Free Resources | Books, Etc. | Web Hosting | WordPress Themes |Useful Tips & Cheat Sheets | Disclosure
This is the page where I put (when I remember) the cool stuff that I use in marketing on the internet. Some of the stuff is free, most you subscribe to or license. I have affiliate relations with many which means that not only have I used the stuff my self but I’m happy enough with it to want to represent it (and make a few bucks in the process).
Free Resources
Audacity - a powerful sound recorder and editor. Open source software that’s nearly the equal to some of the best on the market. If you’re generating audiopodcasts you won’t go wrong with this nifty tool.
FreeMind – If you’ve heard of mind-mapping and you’re interested in giving it a try, don’t invest hundreds in a commercial package when most of the power you need (minus a few bells and whistles) is included in this powerful free mind-mapping tool. I started with FreeMind before I licensed my current mind-mapping tool, MindManager from MindJet.
Why’d I switch? The bells and whistles mainly but both products are exceptional.
Books and Reference Guides
If you’re interested in the books and reference that I’ve found useful in developing high converting web sites or creating solid internet and social media marketing plans, visit my outpost on Amazon at The Evolving Internet Marketer aStore (powered by Amazon.com).
Website Hosting (ISP)
Need a feature rich, reliable web hosting company for your website or blog? Then click here to sign up for bluehost.com now.
I recommend bluehost.com because it provides a feature rich hosting environment at a ridiculously low price. And, if you use WordPress.org as your blogging platform, you’ll appreciate bluehost‘s one button WordPress installation.
I’ve recommended bluehost to both clients and friends alike with the same solid results; Great price, great features, great service.
WordPress Themes
WordPress has become so powerful and versatile that you can run it to manage not only your blog but your entire website. However you use it you won’t go wrong by choosing WordPress and, while there are thousands of very high quality (and a lot of schlocky) themes for WordPress available, sometimes you need more. Here are a couple of premium WordPress theme providers that I recommend based on personal experience, use and evaluation.
Elegant Themes
I love elegant themes, sleek, powerful, versatile, stylish and a joy to work with. Plus you get about a million different themes for one ultra-low price. Don’t take my word for it, head over to ElegantThemes.com and see for yourself.
Studio Press Themes
For the best WordPress themes check out WordPress Themes by StudioPress … Click here to visit WordPress Themes by StudioPress!
DIYThemes
The Thesis Theme for WordPress offers a high-quality, highly customizable, well-supported and stable platform for your website or blog.
Well established sites like Copyblogger, Nerdist and TwiTip use Thesis. Maybe you should consider it too!
Essential WordPress Plugins
If your goal is to have your site rank high in the search engines then a.) you need good content and b.) you need to let the search engines know what that content is all about. The first is up to you but All in One SEO Pack – the most powerful WordPress SEO plugin - sets the standard for search optimizing your WordPress posts and pages. A free version is available but their Pro version turbocharges your SEO efforts. Check them both out.
Do you need a Membership solution for your WordPress site that gives you powerful, professional membership management capabilities then head over to s2Member.com. They offer a free, basic membership framework that’s even more powerful when you add-in its reasonably priced Pro feature set.
Free WordPress Themes
WordPress Theme Directory – provides access to thousands of WordPress themes, most free. Go nuts!
Carrington – this is the signature theme of one of WordPress seminal forces, Alex King.
BlogOh!Blog makes great free as well as premium and custom WordPress themes. I’ve used their Statement Theme and really appreciated it’s great design and ease of customization.
Email Marketing
There are lots of great email marketing resources and vendors out there including Constant Contact, Vertical Response and iContact. I’ve happily used them all until, that is, I lost my heart to a chimp, a MailChimp to be specific. Great service, great features, great sense of humor and a boon for small business just getting started in email marketing because most of this great goodness is free until you hit 2000 subscribers!
Tips & Cheat Sheets
Disclosure
I have an affiliate relationship with several, but not all, of the premium services I list on this page. But in each case I became an affiliate because I either use the service myself, implemented it for a customer and feel positive about the results, intend to use or have researched it and will use it when the time is right.
In other words, I have confidence in the product or service I’m recommending and I believe that you can too. If you have a bad experience, please let me know.