When I got started online I wish someone would have told me the very best tools to use in my business. It would have saved a LOT of testing and heartache. Plus hours upon hours of trial and error.
So I’ve decided to share the very best tools I’ve discovered over the past 7 years. Inside this article, you’ll get exclusive access to my favorite tools for automating, delegating, and outsourcing my business…
Aweber – This is one is probably pretty obvious. If you’re not building a list of engaged subscribers, you’re NOT building a business. I wish someone would have kicked me in the butt and forced me to start building my list from Day 1. It should be the sole, primary focus of your business.
WordPress – This is the #1 blogging platform online. Makes it super easy to create great-looking websites on the fly. I remember back in the day when I used to code websites by hand. Can you imagine? Oh… how things have changed 🙂 WordPress makes it super easy to create great looking websites.
Lead Pages – This is a tool that I WISH was around when I first got started. Lead Pages makes it super easy to create squeeze pages, landing pages, launch pages, sales pages, webinar invites, welcome gates, and much, much more. Plus, they’re completely mobile responsive. Allows you to create new pages in 5 minutes or less. Which I love – because that means I can get things into the market even faster.
OptimizePress 2.0 – OP is very similar to LeadPages in that it allows you to create squeeze pages, pre-launch pages, sales letters, and complete funnels. It’s a bit more ‘techie’ than Lead Pages – but offers more flexibility. I own both LeadPages and OptimizePress and use both. I like Optimize Press in particular for creating my membership and product areas. (i.e. the look and feel of the product area itself). Which LeadPages doesn’t provide. So while they do have a lot of cross-over – I find both of them indespensable. I use LeadPages when I want to deploy something quickly and OP when I want more flexibility and options.
Wishlist Member – Turn any WordPress site into a full-blown membership site. This is the software I use to run ALL of my products. Integrates directly with PayPal, Clickbank, Infusionsoft, and many others.
Wishlist is essentially for creating membership sites but you can use it to create ANY type of product.
Wistia – This is where I host all of my videos. It works extremely well for video hosting and creating custom video players. But what I like best about it is that I’m able to upload my raw GoToWebinar files and create a video player that is compatible with all mobile devices.
Camtasia Studio – This is the software I use to create ALL of our videos. It’s one of the best when it comes to creating screencast videos. In fact, all of our products have been created entirely on Camtasia.
Adtrackz Gold – This is where I do all of my tracking so that I know exactly how much traffic is coming from each traffic source. Along with how many of those visitors are converting into subscribers and sales.
If you don’t know the effectiveness of each of your different traffic sources – there’s no way to scale. You MUST measure to improve.
GoToWebinar – Webinars are one of the most powerful tools for marketing and engaging with your community.
DiyWPBlog.com – This guy is a tech wizard who makes my life easier.
PayPal – We use PayPal as our main payment processor for almost all of our products.
GumRoad – This PayPal alternative is becoming VERY popular online. GumRoad allows you to setup your product and start taking payments in a matter of minutes. Here’s a great video about this all-in-one platform.
DigiResults.com – Create an affiliate program for your products quickly and easily. DigiResults also allows you to setup instant payments for your affiliates.
Hybrid Connect – Create beautiful, engaging pop-ups for your blog and dramatically increase your opt-in rate.
99designs.com – 99Designs has created a revolutionary design process where you actually have multiple designers competing to win your bid. So you can have hundreds of different designers creating multiple designs for you and you only have to pay the one you like best.
GraphicRiver.net – This is my secret spot for finding really cool graphics to use inside my product download areas and within my membership site.
ThemeForest.net – Another under-the-radar site. Here you’ll find a HUGE collection of incredible WordPress themes.
KillerCovers.com – Amazing designs for your eBooks, DVDs, CDs, etc.
DimpleArt.com – Very affordable, high-quality caricatures you can create for your website, squeeze page, and overall branding. Also makes a great gift for JV partners.
Dribbble.com – Premium graphic designers for just about any project. Used by Niel Patel.
Splasheo – Awesome online service for creating professional looking intros and outros for your videos. Run by Gideon Shalwick.
LeadPlayer – WordPress plugin that allows you to customize your YouTube videos. Add an opt-in box at the beginning, middle or end of your video. Create active hyperlinks inside your videos. Customize your video player design. And track your analytics. Leadplayer is one of the best ways to start generating more leads and revenue from your videos.
SEMRush – Strap on your ninja spy glasses. This is by far my favorite SEO competitive intelligence tool. One of the few tools available that will show you EXACTLY which keyword phrases your competitors are ranking for. Priceless.
I’ve used this tool to uncover hundreds of untapped keyword phrases
with very little competition.
Long Tail Pro – This is by far one of my favorite keyword tools. It’s quick, easy, and spits out hundreds of keywords in a matter of seconds.
But even more importantly, it then allows you to see exactly
how competitive those keywords are. (a.k.a. how long it will
take to rank for those particular keywords in Google)
I know a lot of people like Market Samurai. And Market Samurai
IS a great tool. But it’s also a bit bloated and clunky.
In terms of speed – Long Tail Pro runs at least 10x faster. And when I’m doing my work – I appreciate speed.
AccuRankTracker – This is by far my favorite tool for tracking all of my keywords and their ranking in Google. AccuRankTracker allows you to track an unlimited number of websites and keywords for one-low price.
LastPass – Password manager that makes web browsing easier and more secure. No longer will you have to worry about remembering hundreds of different passwords. Plus, LastPass allows you to securely share login details with your team members.
EverNote – This is one of my favorite tools online. I use it every day. Evernote allows you to take notes, save url’s, web clips, files, images and entire webpages. I use it to create my online swipe file. Mark down ideas for new products. Keep a running list of article ideas, subject lines and more.
TimeTrade – Online Appointment Scheduling. Take the headache out of going back and forth trying to coordinate appointments with your clients. Let them schedule a meeting based on your availability.
Wunderlist.com – It’s like a to-do list on steroids 🙂
FreeMind – My favorite free mind mapping software. I use mindmaps to outline articles, webinars, new products, and business ideas.
LeechBlock – A Firefox extension that allows you to block those time-wasting sites that can suck the life out of your working day.
SocialOomph – My favorite social media software. Allows you to automate your tweets, Facebook posts, LikedIn updates, and more!
Facebook Ads – This is my favorite (highly-scalable) on-demand traffic source. Our best-performing ads are Sponsored Stories that appear in the News Feed.
PerfectAudience.com – My favorite retargeting platform.
BuySellAds.com – Purchase ads that go live within 24 hours.
DedicatedEmails.com – This company will take your solo ad marketing to a completely new level. Run by Brian and Mike Litman.
VirtualStaffFinder.com – A few months ago I hired my very first full-time VA and this is where I found my superstar! Virtual Staff Finder helps you find the very best Philipino VA based on your specific needs.
SpeechPad – On demand transcription service.
osTicket – A widely-used open source support ticket system. It seamlessly integrates inquiries created via email, phone and web-based forms into a simple easy-to-use multi-user web interface. Manage, organize and archive all your support requests and responses in one place while providing your customers with the accountability and responsiveness they deserve. osTicket is an
attractive alternative to higher-cost and complex customer support systems; simple, lightweight, reliable, and easy to setup and use. The best part is, it’s completely free. (Easily installed from cPanel using Fantastico).
Doc2PDF.net – Convert any Microsoft Word document into a PDF.
Zamzar.com – A Free online conversion tool that allows you to convert nearly unlimited types of media file formats, including documents, images, audio, videos, etc… Convert your files to different formats quickly and easily.
YouConvertIt.com – Similar to ZamZar, this site allows you to convert almost any type of file.
Vletter.com – handwriting fonts
Shrink-O-Matic – Dramatically reduce the file size of your images. Increase the speed of your website. Images can really slow down your website. Be sure to optimize them with something like Shrink-O-Matic or TinyPNG.
TinyPNG.org – Shrink your png images while preserving quality and transparency.