Over the course of the last seven years, I’ve been buying, testing and using various internet tools to make my operation more efficient. I’ve literally spent tens of thousands of dollars finding the best ways and resources on the web. Some of these tools are free – some of them are worth far more than their price tag.
Domain Setup
- GoDaddy.com
– Domain registrar; this is the company you use to register your domain name. Depending on a promo code, domains normally cost $8-13/year of registration - HostGator.com – Now that you have your dream domain registered, you need a place on the web. This is where your files reside when someone someone types in “www.YourDreamDomain.com” and gives the user the files you’ve created. Take it from someone who learned the hard way – a great hosting company cannot be underestimated.
- Filezilla – Open source FTP program used to upload content to your website
Content Generation
- Google Alerts and Google Reader – learn how to ace content creation with these tools
- Private Label Rights – Let’s face the facts. Sometimes, you just need a start to your great articles. Much like Jamal in Finding Forrester, we need a basis to get us started on our way. PLR articles are an excellent way to jumpstart the content creation process.
- Read, read and read some more. Sign up for as many newsletters in your industry as you can find. This will provide you with the expert perspective for you to write with an authoritative voice in your niche.
Marketing
- aWeber Email Marketing – Every expert marketer will tell you, “The money is in the list.” It provides the basis for establishing credibility, trust and value. Once you do that, you have a source of “push-button” traffic to the site. An awesome method of marketing your website.
- Shareaholic – Firefox extension that provides the ability to quickly and easily share to multiple networks
- Bit.ly – Our favorite URL shortener. Basically, it takes a giant website address and cuts it way down to a manageable and memorable URL. It also provides tracking that creates insight into consumers reaction to the content you are producing.
- Google Adwords – PPC advertising platform. This is the reason that Google makes a lot, lot, lot of money. And, a lot of it was once mine.
Monetize
- Google Adsense
- Clickbank
- Paypal.com
- Affiliate Networks:
Measure and Refine
- Google Analytics
- Google Webmaster Tools
- Google Website Optimizer
- VisitorSpy.com
Keyword Tools
- SEMRush.com
- Google Keyword Tool
- SEOmoz
- Keyword Elite
Outsourcing
- oDesk
- TextBroker – an outsourced writing-only platform. You can specify level of writer, topic and keywords and away you go!
Social Media
- YouTube
- Hootsuite
- Tubemogul
Project Management
- BasecampHq.com
