Approved Resources
What software do you recommend for email marketing? Which one for building a website? I've seen people asking questions like these all the time, so I decided to give you my personal recommendations regarding tools and resources that you may need on your way to succeed in the online world.
Every tool I recommend below I have used it myself (otherwise it wouldn't make much sense to suggest, right?).
Basic Website tools
Start from here, as without a website you can't do much in the online world.
HOSTING
SiteGround
Hosting is where your web pages, files, and documents are stored. Your website must be hosted somewhere or it cannot be viewed by anyone. I love SiteGround, because it makes your website load super fast, it's relatively cheap, it provides you with a business email address and you can also register a domain name through it.
WEBSITE/CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
WordPress
It's not the most used content management system without a reason. With WordPress you can have a basic platform that you can build on and turn it into a goldmine. If you want a CMS that gives you the most control, ownership, flexibility and freedom to do whatever you want, then WordPress is a no brainer.
Conversion tools
One you have a website up and running, it's time to start attracting online visitors to it and eventually build an audience that follows you. Here's what you need for these:
PAGES BUILDER/LEAD GENERATION
Thrive Themes
With Thrive Themes you get a drag-n-drop web page builder, forms that capture email addresses, a quiz builder, a powerful system to collect and display client testimonials and the ability to create online courses. In other words, all the tools you need to turn your website's online visitors into buying customers.
EMAIL MARKETING
ActiveCampaign
With ActiveCampaign you can create an email list of subscribers, send newsletter campaigns to them and create powerful email automation series. I prefer this tool over other email marketing pieces of software, because of its easy-to-use interface and its advanced automation and A/B testing capabilities.
Productivity tools
The 3 tools below help you become more productive and efficient while you work in a secure way.
PASSWORD MANAGER
LastPass
During the era of hacking and cracking it's not safe anymore to use a single password to login everywhere neither is it too smart to write your passwords on a piece of paper. LastPass is a great tool that can help you store your passwords online in a secure way. It also shows you how to be more secure online by giving you great tips.
PROJECT & TASKS MANAGEMENT
Trello
Have you ever tried to start working on a project, but you suddenly realized that you don't know where to start from? Trello helps you start from somewhere. On Trello you can create projects and divide them into small tasks by adding timelines, checklists and columns. You can also collaborate on projects with others by creating Teams. A perfect tool for both business and personal projects and tasks.
Website Monitoring tools
You can't just build, create, execute and not know what is going on with your website... You need to get feedback from your website's visitors.
ADVANCED ANALYTICS
Hotjar
The ultimate tool that helps you find out why people are leaving your website, which buttons are mostly clicked and more... With Hotjar you actually get to watch recording of your visitors' sessions on your website. This way you can observe patterns and take corrective actions. You can also find out whether your website is truly mobile responsive.
Digital Product tools
The tools below will help you accepts payments on your website if you want to sell digital (or physical) products and memberships.
DIGITAL PRODUCT DELIVERY
SendOwl
SendOwl is a tool that helps you sell digital products (e.g. online courses). Specifically, it lets you create a membership program where your clients can pay you in a subscription model. It also takes care of you EU VAT tax compliance and its coolest feature is that it automatically creates a simple affiliate program for your products.
Teamwork tools
If you have a team of people in your business then you need some tools to help you stay efficient and work productively as a team.
TEAM COMMUNICATION
Slack
Email is always a good option when you want to formalize something you want to say. However, when you want to instant message someone from your team and get something sorted fast then you can't rely on emails (not on Facebook Messenger either). A great tool that allows private messaging, group chats, channel discussions and audio calls is Slack.
ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Atlassian Jira
When you manage a team of accountants, writers, bloggers marketers or anything other than software developers then you can use Trello. However, if you have a team of software developers then you need something more advanced, a tool that can integrate with things like GitHub, Zendesk etc. In this case, you can use Jira, as it's meant for software developers and their complex work flows.
Must Read Books
These are my personal favorite books and some of the most inspiring books ever written.
The Holy Bible
The best selling book of all time. It consists of the Old and the New Testament. In the Old Testament God promises to destroy death. In the New Testament He shows us how he did it. You need to read this book to improve your chances of spending eternity in heaven and not suffer forever in hell.
Out of the Devil's Cauldron
JOHN RAMIREZ
As the subheading of this books says: This is a journey from darkness to light. In other words, this autobiography talks about how John Ramirez went from being a high priest of Satan all the way to become a Christian evangelist. This is a great read, if you want to know how you can protect yourself against the dangers of the underworld.
Wrestling for My Life
SHAWN MICHAELS
In this autobiography Shawn Michaels, a WWE superstar describes how it was for him being a Christian during his comeback to wrestling. An inspiring story that shows us that through Christ even a self absorbed badass drug addict can become a loving man of God with a golden heart.
Imagine Heaven
JOHN BURKE
The book includes testimonies of people who had a so called "near death experience". In other words, people, who clinically died for a short time period (e.g. 10 minutes), attempt to describe what they saw and felt. The most interesting fact? People from various ethnic and religious backgrounds saw the same things that are described in the Bible (heaven, hell, Jesus, demons etc.).
The Case for Christ
LEE STROBEL
Lee Strobel was a journalist specialized in criminal cases. At one point his wife became a Christian and he noticed amazing positive change in her. Therefore, he decided to go into a personal investigation to find out whether Jesus was who he claimed to be (i.e. the son of God). This book describes his interviews with specialists like theologists, doctors and psychologists who shine light into the case for Christ.
Trapped in Hitler's Hell
ANITA DITTMAN
This is the inspiring story of a young Jewish girl who became a Christian during the Holocaust. From 1933 until 1945 she was separated from her family, was malnourished, discriminated, and deprived of her freedom by being a slave in concertation camps. Yet unlike other Jews, she managed to survive, be mentally strong and never feel alone simple because of her faith in Christ.
Must Read Articles
To read more about entrepreneurship and life strategy read these classic Life Proficiency articles:
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