Landing Page Editor advice needed (7)
I've read tons of threads on LP editors and creators, and have researched most of them but I can't seem to find just a simple landing page editor/creator that will make creating simple landing pages simple.
I know html/php and am decent with css, but am not good at design. I would like to be able to grab a design, for instance from the samples here in STM, and easily switch out elements, re=position, etc., so I can quickly create many variations for testing. And on a mac.
From what I've seen, there seems to be several categories of products to help with this:
1. Text editor - code by hand. Quick and Easy but in my case, horrible designs.
2. Simple WYSIWYG type Webpage editors like Rapidweaver, BlueGriffon. These seem ok, but not designed for landing pages and lack things like LP templates, LP objects (arrows, buttons, offer images, etc.)
3. Full featured Webpage editors like Muse. Looks like I could spend hours and hours creating multiple versions of just one LP after a steep learning curve. And I don't know how efficient their resulting code is either
4. Landing Page specific plugins for wordpress like OptimizePress. Looks great, but I have seen advice in the forum against using these. Performance problems? Not sure why these shouldn't be used.
5. Landing Page specific software that looks great for creating quick and simple landing pages, but they all seem to charge, not only monthly usage fees, but traffic charges for visitors too!
So my questions are:
1. Isn't there some piece of Mac software that focuses on Landing Pages, that has templates and makes it simple, but doesn't charge for traffic to the pages you create? Maybe I'm wrong, but I really don't like that pricing model. It seems like renting a shovel and then having to pay for each hole you dig on top of the rent! 
Am I thinking about this wrong?
2. What do the pros here use? And what would they suggest that a beginner start with?
I think you should focus on building landers quickly and hosting them yourself, not using any sort of SaaS like Leadpages.
Muse is great and the code isn't too bad, just needs a very simple (and repetitive) clean up each time, which you can automate.
However it won't open web pages and allow WYSIWYG editing. I believe Google Web Designer allows this, and perhaps Pinegrow, but don't expect great mileage out of this approach unless they are templates/pages that you originally built.
Otherwise, simple HTML/CSS editing usually is the fastest way of editing page elements - and for that you should use things like Firefox/Chromes web dev tools (I <3 Firefox for real-time CSS editing), and perhaps Adobe Edge Code (not sure if Macpatible?)
There is no simple way to create good landing pages, I'm afraid.
Wordpress plugins are slooooooooooow and very inflexible.
Sites like Unbounce are inflexible and their hosting is also often slow.
The best option for what you want is probably Google Web Designer, but it comes with a learning curve!
BTW - don't overestimate how much design you need. You DON'T need your landers to look super-professional to make a lot of money in AM.
Thanks to both of you for the great information! Perhaps I am overestimating how well the design needs to be. I will do some pages by hand and I also found a basic program called Sandvox (similar to GWD, but simpler I think) I will use to compare with and see what happens. I guess the biggest thing is to get started and see what works, huh?
Thanks again!
Yep! Test and see.
You wouldn't believe how well some really shitty-looking landers can convert.
why think so hard ? learn up some html and CSS, using dreamweaver and text editor, eg : ultraedit. You can setup a virtualbox as your development box, soon you will pro and churning out like there is no tomorrow, then outsource to others so you can concentrate with other important tasks. I'm really don't understand why some people so reluctant to learn up technical skills, once learn, forever will remember, no need to know how to operate a car right ? those tools listed are really not so helpful. to learn those dreamweaver or photoshop, just focus a feature and get good at it, thats all it take, no need to know everything the software offer.
Well, we'll see how my shitty landers work!
I'm quite proficient in html and ok with css. Design is my weak point. So I'll find some simple example landers, get the code and use as a template and see.
Thanks again
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