Resources

I get many questions about which vendors and partners we use to run our online business. Everything on this page I’ve personally tested and highly recommend.

Please note that most links on this page are affiliate links, meaning that if you decide to purchase using my link I may receive an referral fee. Rest assured that this referral fee is never added on top of the price, in fact some of these links contain special discounts for the community. Also, everything that I recommend because the products are very helpful and are from companies that I trust, not because of the commissions that I may earn from you using these tools.

EMAIL MARKETING: MailChimp
I use MailChimp, mainly because their logo is a monkey. I kid, I kid. I have found that MailChimp is extra easy to use and you can create some great emails to mail to your clients, plus for small business you can use it for free. As long as you have less than 1,000 people on your list and send less than 6,000 messages per month, it’s free!

SCREENCAST VIDEOS: ScreenFlow
Ever need to show someone exactly how to do something on the computer? If you have a mac (and you all should:) ) you can use ScreenFlow. It records everything you do on the screens along with your voice. Publish to YouTube and someone can see exactly how to do something.

WORDPRESS THEMES: ThemeForest.net, SuperHug.com, WooThemes
Who wants to create their own theme from scratch? I certainly don’t, because it takes lots of time. Uses these places to find great themes for the fraction of the price of hiring someone to make a custom theme. Don’t worry, once you own the theme you can make customizations to make the theme your very own.

WEB HOSTING: GreenGeeks
Every site I run for my business is run with Green Geeks. They have great support and the pricing is excellent. I highly recommend Green Geeks to anyone who is just getting started.

DOMAIN NAMES: Hover, use this link and get 10% off!
I use Hover because they make purchasing a domain super easy. There are other domain registering sites that make it extra confusing to know what to buy, but not with Hover.

BLOGGING/CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: WordPress.org
I used to hand code websites, while it was fun, it was a tedious process. Every little change affected so many other things. WordPress makes running a website simple. Want to add a new menu? No problem. Four clicks and you are finished. Great for small business owner to keep their site up-to-date.

PHONE AND VIDEO CONFERENCING: Skype
Man, I love Skype. It’s an instant messenger, phone and video chat all in one package. I use it to talk to friends in different cities. I use it to communicate with my wife when she’s upstairs and I’m downstairs. It’s completely free. Check it out, you’ll be glad you did.

FILE SHARING AND STORAGE: Dropbox, use this link and get extra storage for free!
Need somewhere to store files that you can get to them where ever you are in the world? Dropbox is your solution. Store contents on your hard drive and they will be sync’d with the cloud. If you away from your computer and need the files, log on to Dropbox.com and there they are, problem solved.

ONLINE BACKUP: Backblaze
Do you have your computer backed up? Is your backup drive sitting right next to your computer? What happens if you house burns down or is broken into? Back your digital content up with Backblaze and you won’t have to worry. Backblaze runs in the background and keeps your computer always backed up. And it’s only $5 a month, you can’t beat it.