All The Gems You Need To Build A Successful Business
Here is a list of tools resources that I currently use, have used in the past, or have done enough research on to feel comfortable referring to you. Like anything else that is referred to you, I would advise to you to do your own research on each of the recommended below. Over the past 7 years I have received questions on what tools to use and here is my SHORT list:
The look and feel of your website is crucial for delivering a great user experience.
Here are my favorite theme shops and designs plugins. I highly recommend that you read this guide on selecting a WordPress theme before you make any decisions.
Elegant Themes – Create Drag + Drop Sales Pages via WordPress. They have tons of training videos, so it’s really easy to get set up and start using it.
Themify – Beautiful responsive premium WordPress themes that are fast and easy to use.
StudioPress – The company behind the popular Genesis framework. Not just another WordPress Site. The ease of an all-in-one website builder with the flexible power of WordPress. Launch your new site today!
Making sure that your website is secure and loads fast is detrimental to your success. Below are my favorite security & performance tools:
Carbonite – Backup Your Computer Files with Carbonite. If your computer crashed or you accidentally deleted something, or you upgraded your computer, you can easily restore your files using Carbonite.
Liquid Web – Move to a managed VPS service at Liquid Web. They keeping an eye on things, so if something happens, they get to work on it without you having to notice and track them down to fix it.
Sucuri – AntiVirus and Firewall for your website. They help protect you against hack attacks and DDoS attacks on your website. They will also clean up your website if you ever get hacked (for free).
VaultPress – Real-time WordPress backups for your website. This is like a time-capsule for your website. If something goes wrong, you can go back in time. Backups are the best security you can have.
WP Super Cache – Best free caching plugin for WordPress. Caching is a must have for every website because it reduces server load and significantly speeds up your website.
Is Up – Type in your website URL to find out if your website is down for everyone or just you.
Want to get more traffic and subscribers on your website? Here are the best WordPress SEO and marketing plugins to help you boost your website traffic.
Yoast SEO – the best free WordPress SEO plugin. Helps you create meta titles, descriptions, keywords, sitemaps, and everything else that you need.
One of the best ways to monetize a website is through an online store. Below are the best eCommerce solutions.
WooCommerce – The most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin. Easily add an online store on your WordPress website. See our tutorial on how to add an online store.
Shopify – Fast growing all-inclusive eCommerce platform that integrates with WordPress. Very easy to use for beginners. Very easy to setup and completely hassle-free.
Easy Digital Downloads – Makes it easy to sell digital products with WordPress. Great for selling eBooks or online software.
Samcart – SamCart helps you sell more digital products and services on the internet.
Another way to monetize your website is by creating a membership website and offering premium content to paying subscribers. Below are the best WordPress membership plugins.
aMember – It’s a great system as a shopping cart, membership site manager, digital content protection, selling software access or more. Highly recommended.
WishListMember – Quickly protect your content with WishList Member. Unzip, upload and within minutes you’ll have your own membership site! A powerful, yet easy to use membership software solution that can turn any WordPress site into a full-blown membership site.
MemberPress – Easy to setup membership plugin that allows you to add content access control, content dripping, and integrates with most popular marketing and payment solutions.
AccessAlly– Finally! The solution to your Infusionsoft, Ontraport, ConvertKit, and Active Campaign membership site headache is here to save you time and money! WordPress + Full Website Membership Solution = Match Made in Heaven
PopupAlly – Popup List Building Tool for WordPress. Use this tool to create the popups on your blog or website. It can help to grow your list by hundreds superfast.
Active Campaign – This is the shopping cart / list management service I now use to run my business, and I absolutely LOVE it! It’s an incredibly powerful system for selling online, closing sales, and following up with clients.
Convert Kit – Email marketing for professional bloggers. Simple, elegant sending with the automation and tagging features that you actually need as a professional blogger.
Aweber – Biz Email Management for email marketing that’s awesome. Aweber is a go-to choice for just a stand-alone autoresponder service for email list management.
Click Funnels – I use this program to set up squeeze pages for calls, webinars, and offers quickly and easily with their built-in customizable template
Leadpages – The #1 Landing Page Builder. Leadpages generates leads and sales for your business on the web, in emails, via text messaging, and on social media.
Sumome – Free Tools to automate your site growth
Kajabi - Diversify your revenue, build your brand, and turn your audience into customers with Kajabi. Monetize your knowledge and experience with courses. Build branded and engaging subscription memberships that earn you recurring revenue. Create an exclusive and safe space for your fans to connect and thrive in a gated member community. Build customized coaching programs with built-in live videos, calendar integrations, and collaborative notes. (I currently use this platform, click the title to receive a 14-day FREE Trial)
Kartra - Finally a platform that does it all. Unlock the power of a single software for all your marketing needs. Attract, sell, and scale effortlessly. Attract customers with websites and pages. Captivate attention with videos and webinars. Build relationships through email marketing. Sell your expertise with membership websites. (I currently use this platform, click the title to receive a 14-day FREE Trial)
LifterLMS – Complete Learning Management system. Create courses with lessons, quizzes, surveys, and more. Easily manage students and add gasification with awards & certificates.
Thinkific – Helping businesses through online education. Easily create, market, and sell online courses.
Teachable – Create and sell beautiful online courses. Your skills and experiences are unique and valuable. Easily build a beautiful course website, share your knowledge, and be rewarded for it.
Bluehost – One of the oldest web hosts started in 1996. Great for small businesses. I use them for my smaller websites.
Hostgator – Powerful web hosting that is easy and affordable. HostGator give you a vast array of tools to take your idea or business online today!
GoDaddy – Run your small business anywhere. Fast and reliable, uptime guarantee. Includes domain, setup, support.
WebinarJam – The only webinar system that produces complete Live Stream Events, from registration to replay.
Crowdcast – Teach, share and connect over webinars, Q&As, live courses and summits.
Zoom – Video and Web Conferencing Service for online meetings and training.
InstantTeleseminar.com – Host Online Calls with Instant Telesiminar. Use this awesome tool to host + record training calls your programs.
Free Conference Call – The leading conference call service provider offering free conference calling with a full suite of collaboration tools.
WebinarJam – The only webinar system that produces complete Live Stream Events, from registration to replay.
Crowdcast – Teach, share and connect over webinars, Q&As, live courses and summits.
Zoom – Video and Web Conferencing Service for online meetings and training.
InstantTeleseminar.com – Host Online Calls with Instant Telesiminar. Use this awesome tool to host + record training calls your programs.
Free Conference Call – The leading conference call service provider offering free conference calling with a full suite of collaboration tools.
Trello – Trello lets you work more collaboratively and get more done. Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible and rewarding way.
PostPlanner – The best content is the right content. Browse recommended feeds based on your industry and interests. Discover new content by keyword, hashtag, Facebook page or Twitter handle. Gather your favorite content in one place.
Run Your Coaching Programs with Jigsawbox – In short — JigsawBox does 3 things to help you grow your coaching business:
1) Turn your expertise into online coaching programs — so you can make money while you sleep… and stop trading coaching “hours-for-dollars”, which lets you get new coaching clients, help more people and change lives…. even when you’re not there.
2) Help your clients get results faster, more effectively — by organizing your coaching conversations with them in one central place, clients can quickly see their past sessions, current goals and challenges to focus on. Plus, you’ll discover the power of “written coaching” in a whole new way!
3) Take care of the “techie” stuff so you can focus on what you do best — coaches make money coaching, not dealing with software. You can forget all about it. Let them take care of that for you.
Hello Sign – The easy way to do contracts for your team.
DocuSign – Sign contracts and documents electronically.
Active Inbox – Turn your gmail inbox into a task manager.
Vocaroo – Online voice recorder. Use it to send quick audio replies and messages to your team.
Disclosure: In the spirit of full disclosure some of these tools may be my affiliate link, which means I may receive compensation from some of the entities listed here for referrals, as their “thank you” for sending you their way. However, I never recommend any service or product solely for the reason of receiving commissions (and neither should you).
