Tools I Recommend For You!
If you're waiting for opportunity to come knocking, then I've got news for you. That opportunity is now!
The majority of us are so fortunate to live in this era, and in a digital world that is filled with new opportunities every single day. We have access to so many powerful productivity and creativity tools, services, apps, software, technology, and training!
You can build any kind of business you envision on the internet, and you can build this business out of nothing other than passion and love. You don't need to have a degree or special qualification to start.
But where do you start?
Don't panic, because I created this resource packed page to help you cut through the noise, find and use the very best tools you need to kickstart and grow your online business. Take a look below, find what you need and make something BIG happen, today.
Disclaimer: Some of the links below are affiliate links to various products and services that I use to grow my online business. This means if you click on one of these affiliate links and make a purchase of one of these products or services, I will be paid a small commission, at NO additional cost to you. I want you to know that I never promote or recommend anything that I don't fully trust. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support, I appreciate you - Fabrizio Van Marciano.
Get reliable hosting
If you're starting online from complete scratch, check out my free detailed guide on "Starting A WordPress Blog".
Web hosting is one of the most vital ingredients for building a successful online business. While I don't recommend you blow your entire budget on hosting, you will need something robust, secure, and reliable.
For this, I use and recommend SiteGround. Click on the button below to signup for a SiteGround hosting account, and to get your free domain name. If you already have these and need help getting started, click here.
Create a unique website
After hosting, the next step is creating a blog/website design that stands out from the crowd.
Asides from having a great design, usability is also a critical factor, especially if you want people to stick around and even become regular visitors/readers of your website/blog.
I use and recommend Genesis Theme Framework for security and reliability, but most of all, for its simplicity when it comes to customization. Click on the button below to learn more about Genesis. If you already have a theme and need help getting started, click here.
Build powerful landing pages
If you're planning to sell digital products or services on your blog or website, the first thing you'll need to do is design some attractive, on-brand, sales pages, complete with your product profiles and marketing content and message.
For this I use and recommend Thrive Architect. Thrive Architect is a powerful, feature packed, drag and drop page builder plugin for WordPress.
I have used this plugin to create all kinds of pages and with a variety of conversion goals and purposes for my own online businesses.
Track growth and conversions
Creating great content will be your most important focus for building your blog and online business.
In addition, you'll need to arm your website with smart tools for optimizing your content and strategies in order to sustain growth and increase your conversions.
For this I use and recommend Thrive Themes Membership. You'll get access to powerful plugins for growing your email list, designing sales pages, doing A/B split testing, managing testimonials, creating and tracking your marketing campaigns, and more.
Improve your SEO
Optimizing your blog posts and pages for better search engine visibility is a critical step in growing your blog or online business.
For this, I use and recommend either Yoast SEO or SEOPressor Connect. SEOPressor a is powerful, feature-crammed, all-in-one, on-page and site-wide SEO plugin for self-hosted WordPress websites.
SEOPressor Connect is a subscription based service/plugin that comes with a host of useful options, including SEO auditing tools, broken link checker, over-optimization indicator, multiple keyword optimization, and more.
Build your email list
Growing your email list as well as managing your lists effectively is an integral part of your online business growth strategy.
You can capture emails using Thrive Leads (Available in the Thrive Membership Package), however, you'll need a reliable email marketing service provider to help you manage your list, as well as create and send powerful campaigns to help you promote your content, products, and services, and increase engagement.
For this I use and recommend MailChimp. They've been around for a long time, and they are 100% cost-effective.
Plan your marketing calendar
Creating content, promoting content, guest blogging, posting on social media, creating and sending email newsletters, maintaining your blog, managing offline promotions...
With so many platforms to use, it can quite easily become a laborious chore bouncing from one site to the next, juggling your marketing and content creation and distribution all over the place.
Which is why I use and recommend CoSchedule. Since I've started using CoSchedule, my productivity has tripled!
Find profitable keywords
It's no secret, if you want to build a blog and boost your organic search engine traffic quickly, keyword research is an essential process, especially when you are promoting various products and services to maximise your blog income.
For finding profitable keywords to use in your blog posts, I use and recommend Long Tail Pro.
Long Tail Pro is a monthly subscription service. It's a tool that will save you time, money, and help you cultivate a blog packed with not just useful, but also profitable content.
Social sharing plugin
You want to make it easy for your visitors and readers of your blog to share and promote your awesome content on social media.
The plugin I recommend using for WordPress is Social Warfare. This is a lightweight, blazing fast loading, social sharing plugin packed with lots of powerful on-page social optimization options.
Please note: I no longer use Social Warfare, instead I use a simple social buttons plugin designed specifically for Genesis Framework users.
Learn affiliate marketing
If you're starting from rock bottom with your blog or affiliate marketing business, and have absolutely no idea where to start, the training website I highly recommend is Affilorama.
Affilorama is a platform that offers sound and practical affiliate marketing training. You'll get access to over 120 tutorial videos, the blueprint for building profitable affiliate websites, and access to a suite of powerful tools for finding profitable niches, keywords, and more.
Affilorama has over 700,000 members and growing. Join today to access the free valuable content to begin with!
Sell your eBooks
Are you thinking of writing and publishing your own eBooks to sell on your blog or website? Well, that's a great way to start making money from your online business.
To save you a lot of time and resources, I use and therefore recommend Payhip for hosting all your eBooks and digital products.
Payhip has a low commission rate as well as a host of other useful tools, such as membership tools you can use to create simple memberships for your products.
Plan your blogging strategy
Finally, you can't build a successful or a profitable blog without a smart plan or strategy. Trust me, I've been blogging for over 8 years and I know.
Which is why I created the Ultimate Pro Blog Planner workbook for you!
My blog planner contains over 30 printable worksheets and planners and comes in PDF format. There are planners for your blog posts, social media campaigns, traffic generation, content promotion, income and expense reports, and more.