I oftentimes get asked “Nik – what powers YOUR business?”
These are the tools and services I use in my own business. I'm adding to this list, too, so you'll see more free tools added soon. Bookmark this page and come back often.
Getting & Keeping My Site Online
I have several hosting accounts just to protect myself with a little bit of diversity. I don’t like to have all of my eggs in any one basket.
- Mom Webs is where I refer people who are totally new to online business. I’ve been a customer for years. They’re used to handling support from scared new online business owners. Highly recommend.
You can’t go wrong with either choice.
Creating This Website
What is Content Drafts built on?
A lot of you are loving the look at Content Drafts and are asking how it was created.
ContentDrafts was built using this pagebuilder.
(It is my absolute #1 recommendation right now – and I've tested nearly all of them.)
How it works, is that you install WordPress like you normally world.
Then you choose a very light and quick loading simple theme. I used WPAstra as it got really good reviews from people who knew their stuff.
Customize the theme a bit. Mainly add your logo and choose colors.
Then you add that page builder as a plugin.
Once you do, you have the option of using pages/posts that look like simple regular pages (that show up based on your theme choices) or building intricate / cool pages with the page builder.
The reason I like this one so much is that it is built for business.
It's easy to do list building and quizzes and all kinds of cool things without having to pay for a bunch of extra tools.
And, it's super fast and easy to split test, which is a big deal for me.
What is Coach Glue Built With?
Create Beautiful Sales and Optin Pages with Divi Builder and Theme – As much as we love Leadpages, we really needed a theme that would allow us tons of flexibility + features for creating a sales page on WordPress.And we found the one that we love and use often for creating sales pages, opt-in pages, and download pages is the Divi Builder + Theme. You can see it in action here.
List Building
- ConvertKit – I recently left the service I used since 2005 to manage all my newsletters, ecourses, and ezines. (If you get any emails from me, they now come through this safe list managing service.) They are marketing-friendly, easy to use, and I'm getting a lot of flexibility that I've always wanted.
- Thrive Leads – I used to get really frustrated if I wanted to put an optin for in the middle of a blog post. Or I'd see all these other site with cool drop downs with freebies to get people to optin. Thrive Leads is how a lot of them are doing it. PLUS split testing is built in. (I use this WITH ConvertKit, rather than using the forms ConvertKit provides.)
- Leadpages – I love Leadpages. Honestly, though, for the cost and flexibility, look at Thrive instead. You get a lot more for less cost, with tons of added flexibility.
Selling your Own InfoProducts
If you create your own ebooks or audios and want to sell them, you need a way to take payments.
Instead of recommending a “One Size Fits All” program, I'll point you to a discussion where you can determine which cart is best for you.
If after reading that, you can't make a decision, feel free to leave a comment and I'll be glad to help.
Communicating with my Helpers and My Coaching Clients
- Basecamp – Allows me to track projects and who is working on each one.
- Easy Safe File Sharing – Allows me to work with writers and editors and keeps all my files safe and secure.
- Skype – I use Skype's screen share function often. If I'm working with a coaching client or even one of my Virtual Assistants, it's oftentimes easier to say “Show me, please” when I don't quite understand something. It's a great way to connect with the people who I work with regularly.
Managing Coaching & Interview Appointments
- I've been playing with Acuity Scheduling lately and I really like it.
Keeping my Business Safe and Protected
- Password Manager Program – Keeps track of all of my logins, usernames and passwords, so I don't have to. (Try it free.)
Audio & Video Tools
- Loom – Video recorder that is super easy to use!
- Camtasia – I use this quite a bit for recording quick screenshot videos.
- GotoWebinar (click here to try it free)– I also use this, although not as much as I really should. It's a great tool, though, if you want to record webinars – as that's what it's designed to do best. Here's a cool blog post about making your webinars ROCK: Key Tips for Profitable Webinars.
- Zoom– I use this and love it. Get started for free. The pro plan you get extra features.
- Reflector – I use this if I want to record what I'm demonstrating on my iPad. It streams it onto my PC.
Note: If you’d like “Done for You” webinars that include scripts and powerpoint slides – be sure to check out PLR for Teleseminars and Webinars – all you have to do is read the scripts while playing the slides. Webinars couldn’t get any easier.
Link Building for a Boost in Traffic Generation
- Social Warfare – I don't love the name of this service but I DO love the results. I recently switched over to this plugin to get more social love. It's lightning fast and they track shares better than other services I've used. PLUS, they don't sneak ads into my site like ONE other one was. Grrrr…
Brainstorming & Productivity Tools
- Mind Maps Reference: Free Mind
Graphics Editing
- PicMonkey – A free program to use to edit graphics quickly.
Blog Plugins that I Love
- Covert Copy Plugin – Includes a link whenever anyone copies content from my blog.
More Helpful Tools
- Word or Open Office – for writing my books
- PowerPoint or Keynote – for drafting presentations for speaking engagements
I'll add more to the list as I think of them. 🙂
Nicole
PS. Yes, some of these are affiliate links. But, they're only on this list if I use them – and many of the links point to blog posts where you can learn more before buying.
dave
October 4, 2019 at 7:54 amwhat would the minimum needed to start into the content and affiliate business? I am especially interested in the health and wellness field.
Nicole
October 4, 2019 at 8:29 amHi Dave!
The bare minimum you’d need is a website/blog.
If you are a do-it-yourselfer, the cheapest way would be Web hosting (<- go with this one as the support is very beginner-friendly!) - so you can install a WordPress site. This does require some knowledge. If you are NOT interested in tech, but are a bit of a do-it-yourselfer, then you'd want to outsource the WordPress install part and probably also hire someone to upload and set up a site builder like Thrive.
However, if you are totally tech adverse, then I’d recommend Leadpages. It’s more expensive, but you don’t have to know ANY tech.
In addition, you’d also want an autoresponder to build your lists. For simplicity sakes, I’d say to go with Aweber. It’s not fancy but it just works.
Beyond that, you can get by with mostly free tools for an affiliate business. Facebook. LinkedIn, Twitter, Zoom, Paypal, etc.
Once you decide to add your own products then you’d be looking at a shopping cart, etc. But just to start promoting affiliate offers, you don’t need that yet.
Warmly,
Nicole
Shawna
October 22, 2020 at 3:59 pmThank you so much! You rock Nicole. So glad I found you.
May you be abundantly blessed for all you share. <3
I'm so excited to get started on this journey!! 🙂