My Toolbox

If you would like to get email updates about upcoming tools or resources to help grow your business, get on my email list.  I don’t EVER send BS products especially from those fake “guru” or “get-rich-quick” schemes and products so if you get an email from me, you might want to open it. Typically I use the product myself but there are times I might find extreme value from a product or service.

Okay, so here’s my DISCLAIMER:  It is safe to assume if you click on a link any where on my website, it is possible I may get compensate in some form or another.  I like to be very transparent and I don’t promote garbage to my subscribers just to earn a buck.  Feel free to browse around and let me know if you find anything interesting or if you have any questions.

(Last update on:  2/6/2011)

Social Media Training

• LinkedIn – LinkedInfluence.com by Lewis Howes -Learn how to set up your profile correctly, Drive tons of traffic to your site and get qualified leads, Successfully network with high-profile individuals, and to Stand out from the crowd and start getting job offers.  I bought this!  Highly recommended!! 
• Facebook
• Twitter
• Youtube
• Instagram

Domain Names:

• Host Gator – When you first start out, you’ll need hosting. Host Gator is the best for sites that aren’t getting 10,000′s of visitors per day.
• GoDaddy – I register all my domains here.  If you owned over 50+ domains, I recommend you sign up for their Discount Domain Club.  You save a boat load of money!  Ask me how I know…
• Name Cheap
• Expired Domains – Probably my favorite site for finding expired domains.  Just make sure you check the backlink profile before purchasing.  You can use these tools to help with the research.  Ahrefs.com, Majestic SEO Explorer, and Open Site Explorer (MOZ).
• SnapNames – Domains for PBNs
• GoDaddy Auctions – Domains for PBNs

Website Hosting

• Cloudways.com – This is the one I’m currently using.  
• Siteground – 

Email Marketing

• AWeber – AWeber develops and runs an opt-in email marketing service used by over 120,000+ small businesses, bloggers and entrepreneurs around the globe. Their web-based tools can help your businesses grow by staying in touch with customers and prospects through email.  Currently this is the one I’m using and so far my favorite but not very good with make money online type businesses.  Use Get Response if you’re in those type of niches.
• Get Response – GetResponse is a complete email marketing solution. It provides turnkey newsletter publishing and hosting features, as well as unlimited autoresponders to deliver information to your subscribers and convert them to paying customers.  I also use the one as well.
• MailChimp – MailChimp is an email marketing service provider, founded in 2001. It has 7 million users that collectively send over 10 billion emails through the service each month. It is a web-based application, although data can be downloaded and for some features there is an offline application.  Great for starting off.

Website Creation

• WordPress – I only use WordPress for my sites, and you should too. Most hosts, like Host Gator and GoDaddy, make it super simple to install WordPress (usually just a few clicks).
• Elementor – I use this page builder for all my sites.
• Wishlist – If you’re creating membership sites, squeeze pages, or sales pages you’ll want to use Wishlist. Built by internet marketers for internet marketers.
• FileZilla.com

WordPress Themes

• Astra Theme – Light weight and easy to use.  This site is built using Astra Theme.
• Thesis Theme 
• Themeforest – If you’re like me you don’t know a damn thing about coding or designing WordPress sites. Themeforest has a great selection of premium WP themes.
• CodeCanyon – An awesome little site that has a smorgasbord of neat plugins and code.

WordPress Plugins

• WordPress SEO by Yoast
• Rank Math
• All in One SEO
• W3 Total Cache
• Spyder Spanke
• Anti-spam by CleanTalk
• Akismet
• Growmap Anti-Spambot
• BJ Lazy Load
• EWWW Image Optimizer
• Google XML Sitemaps
• Google XML Sitemap for Videos
• Insert Headers and Footers
• Shareaholic
• Reveal IDs
• Google Analytics Dashboard for WP
• iThemes Security – I use the pro version on all of my websites and client websites
• Link Juice Keeper
• Disable Comments
• Link Manage
• Show Hide Author
• Remove query strings from static resources
• WP Super Cache – Quickly and easily boost the load times of your website with this plugin. In my opinion, it’s essential for any WordPress user.
• Updraft Plus – Must have on a WordPress website.  Easy to use.  Technology isn’t perfect. Your site will crash or get hacked. Back up your WordPress site with this plugin (it plays nicely with S3 and other storage solution). See this site on how to install.
• WPTouch Plugin – Ideally your site should by now be mobile responsive but if not, install this plugin
• Broken Link Checker

Amazon Web Services

• Amazon Web Services – Great for storage, cloud computing, CDNs, and now email deliverability. Start with S3 though.

Click Tracking

• Hypertracker – A good link tracker for lower volume campaigns.
• CPVLab – My preferred link tracking solution. The software is incredibly powerful and, in my mind, is a prerequisite for anyone that is serious about mastering the world of paid traffic.
• Bitly.com – Bitly is a URL shortening service. The company Bitly, Inc. was established in 2008. It is privately held and based in New York City. Bitly shortens 600 million links per month, for use in social networking, SMS, and email.  Helps you track your URLs and is very easy to use.  It’s free too!

Analytics

• Google Optimizer – An incredible (free) way to split test various landing pages.
• Visual Website Optimizer – A more user friendly way to do A/B split testing.
• Clicktale – Ever wanted to be a fly on the wall of your website? Now you can with this very cool software. Clicktale records videos of users on your site and gives you detailed heatmaps (amongst many other things) that you can use to instantly see what’s working, and what isn’t.
• CrazyEgg – A cheaper, yet still effective, alternative to Clicktale.
• SplitTester – Determine if your tests are statistically significant.

Research – SEO Competition Analysis – Other Web Tools I like

• Ahrefs.com – must have for any SEO research.
• SEMRush
• Majestic SEO Explorer
• Screaming Frog
• PageOptimizer.pro
• CORA
• Open Site Explorer (MOZ)
• DomainTools.com
• RankChecker.com
• IsMyWebsitePenalized.com
• SEOMastering.com
• SimilarSites.com
• CloudFlare.com
• GTMetrix.com
• Pingdom.com – Test your Website speed
• Google Webmaster Tools
• Google Keyword Tool – For keyword research.
• Youtube Keyword Tool – For researching keywords on Youtube.
• Google Insights – For comparing keyword trends.
• Google Trends – For monitoring search trends.
• Google Alerts – Get updates on pre-defined keywords (great for spying on your competition! yay!)
• Google Analytics – The best way to analyze your website visitors.
• Google Docs – Forget Microsoft Word. Use Google’s free alternative instead.
• Google Ad Planner – One of the best ways to find places to buy media.
• Quantcast Ad Planner – Another great research tool for finding media buys.
• Google Backlist Checker – Check to see if your domain name is Backlisted by Google.  This is a free tool by Dennis Nafisi.  Thanks D for this awesome tool!!
• Google Global for Firefox
• Search Status for Firefox
• SEO for Firefox (free account needed)
• Remove Em – The software will help you clean up your website’s backlink profile.  Upload your links then it finds contact info, sends out link removal request to other websites, and tracks all your efforts.

Other Web tools

• Google Speed Tester – Check the load speed on your website.  Load speed matters!
• UBbersuggest.org
• ScrapeBox.com – Keyword ideas
• Market Samurai – Keyword research tool I use pretty often
• TheBestSpinner – It really is The Best Spinner.
• ScrapeBox

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

• SEO Book
• The Google Blog – This blog is the latest news from Google.
• Search Engine Land – One of my favorites around, lots of articles, breaking news, Q&As.
• Search Engine Watch Another one of my favorite SEO sites
• Moz – These guys have been around for awhile and do a good job breaking down the SEO game.
• SEMRush – You’ll find some of the best SEO site audit tools on the market
• HubSpot
• KISSmetrics
• HigherVisibility
• Content Marketing Institute
• Search Engine Roundtable
• Yoast
• Search Engine Guide
• Web Analytics World

Content Creation

• SEOGenerals.com
• iWriter.com
• 99centarticles.com
• Fiverr.com
• oDesk.com
• eLance.com
• Content Infantry
• Backlinks Philipines

Membership Site Creation

• Facebook Groups – A free, simple way to create private membership areas.
• Wishlist – A more sophisticated membership creation software.
• Amember – Another upscale membership creation software.
• vBulletin – One of the best software for creating forums.
• InstaMember

Finding Affiliate Offers

• Offervault – The biggest database for finding new offers.
• Clickbank – The one and only. The 800-lb gorilla in the world of affiliate marketing.
• JVZoo.com
• Maxbounty – There are a lot of CPA networks out there. I love MaxBounty.
• Muncheye.com
• MoreNiche.com
• oDigger.com
• MarketHealth.com
• SellHealth.com

Paid Advertisement Research

• AdBeat – Want to see the most popular advertisements on every major ad network? You can with AdBeat.
• WhatRunsWhere – Same goes.
• MixRank – Same goes.

Physical Product Production & Fulfillment

• Kunaki – Great for printing, burning and shipping information products.
• Vervante – A good alternative to Kunaki.
• Disk – The leader in CD and DVD burning.

Top Bookmarking Websites

• Pinterest.com
• Reddit.com
• Stumbleupon.com
• citeulike.org
• Delicious.com
• connotea.org
• scoop.it
• fark.com
• bibsonomy.org
• newsvine.com
• Digg.com

Customer Support & CRM

• ZenDesk – The easiest way to run your customer support.
• Rhino – A really cool new way to do customer support. I’m in the process of moving to them (they’re easier and cheaper than ZenDesk right now).

Project Management & Meetings

• SuiteDash – I use this one.
• Basecamp – One of my all-time favorite tools for project management. Delightfully simple.
• Free Conference Call – A free alternative to GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar.
• Zoom – I use the Pro version to meet with clients.
• GoToMeeting – An inexpensive way to hold meetings online.
• GoToWebinar – The best way to hold a webinar for large groups of people.
• Skype – Perfect for holding impromptu meetings with team members (although the lag can get annoying at times).
• Evernote – A cool way to store your stuff. Highly recommended, especially if you’re a tech-nerd like me.
• Dropbox – Another amazing (free) cloud storage solution. No longer do you need to email yourself important files.
• TeamViwer – This is an All-In-One software for Remote Support and Online Meetings Remote control any computer or Mac over the internet within seconds or use TeamViewer for online meetings.

Business Management & Development Tools

• Preceden – Make Timelines and Goals for your business

Legal Advice

• Nolo – Has some of the best free legal advice on the web.
• Lawyers.com – For finding a good lawyer, should you ever need one.

Outsourcing

• Virtual Staff Finder – The hands-off way of finding only the best workers. Highly, highly recommended.
• OnlineJobs.ph – A good alternative to Virtual Staff Finder.
• Time To Hire – For finding amazing commission only sales representatives (for offline sales).
• Freelancer – My preferred outsourcing website.
• Elance – A good alternative to vWorker. I’ve found vWorker to be higher quality.
• ODesk – Another alternative to vWorker and Elance.
• Fiverr – For cheap outsourced labor. Remember, on this site you get what you pay for.  THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE WEBSITE!!  HANDS DOWN!!
• 99Designs – Hold design contests and choose the best logos, website designs, and even apps. Only pay when you’re happy.
• CrowdFlower – Absolutely amazing for “crowdsourcing” large, tedious jobs. (See this video for more info)
• SpeechPad – If you need transcriptions created (that don’t suck) then use SpeechPad.
• 48 Hours Logo – Start an online logo design contest for only $29 and receive logo concepts within hours
• Design2Thrive – Create a branded logo with header graphics – on Fiverr.com

E-Commerce & Gateways

• Shopify – If you’re selling physical products and want a beautifully designed, simple to use website this is the place to turn to.
• Clickbank – For new and experienced information marketers, Clickbank still is #1.

Image Editing

• Pixlr – A free image editing website. Works well for basic image editing.
• Adobe – The premium solutions for image editing and video creation.

Video Creation & Hosting

• Easy Video Suite – My favorite way to host videos and make them look professional. Plays well with Amazon S3.
• Youtube – Needs no explanation, right?
• Camtasia – My favorite way to create video screen captures.
• Jing – A free alternative to Camtasia that allows you to create 5 minute screen captures.
• Handbrake – Works well to “web optimize” your videos.
• iSkysoft Video Converter – An awesome (and cheap) way to professionally convert videos.
• Video Traffic Academy – The best training on using video to explode your business. Highly recommended for those interested in maximizing video marketing.

Affiliate Marketing Forums

• AffPlaybook – If you want to become a super affiliate, then AffPlaybook is a good place to learn all the tricks of the trade.

Raising Capital

• Kickstarter – Perhaps one of the most innovate new websites out there. Supplies thousands of dollars to new project (there are restrictions).
• Fundable – Crowd funding for new gizmos and gadgets.

Computer & Internet Speed

• CCleaner (PC) – Make your computer a lot faster by cleaning up the gunk.
• CCleaner (Mac) – Same goes for you, Mac users.
• Firefox – Still my preferred browser.  It has so many great add-ons.
• Yottaa – A fantastic company that helps you keep your website safe and quick loading. A must have for larger sites.
• Pingdom Tools – Cool free tools for nerds that love analyzing their website stats.

Direct Mail

• NextMark List Finder – If you ever want to go offline with your marketing (highly recommended for experienced marketers with a proven offer), you’ll need a list to mail to. NextMark is the first place you should start.
• SendPepper – The leader in sending postcards.