I'm sharing my best blogging and online business resources with you. I've been blogging for six years. Three years ago, I quit my corporate job and started working in my online business full-time. I'm sharing my favorite tools for running an online business with you. These tools save you time and stress and make running your online business a little easier!
These are the resources I have found most helpful in my online business journey. Please note that some of these links are affiliate links. That means that I will receive a commission if you decide to purchase the product. Everything I recommend (that costs money) I have personally used and truly believe provides value. If I have not used the product myself I will let you know in the description.
Featured Resources
Pin Practical Promotions is a deep dive into promoted pins (aka Pinterest ads).
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN...
- How to strategize your campaigns so you don't waste money
- Detailed examples of how to set up successful promoted pin funnels
- How to target the right people for your campaign based on your objectives
- The tactical side of setting up your website to optimize for conversions, installing the right codes in the right places, and advanced training on setting up your campaigns
- A detailed breakdown of how to read those (not so) scary analytics reports and how to use them to your advantage
In Pin Practical Influence, we dive deep into 3 effective affiliate marketing funnels for Pinterest.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN...
- How to really make money passively by pinning affiliate links on Pinterest
- How to successfully master affiliate launches using Pinterest (I've made over $18,000 on a 5-day launch using this strategy!)
- How to use affiliate links on Pinterest with promoted pins
- Proven strategies I've used to generate thousands of dollars from Pinterest using affiliate links
- Everything you need to know about nurturing affiliate sales from Pinterest
- Real examples of successful affiliate funnels
In Pin Practical Masterclass, you'll learn how to convert free Pinterest traffic into email subscribers.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN...
- Treat your Pinterest account like a search engine
- 4x the likelihood of getting found in search results with strong keywords
- 5 principles for creating click-worthy Pinterest images
- An automation strategy that works + takes less than 30-minutes a week to manage
- The easy guide to interpreting Pinterest analytics and how to use data to your advantage
- 9 strategies for converting free Pinterest traffic into customers
Do you have a digital or physical product you know can change lives but have no idea how to sell it? You can snag the exact sales funnel templates I've used to make over half a million dollars in less than two years!
You'll get my 6 top-performing sales funnel templates that can help you explode your email list and convert sales.
My undated Blog to Business planner will help you organize your blogging goals, create actionable to-do lists, and crush your blogging goals for the next year! The best part? Just print out a new copy each year and keep planning.
Leadpages is the software I use to build all of my landing pages. Not only do I build beautiful and high-converting landing pages, but I also use their LeadBoxes feature to insert text and picture links into all of my blog posts to collect email addresses. I grew my email list to over 14,000 in under a year by investing in LeadPages. I build all my sales pages using their drag and drop template. This is by far the best investment in a tool that I've made in my business!
I moved my email service provider over to ConvertKit! If you are looking to take your email marketing to the next level, ConvertKit is where you need to be. They offer advanced marketing automation funnels through segmentation, automation triggers, automated sequences, and landing pages that are easy to set up and allow you to streamline your business and increase sales at the same time.
Learn how to use ConvertKit for free using my ConvertKit Tutorials
An alternative to ConvertKit is Constant Contact.
Thinkific is my online course platform where I host all of my online courses and trainings. Thinkific has helped me grow Redefining Mom into a 6-figure brand.
Redefining Mom Freebies
- Free Pinterest courses
- Traffic resources for Pinterest
- Email marketing done-for-you email sequences
- Budget planning
- ...and much more!
Click Here for a Full List of Blogging Freebies I Offer
Advanced Pinterest Marketing Education
Simple Pin Collective is a membership community that provides you with incredibly up-to-date information on all things Pinterest. The owner, Kate, actively shares her knowledge in the Facebook group so you can stay on top of the latest trends through teaching and group coaching calls.
Adventures in SEO is a course by my good friend, Lena Gott from Adventures in Blogging and What Mommy Does. Lena is an expert at all things SEO (search engine optimization). She takes Pinterest keywords to a whole new level by showing you how to leverage Pinterest and Google SEO together. This course will seriously blow your mind!
Adventures in SEO is only open a few times a year. While you wait, grab Lena's awesome 5-day traffic & monetization mini challenge.
In Pinteresting Strategies, Carly Campbell took the Pinterest world by storm over a year ago when she coined the phrase manual pinning to describe how she drives over 200,000 page views to her blog without using a scheduler. I am a strong proponent of investing in and learning multiple strategies. It's important to try multiple techniques to see what works best for you. Carly's eBook is now a course and doesn't disappoint. I also know Carly very well and can't say enough good things about her.
Along the line of learning multiple strategies, Pinning Perfect was the first Pinterest course I ever took. The creators, Melissa and Anna, have been teaching Pinterest marketing since 2013. Their strategies are time-tested and very practical. Melissa runs a 6-figure blog by working only 5-10 hours a week on top of her career at Burt's Bees. I know Melissa very well and strongly recommend everything she has to offer. She's super smart!
Click Below to Read My Ultimate Beginners Guide to Blogging!
Blogging Tools
Setting up your website
Genesis a popular framework for WordPress, my site is built using the Genesis framework.
Restored 316 offers beautiful child themes for the Genesis framework.
Bluehost is the hosting company I recommend to host websites.
Looking to start a website but don't know where to start? I have step-by-step instructions on how to set up your domain, hosting account, WordPress, and domain email: How to Start a Blog and Make Money From Home
Namecheap this is what I use to register all my domain names.
iMark Interactive owned by Grayson Bell, who is my website extraordinaire (i.e. he makes sure my website it always up and running)! In the beginning, having someone on retainer to help you with the technical side of your website won't be necessary but as you grow, this is something you will want to consider. Grayson also does work that's not on retainer so if you are hitting a roadblock, he's a great place to start!
Financial tools
PayPal setting up a separate business PayPal account for sending and accepting money is a good idea. There is an option for invoicing with a PayPal business account which is useful for when you start getting clients. Plus it's free to set up.
SendOwl is a digital product delivery service that allows you to sell digital products and set up affiliate programs. I connected my PayPal and Stripe accounts to it and I was ready to sell my Easy Budget and Financial Spreadsheet within minutes!
Thrivecart in an online shopping cart that provides a high-converting checkout experience for your customers.
Freshbooks is an awesome company that many entrepreneurs use for accounting software. Not only can you use it to track your income and expenses, but they also allow you to send professional looking invoices in less than 30 seconds. On average, their customers get paid 4 days faster!
Photography tools
Depositphotos this stock photo site has much better options than GraphicStock but it is also much more expensive. You can buy pay-as-you-go credits as needed.
PicMonkey is an online photo editing software that I use to create Pinterest images. I have the Royale Membership to gain access to all the extra features, including fonts that I use on all my images.
Canva is another online tool for creating pretty graphics for social media or marketing materials such as eBooks.
Tools to help you grow
Trello is the project management/organization tool I use to keep my business running smoothly.
Businessese legal contracts for bloggers and freelancers. This service is excellent, just download the contract and follow the instructions for your specific situation. Even though it is tempting to skip this important step, it is extremely important to have a contract in place before any money exchanges hands between you and a client.
HelloSign lets you send contracts to clients for digital signatures. The service also keeps an audit trail with the IP address used at the time of signing in case you ever run into an issue.
Acuity Scheduling is a calendar management tool that lets you sync your calendar to an online scheduler so that your clients can book meetings with you. It even connects to payment processors like PayPal and Stripe so you can collect payment before the meeting is even booked!
Zoom is the video conferencing software I use to host videos calls, webinars, and record Podcasts. The platform is super affordable and easy to use. When you record a call, it saves three files: video, audio, and chat transcripts. It's seriously the best and saves me so much time with my coaching clients!
Grammarly I honestly do not know how I lived without this before! Grammarly is a plugin I use in Chrome that proofreads everything I write around the web, including on WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, and many other places. It has saved me from some pretty embarrassing grammatical errors. There are free and paid plan options depending on your needs. I use the free version and it works for what I need.
G Suite allows you to use your domain email address using the familiar setting of Google Apps. I highly recommend that you do not filter your email through your hosting provider. The cost is minimal at only $5/user per month.
Need help setting up G Suite? Grab detailed instructions here.
Moo.com is where I get my business cards from, you definitely need these for conferences and meeting with clients!
Books
Launch hands down the best resource for launching a product of any kind (book, course, etc.).
Blog Traffic Ebook: How I Went From 17K to 350K+ Monthly Page Views in 9 Months by Lena from What Mommy Does. I had the pleasure of meeting Lena at a business mastermind event recently and when she told me about her book I read it between sessions so I could talk to her about it. This book is full of practical advice on how to grow your blog's traffic.
Podcasts
Being Boss my absolute favorite podcast for creative entrepreneurs hosted by Kathleen Shannon of Braid Creative and Emily Thompson of Indie Shopography.
The Get Paid Podcast a practical podcast that discusses different strategies for making money as an entrepreneur.
ProBlogger is a podcast all about blogging by veteran blogger Darren Rowse.
The Smart Passive Income Pat Flynn talks about how to create multiple passive income streams.
Amy Porterfield's Podcast Online Marketing Made Easy is great for learning new marketing strategies.
Brilliant Business Moms talks to mom entrepreneurs about succeeding in business while balancing a family.
Boss Mom Podcast where women in all stages of raising their business and family go to get tools, tips, and support.
The Bix Chix Podcast Natalie provides practical and down-to-earth advice on how to raise a family and business at the same time. Every time I listen to an episode, I always leave with at least one actions step I need to take in my business that day!
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