Table of Contents
Have you got the right tools that work online? Read my suggestions for tools that will save you time and money, leaving you more time to work on the profitable aspects of your business, not the technical side.
Tools That Work Online For Your Business
Successful tradespeople use tools to make their business easier. Starting an online business is no exception. There's a myth that you can have a “free” business online. That may have been true 5+ years ago, but things have changed.
Believe me, if I could run this business for free, I would be doing so.
Here are tools that I have found essential in my business and recommend to others.
Please note, these include affiliate links that pay me a commission at no extra cost to you, because that is how I fund my business:-) But if I don't trust a supplier or product – it won't be here!
Internet Marketing Training
If you are new to the world of Internet Marketing, I really encourage you to invest in yourself and learn your new “trade”.
There are so many skills you need to know. Click here and you can get started for just $7 and it can be your first online business, because you can resell that commission and earn 100% commission on sales you make. (Full training included).
You will save hours by learning from professionals who have learned the hard. It will be money well spent. If you can't spend $7 to start an online business (and get trained), you really shouldn't be considering Internet Marketing at all.
One of the things any reputable IM training will tell you is “The Money Is In The List”.
Which means that you need a way to build and contact your list.
My Favourite List Mailer
LeadsLeap is the one I like best, because you can start free and earn free. Although not mentioned in the training above, I use it to build pages that are different from the standard ones most people use in that training – because they're pretty well known by now. Then I pass my prospects to the standard optin pages for that training.
LeadsLeap also lets me track where my leads have come from. Click => here to open a free account and learn why it's fast becoming the favorite list mailer in most marketers' budget. Many huge marketers use it too, because it's an affordable service they can recommend to their own subscribers.
Although an auto-responder is one way to track where your leads came from, there's also a neat trick in the free link tracker below.
Free Link Tracker
Serious Internet Marketers understand that they have to place many adverts and links before making sales. When you find a place where you are making sales, you think….
“I must do more of that. I wonder which traffic platform (or campaign within the platform) the sale came from?”
I must confess I had so many adverts running over so many different platforms that I had no clue where sales were being made. Not very efficient 🙁 Because you want to repeat campaigns that are working and dump anything that isn't working.
Sometimes a sale will come from something you did months ago, and you'd forgotten all about it.
I was aware my link tracking was poor (non existent!) so it was good to find a free link tracker So Many Hits (affiliate link) and actually I was amazed by the features offered in the free platform, including earning commission if anyone registers for the free program and upgrades to paid membership on your link.
Of course there are extra features available to paid members, but even without the upgrade, it's a fully functional free link tracker.
If you can't afford the paid membership right away (at the time of writing less than 50c a day) you can still use the system, earn commissions on your introductions, and upgrade later.
Incidentally it's acting as a list builder too, and you can import your members into your auto-responder.
Autoresponder – Vital Marketing Tool
A vital tool for any online marketer, of any type of business, is the auto-responder, as I mentioned above. An autoresponder is a service that lets you collect and manage contact details for your clients and prospects – known colloquially as your “List”.
Click here to learn about email marketing services and why you need a “List”.
With an auto-responder you can keep a list of all contacts who have opted into your mailing list, so that you can contact them with special offers and information.
It's said that a prospect needs to see your message SEVEN times before they have confidence to buy. So if they leave your site without buying, and without leaving their contact information you have probably lost them – and they may go on to buy from someone else who DOES take their contact details and follows up with them.
WordPress Managed Hosting
This is where you host your site (where it “lives”) is very important for good service to your customers.
After several “false starts” of hosting provider, I settled on Wealthy Affiliate. It's an affordable service and their support is top class – VERY important when you get technical problems, as you surely will.
Wealthy Affiliate are WordPress experts, so you'll find blog training within your hosting package.
There are MANY features available that you won't find with lesser services, and you'll be amazed at the speed of the support desk.
Again, I tried to do this ‘on the cheap', teaching myself, and it was a false economy.
You can learn more about hosting and starting a blog with Wealthy Affiliate >= HERE.
