for newbies or those who prefer to be freelancers in true spirit. Now, any startup (not just registered with StartupIndia or DIPP recognized) can apply for the AWS Activate Founders program and subject to meeting their conditions be granted 1350$ AWS credit (1,000 USD in AWS credits, valid for two years, and $350 USD in AWS Developer Support credits valid for one year). One can apply for both, (possibility to avail  $100,000 in AWS Activate credits).

Still an easier way to avail your first 5k AWS credit can be through Intercom: Read here:

Maximizing AWS Activate: How to Unlock $5,000 in Credits for Your Startup

Review us on AWS

2. WP Engine

Simultaneously, consider partnering with technology companies like WPEngine for developing state-of-the-art websites powered by WordPress (WP Engine is an AWS Partner Network (APN) Advanced Technology Partner with the AWS Digital Customer Experience Competency). We are a WPEngine Agency Partner. For agencies and end-users, it perhaps makes more sense to opt for such hosting solutions that take care of most back end technology stuff. Agencies stay focused on creating content as part of generating a great client experience; clients stay focused on their core work which is not maintaining servers like AWS. WP Engine’s technology improves site speed, while providing the intelligence to make it even faster. Tools like Local + WP Engine Connect make WP Engine relevant for hard-core developers too.

Headless WordPress with Atlas is the latest innovative feature by WP Engine and all agency partners are provided extensive free support to leverage this opportunity to make WordPress sites load absurdly fast.

https://wpengine.com/support/headless/

Contact us for your WP Engine needs here

3. Microsoft

Now, coming to Microsoft, it appears that they are not as liberal as AWS when it comes to providing credit to startups. Nevertheless, Microsoft has a unique set of features, and there are ways by which startups can associate with Microsoft for free.

The best way perhaps should be by registering under Microsoft for Startups, but this has its own criteria which might not be fulfilled by all. Till recently, Microsoft for Startups program was open to only those startups who were registered with a list of accelerators/incubators.

Now, the program in limited preview is open to all founders. They are reviewing applications on a rolling basis and will notify you if you are granted access.

So if your company is not approved for Microsoft for Startup Founders Hub, there are other resources for startups and small businesses to explore:

Bring your startup’s ideas to life with an Azure free account.
Join the Microsoft Partner Network a to expand your business, engage customers, earn more, and get discounts on Microsoft products.
Discover the most popular Microsoft products for startups, including Visual Studio, Microsoft 365 Business, Power BI, and Dynamics 365, plus the GitHub development platform.

With Microsoft Partner Networks, one can start for free albeit paid subscriptions (Microsoft Action Pack) will help leverage the program to its full.

4. IBM Cloud

In addition to free forever lite plan by IBM, there is Startup with IBM program. 

We applied for the Builder Plan and initially got approved.

Hi Rajeev, welcome to Startup with IBM!

Congratulations, you have been accepted into the Startup with IBM program.
Your account number is confirmed and as follow:

To complete your registration and to begin your partnership journey with IBM, follow these simple steps:

1. Access your $1,000 monthly credit on IBM Cloud
Step 1: Check your inbox for a separate email titled “Action Required! Complete your IBMid – SoftLayer identity link.” (you might need to check your spam folders) Step 2: Click the “Complete Registration” link within that email to complete your account registration.
2. Get started building with the platform
Log in with your IBMid credentials to browse the IBM Cloud Services Catalog. From core concepts to beginners tutorials, visit IBM docs and find the information you need to start using IBM Cloud.
3. Sell with IBM

Once you’ve built your solution, expand your audience! Get in front of 25 million customers, partners, and developers, and access leading buyers and sellers around the globe through IBM Marketplace. Refer to IBM Partners for more information.
Reference your resources
Build your skills and develop competencies on IBM technologies with learning paths. Access 100 code patterns across Data, AI, and Cloud to accelerate your integration of IBM technology!  Login to check your account credit on your IBM Cloud Account (account > billing > invoices). For support, visit IBM Cloud support. “Talk to an Expert” is the easiest way of getting any issue resolved!
Need access to our 24/7 support? Contact our Technical and Sales Engineering teams by simply opening a ticket via the portal under “Support.” View the IBM Cloud Catalog. Learn more about IBM Cloud (Infrastructure).

Regards,
The Startup with IBM Team

Refer to our Cloud Service Agreement and the Startup with IBM Addendum for additional offer details.

The bad news is that within few days, this credit was reversed on the ground of not meeting the criteria. Although the exact reason was not given, still I understand it was because we were not aligned with their list of accelerators/incubators.

IBM continues to provide various opportunities for startups and their founders to expand within their respective IT domains, which may involve participating in programs such as the IBM Partner Plus, IBM TechXchange Community, and IBM Champions.

5. Oracle cloud

Oracle is providing a free trial and credit (expire after 730 days) to all new signups.

Oracle Cloud too has a free, forever tier. Oracle has inherent expertise in database technology that is part and parcel of any hosting experience.

Right now, they are also selectively offering free migration, something not available with AWS, Microsoft Azure or IBM.

For startups and developers, a better way to initiate a relationship with Oracle Cloud is to signup for Oracle for Startups program.

(For easy access to links, pasting the content of the email below)

Welcome to Oracle for Startups! I’ll be acting as your primary point of contact during this part of the program – I’m here to help, so please reach out to me directly if you have any questions. As a starting point, please create a profile for your company in our Startup Portal here:

https://oraclestartupbeat.com/StartupPortal/?root=register

Through the Startup Portal, you can do the following:

  • Request for migration support
  • Request additional cloud credits
  • Level up for access to marketing and customers
  • Request a meeting with an Oracle mentor
  • Access videos, success stories and technical documentation

Additionally, here are a few resources you might find helpful as you start to build on Oracle Cloud:

It is a privilege to have you in the Oracle for Startups family. Please consider joining us for an upcoming event or ask-me-anything session and let me know how I can help you with any questions.

Best,

Kenan Kitchen

Oracle for Startups – North America

Email: [email protected]

www.oracle.com/startup/

Although we did not use Oracle Cloud till now, our experience with Oracle for Startups somewhat resonates with this somewhat negative review. Despite tall claims of mentorship under the program, we could not spot any mentor.

6. Google cloud

Earlier Google Cloud had a startup program ‘designed for early-stage companies backed by a select group of Google Cloud for Startups investors (VC, incubator, or accelerator) and minimum viable product.’

 As mentioned on the above email, “We unfortunately are not able to accept your application at this time, since our program is less applicable for small businesses, consultancies, and agencies solely providing services. We also cannot accept blogs, devshops, educational institutions, government entities, nonprofits, or cryptomining companies.” This actually is true for many other startup programs by technology companies.

The possibility remains, “If your product is in stealth mode, we recommend reapplying at cloud.google.com/startup when you have more materials for our team to review.”

Like with other cloud technology service providers, there are multiple ways to grow if not approved for the startup programs. For Google Cloud, “Additionally, here are some other credit opportunities and helpful content as you consider building on GCP:

Irrespective of whether you actually apply for the Google Startup Program and get approved, I believe the resource https://startup.google.com/ is worthy for all startups, freelancers, web developers, small businesses willing to go online.

Comprehensive guide to how Google Cloud can support your startup’s innovation and growth.

Get the whitepaper.

Update: 15 June 2022

Pre-funding startups now covered by the Google for Startups Cloud Program (Source: Google Startup Newsletter dated 15 June 2022)

Bootstrapped or pre-funding startups are now covered by the Google for Startups Cloud Program
While we’ve had great response to our updated Google for Startups Cloud program, one of the big things we were hearing from customers was how they could get more support earlier in their journey, ahead of raising venture funding. Our mission is to enable all startups to build, grow, and scale on Google Cloud regardless of where they are in their journey, and at the Google Cloud Startup Summit on June 2nd we announced that the Google for Startups Cloud Program is now supporting bootstrapped startups.

We will now be offering all startups that meet some basic eligibility criteria $2,000 USD in Google Cloud Credits to be spent over 2 years. If you’re interested, go to our application page and fill out the form using the instructions at the top.
7. hitachi vantara

Founded in 2017, Hitachi Vantara is relatively new and perhaps lesser brand visibility than compared to others we have till now covered.

Partners at Center of Hitachi Vantara’s FY23 Strategy

Know more about their partner program here: Your Next Market Opportunity Meets Our Data-Driven Vision.

8. OVH Cloud

OVH Cloud is a well known cloud hosting service provider in Europe. They have a startup program which demands innovative ideas and its approval rate is limited compared to say startups credits by Google or AWS. OVH Cloud Partner program requires subscription to their Premium Support (56$ per month).

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