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Internet Marketing Toolbox

So many of you often wander to yourself “how did they do that?” or “where did they get that from”. I designed this site so you no longer have to wonder what resources we’ve used to build our brand online. Below are a list of services that I personally use, have used, or recommend so check them out and feel free to shoot me a message if your looking for something that you see I’m currently using that isn’t listed below!! FYI: Many of the links listed below are my affiliate links as I do receive a commission from referring them to you! Please note that I am endorsing only products that I personally use or know are used by leaders in the industry and have a proven track record for being reliable and generates results!

Blogs & Websites:

Domain Names:

  • GoDaddy - I personally use GoDaddy for all of my domain names because they seem to be the simplest site to use when it comes down to forwarding your domain names, linking it to an email address, adding sub-domains and hosting.

Blog Publishing Platforms:

  • WordPress – All Real Bloggers use WordPress;) There are obviously free sites out there that you can use like Blogger.com or WordPress.com, but you DO NOT want to use a FREE site because they limit your options and monetization possibilities. Instead, go to WordPress.org and get you a Web Host using my recommendations below (See Training Videos Here). This may seem a bit more complicated but it’s worth it in the long run because you can avoid the endless hassles of Free sites and their limitations. To see how I use WordPress to set up this blog, go here to watch the FREE blog training video.

Blog Plugins I highly Recommend (Free & Premium Plug-ins):

  • Ninja Affiliate – This tool is the probably one of the best I could ever recommend for those of you seeking to monetize your blog. If you notice, each one of the recommended resources on this page has a “live link” that allows you to click on the name of the resource, and instantly be re-directed to the website where you can get additional information on the link. This plug-in allows you to set up keywords for each affiliate program that you have, and once you type in that keyword any where on your blog, it will instantly be linked to the affiliate site… GENIUS!! Everyone needs this plug-in if you really want to generate a n income online!

  • Link Within – Because old blogs tend to get buried into no mans land once they are archived, link within is a great tool to bring life and new readers to your blog through old blog posts. This is a FREE plug-in that you can find on my blog as well, and what I really love about it is that it displays pictures as well, grabbing the attention of your readers, and encouraging them to read “similar posts”.
  • Popup Domination – If you want to increase subscribers to your blog, then this plug-in is the tool to do it. It simply allows a custom lightbox to be displayed on your blog, encouraging readers to opt in to the offer that you currently have without being obnoxious about it. Every reader needs a bit of a reminder of why you brought them here. At the end of the day, our goal is “list building” so that we can continue to build a relationship with them, so Popup Domination helps ya do it!

Email/AutoResponder:

  • Aweber – I personally use Aweber for list building and lead generation tools. However, Aweber is limited when it comes to importing contacts from a previous list so I also use Icontact in conjunction with Aweber.
  • Icontact – Icontact is good for manually importing contacts into a list for email / newsletter promotion purposes. Icontact also has a very user-friendly Newsletter set up option that you can use, along with very similar capabilities as Aweber and GetResponse. What I use Icontact for is to manually add people that I connect with offline who I want to remain in contact with. I can also create a separate group of people like “Video Marketing Webinar Attendees”, “MLSP Team” or “LTD Speaking Event” to connect with people based on a specific connection. This doesn’t discredit Aweber or Getresponses use, but Icontact comes in handy for “offline connections” so I keep my account with them as well.
  • Get Response - I have used Get Response once or twice and I find it very user friendly, probably more than Aweber. But due to me following the footsteps of the masses when I first got started, I stuck with Aweber simply because “everyone else in the industry seemed to be using it”. But if you want something simple and user-friendly, you can start off with Get Response!

Hosting:

  • HostGator – All of my sites are linked to the hosting of Host Gator. There’s no particular reason why I chose HG over Blue Host besides the fact that “everyone else was doing it”….
  • Amazon S3 - I just recently learned of Amazon S3 after facing the YouTube Slap with many of my videos being taken down for no apparent reason. If you’re serious about Video Marketing and Potential Podcasting, You may want to get an AS3 Account to protect your content. Otherwise, if Youtube Slaps you, you’ll face ton’s of your videos and content being disrupted due to them being removed from YouTube. I admit that it’s a bit complicated to use, but once you learn it, it’s worth the while. I’m still learning quite a bit about it and will have a training video up soon!
  • BlueHost – Quite a few of my mentors use Blue Host and boasts of it’s ease of one click set up options so I’ll recommend checking it out!

Blog Themes:

  • WooThemes - The current theme on this blog is being used by Woo Themes and it’s called “Fresh News Theme”. I’ve had other web developers design some of my previous blogs with Woo Themes and I find many of their themes to be creative and user-friendly.
  • Studio Press – I’ve used Studio Press for myself and other clients when I previously consulted for other business owners. They have creative and flashy sites that you can use to develop a fun and funky theme with clean lines and a professional image.
  • Thesis Themes – Many Major bloggers use Thesis. It’s a customizable theme that follows a more content driven format.

Affiliate / Product Distribution:

If you’re ready to start launching your own products and are looking for a simple and easy way to get them out there without the headache of developing your own system, then you need to join the sites below.

  • E-Junkie - is a simple start-up Reseller website that will handle all of the affiliate set up for you. With Ejunkie, you can sell both digital and tangible goods starting at the very low price of $5 per month, and increases in price based on the number of products that you sell. The benefit to using E-Junkie is that they charge a flat monthly subscription fee without any transaction fees or other hidden fees. It’s a great choice for simple start-up Merchants like myself.
  • Clickbank – This has been the “common” reseller site of choice for most Internet Marketers and works primarily only with Digital Downloadable products. Clickbank is the king when it comes to online E-commerce for Internet Marketers, and whether your seeking to become a Merchant selling your own products, or an affiliate selling the products of others, I’d highly recommend that you get your account started today to benefit from the ease of use with Clickbank.

Shopping Carts:

  • 1 Shopping Cart – I personally haven’t used 1 Shopping Cart because I didn’t need much when starting my personal product sales, but I know that if you want a system that can manage your affiliate products, auto-responder messages and shopping cart sales then 1 Shopping Cart is the go to place for that.
  • Paypal - Everyone in my opinion, needs a paypal account. Tons of online transactions are being made daily through paypal, and you will find that you will need an account soon or later. Paypal also works well with affiliate programs that you become an affiliate of, or reseller sites like Clickbank and E-Junkie. You will need to thoroughly set up your account, linking it to a bank account for need to deposit or withdrawal monies, and you can also eventually get a debit card, which comes in handy when you start selling and buying merchandise for your business.

Keyword Research / SEO:

  • Market Samurai - This would be step one for those of us that are SEO-illiterate. Market Samurai gives you the simple and basic overview of what keywords are and how to utilize them to generate traffic. Lead Generation is the key to creating Passive Income. If you really want to maximize your R.O.I. for online marketing, YOU NEED THIS TOOL! Trust me, I realized how much money I’ve been leaving on the table without understanding this one important concept.
  • Google Adwords Tool - Once you’ve gone through Market Samurai, you will want to learn how to use this tool to find keywords and get clarity on keyword research.
  • Wordtracker Free Keyword Tool – This is a pretty cool tool that shows you popular and related keywords that you can use for your niche based blog, article or video. They have a premium option as well that could be very useful “once you understand the basics”, but the free version gets you going enough to find quality keywords for your needs.
  • Traffic Cipher – This program will give you a “behind the scenes” approach on how to generate traffic that really matters. I have followed Ray & Ferny for some time now and they have done a great job at giving newbies a non-technical approach to SEO and search engine placement.

Article Marketing:

  • The Best Spinner - This article marketing software is perfect for putting a spin and re-wording articles that you’ve already written to submit as “fresh content” to article marketing directories. I highly recommend using this tool as it can save you ton’s of time, energy and brain power while expanding your brand out in the search engines with ton’s of fresh new content.
  • Unique Article Wizard – This tool goes hand in hand with The Best Spinner as it helps to create thousands of backlinks on your behalf for more SEO leverage.
  • Pre-Written Content (PLR-Private Label Rights) – Coming Soon!

Site Metrics / Tracking:

  • Google Analytics - this is a free tracking tool that helps you to monitor the amount of visitors on your site, the time they were on your site and the source of your traffic. Everyone MUST HAVE this tool as it is free but also helps you to gauge what’s working vs. what isn’t!
  • Google Optimizer - I just recently discovered this tool from other bloggers, but this is another FREE tool from google that allows you to test words and images that will potentially convert better than others.

Outsourcing Resources:

  • Odesk - I’ve been using Odesk for all of my outsourcing as of late because I find very valuable international support for a great rate, sometimes as low as $1 an hour for Social Media Support (yes you read it right!)….
  • Elance – I use both Elance and Odesk for outsourcing because you tend to find different types of talent on either site. I highly recommend both of them as you can scout for different contractors for different needs. It simply expands the possibilities of you finding great talent!
  • 99Designs - I love 99 Designs because you get multiple bidders actually submitting the graphics to earn your bid. This allows creativity to shine as well as comfort in making a decision to hire someone that can do what you want done without the hassles. I highly recommend using 99 Designs for your graphics work.

RSS Feed Distribution

  • FeedBurner - In order to start building a list of loyal readers, you need to have a RSS (Real Simple Syndication) Feed set up. This allows your readers to opt in to receive your blog entries daily by way of Google Reader or some other form of RSS Feed Resource. This doesn’t however, have anything to do with your email list using systems like Aweber of Icontact.

Marketing System/Funded Proposal

  • MLM Lead System Pro – If you really want to learn Internet Marketing, MLSP is the system for you. Everything I know started with MLSP. I will forewarn you that it does take time to learn this industry and you will need to be committed as a student FIRST, but once you learn these skills, everything else is icing on the cake;)

Must Have E-Books

Additional Resources

Computer Repair / Iphone Repair:

  • Tech Restore - I had to add this because I recently cracked my Mac Screen and found the replacement to be sooo expensive, In upwards of $700-$800 from various repair shops. Thanks to a forum posting, I came across Tech Restore and discovered that they had a 24 hour turn around time for the repair of the screen and they were less than half of what other stores quoted me. I also threw in my Iphone that my daughter took in the tub with her, and asked them to repair that as well… for under $50, I had an Iphone that works perfectly and I will forever promote this amazing company!!