Must Have Resources Tools
Blogging Platform
WordPress.org – Hands down the best CMS on the planet. Ease to use, simple, flexible, can be turned into almost anything (sales page, squeeze page, affiliate network, you name it), secure (well… if you know how to secure it of course…)
WordPress Plugins Directory – Directory of plugins that you can use to customize your WP blog. Some are great, but most of them not so much… Below are three must have plugins for every blog you have.
- WordPress SEO by Yoast – The one and only real All in One SEO Packs. Recently, I just wrote WordPress SEO guide that show you how you can maximize this plugin.
- W3 Cache – Speed up your blog for better SERP and more traffic!
- WP Security Scan – Make your blog hacker proof.
WordPress Themes Directory
- WooThemes – Great design, super flexible, easy to customize.
- Genesis Theme – Very great for SEO, very fast, and the code really clean.
Domain Name, Hosting, Media Storage
Hosting
HostGator – More than half of my websites are hosted on HostGator. Great package if you are just getting started and you can get started right away. Provide one-click WordPress installation. I recommend you to take package that come with unlimited domain, unlimited storage, and unlimited bandwidth. That’s great option if you want to create lots of affiliate mini site in specific niche. Getting too much traffic can get you kicked out though…
BlueHost – Simple hosting service, it only has one payment plan, but it’s so great, it recommended by WordPress.org itself.
VPS.net – The one that ‘big boys’ use to host their big sites. Comes with excellent support and super reliable server. When your business grow and you need more secure and reliable server, you can try this one.
Domain Name
Name.com – The one that I personally use. I love how easy it is to integrate with Google Apps.
NameCheap.com – I personally don’t use it so much since the admin area are so complex in my opinion. But I hear a lot about how great this domain registrar. That’s why I put it here…
Media Storage
Amazon S3 – The Amazon Simple Storage Service. Reliable internet storage, which is great for putting large files like podcasts and videos, so you don’t create bandwidth problems on your own website.
YouTube – Host your video or podcast here. It’s a great way to save your bandwidth, plus leveraging their traffic is a smart choice for your business. Comes with superb tracking tools for your videos.
Shopping Carts Solutions & Payment Processor
PayPal – I love this payment processor! You can do quite a lot with PayPal, set up your basic digital delivery system, create basic membership site, and offer free trial. One thing that every marketer must have.
Email Marketing
Aweber – Simple and powerful email automation system. This thing allow you to build your list of subscriber, buyer, segment them, and lots more. I love Aweber because how simple it is.
GetResponse – Cheaper than Aweber, but kinda complicated (not as complicated as MailChimp) at first. Some says that Aweber has lots of problem lately, and it doing a great a job as an alternative.
ImnicaMail – I use to hate it at first since how unreliable the service is, the delivery rate is kinda suck in my opinion, but the owner is really open with us, and they’re upgrading their infrastructure this year, so yeah… probably you can consider it since it’s very cheap and relatively easy to use.
Product Creation Tools
Digital Report Creation Tools
MS Word 2007 – Perfect solution for creating digital report. Simple, easy to use, clean interface, and fast loading time.
Open Office – Free word processor. Can do almost anything Microsoft Word do, it just the interface aren’t so good and I hate how slow it is when loading.
Audio Creation Tools
Audacity – Free, cross platform audio editor. Great tools to have if you want to create your own audio book or interview.
Video Creation Tools
Camtasia for PC (Camtasia Studio) – Capture your screen as you speak and click. Great for creating tutorial video. Comes with 30 days free trial.
Camtasia for Mac – Same as above, but I personally like to use camtasia in PC better than on Mac.
Keyword Research Tools
Google Keyword Tool – A tool to help you decide what keywords to use for your Adwords campaigns. You can also check to see the popularity of certain keywords and the competition for ads for those keywords as well.
SEOBook Keyword Suggestion Tool – Another fantastic keyword research tool, with even more information and numbers to compare and select the perfect keywords.
SEO Keyword Ranking – An excellent tool to keep track of the keywords you’re working on. Excellent interface and really easy to use.
Advertisement Platform
Google Adwords – If you want to begin advertising on Google, you can select keywords and locations and you pay each time someone clicks on your advertisement.
Facebook FanPage:
Testing & Tracking
Google Analytics – Google’s free website tracking and analytical tool. A must have for anyone with any type of website.
Clicktale – You can use clicktale to watch actual recordings of how people use your website. It is actually like watching their own computer screen, so you can then optimize your website if you don’t like what you see. You can view a small sample of website viewers for free. It will cost more for a larger sample.
Google Optimizer – This is another free tool from google where you can test different webpages of the same content, only changing one or two things, so you can see which one works/converts best. It’s basically a website optimizer testing tool.
Outsourcing Work
Elance – Hired service for just about anything you can think of.
Odesk – Another outsource website for freelancers, IT companies, programmers and web designers from abroad.
99Designs – This is a unique website that you can use if you need a logo design. It’s in a contest format. You submit the description of what you want, and designers will compete against each other to win money.
Fiverr – One of the best place to get your things done in $5. Some of its workers are really GREAT!!
Virtual Staff Finder – I just recently hired a full-time VA and this is where I got him. Virtual Staff Finder is the best and quickest headhunter service on the web if you’re looking for high quality VAs for anything you want done by someone else for your online business. It’s run by my buddy Chris Ducker and I highly recommend it.
Legal Stuff
LegalZoom – Easy online incorporation or LLC creation.
