I wanted to include some stuff that has been a great source of help to me. I hope that you all are able to get something out of these products as I have.
Blogging
- WordPress.com – A great free blogging platform for those who are not ready for a self-hosted (pay)blog. * limited*
- WordPress Plugins – Download as many free customizable plugins and widgets as you want for your blog.
- Themeforest.net – Thousands of WordPress themes to choose from.
- Blogger.com – Google blogging platform, great for use with Google AdSense.
- Headway – Another blogging platform for new bloggers.
- Woo Themes - The ultimate resource for premium looking WordPress themes.
- Elegant Themes – Full access to all premium themes for just $39. My other blog is hosted with Elegant themes.
- Tumblr – Another blogging platform for bloggers.
- Thesis Theme - Thesis promises out-of-box search engine optimization, faster page load times, maximum readability to engage and hold reader’s attention, and point-and-click design and font controls.
Learning Tools for Bloggers:
- The Ultimate Blog Promotion Guide – An awesome ebook by Kristi Hines from Kikolani.com
- 31 Days To A Better Blog – An outstanding ebook by Darren Rowse from ProBlogger.com
- From Blogger to WordPress – Highly recommended if your thinking of migrating over to WordPress from Blogger by Sharon Hujik. Use promo code time4wp to save 20%!
- The Bloggers Guide to Online Marketing – Another outstanding ebook by Darren Rowse from Problogger.com
- Money Dummy – This twitter ebook from John Aguiar is great for beginners wondering how to make Twitter work for them.
- Ramped Blogging – From concept to set. This ebook will help you get started to create a profitable blog.
Web Hosting
- BlueHost.com – Highly recommended and great 24 hr tech support.
- Hostgator – I currently have been using them for over the last 4 yrs and they have great 24hr tech support. Use Coupon: logallotfreebie to start your 1st month for 1 cent.
Product Distribution & Shopping Carts
- E-Junkie: The shopping cart I use to sell Blog Critiques. It’s compatible with Paypal Standard, Paypal Pro, Google Checkout, Authorize.net, TrialPay, Clickbank & 2CheckOut. It’s super cheap at $5.00 a month and easy to use. You can set up your own affiliate program in minutes.
- Clickbank: You can use Clickbank to find products to promote and sell your products.
- Paypal.com: Paypal is awesome for selling your own and they have been around for years. I have been using Paypal for over 10 yrs and haven’t had a problem yet. You can create a shopping cart and you only pay a nominal fee for any transactions.
Keyword Tools
- Google AdWords Tool – Google’s own free tool to help you choose your keywords for your marketing campaigns.
- WordTracker Free Keyword Tool – Another great free keyword tool that determines keyword popularity and search volume number comparisons.
- SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool – An additional tool to help you compare and select keywords.
- SEO Keyword Rankings – A fantastic tool for tracking and managing you current keywords.
Email Autoresponders
- Aweber – I love Aweber for managing all of my subscriber lists. Easy to use and very customizeable.
- Get Response – Another alternate to Aweber. You can sign up for their Free Account for 100 Subscribers. Great for people starting out.
Testing Results
- Google Analytics: Google’s free website tracking and analytical tool. A must have for anyone with any type of website.
- Clicky Web Analytics: Clicky is just like Google Analytics, except it’s easier to use, and you can view how many people are on your site (and what they are doing) in real time! This is my favorite tool.
- Backlink Watch – See all the backlinks for any website!
- 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 andconverts best. It’s basically a website optimizer testing tool.
Affiliate Networks
- Amazon Affiliates – Promote every physical product imaginable with the highest conversions.
- Commission Junction – One of the leading affiliate networks on the web.
- ShareASale – Fantastic affiliate network with loads of vendors to choose from.
- MySavingsMedia – They feature every day products to promote on your blog. Not blog related.
- RevenueCurve – They have tons of products that you can promote on your that isn’t blog related.
- LinkShare – One of the best affiliate networks for well-known name brands.
Outsourcing
- Elance.com – Hire skilled individuals and companies for almost any job imaginable.
- Odesk.com – A great outsourcing alternative for technology-related jobs.
- Fiverr.com – A nice cheap alternative where people are willing to do jobs for $5. I had my Twitter for CriteekMyBlog done for $5.
- 99Designs.com – A very neat website that will make a variety of customized logos for you to choose from.
Legal
- Free Privacy Policy – Build a privacy policy for your website.
- LegalZoom – A great site for information to legalize your business.
- Terms of Service Generator – Create a customized Terms of Service document for your website.
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. These are all things that I currently use, know about or have used. I only recommend products I trust and that have been very helpful to my business and, not because of the commissions that I may earn from you using these products.
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