Here is a list of my favorite software, equipment, and services I use in my business almost daily. These are the building blocks of a solid online business. I’ve tried many different options through the years and these are the best ones in my experience. Hope they are of service to you!
*I do have affiliate links listed for some of the products – those are ones I especially love and have built great relationships with.
Get bids on your custom graphic design needs from hundreds of designers. Pick the design that you like best and set your own budget for each project.
Amazing email list software. Our top recommendation for building a subscriber list and staying in touch with them at a reasonable price point. Aweber will collect and organize all of the contact info, allow you to sort it into lists and send out all of your messages. Amazing one stop shop for everything you need to control and manage a very powerful email marketing campaign, not to mention powerful tools for automated follow-up. I use this for all my businesses. (First month is only $1)
This is the easiest and best place to buy a URL for your website. You can choose from many different address types (.com, .net, .tv, etc) and easily get set up very quickly. Great customer service. Prices vary on the URL you are buying.
This is the king of email list software and what I currently use. It takes all the best features of the other software and adds in many layers of customization so you can track exactly where leads come from, who gets what follow up dependent on what the last email they opened was, etc. This is a powerful tool to maximize your email list for all possible sales and relationship building.
Leadpages is an easy customizable landing page creation platform that syncs up with whoever you use for email autoresponders. You can make thank you pages, webinar registration pages, video training pages, sales pages, free mini course pages. The sky is the limit.
Payment processor for online product sales. Ideal solution for selling an e-product. Get access to thousands of affiliates that can help promote your product to their followers. Also, you can be an affiliate and promote other hot products that you think are relevant to your followers/subscribers. (Free for affiliates, $50 to submit product)
Record your screen. Ideal for making instructional videos. Mac only. (Free trial, then $99)
Simliar to Screenflow but compatible with PC or Mac. More advanced video editing software as well (Free trial, then $299).
Recorded webinar software. Automate your webinars to be automatically played at certain times. Make it appear live but without requiring you to be present. Great if you want to make a webinar available at different times without filling up your schedule. ($70/month+setup)
File/video storage. Use the power of Amazon’s huge, fast servers. If you ever have large files, like videos, that play on your website make sure to host them here and not on your normal website server. If you get a spike in traffic and a bunch of people try to play a video at the same time your website could crash if your video is hosted on your server. Any basic website guy should know this but make sure you know to ask! (Pay by usage, cheap)
Want faster load times for your site? We suggest WP Engine, who provides fast, reliable & secure managed WordPress hosting with world class customer support. A very reliable service. I have been slowly switching all my sites over to this company. For a limited time, use code WPE33 for 33% off your first 3 months
WordPress plugin for creating easy amazing clean designs for membership sites without hassle.
Great workboard/project management tool that has a built-in team setup with a social chatter layout. Each team member has a profile and you can set up multiple threads to categorize projects. Also you can search the files you upload, which makes it very easy to find documents.
Best web-based file storage site. Handes as big of files as you need. Easy to give access to your team or the public to individual files and folders. Syncs with your computer so you can access from your hard drive. (Free, with option to purchase bigger storage amounts).
Similar to Dropbox for web-based storage, but linked to your Google/Gmail account. (Free)
Awesome web-based graphics software to make great social media images or any text/photo graphics. Pre-designed templates, lots of customization options, and stock photos available to purchase. A way easier tool than Photoshop for basic graphic design. (Free)
Best social media scheduler to use because it stores all of your uploaded posts in a database and re-uses them per your posting schedule. You get to build a library of evergreen content to post continuously. ($49/month)
Later Schedule your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest posts and track analytics. Use code VIPLEWISHOWES for free one month trial of the premium plan.Great site to find any kind of freelancer to do a creative job for you (website design, logo design, voiceover, video work, etc). You post the job and get multiple bids from many freelancers on your project. You only pay for the one you choose.
The advanced Facebook ad creator tool where you can customize every detail of the ads you are running and how much you are spending. It’s very useful for seeing how effective your ads are and what you can tweak to improve conversions.
My very favorite webinar software. You can have audiences up to 1000 and it is the most reliable software I’ve found. It also allows you to record the webinar, send follow up emails, and get statistics on attendees. (Free trial, then paid plans)
Free software to call or video chat with someone anywhere in the world via the web. All you need is to create a login and you can call for free to any other computer on the internet.
Build your email list FAST with this quiz builder. This software is hands down is the easiest way to build a quiz online. I’ve tried other quiz builder platforms that are complex and didn’t have the email integration I needed. This quiz builder integrates with everything from Infusionsoft to Convertkit and allows you to set up your first quiz within minutes. They even have templates you can pick from.
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Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 2 In/2 Out USB Recording Audio Interface
Audio-Technica BPHS1 Broadcast Stereo Headset with Dynamic Boom Mic
OR
Heil PR-40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone (2x)
Heil Sound Windscreen for PR30 & PR40 Microphones (2x)
Heil Sound PL-2T Overhead Broadcast Boom (2x)
Free software for recording and editing audio. What I use to edit my podcasts.
Software that records the audio of your Skype calls so you can edit and use them for interviews, podcasts, etc. (Free trial, then buy for $29.95)
Schedule your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest posts and track analytics.
Stitcher
Pandora
