I am sharing the Online Tools I use to run my website and save my sanity.
If you have a presence online, it can be a bit overwhelming to do it all alone. I wanted to share the online tools I use to make life better. Doing things manually at first can be fine. But once you grow a bit, things like social sharing, photo editing, lead capture, online sales, WordPress plugins can be a nightmare!
This week I have had several people reach out to me asking about the tools I use, so I thought I would organize and list them for everyone! Also, in case you have issues with supporting the online influencers that make your life easier, I should tell you that some of these links are affiliated. (more on that below).
What Online Tools Do You Use?
These are a few of my favorites, what are yours? I am always looking for new ways to simplify my life with awesome online tools. We will update this list when we kind new cool things, so check in often.
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[nextpage title=”Social Tools”]
Our current social media scheduling platform is Buffer. We were struggling with getting an influx of great media to share on social, but we didn’t have the time to manually post every few hours. Buffer allows us to set an ideal posting schedule for each social media platform. Then we add the content we want to share to buffer and it makes sure our posts don’t go our too close together. If you have something that needs to be posted today, you can bump a post to the top of your schedule or just post it immediately.
Buffer also allows us to post across all our social media platforms with one fell swoop. Plus we can schedule content for our Instagram and Pinterest accounts. (Pinterest requires a premium plan)
Before we were on Buffer, we used Hootsuite. We loved the platform, but they didn’t have the ability to schedule for Pinterest. If you are using Tailwind, you might consider checking out Hootsuite. I also wrote an article with more of my experience with them.
What Online Tools Do You Use?
These are a few of my favorites, what are yours? I am always looking for new ways to simplify my life with awesome online tools. We will update this list when we kind new cool things, so check in often.
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[nextpage title=”Photo Editing”]
When I need to do some easy photo editing, I open up PicMonkey in my browser and get to work. They make it super easy to make collages and make enhancements to photos.
When it comes more to design and styling, I recommend Canva. They have some great default templates for creating essential images like flyers, social manners, coupons, and more. I used Canva to create the Featured Image for this post! If you are trying to decide which platform to got with, I’d say decide based on what you are using them for. Create and Thrive wrote a great comparison article.
What Online Tools Do You Use?
These are a few of my favorites, what are yours? I am always looking for new ways to simplify my life with awesome online tools. We will update this list when we kind new cool things, so check in often.
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[nextpage title=”Lead Capture”]
You might have seen some Optin Monster forms on our site. I really love how beautiful their form are. Optin Monster is extremely versatile. You can add it to all sorts of web platforms and feed your new leads to most popular contact management and email marketing platforms. Why collect leads if you aren’t going to do anything with them!?
If you are using WordPress for your site, you might also want to check out Thrive Leads. They also have beautiful lead capture forms, but they have a whole of other tools too! Things like quiz creators, a drag and drop WordPress editor, themes, and more!
What Online Tools Do You Use?
These are a few of my favorites, what are yours? I am always looking for new ways to simplify my life with awesome online tools. We will update this list when we kind new cool things, so check in often.
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[nextpage title=”Contact Management & Email Marketing”]
If your site supports a business that is generating at least 50k in revenue a year and you are losing leads due to poor follow up or poor lead capture from strong traffic, you might benefit from Infusionsoft. It give the benefits of CRM and Automated Email Marketing in one. Full disclosure, Infusionsoft is my day job. But I do customer on boarding. Let me know if you’d like to know more and I can connect you with an awesome sales person who can make sure you are a good fit. Plus I’ll make sure I am your onboarding coach. (We use Infusionsoft for all our automated email marketing and we love it!)
If you aren’t ready for Infusionsoft yet, that cool. MailChimp has come a long ways since just sending newsletter blasts to everyone on your list. They now offer autoresponders and basic automation campaigns on their free plans. They aren’t meant so Customer Relationship Management though, so if you are in constant contact with your list, you will want a CRM too.
What Online Tools Do You Use?
These are a few of my favorites, what are yours? I am always looking for new ways to simplify my life with awesome online tools. We will update this list when we kind new cool things, so check in often.
Pin This
[nextpage title=”Affiliate Marketing”]
Probably one of the best places to start affiliate marketing for new content creators. Amazon has amazing products and is a household name. Millions shop on Amazon every day so all you are really doing is directing traffic. You can make your own “sponsored” posts with ideas like a Back to School Shopping List or an enhancement to your other content. Just over to Amazon.com and go to the bottom of the page to “Become an Affiliate”.
While Amazon is a great resource for affiliate selling, VigLink blows the doors off the online store you can sell for. They have a unique proposition where most of their merchants pre-approved. You get access to online stores like eBay, Groupon, Wish, and Walmart. Plus Amazon!
ShareASale also has a lot of merchants, but you must request each relationship. Rather than partnering with the big names, ShareASale is a great way to connect with more niche types of online stores. We are partnered with VidAngel and recently wrote a post about Guilt Free Game of Thrones with VidAngel that has done very well.
Formerly LinkShare, Rakuten is another affiliate network and gives you access to hundreds of merchants. You do need to apply for each relationship. They have a healthy mix of known stores like Walmart and Best Buy, and some small ones too.
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[nextpage title=”Sponsored Posts”]
If you are newer to sponsored posts, Linqia is a great way to “cut your teeth”. They have an easier entry model because they pay per click on the sponsored link. You write your authentic story and include a link to something of value they share. You can share this link via social as well, so there is a lot of opportunity to hit your milestones. We wrote an article on Daddy Daughter Date Nights for a campaign we did for them.
When you have grown to about 7,500 quality monthly page views I would recommend joining Weave Made Media. They have great sponsored post campaigns for top brands. They pay based on the campaign being accepted, and not on performance. The thing I love about Weave Made is that they have a division dedicated to male influencers and products they can easily represent. I did a post for the Remmington Beard Boss and it is now my everyday shaver!
What Online Tools Do You Use?
These are a few of my favorites, what are yours? I am always looking for new ways to simplify my life with awesome online tools. We will update this list when we kind new cool things, so check in often.
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[nextpage title=”Podcast”]
When I record episodes for Third Hour of Power, there are some tools that we love using!
- Yeti Microphone: The mic we use gives fantastic quality. I love that it has a mode were I can do a live interview and set our voices to record in stereo.
- Blubrry: They are the hosting company for our episodes. They make it so easy to get our episodes uploaded with their WordPress plugin, feed them to places like iTunes, and check our reach with tracking statistics.
- BeLive.tv: Though the podcast is an audio medium, we also broadcast live on Facebook Live as we record. This tools allows us to do split screen video and even take listener questions via Facebook comment.
- Blue Host: We use them to host our Blog and Podcast. They have great deals for WordPress sites. I used to be with a nickel and dime hosting company and it was killing me to pay for every enhancement. Blue Host has unlimited hosting, email addresses and email storage!
- Zencastr: If you have remote guests like I do, Zencastr is an easy way to invite your guests to join you. It is an audio only platform, so you will need to use something else for video if you need it. The great thing is, your guests don’t need to download any software or upload any files. We use it and the audio is very clear. Some of the other features include post production, add music, invite callers, and cloud storage. It will even keep recording if you lose connection! Some features are at a premium, but if you feel you need them, use promo code “GRADY” to get 20% off the annual plan.
What Online Tools Do You Use?
These are a few of my favorites, what are yours? I am always looking for new ways to simplify my life with awesome online tools. We will update this list when we kind new cool things, so check in often.
Pin This
[nextpage title=”Wordpress Plugins”]
I have a big addiction to WordPress plugins. It is so hard to know which ones to keep and which to dump. Here are my must haves!
- Pure Chat:: Sometimes email is a bit too slow for today’s world of instant gratification. You probably see the box in the corner asking you to chat with me. If you start a conversation, I get a ping on my cell phone. Once I open the app, we can chat in real time. Try it! If I’m not available, you’ll get a request leave your question and I’ll email you back. If does wonders for my engagement and time on site. Once helped someone prepare their Sunday Lesson via chat because they were struggling.
- Yoast SEO: It is worthless writing good content and creating an awesome business if no one knows you exist! Yoast is our go to online tool to make sure our posts are optimized to be found online. It also helps us with readability. It always dings us for using passive voice. Please help me understand how to fix how I write!
- This-or-That: Another way to make sure your posts get seen is to make sure they are answering the pain of your audience. Sometimes I write articles none of you are about. This-or-That is helping me change that. We have a tournament on our site of about 30 blog post ideas and we have been finding that what our audience wants posts that we didn’t plan on.
What Online Tools Do You Use?
These are a few of my favorites, what are yours? I am always looking for new ways to simplify my life with awesome online tools. We will update this list when we kind new cool things, so check in often.
Pin This
